Below is a letter that I got this morning
Jan. 5th, 2006, right after an e mail request for a reference from
Lincoln Center regarding the MOCA show sponsored by Visual Arts
League.
Thirty seven artists were in this show.
Enter the MOCA show at UMDNJ
2004 (the second digital show)
Visual Arts League does allot of cool, nice
stuff making things happen for diverse artists and bridging to a
larger community through projects involving people of all kinds,
randomly.
PIPEDREAMS
An idea took shape when we put together
show after show after show
Digital artists are having a far reaching
impact on people which spills over every which way.
That shouldn't be capped.
Good electricity should be encouraged
free
flowing.
We sponsored the MOCA show wishing to
open doors of communication.
We don't own peoples creativity.
Working creatively with each other is not
like owning a stable of horses..
run for the money....
When I plant sunflower seeds it is wonderful
to see what pops up..
some are robust and grow to be 18 ft high!!!
When we sponsored 120 artists from Italy and
France we actually got all the contact info months in advance.
The two French men were filled with honest
and positive enthusiasm.
But everybody almost all speaks and reads
French and not English!!
Irony!
Tower of Babele?
There is a built in destruct feature in human
relationships..
None the less, the two French men, father and
son, who orchestrated the show raised
$ 40 from each of the 120 artists..
They paid for their show and even set us ahead..
enabling us to continue on helping others
creatively.
No pulling teeth to do this.
It was an attitude...
attitude is everything
The French / Italian show
spilled over to support the MOCA show.
There's the relationship....
where the funding came from.
Maxine Gantois,
the wall climber!
The Interpreter!
He was 23 years old......and you know what happened..
our
newspaper wouldn't come down to look at the show.....they gave
it a dry paragraph.
To fight stupidity and hypocrisy we need to
leap obstacles and come together world wide in support of excellence
and new ideas, supporting each other in good will.
Creating together is no place for jealousy
and hoarding.
Our local newspaper recently did a two page
spread on dead French artists because the
local museum pulled it off..
This is not to knock what the museum did..
but
to object that great things are done throughout our communities and go
unsung..
and reported, if reported at all,
not in reflection of what
was done..
but who is doing it
and what their political position is with respect to the newspaper.
Our local arts commission does not offer any
links to local arts groups.
Neither does the museum or adjoining town web
sites.
One gets the impression logging onto these
sites that nothing exciting is going on at all.
Pay attention to links pages..
our links to
each other..
can be arteries..
ways we can increase the fluidity of good
electricity..
tending a garden..
paying careful attention to
detail..
weeding when needed!
Links pages can be forgotten areas
or
jumping points
Arts groups themselves struggle to be
technically proficient as free help is always in a state of flux
and
a group that has it together
is kept in the closet as much as can be
managed as
the
rent must be covered and other expenses..
don't want to steer the money to other
avenues...
don't risk..
but risk we must!
( Way below is a letter from
Daniela Mendelson regarding a show of children's art
which was at University of
Medicine and Dentistry-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Piscataway,
NJ. during Dec. and Jan. 2006. )
So what does the MOCA show have to do with
the 3Americas Show, the ARTWORKS show and also the Fench & Italian
Show?
We are really all in this together.
design by Ansgard Thomson
What kind of world do we want it to be?
We all have limited time to create together
and some less than others.
********************************************************************
ARTWORKS will be at The CORK Gallery, Lincoln Center
this September, 2006
I received your e-mail from Judy Wray
regarding the exhibit we would love to do in the Cork gallery from
9/14-9/26. I would be happy to give you some background on our
organization.
ArtWorks was inspired
by the life of my cousin, Naomi Cohain, who passed away at the age
of 15 from bone cancer. Naomi was an incredibly artistic young woman
who used art throughout her illness as a way of expressing herself
and coping with her illness.
ArtWorks is dedicated to the establishment
and support of creative and performing art exhibitions, titled
Express
Yourself, that feature the works of children and young adults
with chronic and life-threatening illnesses. ArtWorks recognizes the
need these children and their siblings have to express their
innermost thoughts and feelings, create an escape from the reality
of their current situation and allow others to enter their hearts
and minds. ArtWorks is ultimately committed to raising the
necessary funds to implement creative art therapy programs in
hospitals that are financially unable to support them.
ArtWorks has
successfully launched its Express Yourself exhibitions in NY &
NJ giving hundreds children from dozens of participating healthcare
facilities the opportunity to express themselves through paintings,
drawings, music, song, dance and poetry. These exhibits have created a
supportive environment where children are honored for their courage
and celebrated for sharing their life experiences. Express Yourself
has ultimately provided our participants with the unique experience of
sharing their journey with friends, family and guests through a
creative and therapeutic medium. It has given them something to work
towards and look forward to during their many months of preparation.
In a continued
effort to prioritize outreach, ArtWorks has successfully built
relationships both inside and outside the healthcare community. In
order to sustain the longevity of the Express Yourself
exhibitions, ArtWorks sponsors a traveling art show, displaying a
sampling of artwork in gallery spaces within each participating
healthcare facility. ArtWorks also extends the range of these healing
exhibitions into local art galleries including Montclair State
University, The Rush Arts Gallery-NYC and Robert Wood Johnson School
of Medicine. This increased exposure is geared toward educating the
greater community by demonstrating the value of the arts as essential
to the healing process.
ArtWorks would be
thrilled to have the opportunity to exhibit our kids' artwork at the
Cork Gallery in Lincoln Center.
I look forward to hearing from you!
Many Thanks,
Daniela Mendelsohn
Daniela Mendelsohn
Executive Director
ArtWorks, The Naomi Cohain Foundation
15 Engle Street, Suite 100B
Englewood, NJ 07631
Purchase ArtWorks Greeting Cards at
www.artworksfoundation.org
ARTWORKS will be at The
CORK Gallery, Lincoln Center this September, 2006
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