{"id":31655,"date":"2019-01-18T03:59:13","date_gmt":"2019-01-18T11:59:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=31655"},"modified":"2019-01-16T10:06:35","modified_gmt":"2019-01-16T18:06:35","slug":"community-show-at-zack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2019\/01\/18\/community-show-at-zack\/","title":{"rendered":"Community show at Zack"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cOpen Doors\u201d by Marcie Levitt-Cooper.\n(photo by Daniel Wajsman)<\/em><\/strong>
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group show Community Longing and Belonging,\nwhich opened Jan. 15 at the Zack Gallery, marks Jewish Disability Awareness and\nInclusion Month (JDAIM).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI heard about community art shows in\ncelebration of JDAIM in other communities,\u201d said Leamore Cohen, inclusion\nservices coordinator at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver, who\nwas the driving force behind the local exhibit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI thought an unjuried exhibit would be a\nfabulous way to honour our community-wide commitment to remove barriers, to\ncelebrate our community members\u2019 creative capacities,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The main idea was to open up participation to\neveryone \u2013 professional artists and amateurs, people of different skill levels,\nabilities, perspectives, faiths and socioeconomic status.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo make participation truly inclusive,\u201d said\nCohen, \u201cwe provided each artist with a 12-by-16 wood panel. We have also been\ntaking direction from Kickstart Disability Arts and Culture and its artistic\ndirector, Yuri Arajs, as we wanted to ensure that this event is fully\naccessible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The JDAIM inclusion initiative and month of\nadvocacy began throughout North America in 2009, explained Cohen. The idea for\nthe art exhibit started to take form last spring, when Cohen approached Zack\nGallery director Linda Lando.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLinda was really receptive to the idea of the\nshow.\u2026 Once I had the green light from her, the support and use of the\ngallery,\u201d said Cohen, \u201cI began to focus more on the theme.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The theme of community and inclusion prompted\nher next steps. She reached out to many different organizations and communities\nand invited artists from all over the Lower Mainland to participate. The call\nfor submissions went out in late September, and the response was remarkable.\nFifty-two artists are included in the show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have artists from Vancouver, Burnaby,\nRichmond, North Vancouver, and even as far out as Cloverdale,\u201d said Cohen.\n\u201cI\u2019ve had the good fortune to meet all these new and amazingly creative people,\nwelcome them to our community centre, and make new friends along the way. It\u2019s\nbeen a joy. It broke my heart that I had to turn many away because of the\nlimited space in the gallery. I have artists who want to sign up for the next\nyear. There is so much excitement and so much more to say on this issue.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"photo
\u201cEmbrace\u201d by Evelyn Fichmann. (photo by Daniel Wajsman)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

To frame this exhibit, Cohen posed two\nquestions, which are being used in its promotional materials: \u201cHow do we make\nmeaning of the concept of community, the real and the imagined spaces we\ninhabit? What does community longing look like and what are the possibilities\nfor belonging in an ever-changing world?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis show was a challenge and an invitation to\nlook at social problems creatively and critically,\u201d Cohen told the Independent<\/em>.\n\u201cIt was also an opportunity for artists living with diverse needs to exhibit\ntheir work in a professional venue and to receive exposure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think we are going to resolve the\nproblems of longing and belonging, or longing for belonging, any time soon. I\nthink we\u2019ll always have people who are better situated and people whose social\nnetworks are more tenuous. We should just keep having the conversations and\nbuild up those connections. We create new platforms and new access points, new\nopportunities for people to engage and tell their stories, whatever they look\nlike and from whatever lens, whether it be through mental health, sexual\nidentity, ability or socioeconomic status. We all have a story to tell.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cohen shared one example of how the show\u2019s\ntheme relates to her own life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe \u2018longing\u2019 part of the theme resonates with\na lot of people,\u201d she said. \u201cIt resonates with me as well. It emerges from my\nown story of disconnection from the Jewish community during my youth and young\nadulthood. Fortunately, so, too, does the \u2018belonging\u2019 part of this show. The\nJCC is a wonderful place, a place for belonging.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"photo
\u201cVeselye u Selu\u201d by Daniel Malenica. (photo by Daniel Wajsman)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The theme allowed for a number of different\napproaches, and the skill of the various participating artists varies widely,\nbut the utter diversity becomes its main attraction. Although the size and\nshape of the canvases \u2013 the wooden boards provided by the organizers \u2013 are\nuniversal, the content is anything but, and so is the media. Some pieces are\noils, others acrylic; still others, mixed media. There are abstracts and\nfigurative compositions. Some have narratives. Others evoke emotions. Some have\nJewish connotations. Others don\u2019t. Some artists participated solo, while others\nenrolled as a family group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marcie Levitt-Cooper represents one such\nfamily. Her painting \u201cOpen Doors\u201d depicts a colony of colourful birdhouses.\nEvery door of every birdhouse is open, creating a welcoming avian village, a\nfestive metaphor that makes you smile. No birds appear in the image, but you\ncan almost hear them sing. The artist\u2019s three daughters \u2013 Rebecca Wosk, Teddie\nWosk and Margaux Wosk \u2013 also exhibit in the show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another family of artists is mother Elizabeth\nSnigurowicz and son Matthew Tom Wing. \u201cThey regularly come to the Jewish\nCommunity Centre inclusion services Art Hive drop-in program, a low-barrier,\nfree art program,\u201d said Cohen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Daniel Malenica doesn\u2019t have a family in the\nshow, but her charming, pastel-toned piece is a jubilation of the artist\u2019s\nCroatian roots and her LGBTQ+ community. Two girls embrace each other in the\npainting, both wear Slavic costumes. The title, \u201cVeselye u Selu<\/em>,\u201d is the\nEnglish phonetic spelling of a phrase in the artist\u2019s mother tongue, meaning\n\u201cCelebration at the Village.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Evelyn Fichmann\u2019s painting \u201cEmbrace,\u201d the\nartist, a recent immigrant from Brazil, has incorporated words in English and\nHebrew. \u201cEncourage,\u201d \u201cinclude,\u201d \u201ceducate,\u201d \u201crespect,\u201d \u201cengage\u201d and \u201csupport\u201d\nsurround the image, all fitting descriptors of what we should strive to do in\nour communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Community Longing and Belonging runs until Jan\n27.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Olga Livshin<\/strong> is a Vancouver freelance writer. She can be reached at olgagodim@gmail.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cOpen Doors\u201d by Marcie Levitt-Cooper. (photo by Daniel Wajsman) The group show Community Longing and Belonging, which opened Jan. 15 at the Zack Gallery, marks Jewish Disability Awareness and Inclusion Month (JDAIM). \u201cI heard about community art shows in celebration of JDAIM in other communities,\u201d said Leamore Cohen, inclusion services coordinator at the Jewish Community […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":31656,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[989],"tags":[2466,2850,2777,8639,6748,6691,40],"class_list":["post-31655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-visual-arts","tag-art","tag-disabilities","tag-inclusion","tag-jdaim","tag-leamore-cohen","tag-painting","tag-zack-gallery"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31655"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31655\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}