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Survivors Art Foundation

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Survivors Art Foundation nominated for Computerworld Smithsonian Award
Washington, D.C. (February 1, 2000)

Survivors Art Foundation’s Internet Art Gallery will become part of the Permanent Research Collection on Information Technology at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History on Monday, April 3rd when the 2000 Information Technology Innovation Collection is formally presented to the Institution.
“The Laureates in this year’s Collection are utilizing new information age tools to extend the benefits of technology to society,” said Dan Morrow, Executive Director of the Computerworld Smithsonian Awards Program.
Nominated by Norio Niwa, President and Chief Executive Officer of Epson America, Inc., in the Media, Arts & Entertainment category, Survivors Art Foundation’s work is part of a collection that includes over 440 of the year’s most innovative applications of technology from 38 states and 21 countries. At Survivors Art Foundation, an internet art gallery provides free space for trauma survivors with mental or physical disabilities to display and sell their artwork, poetry, and music. Survivors Art Foundation is a central resource offering information on agencies to aid in healing, increase self-esteem, employment skills, and reduce isolation.
“The primary source material submitted by Survivors Art Foundation will enrich the National Museum of American History’s growing collection on the history of information technology, and contribute significantly to the museum’s on-going efforts to chronicle the Information Age,” said Spencer R. Crew, Director of the National Museum of American History. The museum is part of the Smithsonian Institution, founded in 1846, which is a complex of 16 museums, 7 research facilities and the National Zoo.
Case Studies from the 2000 Computerworld Smithsonian Collection will be available at http://innovate.si.edu, the official Internet Site of the Computerworld Smithsonian Program, where the entire collection is available to scholars, researchers and the general public worldwide. Each year, the Computerworld Smithsonian Chairmen’s Committee nominates individuals who use information technology to improve society for inclusion in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History’s IT Innovation Collection.
Founded in 1988, the Computerworld Smithsonian Program searches for and recognizes individuals who have demonstrated vision and leadership as they strive to use information technology in innovative ways across ten categories: Business and Related Services; Education and Academia; Environment, Energy and Agriculture; Finance, Insurance and Real Estate; Government and Non-Profit Organizations; Manufacturing; Media, Arts and Entertainment; Medicine; Science; and Transportation. For further information please contact: Shahaeda Abbas/Simone Ross Computerworld Smithsonian Awards 617.357.1977, Valeska Hilbig/Melinda Machado National Museum of American History 202.357.3129

SAF Contact Information:
Survivors Art Foundation, PO Box 383, Westhampton, NY 11977
Email:
[email protected]



FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Survivors Art Foundation Fall 1999 & Winter 2000 Exhibition Schedule

1.The USArtists Exhibition will be featuring Ten Hand-Painted Silk Panels, from the Survivors Art Foundation Kosovo Refugees Out-Reach Project. The USArtists Exhibition will take place on October 22, 23, and 24th, 1999 at the 33rd street Armory, Philadelphia, PA.

2. The Children’s “Visions of the New Millennium” Exhibition, featuring the Survivors Art Foundation Kosovo Refugee Out-Reach Project “Flight to Freedom Mobile,” will be shown in the lobby of the United Nations, December 15 through February 2000. The Mobile will be a photographic essay of the children who participated in the project, as well as other children’s works from SAF’s Safe Kids Web site. The exhibition is in collaboration with the United Nations and the International Paint Pals Organization.

3. The next Eastern Long Island exhibition is scheduled at the Southampton Cultural Center during the last week in March 2000, in honor of Women’s History Month. Last years theme was “Birth;” this year’s theme will be “Women and Children of the New Millennium.” The Kosovo works will be on exhibit along with works from survivors locally and worldwide. SAF will additionally be involving local schools in an essay contest and weekday tours to view the exhibition. There is an open call to all survivor artists worldwide to participate.

4. Survivors Art Foundation will be joining the United Nations Development Fund for Women’s (UNIFEM) Exhibition in the lobby of the United Nations, June 2000. Artworks include the Kosovo silk panels, created by young adults ages 13 to 22 years, as well as other Female survivors works from SAF’s participating artists. The exhibition will mark the progress of Women from around the world.

SAF Outreach Project Coordinator, Marieitta Dantonio designed the Inter-Active Art Project for both the Kosovo Refugees and US Soldiers, in June 1999, at Fort Dix, NJ. The project was in collaboration with Survivors Art Foundation, the United States Army Arts and Crafts Department, the Department of Human Services and The American Red Cross. SAF worked with different age groups of refugees ranging from small children to young adults. The experience was joyful and unforgettable for all involved. The entire event produced 38 pieces of children’s art configured into an enormous mobile, and ten hand-painted silk masterpieces created by young adults.

Contact Information:
Survivors Art Foundation, PO Box 383, Westhampton, NY 11977
Email:
[email protected]


Archived

Survivors Art Foundation Announces Summer Events

1. SAF Conducts Art Out-Reach Program with Kosovo Refugees at Fort Dix, NJ

Survivors Art Foundation conducted a Mixed-Media Art Program with the Kosovo refugees, at Fort Dix, New Jersey, Monday June 28th through Thursday July 1st, 1999. The project was collaboration with Survivors Art Foundation, the United States Army Arts and Crafts Department, the Department of Human Services and The American Red Cross.

The theme of the piece is “Flight to Freedom” said SAF Outreach Project Coordinator, Marieitta Dantonio. She designed an Inter-Active Art Project for Kosovo refugees and US soldiers to work on together. SAF worked with different age groups of refugees ranging from small children to adults. The experience was joyful and unforgettable for all involved. The entire event produced 38 circular children’s pieces of art, and 10 enormous silk masterpieces created by adults.

The Kosovo refugees were each given a Polaroid snap shot of themselves and their completed artwork. This was the first time that many of the children had ever seen an instant photograph of themselves, and were delighted with the gift.

The project consists of hand painted images of the survivor’s own impressions on silk. The finished pieces will be displayed accordingly, and first exhibited at the SAF Hofstra University Multi-Media Art Exhibition, August 14th. After the premiere exhibit the pieces will tour with SAF National Exhibitions and will be digitally reproduced on the Survivors Art Foundation Internet Art Gallery.

The silk fabric was generously donated by Arty’s USA Corporation. Dekart Inc. provided the paint, the Silver Brush Corporation, and Donald Fitzgerald.

2. The Survivors Art Foundation (SAF), an International Non-Profit Organization dedicated to encouraging healing through the arts, has been selected by the Lilith Fair to provide attendees at the Lilith Fairs with an Interactive Arts Program. This will be the last year that the all-female performer concert, the Lilith Fair, will be touring the US.

Lilith will be providing SAF with 20 x 20 tent, tables + chairs in the fair area. SAF will work with all age groups attending the concert on the commemorative “Lilith Fair Hearts and Hands Tapestry” that will later be displayed on the Lilith Fair and SAF websites. The final installation presentation will tour regionally with the SAF’s Multi-Media Art Exhibitions.

* Hartford, CT: (Wednesday. Aug. 4th)
* Jones Beach, NY (Friday Aug. 6th)
* Denver, Colorado on 2 days (Saturday Aug. 28th and Sunday Aug. 29th)

The commemorative “Lilith Fair Hearts and Hands Tapestry”, weaving people, their thoughts, sentiments and the times along with the missions of Survivors Art Foundation, and the Lilith Fairs initiatives. Integrating photographs of the concertgoers, and other aspects of the Lilith Fair into the tapestry along with the artwork.

The Tapestry will involve concert attendees from the various Lilith fairs painting and drawing their hands, hearts, signatures, impressions and feelings about the event, on squares of material. These will then be mounted on two-sided wood panels. The final interactive piece will give the illusion of walking through a maze. Music and photographs from the Fair will also be incorporated into the final installation presentation.

3. Survivors Art Foundation in collaboration with the Acoustic Neuroma Association, will be co-sponsoring the “Head for Healing Seminar”, A Multi-Media Arts Exhibition

Hosted by the Hofstra Museum at Hofstra University August 14th,1999. Survivors Art Foundation will provide a two-floor Art Exhibition, a slide presentation, lecture and dance therapy workshop. Including Multi-Media Performance Pieces by the Heah Choi Korean Dance Troupe and an African Dance and Drumming Group. Bojana, a young Bosnian girl who is being sponsored by the Red Cross at Rutgers University, will be giving a poetry reading of her work The Acoustic Neuroma Association will be providing other Clinicians and lecturers at this Regional Conference.

A very special exhibition area will be devoted to the recently created, “Flight to Freedom” Kosovo refugee Silk Art Project.


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Candyce Brokaw, 516-653-8105
or Meryl Spiegel, 516-653-5088

Premier Exhibit And U.N Conference by SAF

“Birth,” the first multimedia art show of the new Survivor’s Art Foundation (SAF) premiered on March 19-21 at the Southampton Cultural Center. Featuring the work of more than 40 artists, both local and international, “Birth” focused on the healing power of art in all forms from painting, sculpture, and photography to dance, poetry and computer arts.

“We chose “Birth” as the theme of our first exhibit, aside from our Web Art Gallery, to celebrate the founding of our organization and because March is Women’s History Month as well as the start of spring. Birth is also uplifting. It symbolizes the positive power of healing through art,” said Candyce Brokaw, the executive director of SAF.
The featured member artists, all survivors of various physical and emotional traumas, represented a wide array of artistic talent. Life-size bronze sculptures by Oxana, a burn victim from Brazil; vivid stained glass by Judy Castelli of East Hampton, who has overcome sexual abuse; massive acrylic canvases reaffirming life, by […] of Sea Cliff, who has recovered from a brain tumor; landscape watercolors of the East End by Joan Berglund, a leukemia survivor; oil and acrylic sculptural paintings by Lucille Leggio of East Quogue, who has survived a pedestrian accident; excerpts from a book by Peter Swet of Westhampton about his ordeal with a brain injury; and poetry from Bojana about living through the war in Bosnia, are examples of the depth of work that was on display. The poetry of Dr. Suzanne Stutman, a Penn State University professor and president of SAF’s advisory board, was displayed on large panels recently exhibited at a United Nations conference, “The Elimination of Violence against Women.”

Also in March, The Survivor’s Art Foundation co-sponsored a U.N. Conference entitled ‘New Millennium Strategies For Women’s Health And Human Rights At The Workplace” with renown groups such as The Permanent Mission of Bangladesh to the United Nations and The International Health Awareness Network (IHAN).

Founded in 1997, SAF is a Long Island, East End based not-for-profit foundation, providing an international support/resource network for survivors of trauma, who are using the arts as a tool for healing. With members from 10 countries and 40 states, the organization offers them worldwide exposure on its Internet Web Gallery where they can express, exhibit and eventually sell their work directly to the public.
This program is made possible in part with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts. In Suffolk County, the decentralization program is administered by the Huntington Arts Council, Inc. Those interested are invited to join the Foundation. All media are welcome, including painting, sculpture, literature, photography, film/video, crafts, theater, music, dance and mixed media. Membership is free, no questions asked. Submission guidelines: send slides, manuscripts, audio/visual tapes or .JPG format digital disc for inclusion on the web gallery. Please do not send originals. We regret that submissions cannot be returned, but will be filed in our active archives.

E-mail: [email protected]
Web Site:
https://www.survivorsartfoundation.org
Mail: Survivors Art Foundation, P.O. Box 383, Westhampton, NY 11977

See also: SAF In the News


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Candyce Brokaw, 516-653-8105
Date: November 1998

POETRY AT THE UNITED NATIONS BY SURVIVORS ART FOUNDATION BOARD MEMBER

At the United Nations, Dr. Suzanne Stutman, the newly appointed president of the Survivors Art Foundation advisory board, will be privileged to display a group of her poems as part of an exhibit commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights.

A professor of English, American Studies and Womens Studies at Penn State University, Dr. Stutman’s poem, ” I, a Woman”, will be read publicly for the first time next March in New York at the IHAN (The International Health Awareness Network) conference on “The Elimination of Violence Against Women,” to be held at the United Nations March 8, 1999. More info about this event will be forthcoming.

The ten-day exhibit, running from November 24 thru December 10, will feature six poems translated into five languages, Spanish, French, Russian, German, and Chinese. It will be mounted at the U.N. Visitors Entrance. Also, on the opening day of the show, a concert, “A World Free from Violence,” and readings sponsored by UNIFEM will celebrate the event.

Another prestigious individual, Dr. Sorosh Roshan, the president of the International Health Awareness Network (IHAN), has joined SAFs advisory board this month. Her organization will be co-sponsoring this event.

A second SAF happening this month, on the East End of Long Island, is “Crossings,” a display of sculptures and drawings by board member Ingrid Madera, the foundation’s member/art gallery liaison. At Christy’s Gallery in Sag Harbor, it will run from November 7 thru December 6.

Founded this year, SAF is an international support/resource network for any survivor of a traumatic, life-altering event who is using art, in any form, as a tool for recovery. With members from nine countries and 31 states, the organization offers them worldwide exposure on its Internet Web Gallery where they can express, exhibit and eventually sell their work directly to the public.

SAF also plans to mount regional member exhibitions, promote members artwork through books and publications and offer outreach programs bringing artistic training to schools, libraries and local groups. To encourage healing through the arts, SAF also hopes to provide scholarships for talented survivors who wish to study or pursue an artistic career.

Those interested in art as well as practicing artists are therefore invited to join the Foundation, free of charge, no questions asked. All media are welcome, including painting, sculpture, literature, photography, film/video, crafts, theater, music, dance and mixed media.

Submission guidelines, send slides, manuscripts, audio/video tapes or .JPG format digital disc for inclusion on the Web Gallery. Please do not send originals. We regret that submissions cannot be returned, but will be filed in our active archives.


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 13, 1998

Contact: Meryl Spiegel (516) 653-5088

NEW ARTS FOUNDATION CALLING FOR CANCER SURVIVORS

In conjunction with Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the newly established Survivors Art Foundation is reaching out to cancer survivors. Founded this year, a group of Long Island artists and professional women have created an international support/resource network for any survivor, man, woman, or child, who is utilizing art, in any form, as a tool recovering from a traumatic, life-altering event, experience or circumstance. With members from nine countries and 31 states to date, who have joined SAF free of charge, several cancer victims have already discovered the unique organization—offering them worldwide exposure on its Internet web gallery where members can express, exhibit and eventually sell their art directly to the public.

Several survivors recovering from a range of cancers have already discovered the benefits of SAFE. Joan Berglund, a Southampton watercolorist who was diagnosed with leukemia in 1995, recently joined the foundation and immediately mounted her landscapes on the web gallery. After undergoing chemotherapy and acupuncture treatment three years ago, she has been very fortunate to be cancer-free. Due to her illness, the painter said, “I see things more clearly now, especially color and appreciate what life has to offer me as an artist.”

In addition to the gallery, the organizations plans to mount regional member exhibitions, promote member‚s work through books and publications and offer outreach programs bringing artistic training to schools, libraries and local groups. Encourage healing through the arts, SAFE also hopes to provide scholarships for talented survivors who wish to study or pursue a career in art.

Those merely interested in art as well as practicing artists are therefore invited to join the Foundation. All media are welcome, including painting, sculpture, literature, photography, film/video, crafts, theater, music, dance and mixed media. Membership is free, no questions asked.

Submission guidelines: send slides, manuscripts, audio/visual tapes or JPG format digital disc for inclusion on the web gallery. Please do not send originals. We regret that submissions cannot be returned, but will be filed in our active archives.

Mailing Address:
Survivors Art Foundation
P.O. Box 383
Westhampton, NY 11977


First Art Foundation for Trauma Survivors Recruiting Members

Spreading the word that “art heals,” the first arts organization for trauma survivors has been established on the East End of Long Island. Launched in Westhampton by a group of artists and professional women, Survivors Art Foundation, Inc. is a not-for-profit corporation currently conducting a nationwide search for visual and performing artists who are utilizing art, in any form, as a tool for recovering from a traumatic experience.

“We are intentionally using a very broad definition of the word ‘survivor’ to include any man, woman or child suffering from PTSD or any trauma related disorder as a result of some life-altering event or circumstance,” explained visual artist Candyce Brokaw, who has spent the last year spearheading the group and was recently named Executive Director of SAF.

Practicing artists and those interested in learning are invited to join the Foundation. All media are to be represented, including painting, sculpture, literature, photography, film/video, crafts, theater, music, dance and mixed media. Membership is free.

The Foundation’s primary goal is to raise funds to enable survivors to practice their craft. Its first project, therefore, is to mount a web gallery on the Internet for members to express, exhibit and eventually sell their art directly to the public.

“I hope to help clear the path of obstacles and to better enable survivors to find the resources to market their particular art skills. I would also like to introduce survivors with limited art backgrounds to new skills and a vehicle to help them process their pain,” explained Ms. Brokaw. Moreover, SAF will launch regional multi-media exhibitions of members’ artwork that will tour the country. SAF’s first show, “Birth,” is being proposed for a March 1999 date to celebrate Women’s History Month at the Southampton Cultural and Civic Center.

“SAF will serve as a support/resource/outreach network that will link survivors and the art world throughout the United States,” said Barbara Hope, President of the Board of Directors. Ms. Hope brings to the organization a plethora of business and arts expertise as the Vice President of New Ventures of Renaissance Entertainment Corporation, a public company producing outdoor theatrical entertainment nationwide.

“Establishing outreach programs at schools, libraries and local organizations is another key component of our mission,” added Ms. Hope, whose background combines business and the arts with social work parameters. Introducing artist-in-residence programs at these venues, SAF will encourage healing through the arts. Scholarships for talented individuals who wish to study or pursue an artistic career are part of SAF’s long term goals.

Our Board of Directors represents a wide range of talents and experience. Ingrid Madera, the Vice President of Art Gallery Liaison, is an internationally known sculptor and visual artist. Meryl Spiegel, the Vice President of Press Relations, is a writer and journalist covering the East End of Long Island for the New York Times and other publications. Margaret Ashe Magestro, the Secretary/Treasurer, is a passionate supporter of the cause, who has an extensive business background. Director of Outreach, Karen Clementi, is a continuing care coordinator of a large alcohol and drug rehabilitation program. Linni Deihl, M.Ed., ADTR, Director of Dance Arts, is a world-renowned educator in the field of movement and dance therapy.

To join Survivors Art Foundation free of charge contact us at one of the addresses below. Artists, mentors, volunteers and benefactors are welcome. Submission guidelines: send slides, manuscripts, audio/visual tapes or .JPG format digital disc for inclusion on the web gallery. Please do not send originals. We regret that submissions cannot be returned, but will be filed in our active archives.

Mailing Address:
Survivors Art Foundation
P.O. Box 383
Westhampton, NY 11977

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