Request for Artists and Talents

Request for Artists and Talents
The Mills International Center Gallery, the Cultural Forum and ICSP at the University of Oregon invite you to the
2010 Art Show Planning
Submission Deadline: November 20, 2009
Talented people working with dance, music, performance, video, photography, story telling, poetry or any other kind of creative activity are invited to bring images of their work, and present their talents in order to be invited for the next Winter Art Exhibit and its opening reception, at the Mills Center and Buzz Café. Group show proposals will also be considered.
The Art Show, will be a good opportunity to integrate art and diversity in our community, as well as, to plan, to organize and to promote our own event as cultural workers.
We will have our planning meeting at the end of Nov. If you want to receive requests to make this event happen, please contact, Kelly Tavares quasarte@yahoo.com.br To know more details about the Art Show and next meetings. You may also call me at 541 687 6742
I look forward to work with you!
Sincerely,
Kelly Tavares

Holy Encounters Thank you letter

Thank you all for your presence and support.
It was the first time I helped to organize an Art exhibit (I only participated as artist).
It was a great pleasure to organize the "Holy Encounters " and also a challenging task, too.
I would like to express my feelings here and share with you some of my overall impressions.
For me, the event was a real holy encounter. Because I had a deep experience to reflect and feel the dimension and importance of each of you in my life.
I didn't relax as much as I wanted to (I need to re learn that), because I wanted everything to be perfect for us. To take care of each one, even if it is impossible to do on these occasions.
I felt like the mother who organizes the first birthday party of her child, sometimes so worried on hosting the guests that forgets to relax, take the pictures and enjoy the party.
With this experience I hope to improve on the following events.
I leave my best wishes for each of you!
Please feel free to send this to your friends who were present on the event.

"Holy Encounters" Photography Exhibit

Mills International Center and Cultural Forum
Music/Arts - Exhibit
Friday, October 23, 2009
Time: 6:30pm - 9:00pm

Exhibition through Dec 18th everyday from 9 am to 9 pm
Location: Mills International Center
in the EMU above the Post Office
More works on display at: Aperture Gallery and Buzz Cafe

Eugene, OR

The Mills International Center Gallery and the Cultural Forum invites you to experience India in a new way. During Fall term the photography of local photographers Mark Morris and Ankush Vimawala will be displayed in the Mills International Center (located in the EMU above the post office),in the Aperture Gallery and Buzz Café both in the EMU Building, at the University of Oregon. The Ohio-born and India-raised Ankush Vimawala now works as a software engineer in Eugene while enjoying hobbies such as photography and playing the Indian hand drums (Tabla). His photography has been showcased at various places such as the Eugene Mayor’s art show, and art galleries around the country.We invite you to the Exhibit’s opening reception on Friday October 23rd from 6:30-9pm in the Mills International Center (in the EMU above the post office) where Ankush will be playing with his band Bindaas. Come enjoy the cozy “living room” like atmosphere of the Mills Center Gallery. Bindaas’s carefree Indian melodies will be a great backdrop to enjoy the wonderfully crafted documentary shots of India. Mark Morris' and Ankush’s photography translates the eclecticism of Indian culture—the colors and the chaos.Fundraising for an Indian family: Photographer Mark Morris will donate the money of any piece sold for the family he supports in India.The exhibit was curated by the Mills Center Exhibit Curator Kelly Tavares. To know more about this event access:http://quasarte.blogspot.com/2009/09/holy-encounters-photography-exhibit.html#links

P.S: We are looking for two volunteers to help to set up the art works on Oct 17th. If you want to help, please contact: quasarte@yahoo.com.br

Edition by Kelly Tavares and Callie Wheeler

Holy Encounters Photography Exhibit

(Above) Photo by: Mark Morris

(Down)

Photo by: Ankush Vimawala. Digital Photography, 'Goat', India

Holy Encounters Photography Exhibit

Holy Encounters is the title of the photography exhibition that shows us an India that we don’t know at all. Ankush Vimawala and Mark Morris have two passions in common, one for India and another for photography.

From October to December, their works will be on display on an exhibit at the Mills International Center Gallery, in the Aperture Gallery and Buzz Café both in the EMU Building, at the University of Oregon. The opening reception will start at 6:30 pm on Friday Oct 23^rd. In addition, to the photography we will have the pleasure of enjoying Ankush’s band, Bindaas[1]. If you have not heard them before, this would be a great opportunity to do so. The reception will include light refreshments, music, and Art in the cozy environment of the Mills Center Gallery “living room”, located in the EMU above the post office. You will be nearly placed into a meditative trance by the Zen like atmosphere created by Bindaas and its musicians: Ankush Vimawala on Tabla and Jeremy Wegner on Sitar and Sarod. In addition, if you are a curious type of a person you may take advantage of the moment to appreciate the pictures and the wonderful people that will be gracing us with their presence at this event.

Ankush presents his careful craftsmanship in this exhibit. He spends much of his after-work time in the manufacturing of the frames and on final touches in the digital lab he spends much of his after-work time. The time he devotes to treat and find an aesthetic touch for each of his compositions gives us the clues to understand them. After seeing them, you may find yourself contemplating the “whys” of them. Why so much effort? What motivates him? And these are some questions that you might ask him in person when you arrive at the opening reception.

More than documentary pictures of his country, we may see a pictorial edition using Photoshop. More than meticulous regulated sharp shot we see the way he works with this technological range of colors and contrasts. His works translates the eclecticism of Indian culture, the colors, the chaos, which are alien to us, causing what art is meant to cause… reflection, uneasiness and a strange kind of pleasure.

Mark Morris was born in Eugene and works as with agronomy on Indian farms. He joined the gallery motivated by its philosophy (bringing culture for the local community and supporting local artists). His goal is to share his experience and stories in India through his photography and to connect with the Indian community in Eugene. Mark also became motivated by the idea of sending the money of the sold photography to an Indian family that he supports in..., India.

This is an opportunity to meet people who have a passion or a curiosity about India and art. It is like preparing the luggage for the next trip. Each person brings a new point of view, a different perspective. It is as if each individual were a piece of the world’s multicultural puzzle. I hope we will be able to build connections and understand that, above all, we are world citizens and that we are not only American, Brazilian or Indian, but Worldians. We are involved in a task that is fed by people’s energy and that keeps us searching for the other pieces of this puzzle.

This exhibit is part of a larger annual celebration that takes place in November. The International Education Week (IEW) is a national event dedicated to honor the cultural diversity of the world. The week brings people together and offers the country an opportunity to be really united. It uniting the States of America and promoting meetings like this one.

The Mills International Center will host a homage to India and to the new president of the University, Richard Lariviere[2] who has strong connections with the Indian culture.

The IEW at the University of Oregon has been built with the dedication of a diverse group of people with the intent to broaden frontiers and organize an event where the Indian community can share their culture, points-of-views as well as build the moment with local community interests about India.

This will be a week full of interesting things to that may currently lie outside our knowledge. Certainly, those who gather will take full advantage of the “encounter”. For those of us already involved in organizing the event, it has been an experience that will be with us for the rest of our lives.

At this point you might have asked yourself why “Holy Encounter”? To answer this question you will definitely need to visit the exhibit and find out why. Come make part of this Holy Encounter at the opening reception on Friday, October 23^rd, from 6:30- 7 pm at the Mills International Center Gallery Remember also the International Education Week on November 16^th to 20^th .

See you there!

I'd like to thanks Callie Wheeler for the review!

[1] http://www.myspace.com/bindaasmusic

[2] http://president.uoregon.edu/biography/

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/event.php?eid=138570159703&ref=mf

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