We have less than 90 hours left before deadline, but here’s a vital fact: the Endangered Alphabets has such a loyal and committed supporter base that if everyone who has backed us in the past does so again, we will not only reach our goal but double it. Nobody has to break the bank for this campaign to succeed.

But in the urgency for money, let’s not lose sight of what we’re trying to accomplish. I’d like to explain my vision for the Thank You All exhibition, and why it is important.

It’s an exhibition of endangered alphabets carvings, of course, but my largest ever—ten pieces, each carved to the best of my ability on large, unique, striking pieces of wood.

• The first thing that makes it different from my other exhibitions is the text: each piece says “Thank You All” in a different endangered script. Gratitude is a spiritual quality; it has healing abilities. To be grateful, you have to open your heart. On the surface, this is an exhibition about language; beneath, it’s about gratitude, inclusiveness, forgiveness. The world badly needs those qualities at this point in history.
• Next: the exhibition will be on display in Washington, DC, home of embassies and governments and think-tanks and foundations, almost none of whom have given a moment’s thought to vanishing alphabets, even though the minorities or indigenous people in their own countries may well have them. This exhibition takes our subject right where it needs to be seen.
• Most important: every piece of text will be the work of a calligrapher or type designer working in their own culture’s traditional and long-overlooked script. By taking those ancient letters and using them for art, they are bringing life and joy and beauty back to them. Nothing shows better that a script is still alive than someone taking the old letters and shaping them in new ways, flowing or ornate or passionate, like a thousand-year-old grape vine that has suddenly brought forth fruit. And the Endangered Alphabets will show that fruit to the whole world, so those small minority cultures will suddenly be getting interest and respect from people who had never heard of them, and in the process rediscovering their own pride.

That’s my vision.

That’s what I’m hoping you will support. As I say, we’ve got less than 90 hours left. Please back us at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/endangeredatlas/thank-you-all. And then please tell your friends to do so too.

Thanks.

Tim

We’re in the last few days of our Thank You All campaign, and everything is at stake. We’ve just burst through the $8,000 barrier, but we still need to raise another $7,000 in less than a week. We need your support, no matter how large or small, right now, at https://kickstarter.com/projects/endangeredatlas/thank-you-all. 

To add incentive, I’ve added two new rewards, one at each end of the affordability scale.

One is my carving of the beautiful Adinkra character “Aya,” or fern, which stands for resourcefulness and resilience–exactly what any non-profit needs! Carved on stunning Vermont curly maple.

The other is the new, just-out-of-the-box Endangered Alphabets bandanna, silkscreened with our logo, the word for “sky” or “heaven” in the highly endangered Manchu script. You need one. Your dog needs one. And they’re perfect stocking-stuffers.

Please head right over to https://kickstarter.com/projects/endangeredatlas/thank-you-all and sign up for one now!

Thanks so much.

Tim