Haitian art exhibition and sale at Vassar College

An exhibit and sale featuring Haitian artwork will be on display in the James W. Palmer III '90 Gallery at Vassar College from Wednesday, February 13, through Thursday, February 21.
Following the exhibit, the artwork will go on sale at the Aula on the Vassar campus. Hours for the sale are Friday, February 22, from 5-7 p.m. and Saturday, February 23, from 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

The exhibit and sale will feature over 100 paintings, by a wide variety of artists, as well as an assortment of handcrafts and ironware. Proceeds from the sale will benefit the education and feeding of school children in Gros Morne, a remote and desperately poor region in northwest Haiti. Haitian priest Noe Bernier has been hard at work building schools as well as raising the funds necessary to keep teachers employed and schoolchildren fed.

Susan and Frazier Meade, who have conducted fundraising Haitian art shows in their home state of Maine for several years, will preside over the sale. The Meades, who obtained much of the artwork in Haiti in October 2001 while attending an Episcopal Relief and Development Conference, lived in Port-au-Prince during the late 1970s. While Frazier Meade oversaw operations at the U.S. Embassy in his role as deputy chief of mission, Susan Meade was on the board of Eye Care, Inc. which sponsored large art sales in New York City and Washington, D.C. Proceeds from those sales kept Haitian artists working and funded free eye care clinics in several locations in Haiti.
"Art is one of the few remaining sources of exports in Haiti. Haitian art continues to express the beautiful and optimistic soul of the Haitian people, which flourishes in spite of the poverty and political turmoil of the land. In their art, one sees into their heart and their dreams and hopes for the future," according to Andrew Meade, assistant to the dean of Vassar College.
Both the show and sale, sponsored by the office of the assistant to the dean of the college, are free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served at the sale.
Further details about the sale, accompanying events, as well as the project in Haiti it benefits can be found on the Web at http://outreach.vassar.edu/haitiproject.

For additional information, call the assistant to the dean of the college at (845) 437-5831.

The James W. Palmer III '90 Gallery is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Individuals with disabilities requiring accommodations should contact Cathy Jennings, office of campus activities, (845) 437-5370, as far in advance as possible to request appropriate and reasonable accommodations.
Vassar College is a highly selective, coeducational independent, residential liberal arts college founded in 1861.

Individuals with disabilities requiring accommodations or information on accessibility should contact Campus Activities Office at (845) 437-5370. Without sufficient notice, appropriate space and/or assistance may not be available.

Vassar College is a highly selective, coeducational, independent, residential liberal arts college founded in 1861.

This article was posted on Wednesday, February 13th, 2002.