June Art Newsletter

Artistic Blooms

Summer isn't the only thing in full bloom.
Check out Agora Gallery's current exhibition, The Saturated Palette, on view from June 12th through July 3rd. It gives a whole new meaning to Flower Power.

Susan Marx's "Flowers"(left) Michael B. Harris "Sunflowers and Begonias"(middle) Sally Painter's "Peach Hibiscus" (right)

The Humanitarians - Shokoufeh Malekkiani

Each month our newsletter sheds light on an artist whose contribution to a humanitarian cause has brought welcome relief and assistance to someone or to a multitude of those in need.

This month we introduce a young Iranian artist and humanitarian activist, Shokoufeh Malekkiani, who has dedicated her life to help in the fight against hunger:

It had been an ambition of mine for some time to be able to help the underprivileged, especially those women in my country, Iran, who are forced to be the breadwinners for their families in circumstances that make it very difficult for them to support themselves and those who depend on them. I strongly believe that hunger is at the root of so many of the problems that face our global society today, and I wanted to contribute to helping fight against it.

I spent some time in a very deprived community, meeting breadwinning women and learning more about them and their lives, researching the situation and experiencing the hardships that so many of them suffer. I have always felt that the best aid is the kind that helps those in need to help themselves, and with this in mind I bought materials which could be used for making necklaces, and began teaching the women I had met to use them to create jewelry. They now make beautiful pieces in unique, creative designs, which I buy from them and then donate to the United Nations World Food Program's office in Iran, to be sold worldwide with the World Food Programme logo to help prevent hunger across the globe. The United Nations World Food Programme is the largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger in the world.

What's Hot on Broadway

The visual art in New York is a continual delight to both residents and visitors, but of course there's more than one way to enjoy yourself in the Big Apple! One of our artists, Cary Griffiths, came to NYC for his exhibition at Agora Gallery along with his wife, Katharine English, and they managed to find time to take in three Broadway shows while they were here. You can see what a great time they had!

If you have time to sandwich three Broadway shows into your Agora Gallery visit, here are the shows I and my husband, artist Cary Griffiths, took in:

PORGY AND BESS: This is the most astonishing hit of the season – any season. Audra McDonald sings Bess as a siren, a sweetheart, a vulnerable victim, and a poignant lady lost. We want to take Porgy (Norm Lewis) into our arms, and then rest in his. Phillip Boykin as Crown is so believably evil the audience booed him at curtain call! (Then he curtsied, and we laughed and clapped uproariously.) The simple set simmers, Gershwin’s luminous score sweeps us up, and the story is thrilling.

DEATH OF A SALESMAN: Set in a time of recession, job loss, and family alienation, this play is contemporary - and heartbreakingly sad. Andrew Garfield and Finn Wittrock as sons Biff and Hap are superb, especially in the electrifying restaurant fight with their failed father. The back of Philip Seymour-Hoffman’s head performs Willy brilliantly – and that is about all you’ll see of him if you sit on the right hand side of the orchestra; the play is staged so that most of the critical action is on the audience’s left side. (A political comment?) Even so, Hoffman roars and rages and reminisces and regrets and is ruined in fine theatrical style.

THE BOOK OF MORMON: Don’t believe the reviewers when they claim this show is a “gentle” sendup of the Mormon Church. It is sizzling satire, irreligious, downright raunchy… and hilarious. Two white teen missionaries convert Ugandans to the “true Church” by fiddling and fudging Mormon history and doctrine, in soaring song and delicious dance. It’s all there – an angel, golden plates inscribed with scripture, planets for men when they die, Mormon Hell, and African myth. And all to tap-your-feet music. Who would have guessed it could be so much fun? Go!

Kudos and Accolades

We are delighted to congratulate Teddy Wayne Brown on his recent achievement.

Teddy Wayne Brown's artworks "Peaceful" (pictured left) and "The Witness" received an award in the Berkeley Art and Earth Juried Exhibit sponsored by the Berkeley Arts Council .