(SOUTH ORANGE, NJ) -- On Sunday, May 1st from 1:00pm-4:00pm in the South Orange Performing Arts Center (SOPAC) lobby, The Herb + Milly Iris Gallery at SOPAC in collaboration with Good Crowd Events and Fire in the Belly Art Making will host Art for Ukraine, a pop-up art sale fundraiser. All proceeds will be donated to Razom, an organization responding to the crisis in Ukraine.
Jeremy Moss, curator for The Herb + Milly Iris Gallery at SOPAC and co-owner of Good Crowd Events with Cat Delett, along with Barbara Bickart of Fire in the Belly Art Making hatched the idea for Art for Ukraine.
“There are a lot of people in the art world who wanted to do something to help Ukraine but didn’t know what,” says Moss. “As artists, you feel better when you don’t just give money. You want to make something, you want to do something that’s meaningful.”
As Bickart put it, “the easiest way for artists to get involved and get engaged and show support is by doing the thing that they do best.”
Nearly 50 artists and student artists have donated their art to support this effort.
“I could read you the Facebook messages and emails from the artists,” says Moss, “they’re all thanking us for giving them the opportunity to help.”
One participating artist on Instagram said, “these past few weeks as the war in Ukraine drags on I have felt sad, ashamed, and deeply disappointed to be Russian. Realistically there is not much I can do to help fix this situation. Putin has been in power since I was 6 years old. I am 30 now. Still, it is good to be able to contribute to help Ukraine, even in this small way.”
The breadth of the donated work ranges from ceramics to jewelry and textiles, in addition to two-dimensional art.
Moved by the opportunity to help, SOPAC employees are getting in on the action, too. SOPAC’s Development Manager Katelyn Fatzler, as well as Moss, are both making pieces for the sale.
The full price of each piece will be donated to Razom, an organization that was born out of the Revolution of Dignity in 2014. In 2021, Razom was a recipient of the Guidestar Gold Transparency Award, the highest award given to non-profit organizations regarding overall accountability. Razom means “together” in Ukrainian.
Full list of participating artists: Aida Jones, Alison Oxman, Amanda Boulton, Amanda Burns-Elhassouni, Avril Bogle, Barbara Bickart, Barbara Hansell, Cat Delett, Cathleen McCoy Bristol, Chris Mori, Christine Petty, Colleen Lineberry, Cora Engel, DARKRECONSTRUCTION Art, Darkreconstruction S Ivanova, Dawn DiCicco, Elisabeth Antoine, Elle Views, Erin Pickering, Fred Zorn, Harvey Rogosin, J Steven Patton, Jennifer Crohn, Jennifer Malone, Jeremy Moss, Joanna Madloch, John DiLorenzo, Karen Leo, Katelyn Fatzler, Kelly Beyer, Lauren Weinstein, Lisa Lackey, Lisa Naples, Lyman Dally, Manahi Taber-Kewene, Manman Huang, Marina Carreira, Mary Jean Canziani, Rachel Pruzan, Raymond Saa, Richard Janow, Rosemary Cenatiempo, Samuel Taber-Kewene, Sarah Klein, Sumana Ghosh-Witherspoon, Susan Adler, Susan Darwin, Thea Kearney, and Vivienne Schuppe.
The Herb + Milly Iris Gallery was initiated by beloved SOPAC board member, Milly Iris. Both Milly and her husband Herb were longtime supporters of SOPAC, avid collectors and devoted arts advocates. The family legacy continues through the generous support of Herb and Milly’s daughters, Roreé and Kerry and The Iris Family Foundation. The gallery is located on the second and third floors of the South Orange Performing Arts Center. The Gallery is free and open from Monday-Saturday, noon– 6:00pm.
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