Haitian Street Paintings - Vivid, Colorful Works come to Life on the Wall

Nov. 12, 2012 - PRLog -- Singing Rooster -- the nonprofit who champions Haitian coffee farmers -- is launching a program to assist Haitian artists.

Several months ago, while on a coffee expedition in Haiti's Beaumont region, co-founders Molly and Christophe Nicaise met and established direct trade and long-term relationships with several Haitian artists.

Singing Rooster now features Haitian art on their website & returns all proceeds from art sales to support their work in Haiti -- which now includes helping artists.  

According to Molly Nicaise, "We pay artists more than what they'd earn normally, we seek long-term relationships, and we bring proceeds back to help create a better life.  This is small, but big: the recycled oil drum artists spend hours pounding and hammering metal. It's LOUD. On my second trip to the art district, I had a pocket full earplugs -- much to the laughter of my husband, driver and a handful of artists.  Turns out the laugh was on them; the earplugs became an overnight request of other artists."

Currently, Singing Roosters offers several forms of Haitian art on their website:  www.singingrooster.org/art , including Haitian paintings.  

“Our Haitian paintings come from street artists who set up canvases and paint around certain squares in Port au Prince and Jacmel,” said Christophe Nicaise.

Some of the artists are known for certain styles – like the painter who paints exceptionally tall women at the market.  “I call his paintings ‘Long Legged Ladies’; his work is brilliant – so colorful and fantastic.  Sometimes it’s hard to let go of the paintings; I hang many in my house until I sell them – so there is a period when I can fully enjoy them & then they’re gone.”

Singing Rooster also carries:

♦ Haitian metal art -- from recycled oil drums -- like mermaids, angels, mirrors, geckos, suns, Noah’s ark, trees of life, dragon flies, frogs, and more

♦ Coconut manger scenes / nativities, crosses and rosaries are popular Christmas gifts

♦ Haitian paper mache is whimsical and is a popular gift

Visit Singing Rooster’s website to learn more about their offerings in Haitian art or to learn how they offer a direct buyer relationship & on-the ground assistance to coffee farming communities in Haiti for the sake of self-sustainability, dignity & economic autonomy.

We help farmers to cultivate and process high quality, gourmet Haitian coffee. Then we buy/export tons of it at higher than fair trade prices and create new markets for it: roasted coffee, green coffee, fundraising with coffee, & wholesale coffee for roasters, cafes, stores, and nonprofits.

This enables a stable outlet for our farmer partners, rids them of middleman, and provides partial funding for our comprehensive approach (http://www.singingrooster.org/projects.html) -- where 100% of our coffee sale proceeds are returned to farmers.

We may be a nonprofit - but our goal is entirely profit-driven: to help Haitians be economically autonomous through SMART business practices, by improving their product, and offering insight for growth.

We meet then exceed principles of fair trade. (http://www.singingrooster.org/transparency.html)

To learn more about Singing Rooster's work in Haiti, see

http://www.singingrooster.org

Their green Haitian coffee beans are 100% Arabica and wet processed. They currently source their beans from the Dondon, Artibonite, Beaumont, Cavaillon and Thiotte regions of Haiti.

Varietals: Arabica typica, Arabica blue mountain.

Cupping Notes: soft sweetness, hints of chocolate, medium body, balanced cup, mellow acidity.

Two words: smooth & rich

To learn more about Singing Rooster's projects or to support their work through donations, see their website:

http://www.singingrooster.org

Singing Rooster's Haitian Mountain Bleu coffee (http://www.singingrooster.org/buycoffee.html) comes from the same plant & is grown in the same region as the wildly successful Jamaican Blue - but at a fraction of the price.

100% of Singing Rooster's proceeds go BACK to Haiti; our goal is to build economic infrastructures based, in part, on coffee growing, production and exportation.

Drink our Coffee. Build an economy. Pass it on.