Young artist giving back from the heart

By Alejandra Pulido-Guzman - Lethbridge Herald on August 6, 2022.

Submitted photo Molly McIntosh, alongside her dog Auggie, says she will be donating proceeds of her art to Prairie Pets Rescue this month.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDapulido@lethbridgeherald.com

A local young artist has found a way to give back to the community by spreading love one heart-art at a time and making donations to various organizations with proceeds of her art.

Inspired by the multiple ways her mother gives back to the community, Molly McIntosh came up with a business for a good cause idea, Heart Art For A Cause, also known as @heartartbymolly.

“With inspiration from my mom when she was doing her ‘take what you need’, I got cousins and family and friends to design their own hearts and then I have to edit them print them and do all the stuff so we can make it happen,” said McIntosh.

She calls those who help her create the art Heart-ists and her business slogan is “Our heart-its are giving back one heart at a time”.

At only 12 years old, McIntosh has created a small business of her own, with the help of her family to create stickers and cards, which she sells on her social media account with a reach that has expanded across Canada and the United States so far.

This month, her charity of choice is Prairie Pets Rescue and in the past she has donated to the Angel Tree, Lethbridge Food Bank, Ronald McDonald house and the Ellen Fund.

“Angel tree that was one of my favourites because I got to go pick out a bunch of books for them,” said McIntosh.

She purchased the books for the Angel tree with proceeds from her art sales and said she wants to involve seniors in her next project.

“I’m hoping on doing a senior one, where seniors can design their own hearts and then I’ll give most of the proceeds back to their residence,” said McIntosh.

She said she has attended several markets in the last year and has come across her heart art being showcased by total strangers across the city.

“One day I walked into school on there was a little girl with her backpack and she had one of my rainbow hearts, like oh I don’t even know her, but she has my heart,” said McIntosh.

She said she picked the heart as a design because it symbolizes love and it is a way to spread love by having her art in so many different places.

“I’m trying to share love all over our community,” said McIntosh.

She said the heart stickers are a way to remind people they matter and that is why her mom always has some in her purse.

McIntosh said once school is back, she wants to create a contest for teachers to have the opportunity to get their students to design hearts.

“Their class kids design hearts and then I get to pick 10 designs to feature in my next launch,” said McIntosh.

She added that she has been asked by many teachers to create sticker bundles for them to purchase so they can share them with their students as a welcome back to school presents, so she is working on a way to make it happen.

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