Make Art Not War
[Not a valid template]Works shown above by: Margaret Roleke, Austin Siegert, Allan Dudek, Gerald Saladyga, Ernst Weber, Michelle Beaulieu, Jack Tom, Suzanne Kachmar, Elizabeth White, Jay Misencik and Marjorie Small
Art Exhibit Sept. 21-Oct. 18, 2012
Φ Artists’ Reception at City Lights 5:30-8:30 p.m.
Φ Artists for Peace Celebration 5-7:30 at McLevy Green: Music by the Deecken Brothers, Poetry Open Mic
Φ Menu Specials at Star of Istanbul Turkish Restaurant, next to City Lights Gallery.
THE HEALING POWER OF POETRY, Workshop and Open Mic Reading: Tuesday, Oct. 9 6:30-9:30 p.m. facilitated by teaching poet, Reggie Marra, suggested donation $5 RSVP: (203) 334-7748, clgallerybpt@gmail.com
View the work of 50 artists making art against violence. Event produced with creative input from the Wolrd Artists Network and Mia Lipstick.
Participating artists: Herold Alvares, Corina Alvarezdelugo, Lana Andrade, Lynne Arrovas, Aisha Nailah, Sketch Aused, Michelle Beaulieu, Jeff Becker, Nick Benson, Nina Bentley, Matt Chop, Heidi Lewis Coleman, Penny Cook, Claribel Correano, Vincent Dion, Allan Dudek, Camille Eskell, Joan Fitzsimmons, Cliff Furnald, Suhbashis Ghosh, Tristan Griffin, Greg Grippo, Laura Tringali Holmes, Gerald Joyce, Suzanne Kachmar, Unger Kalla, Patrick Kennedy, Jennifer Kratky Koenig, John Kulukundis, Julia Rose Liptak, Inna Linov, Reggie Marra, Jay Misencik, Brec Morgan, Jaimee Moxham, Jessica Nemergut, Richard Patton IV, Saba Quarishi, Michael Quirk, Yolanda Vasquez-Pterocelli, Colleen Reilly-Rees, Margaret Roleke, Gerald Saladyga, Tom Savard, Rebecca Schwartz, Joan Shapiro, Neil Shaw, Marjorie Small, Vanessa Strubbe, Jack Tom, Miranda Updike, Michele Utley Voigt, Ernst Weber, Dayne D. Wenzel, Elizabeth White, Francesca Winfiled, Mary Witkowski, Brian Xavier, Helen Zajkowski
Detail of art by Gerald Saladyga
WHY: Acts of war and violence happen globally, locally, domestically, personally. This exhibit invited artists to share their expression as a counterpoint to the violence occurring daily and art forms glorifying violence: movies, television, video games, etc. With the intention of maintaining objectivity, City Lights presents the work of 50 artists encouraging viewers to think, heal and reflect on the question: With all the advances in science, culture and technology, why has man not learned how to manage aggression? Views expressed are those of the individual artists.
The title Make Art Not War somewhat nostalgically reflects back to a time when the once young idealistic baby boomers protested the Vietnam War and promoted the message of Peace and Love. For most of them, war and acts of violence were remote events that happened on foreign soil or in neighborhoods of social unrest. Now images of war, precautions of homeland security, acts of terror frequently, invade our sense of well-being along with the recent growing statistics of random violence in neighborhoods and places where people congregate. Society at large is at risk from the fallout of war that returning soldiers bring home in the form of behaviors caused by Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome.
Realizing that protecting the ones we love at times requires aggression, what would the world be like if enemies chose to pick up a brush or another art-making tool to work out their anger or disagreements? Certainly there would be many whose lives and limbs would be spared the current rash of violence throughout our country and the never ending wars around the world. Friends, families and contemporaries would marvel at the expressions created instead of sustaining the pain of fatal tragedy.