The viral tweet that reminded the world you can’t do art wrong – Edie’s fundraising story
In April, many on Twitter, including celebrities such as artist Grayson Perry, Paul Stanley from the rock band Kiss and actor Henry Winkler, took notice of a drawing by six-year-old Edie. This featured a woodland scene captured in bright colours and bold lines. It was shared by Edie’s mum Gemma after the budding artist was told by a teacher that what she had created was “wrong”.
As the drawing quickly became famous, Gemma and Edie opened an Etsy shop to sell prints of the piece online, donating the proceeds to support our creative arts projects with disadvantaged participants.
We spoke to Gemma about the story behind the viral tweet, the support that Edie has received online and why they picked Create as their chosen charity.
“I am absolutely amazed by the response and was not expecting this at all. It has restored my faith in humanity.”
Edie’s mum Gemma
“Edie was attending an art club and came home quite upset because the person running the workshop said she had done her painting wrong. He apparently had said that she painted the sky wrong and told her ‘you can make that better’.
“As her mum, I felt upset by this and took to Twitter because I have a few ‘arty’ friends on there that I hoped would offer a few words of encouragement.
“When I first sent out the tweet and we got to 100 likes, we did a little video to say thank you and it just snowballed! I honestly didn’t think it would go viral! It came as a surprise to me as I initially thought that maybe 10 or 20 people would like it. Now we’re selling copies of Edie’s drawing worldwide!
“I am absolutely amazed by the response and was not expecting this at all. It has restored my faith in humanity, in a way.
“People were asking for copies or offering us money for the original, which of course I would never sell. I wanted people to have copies, but I never wanted to profit from my daughter in any way. It seemed wrong to me. That’s when we went looking for a charity that gave back to communities through art.
“I did a quick Google search and to my shock, a lot of local art schemes had been cut due to lack of funding. Then I found Create and I read about what you do and who benefits from the charity. It seemed like a perfect fit.
“I feel it’s important to create as it’s one of the best forms of self-expression. I love to be creative in different ways like writing or sketching something. It’s good to switch off and immerse yourself in a project. It really helps me to relax and be more mindful.
“Remember – You can’t do art wrong!”
