7.18.16 Countering Despair

Finding hope, love, and encouragement to counter the despair so prevalent in our media.

Just home from the opening of Karen's and my "Vision: An Artist's Perspective" and still processing the candid and touching stories shared by the artists about their works and motivations and personal experiences behind them.And now, I am writing my essay for our upcoming "Social Justice: It Happens to One, It Happens to All" exhibition.

I am immersed in the power of art, all of the positivity, the community, the sharing of stories, the honesty, the earnestness, the compassion, the empathy, the call to action. In today's research, I found again the blog conversation that several of our delegates to the China project, "Half the Sky: Intersections in Social Practice Art", had as part of our participating in Open Engagement 2015. Thank you again Kay Kang, Mido Lee, Neda Moridpour, Sandra Mueller, Brenda Oelbaum, Priscilla Otani and Christine Giancola for that conversation and the reminder that action, even small steps, can lead us to a better world.

More info about Vision: https://www.gutfreundcornettart.com/vision-an-artists-perspective-2016.html
Link to Open Engagement blog: http://openengagement.info/international-caucus-of-the-womens-caucus-for-art/?fbclid=IwAR0wYiqFeYINWaz6T9Kb9NA38R8BPAz9W0iWycG25FPyLPhQT9YIQS57I58

Vision: An Artist's Perspective
​Presented by Gutfreund Cornett Art with UniteWomen.org
July 5 - 29, 2016
Guest Jurors: Suzanne Gray of Seager Gray Gallery and Michelle Nye of SFMOMA's Artists Gallery
Venue: Kaleid Gallery, 88 South Fourth Street, downtown San Jose, California
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Artists with works in the gallery:
Diyar Al Jazzi, Tara Booth, Nellien Brewer, Sara Cole, Spooky Boobs Collective, Katherine Collins, Lynn Dau,  Emily Dvorin, Beth Fein, Lindsay Garcia, Yolanda Guerra, J Howard, Blond Jenny, Jennifer Jones, Joanna L. Kao, Marky Kauffmann, Eileen Kressel, Beth Lakamp, Mido Lee, Rebecca Levine, Kathryn McDonnell, Victoria Helena Mihatovic, Beverly Mills, Sarah Nguyen, Min Kim Park, Amy Pleasant, Michele Poindexter, Remedios Rapoport, Cherie Redlinger, Caren Helene Rudman, Sondra Schwetman, SPOOKY BOOBS COLLECTIVE,  Nastassja Swift, Cynthia Tom, Natalie Waldburger, Ruth Waters, Corinne Whitaker, Janice Whiting, Tina Ybarra

In order to accommodate as many viewpoints as possible and expand the conversation beyond the physical limitations of the museum, additional works were selected to be shown in a looped slideshow in the gallery:
Salma Arastu, Lynn Arnold, Joanne Beaule Ruggles, Andrea Borsuk,  Andrea Broyles, Carolyn Cohen, Linda King Ferguson, Anitra Frazier, Sara Friedlander, Sara Gallo, Caryl Gaubatz, Linda Gleitz, Tricia Grame, Georgie Humphries, Uma Rani Iyli, Shabnam Mottaghi, Olivia Jane,  Kathryn Jill Johnson,  Thuy Linh Kang, Kristin Kempa, Sameh Khalatbari,  J.  L. King, Epiphany Knedler,  Susan Kraft, Biljana Kroll, Krista Machovina, Stela Mandel, Juliet Mevi,  Jennifer Mondfrans, Jelisa Peterson, Sara Petitt, Lorena Pugh, Trix Rosen, Gerri Russell, Pallavi Sharma, Marlene Siff, Sean Sterzer, Elka Stevens, Kim Tepe, Diana Tremaine,  Jennifer Weigel with Laurel Luckey

About our co-presenter UniteWomen.org:
UniteWomen.org seeks to equip and empower women to use their strengths, talents, and skills to further their participation as equal, valued voices in their communities, speaking out about the inequity of women’s experiences as citizens in their communities, their nations, and the world.  Our mission is to change the social and cultural conversation to bring about awareness of the benefits and the necessity of inclusion, providing a collective voice for women in all processes that affect their lives.  Our objective is to cultivate the edification of society on these issues in order to make effective change that will improve the lives of women.  Achieving these goals will allow us effectively to empower women and girls to be equal, active participants in society, as well as in the political realm of our countries.  A country cannot reach its highest potential until the voices of all citizens are acknowledged and manifested in a way that will positively impact the evolution of humanity.

UniteWomen.org is the national non-partisan 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit organization that works to end inequality for women that stems from prejudice and discrimination and works to advance the human and civil rights of women and girls. 
UniteWomen.org Action is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit advocacy and lobbying organization for the cause.