Art, says Meg Kuck, is deeply personal. When it aligns with a cause, it becomes even more significant. She and other local artists are tapping into that to help others.
Kuck owns Moderncity + Main, a hand-poured candle company based in Newark that donates 10 percent of its profits to organizations that raise awareness about domestic violence.
Kuck is a survivor. When she began her business about a year ago, she wanted to share her story through her craft, which she says is part of her healing process.
“I’m a sensitive person. I welcome the opportunity to connect with people on a personal level,” she says. “Sharing my story in that sense is satisfying. To make it more meaningful, it’s my way of helping someone in a similar situation, so they can see the strength in sharing your story.”
In just a year of business, she says she has donated thousands.
As a way to build on her initiative, she hopes to start a foundation, Shine the Light, to connect with others.
Jewelry maker Heidi Lowe of Heidi Lowe Gallery in Rehoboth Beach, sought to connect her jewelry with a nonprofit. “I was asked by numerous people to donate for millions of things,” she says. “I realized I couldn’t donate to everything. I didn’t know how to choose. I was frustrated.”
Related: How Do Full-Time Artists Make it in Delaware?
Five years ago, she developed a system for selecting a nonprofit to help each year. She then designs a special piece of jewelry and donates $50 from each sale to the organization it was made for.
“I just wanted a way to give that felt like it had something to do with my art,” Lowe says. “I wanted to feel like I was putting energy into the nonprofit and it was giving back to both of us.”
For a family friend, she designed a Forget-Me-Not pendant to benefit research for Leiomyosarcoma, a rare and aggressive form of cancer. For the Marine Education, Research & Rehabilitation Institute, she designed a feather.
Other designs have benefited Delaware Botanical Gardens, the Rehoboth Beach Fire Company and Minds Over Matter Initiative.
“Deciding to give back is something that is an uncontrollable push that you have within yourself—you simply have to do it,” she says. “Being an artist, being a maker, the same sort of feeling happens with wanting to create. Sharing that something with others is incredibly powerful.”
