Haitian Children & Artists Use Art to Tell Their Stories

Through Their Eyes: Haitian Artists' Visions of Home

and

National Geographic photojournalist, Maggie Steber

 Opening Reception: Friday, June 25, 6:00-8:00PM 

Washington, DC - June 23, 2010 - The Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery located at 1632 U Street, NW announces the opening of Through Their Eyes: Haitian Artists' Visions of Home, also featuring the work of National Geographic photojournalist, Maggie Steber. Haitian artworks provided by the American Visionary Art Museum, Zanmi Lakay and the Art Creation Foundation for Children.

Haiti's January 12th earthquake may seem like a distant memory for those of us safely grounded here in the U.S., but for Haitians the tragedy of that day is an everyday reality and far from over. 

Those who survived the earthquake are now falling victim to infection and disease, and up to a million have been rendered homeless. From our vantage point in the US we can only speculate how Haitians find the strength and hope to face the daily suffering surrounding them. Yet, in this rare exhibition, Maggie Steber, award-winning National Geographic photographer, and over 30 Haitian artists offer us a window into how Haitians perceive their disrupted world and a glimpse at their extraordinary strength of spirit and unwavering faith.

"Through Their Eyes" exhibits the work of artists and children currently living in Haiti and actively using the arts to heal: Featuring over 100 photographs and handcrafts produced by children, and traditional Vodou flags hand-sequined by seasoned artisans.  Alongside the Haitian artists' surprisingly uplifting visions, we are also showing Maggie Steber's poignant pre and post-earthquake works, which capture the "tortured, enchanted place" she has fallen in love with over her 20 years covering Haiti and its remarkable people. 

The American Visionary Art Museum, Zanmi Lakay and Art Creation Foundation For Children have generously provided the exhibition's Haitian artworks.  All works are available for purchase with 100% of the proceeds donated to Haiti relief.

The exhibition runs from June 23 to August 7.
Gallery hours are Wednesday-Friday 11AM-5PM, Saturday 11AM-3PM and by appointment.


Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery at Smith Farm Center | 1632 U Street NW | Washington DC | DC | 20009

Scents & Medical Sensibility

Do you want to experience art with a different sense. Go smell the art! You'll be delighted.



Scents & Medical Sensibility
An Olfactory Art Lab: Trading in Paints for Perfumes

Curated by Medical Curator & art critic, Dr. Koan Jeff Baysa

March 1 – May 1, 2010

A show exploring the olfactory system, or how smell impacts visual perception and memory.

Carrie Paterson’s modern version of the “perfume organ” entitled, The Golden Record, 
aromatic oil-based glycerin blocks embedded in a LED grid frame.

Exhibiting Artists: Peter Hopkins, Mathias Kessler, Josee Lepage, Anne McClain,
Gayil Nalls, Carrie Paterson, Tobias Wong, Jiayi Young & Shih-Wen Young

For over 15 years, Curator Baysa has sub-specialized in the field of olfactory art and has gathered 9 of the nation's top conceptual scent artists here, transforming The Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery space into an olfactory art lab.  Before they can rely on their eyes, visitors "see" the show through their noses and interact with the works via their senses. Artist, Peter Hopkins, describes this encounter as  "shocking" the viewer to "see" beyond the visual domain. In addition to Peter Hopkins' perfume installation, Gayil Nalls has created an edible aromatic candy, which participants are encouraged to taste and experience in the space. As Nalls describes, "the interactive experience is sculptural," with layers of aromatic flavors revealing themselves as the candy artwork dissolves. Gallery Director Brooke Seidelmann welcomes you to come explore art through your nose and witness (smell) this remarkable show first-hand!

Have you ever pondered how the olfactory sense affects visual perception, or how a scent can evoke a dormant childhood memory? In this unconventional exhibition international curator, art critic and clinical allergist, Dr. Kóan Jeff Baysa, asks artists and fragrance researchers to explore how the physical self experiences and knows the world through the sense of smell.

Science tells us that messages received via smell receptors move instantly to the primal brain and trigger emotions and memories, and in this exhibition the artists manipulate smell to directly communicate with their viewer’s sensate body. Some artists, using aromatic oils and fragrances, transform the traditional gallery into an olfactory lab; others use visuals to invoke olfactory stimuli. Visitors will experience the connection between physical health and visual, gustatory, and olfactory.

The Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery
1632 U Street, NW
Washington, DC 20009
202.483.8600
www.smithfarm.com/gallery

Inside/Outside at The Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery

February 3-27
Opening Reception: Friday, February 19, 6:00-8:00PM

The Second Meal by Taurus Evans

Over the past thirty years Mia Choumenkovitch has revealed art’s liberating and rehabilitative power in her work with residents of the DC Department of Corrections facilities, and was duly honored with the Mayor’s Art Award in 2007.  This rare collection of her students’ works exhibits the unique perspective of an artist living behind bars- looking to the outside world, not only from their physical confines but also from the interior of their soul.

The Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery
1632 U Street, NW
Washington DC 20009
www.smithfarm.com/gallery.202-483-8600

DC Artists Reunite to Celebrate a Lost Friend

Traces, Celebrating the Life of Jutta Philippi Eigen

January 6 to 30, 2010

Opening Reception: Friday, January 15, 6:00-8:00PM.

 @

The Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery 

1632 U Street, NW

Washington, DC

202.483.8600

www.smithfarm.com/gallery

 Jutta Eigen was a longtime resident of Washington, DC, a prominent composer, pianist and physician who died from cancer in 2002. This exhibition brings together artists who were part of the defining DC art world of the 1970s and 80s, in which Eigen was an influential and dynamic participant. During these vibrant years, Eigen and the exhibiting artists were connected through Georgetown’s famous Fendrick Gallery, known for representing important contemporary, American artists. The show’s artists all admired Eigen and have reunited to celebrate her life through art and music.

Artists include: Daniel Brush, Renee Butler, Yvonne Pickering Carter, Craig Cahoon, Joan Danziger, Sam Gilliam, Kitty Klaidman, Dale Loy, Jean Meisel and Elise Wiarda. The curator, Elise Wiarda, is also a member of Smith Farm Center's Cancer Help Program retreat staff.

Stars and Stripes: Pride and Hope Reinterpreted

• Artists Panel Discussion | Saturday | JAN 17 |1-3PM

•The Price of Racial Reconciliation Book Signing and Discussion
With author Ronald Walters, Ph.D.
Saturday | JAN 24 | 1-3PM

Sixteen Americans of multi-cultural backgrounds present their interpretations on the concept of America and its icons. Viewed by the conscientious observer, the works in this exhibition reveal themes zealously debated among friends but rarely spoken among strangers: economic disparities; cultural segregation; senseless slayings; religious extremism; and civil rights abuse, are among such subjects. This exhibition and the artists open the opportunity for diplomatic dialogue.

Featured artists: Maya Freelon Asante, Christine Batipps, Susan Brandt, Wesley Clark, Calvin Coleman, Megan Hilderbrant, Cynthia Farrell Johnson, Jeffrey Kent, Ulysses Marshall, Bruce McNeil, Aïdah Aliyah Rasheed, Halide Salam, Desiree Sterbini, Rebecca Waring, Ann Marie Williams and Helen Zughaib. This exhibition was juried and curated by Myrtis Bedolla, Founding Director of Galerie Myrtis in Baltimore, MD.

Smith Farm Center
1632 U Street NW
Washington, DC 20009
202-288-8711
www.smithfarm.com