One World Flowers (www.oneworldflowers.org) - supporting sustainable
business practices, human rights compliance, and fair compensation for flower
workers in countries all over the world through Fair Trade flowers.
Budding partnerships
for 2010: Where Peace Lives, P5Y, The
Hub, Transfair USA, and IKV Pax Christi.
Where Peace Lives (wherepeacelives.org)
Creating a dynamic new vocabulary of images through children's
art and peace cards - where the art of peace meets the world.
Peace in 5 Years (p5y.org)
Working together on a bold vision of world peace in five years - peace defined
as safety from politically organized violence.
The Hub (the-hub.net)
Hub Bay Area opens joining Hub Amsterdam, Hub Milan, Hub Berlin and Hubsters
around the world showcasing 'world changing ideas'. A place for
conversation, strategy and celebration of new initiatives for a radically
better world.
TransFair (transfairusa.org)
Fair trade certifier - through Fair Trade Towns "committed to raising awareness
in our fellow community members that every dollar we spend is a powerful
decision, with ramifications that echo across continents, countries,
and communities."
IKV Pax Christi (ikvpaxchristi.org) (vredesweek.nl)
The largest peace organization/movement in the Netherlands - supporting
peace and reconciliation efforts in conflict areas in more than twenty countries
over four continents. Locally- the Seeds of Change festival, VredesWeek
(Peace Week) and other initiatives to serve and broadcast the message
and work of peace.
You
'The ones we've been waiting for.'
Working to spread thoughts of peace worldwide the Valentine Peace Project
aims to highlight global citizenship, promote peace discussion
and education, and celebrate the many faces and meanings of peace and love
in today's connecting world
community. Generate your own involvement or contact info@valentinepeaceproject.orgfor
information. www.valentinepeaceproject.org;
Federico Hewson,
Project Director,
The Valentine Peace Project, telephone:
+ 31 (0)6 16 777 520.
Opening
Night Reception: Saturday, February 13, 2010 from 7-10 pm
The
Avenue 50 Studio is proud to present Body Language, an exhibition
of works by artists who use the human form as story teller.
Judithe Hernandez began her career in the midst of the
turbulent 1960’s as part of the vanguard of Chicano artists. Chicano
art of that generation was about supporting the social-political issues
affecting the Chicano and Mexican immigrant communities. Through
graphic art in protest of the war in Viet Nam, Judithe created banners,
and editorial cartoons. She worked with East Los Angeles youth to
create murals reflective of the times. Judithe continually refines
her mastery of mediums and draws creative inspiration from her cultural
inheritance. The content of her work continues to explore political
and cultural topics while also incorporating personal narrative.
Louie Metz, born in an army hospital in San Juan, Puerto
Rico, moved with his mother to Los Angeles at the age of nine. At
the age of fourteen, Louie and friends, responding to the world around
them, formed Mad Society, a punk band. He received his
B.F.A. from Otis Parsons in 1990. Louie’s subjects reflect an inner
psychological reality. He conveys a classicism that is complex
and straight forward - brutal yet beautiful.
Willie Middlebrook, obsessed with the need to communicate
in an honest and direct manner, uses photography to reflect the ideals
and the integrity of being Black. His work speaks to an African-American
sensibility that is always centered on his community. Willie produces
strong sepia toned images of his people; not necessarily in a positive
light, but always in a true light.
Jose Lozano lived in Juárez, México during
his youth. There he found many of the cultural touchstones that continue
to influence his work today - bad Mexican cinema, fotonovelas,
ghost stories, comic books, and musical genres such as bolero and ranchera. He
creates revealing, yet not always flattering, works about his neighborhood
and its residents - parties, quinceañeras, strip clubs,
weddings, and baby showers. Lozano prefers to work in a series, and focuses
on particular themes and topics. In his series for the Avenue 50
Studio, Lozano focuses, in a wry manner, on the numerous strip clubs scattered
throughout Juárez.
Andrés Montoya utilizes the landscape and figure
as a metaphor for the human condition, exploring personal experiences through
thoughts, dreams, realities, and absurdities. Born in Tegucigalpa,
Honduras, yet growing up in Los Angeles, Montoya’s bi-cultural reality
merged and blended, transforming his truth into patterns of subdued color
and reflective composition.
For
our first fundraiser of the year, the Avenue 50 Studio asked 50 artists to
paint, decorate or write poems on hearts that will sell in silent auction with
opening bids of $100 each. The artist of each heart will not be identified
during the exhibit. The hearts, of four distinct designs, are already
formed from composite wood, approximately 8" x 9" and ready-to-hang. We
would hope that you will join us in this special event.
Participating
artists include:
Lalo
Alcaraz, Katrina Alexy, Guillermo Bejerano, Kay Brown, Yrneh Brown, Nancy
Bucanan, Mita Cuaron, Raoul De la Sota, Diane Destiny, Kiki Edder, Margaret
Garcia, Graham Goddard, Pat Gomez, Yolanda Gonzalez, Lauren Gonzalez, Frank
Gutierrez, Gerald Hacer, Lucy Hagopian, Cidne Hart, Kevin Hass, Amy Inouye,
Jose Lopes, Robert Lowden, Jose Lozano, Maja, Poli Marichal, Kathy
Mas-Gallegos, Amyliah Mejia, Andrés E. Montoya, Beth Peterson,
Ester Petschar, CCH Pounder, Stuart Rapeport, Sonia Romero, Nancy Romero,
Abel Salas, Peter Shire, Suzanne Siegel, Rachel Siegel, Joe Sims, Annie Sperling,
Stormie, Cindy Suriyani, Howard Swerdloff, John Paul Thornton, Richard Turner,
Sergio Vasquez, Gisel Vincent-Osuna, Lemont Westmoreland, Mike
Yanagita, Val Zavala
Opening
Night Reception: Saturday, February 13, 2010 from 7-10 pm