Postscript III: Last day of the International Day of Peace Art Show

The group art exhibit--What Does Peace Look like?--ends today.  As I mentioned in previous posts, for a variety of reasons, this was a challenging show to organize. It ran through the month of September at the San Geronimo Valley Community Center galleries and in conjunction with our festival during the International Day of Peace.

Here are a few remaining highlights.

A young man named Alejandro Lopez created this mask, How the Outsider Feels on the Inside as part of a high school project.

 
(Click to enlarge)

                                                   The inside of the mask

Here's a close up of some of the poems and images

And a few other pieces:

                                 (Peace wish tree inspired by Yoko Ono)

                                    "Compassion" by Justine Tot Tatarsky
                                   ( Low fire glazes on terra-cotta tiles)

Here's the complete tale, The Moon Looked Down, by Helen Webber

Artists who participated inthe show were: Alexandra Adu, Jeffrey Beauchamp, Veronica Buros Kleinberg, Donn DeAngelo, Gaetano De Felice, Art Holman (1926-2015), Michel Kotski, Laura Kadjan Cronin, Dahlia Kamesar, Richard & Judith Selby Lang, Alejandro Lopez, Anne McClain, Sam Parry, Molly Rea, Larry Rippee, Sharon Skolnick-Bagnoli, Helen Strang, Tot Tatarsky, Jean-A Warner and Helen Webber. 



For special assistance my thanks to:
Helen Webber and Artists for Peace, Douglas Mundo & the Canal Welcome Center, Alejandro Lopez & the students and teachers of San Rafael High School, Insight Out/ Prison Yoga Project, Shannon, Peter Groat, Sam Parry, O'Donnells Fairfax Nursery, Ted Wright, and of course, Molly Rea.

Postscript II: International Day of Peace Art Show

Here's some more work from the International Day of Peace exhibit: What Does Peace Look Like? held at the San Geronimo Valley Community Center (For more on this event see posts for Sept. 18, 20 and 23).

The above piece is by Richard Lang and Judith Selby Lang,  titled The True Cost of Plastic

Richard and Judith explain:

For the International Day of Peace we turned our attention to a somber bit of plastic jetsam that is washing up onto Kehoe Beach in the Point Reyes National Seashore. Through the years we have amassed quite a collection of toy soldiers plus Cowboys & Indians, space-men, and pirates that chronicle the history of world conflicts. To date, we have well over 200 from Japan, Korea, China, and from gutters from our San Francisco Bay Area neighborhood.  The miniature helmets and weapons make it clear that war is our subtext and whether it is the internal disagreements of life’s decision-making or real war, these little figures are a way for the psyche to play; to imagine the impact of combat.

Wracked by a long life at sea, some of the faces are gnarled, chewed on, abraded by the sand. When we looked into their tiny faces we were amazed by their expressions. Each soldier is a poignant reminder of the ravages of war and the extremes to which nations will go to preserve dominion over the petrochemical world. Is plastic still cheap when the cost of war is added to the calculation?

For more on the work of Richard and Judith Selby Lang you can check out:

http://www.beachplastic.com/

and this video:

https://vimeo.com/18718794

Postscript: International Day of Peace Art Show

On September 20th the San Geronimo Valley Community Center hosted a very special event—The International Peace Day Festival.

"Full Moon Stories" by Justine Tot Tatarsky

(Low fire glazes on terra-cotta tiles)

U.N. International Day of Peace is a global event and the Center participated with an outdoor concert, guest speakers and a group art show.

The art exhibit What Does Peace Look Like? that I organized runs through the end of the month of September.

When we initially conceived of the art exhibit component of the festival it sounded simple enough to me---after all everybody seems to want peace. But after I began pursuing the subject (and the artists for the show) I found it more challenging than I would ever have anticipated.

When I first mentioned the theme of the show to one artist –I found that we were suddenly talking about the holocaust.  Artists offered up various atrocities and human mayhem.  Lots of anti-war imagery. Or conversely began conjuring up “peaceful” images such as rainbows, sunsets and unicorns (honest).

I kept thinking there’s got to be a middle ground—something in between piles of corpses and psilocybin-induced visions of unicorns.

I began to realize that although everyone wants peace (“All We Are Saying is Give Peace a Chance”)—it turns out that it’s very difficult to describe, or envision --what exactly ‘peace’ looks like.  Which lead to the title of the show.

I think this is important; I’m not sure you can obtain something that you can’t envision.

I think the use of the term 'peace' may be a problem.  'Peace' for most people seems to merely mean hiatus from war.  If that’s the case then peace can only be achieved by being lucky enough to live where war isn’t happening. Hopefully, there is something one can do to create peaceful outcomes.

I began to realize that words that could be valuable concept guidelines for artists were needed; Words like tolerance, respect, compassion, reconciliation, communication, equality, equity, kindness, goodwill; building peace, creating food and shelter and inner peace.

San Quentin inmates practicing meditation and yoga

(Photos courtesy of Insight/Out and Prison Yoga Project)

These words seem to be, in part, the quality and conditions that lead to peace. And that's the exhibit I wanted to creatively depict.  I think the prompts helped the artists come up with different ideas other than the knee-jerk anti-war images.

My hope is that this exhibit at least encourages a dialogue, if not providing a few answers, to that question.

Ironically, now that the show is up I feel like I’m truly ready to begin curating a show entitled What Does Peace Look Like?


Here's a few shots from the International Day of Peace Festival:

M.C. Wavy Gravy

Our festival was part of a global online broadcast. Scenes from our San Geronimo festival were sandwiched in between other peace events around the planet. 

Roger McNamee, band leader of Moonalice, holding up the new Wes Wilson poster.

 For more on The International Day of Peace see: www.unityfoundation.org

New Poster by Legendary Artist Wes Wilson

The International Day of Peace Festival at the San Geronimo Valley Community Center has the honor of presenting a new poster by legendary artist Wes Wilson.

The band Moonalice enlisted Wilson, often hailed as the father of the 1960’s rock concert poster and creator of the so-called 'psychedelic' lettering font to design a new poster (probably his first in many years I suspect) for this upcoming event.

If you happen to be in Marin county on Sunday you can attend the festival for free.

The Wes Wilson poster will be distributed to attendees for free as well.

San Geronimo Valley Community Center
6350 Sir Francis Drake Blvd.
San Geronimo, Ca 94963
www.sgvcc.org

More on the festival see: unityfoundation.org

The International Day of Peace Festival

This Sunday, September 20th, in conjunction with the International Day of Peace and the Unity Foundation, the San Geronimo Valley Community Center is hosting The International Day of Peace Festival with live music by Moonalice, The Doobie Decibel System and Knights of Saturn.
There will be guest speakers, activities and food. The festival is free.

The legendary Wavy Gravy will M.C. 

We’re also presenting an art show--What Does Peace Look Like? 

(Photo courtesy Insight Out/ Prison Yoga Project)

This is a  group art exhibit showcasing works by local artists on the subject of “peace”-- tolerance, respect, compassion, reconciliation, justice, equity, communication, equality, kindness; peace-building activities, creating food and shelter and inner peace.

Justine Tot Tatarsky

Artists include Alexandra Adu, Jeffrey Beauchamp, Veronica Buros Kleinberg, Donn DeAngelo, Gaetano De Felice, Art Holman (1926-2015), Michel Kotski, Laura Kadjan Cronin, Dahlia Kamesar, Richard & Judith Selby Lang, Alejandro Lopez, Anne McClain, Sam Parry, Molly Rea, Larry Rippee, Helen Strang, Tot Tatarsky, JeanA Warner and Helen Weber.

Here are a few pieces form the show:

"I Have a Dream" by Helen Strang

  Helen Weber's "The Moon Looked Down".  One of six sequential paintings

Sam Parry's great paper sculpture of the Dalai Lama

A photograph by Donn DeAngelo

Jeffrey Beuachamp

Molly's "Canary in a Cold Mind"

Art Holman (1926-2015)

Donn DeAngelo's "What is Peace"
(Photo taken at Green Gulch Zen Center)

by Judith Selby Lang

The UN has declared this as a day devoted to strengthening the ideals of peace, both within and among all nations and peoples.

The theme of this year’s commemoration is “Partnerships for Peace – Dignity for All” which aims to highlight the importance of all segments of society to work together to strive for peace.

For more info see:  www.unityfoundation.org

For more on the International Day of Peace Festival go to: www.sgvcc.org