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New COVID-19 and Women’s Vote Exhibits to virtually open on Friday September 11th at MoF

Sep 08, 2020
Museum of Friends (MoF) is pleased to announce that two new exhibits will open to the public on a Live Stream Facebook Event on Friday September 11th at 5 pm RMST.  The exhibit on the 1st floor in the Changing Exhibition Gallery isCOVID-19 Crisis or Opportunity
Artists Response Group Exhibition runs through November 30th.
 
The opportunity is that the theme is creativity in the time of COVID-19. One that resonates with artists around the world. The works in the show do not necessarily represent images of the virus or its negative consequences, but the overflowing of creativity in this time of change. The theme attracted visual artists, sculptors, photographers and film-makers from many parts of the world: Sophia, Bulgaria; Edinburg, Texas;  Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; San Francisco and Oakland, California; New York, Philadelphia; Denver, Aquilar, Walsenburg, Trinidad and La Veta, Colorado; and many other locals.
Picture
The crisis is being shut in – isolated – separate from the camaraderie that we know of as the art community.  The opportunity is the time it allotted us to think – to begin to see new ways of being.  How we cope while staying safe and practicing healthy habits so that the virus will not overcome us is also a theme, we heard from many of our artists friends.  There are so many emotions being expressed in this exhibit: fear, anxiety, hope, clarity.  Some of the artists stuck with what they know – having more time – they even perfected their work further. The youngest artist in the show is Brandy Gilbert.  Her works were inspired by found wood and the repetition of patterns. The other artists in the exhibit are: Linn Baker, Tim Baker, Brendt Berger, Ann Bradford, Maria Cocchiarelli, Ben Eagle, Ray Espinoza, P.D. Garrett, Archil Gheghechkori, Brandy Gilbert, Elizabeth Hansen, Kathy Hill, Jim Long, Chris MacMichael, Emily Nieswiadomy, Charles Parson, Collin Parson, Devon Parson, John Raggio, Brian Rosino, Lika Shubitidze, Gregory Tait, Miryana Todorova, Annamarie Trombetta, Paul Valadez, Gary Weston, Jan Wurm.
 
On the 2nd floor opening is Votes for Women: a Portrait of Persistence poster exhibition (livestream on Facebook 5:45 pm RMST.)  This exhibit is organized by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service in collaboration with the National Portrait Gallery. This project received support from the Smithsonian American Women’s History Initiative.  The crusade for women's suffrage is one of the longest reform movements in American history. Between 1832 and 1920, women citizens organized for the right to vote, agitating first in their states or territories and then, simultaneously, through petitioning for a federal amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Based on the National Portrait Gallery exhibition of the same name, Votes for Women seeks to expand visitors’ understanding of the suffrage movement in the United States. The poster exhibition addresses women's political activism, explores the racism that challenged universal suffrage, and documents the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment which prohibits the government from denying U.S. citizens the right to vote on the basis of sex. It also touches upon the suffrage movement's relevance to current conversations on voting and voting rights across America.

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