Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Calling all art collectors

Support refugee resettlement with art


By SABINA DANA PLASSE
Express Staff Writer

?Flight? by Eugene Berman at the Stewart Gallery in Boise.

The International Rescue Committee art exhibition at the Stewart Gallery, 2212 West Main St. in Boise, is holding its first exhibit and art auction to raise money for refugees living in the city. The exhibit will be held June 17-30.

The exhibit has been planned to coincide with World Refugee Day, June 20, established by the United Nations high commissioner to acknowledge the indomitable hope driving refugees to defy all odds in order to survive and rebuild their lives.

The Stewart Gallery, in collaboration with the IRC, will present refugees' works from 1940, Entitled "Flight," the portfolio includes paintings, 11 lithographs and one serigraph. Represented artists include Eugene Berman, Alexander Calder, Marc Chagall, Vieira da Silva, Adolph Gottlieb, Wilfredo Lam, Jacques Lipchitz, André Masson, Joan Miró, Robert Motherwell, Edouard Pignon and Fritz Wotruba.

The portfolio dates from the time Nazi forces occupied Paris and thousands of refugees who had fled to France from other countries were forced to leave. At that time, the IRC was based in Marseilles and headed by activist Varian Fry, who organized the portfolio in 1970.

Fry had a list of refugee artists compiled by Alfred H. Barr Jr., director of the Museum of Modern Art and a Harvard classmate of Fry. Charles Sternberg, a Czech refugee, joined Fry in Marseilles and eventually became executive director of the IRC. Together they arranged for the relocation of more than 4,000 refugees to the United States. That included about 1,200 writers, artists, political activists and other cultural leaders.

Well-known artists now living in Santa Fe and elsewhere, including Jim Moore, Linda St. Clair, Alfie Fernandes, Li Tie and Jac Kephart, have also donated pieces to the auction.

The IRC was founded in 1933 to rescue intellectuals fleeing persecution from Nazi Germany. Due to never-ending world conflict, the IRC in 2007 exists in 25 countries around the globe to provide relief, rehabilitation and protection to people displaced by conflict. The organization provides refugee resettlement services in 24 cities throughout the United States.

For the past 70 years, the IRC has helped more than 400,000 legally admitted refugees resettle in this country. As the newest IRC office, Boise has assisted over 200 refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Afghanistan to become productive and self-sufficient members of the community.

"Boise is a great location because it is a smaller community, and better than most because the cost of living isn't so high," said resettlement director Leslie Boban. "The low unemployment, decent affordable housing, good health care and great environment provide a nice location for resettlement."

Keziah Sullivan, a community outreach specialist helping to organize the exhibit, said Stephanie Wilde, owner of the Stewart Gallery, has had a deep interest in people immigrating from Third World countries. Sullivan said Wilde is not taking any percentages for the art or for any costs involved.

"One never knows with an auction--it is unpredictable," Boban said. "We know collectors and are hopeful for bidding wars. This is the first time doing it, so if it is successful, we hope to it again.

"If people don't have the deep pockets to bid, they can certainly help in other ways, such as donating furniture and all the things a refugee would need for a home. They can even mentor a refugee."




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