Erin Lale sunprints raise money for Native Seed Search

Online, March 31, 2010 (Newswire.com) - Native American artist Erin Lale's "Native Seeds" sunprint series was auctioned in March by Native Seed Search, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving the biodiversity of southwest Native American food crop seeds.

Native Seed Search maintains a seed bank from which it grows out crops to maintain seed fertility, to sell seeds and also distribute free seeds to Native American Indians in the desert Southwest. Lale, having been a recipient of the free seeds for Native Americans program, had the opportunity to give back by donating a sunprint series made especially for Native Seed Search. The "Native Seeds" series was made from plants Lale grew from seeds provided by Native Seed Search.

Lale is the world's most prominent contemporary sunprint artist. A sunprint is a contact photograph. Each sunprint is a unique, life-size photonegative image of the printed object. Lale invented the multiple-layer sunprint technique, which she teaches on her recent instructional video, How to Make a Sunprint.

Lale says, "Although the recession kept the auction prices lower than they would have been just a couple of years ago, that's good news for the art patrons, who can expect their investments to appreciate in value very quickly when the economy recovers in another few years."

Lale sells her sunprints from her eBay Store, Magicalrealist Gallery. She wrote and illustrated the official eBay Guide to Sunprint Art, accessible in eBay's Guides and Reviews section.