Benefit Pet Calendar Captures The Charm Of Pets And Shelter Animals

Looking for the purfect gift for a pet lover? The Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons’ ARF Pet Calendar has hit the market and is ready to delight purchasers day after day and month after month with unbearably cute animals. The desk calendar features a portfolio of adorable photographs of pets and their owners, with cover art by Ross Bleckner. At just $25, this calendar makes for a charming and thoughtful gift – as it benefits the animals at the ARF Adoption Center in Wainscott.

“With the holidays here, the ARF Pet Calendar makes for a great gift…a gift that gives back, to the animals,” noted Jamie Berger of the ARF of the Hamptons. “It’s another way to support ARF’s mission and we are thrilled with this year’s cover art by artist Ross Bleckner.”

Now in its 12th anniversary edition, proceeds from the calendar directly support the cats and dogs that reside at the ARF Adoption Center in Wainscott until they find their forever home. More than 150 cats, kittens, puppies and dogs currently call ARF home for the time being, and several of the Adoption Center residents even made their modeling debut in the calendar.

Cover artist Ross Bleckner was born in 1949 in New York City and grew up in Hewlett Harbor, New York. Bleckner now calls New York City home. The Responsive Eye exhibit – the first art exhibition Bleckner had ever been to – left a lasting impact on the artist, who while attending New York University studied with Sol LeWitt and Chuck Close. Bleckner graduated with a B.A. in 1971 and continued his studies, earning an M.F.A. from the California Institute of the Arts in 1973. Currently, his works focus on change, loss and memory, and he is known for addressing the subject of AIDS. He “uses symbolic imagery rather than direct representation, and his work is visually elusive, with forms that constantly change focus.”

The ARF Pet Calendar is available online, at the Adoption Center (91 Daniels Hole Road, Wainscott), the ARF Thrift Shop (17 Poxabogue Lane, Sagaponack), as well as at other fine retail shops throughout the Hamptons.

To purchase your calendar, visit www.arfhamptons.org.