Over the next several weeks, we are excited to feature the artwork alongside excerpts of the stories from the thirteen families that participated in our 2021 Give Grief a Voice cohort.
The Give Grief a Voice project provides families who have lost a young child an artistic representation of their child’s life. A professional writer interviews the child’s family in order to ghostwrite the child’s story. Then, a commissioned artist turns the words of the story into a piece of art that the family keeps.
Buzzy’s Bees fundraises to cover all costs for writing and art – there is no charge to participating families. Both the writers and artists are paid per story.
If you have suddenly or unexpectedly lost a young child (stillbirth – 12yo) and are interested in participating, please fill out an application here. If you are a writer or artist interested in being a part of the program, contact Kelly Tilford at kelly@buzzysbees.com. You can donate to the project here and see photos from the event we hosted for the families here.
Artist: Vanessa Smith
Acrylic on wood panel, 24 x 24 inches
“All of our children have a color we associate with them. Evelyn is coral pink because that was the main color of her nursery. James is yellow because after the miscarriage I received many bouquets all with bright yellow tulips. Lilian is purple, even though she will tell you that her favorite color is blue. We’re lucky because when we look at a sunset, we can see our children saying hello from heaven.”
– Evelyn June’s Mom
