Illumintated Memory

A group exhibition of student artwork on Holocaust remembrance organized by Kathy Carlisle, Visual Arts Instructor at St. Francis High School in Sacramento,California.



Exhibition Dates
April 2 - 13, 2013
Public Reception
Friday, April 12, 6:00 - 8:00 pm

Quarter Gallery, Regis Center for Art
Gallery hours are 11 am to 7 pm, Tuesday through Saturday.

The project showcases the collective work of Photography One and Two students at St. Francis High School during the Spring semester, 2012. This conceptual photography assignment required students to engage in historical research about the Holocaust and to create symbolic photographic imagery in response to their research. An exploration of artists employing symbolism, metaphor, and allegory in historical and contemporary art established the foundation of the project. Students then began their work by expanding their knowledge of the Holocaust from 1933 to 1945 through personal and collaborative research and class assignments.

The students' creative challenges began as they refined their research to focus on a single personal narrative from a survivor or someone who had perished in the Holocaust. They were asked to personally assess and symbolize the essence of that single person's story through photographic imagery. Students were limited to a palette of sepia or black and white photography, using only tonal value to describe the depth and breadth of their concept. The final step of the project required students to write an artist's statement about their work, explaining their creative process and its connection to their research.

Illuminated Memory is an outstanding educational model for linking historical study and artistic interpretation in remembrance of the Holocaust. This project demonstrates the vital and expansive role that visual art can play in the education and ethical development of high school students. Writing about her teaching methods, Kathy Carlisle observed, "the Holocaust teaches us indelible lessons about racism that are highly relevant today. Students resonate strongly with core moral choices and social justice lessons that the tragedy of the Holocaust teaches us. Linking art to social justice issues allows students to reciprocally connect their studies in language, history, and ethics to their work in visual media."
Students in the exhibition include: Liz Arikawa, Brinnley Barthels, Theresa Bersin, Maddy Boone, Ryanne Brust, Valerie Calhoun, Carly Carpenter, Sidney Castro, Alexey Chandler, Sara Cherazi, Anna Dahl, Kylee Espena, Alicia Flynt, Eileen Frame, Karly Hammack, Katie Garnett, Chloe Hakim, Jacqueline Holben, Grace Hollingsworth, Sarah Huber, Sameenah Khan, Jordanne Kirschke, Ellie Keenan, Rachel Kornelly, Petie Kuppenbender, Meghan Lawrence, Nhi Le, Mollie Leal, Harkie Mand, Alison Marchi, Rachel Merkle, Macee Moreno, Hibba Munir, Anya Musilli-Olmsted, Bianca Quiroz, Nicole Read, Meghan Rice, Gabriela Riegos, Sophia Rubino, Noelle Santana, Pilar Sbisa, Amanda Schnabel, Jatika Singh, Marcela Sosa, Natalie Vann, Maxi Wilson, A.J. Woo.
Kathy Carlisle, a Visual Arts Instructor at St. Francis High School in Sacramento, California, led this project and organized the exhibition. She died unexpectedly on December 8, 2012 when she was struck by a train while taking photographs. Kathy Carlisle studied at the Parsons School of Design in New York and at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and completed B.A. and M.A. degrees at California State University, Sacramento. In 2012 she received a fellowship to attend the Summer Seminar on Holocaust Education at the Memorial Library in New York. This presentation at the University of Minnesota is dedicated to the life and legacy of Kathy Carlisle.
For more on the project please click here.
Sponsored by: Art, Katherine E. Nash Gallery,Center for Holocaust & Genocide Studies, Central Valley Holocaust Educators Network and St. Francis High School of Sacramento, CA.

Art Exhibition In Commemoration of the Dakota Mass Execution of 1862 on View

Hena Uŋkiksuyapi: In Commemoration of the Dakota Mass Execution of 1862 will be on view at the Hillstrom Museum of Art at Gustavus Adolphus College from December 17, 2012 through February 8, 2013, with an opening reception Monday, December 17 from 7 to 9 p.m.

Hena Uŋkiksuyapi, Dakota for "we remember those," features artworks by Dakota and other Native American artists presented in commemoration of the mass execution on December 26, 1862 of 38 Dakota following the end of the Dakota-U.S. War of earlier that year.
The exhibition includes works by artists Janice Albro, Joseph J. Allen, Gordon Coons, Jerry Fogg, Erin Griffin, Jacob Pratt, Mona Smith, Robert Two Bulls, and Gwen Westerman (exhibition co-curator).

Hena Uŋkiksuyapi was organized by the Hillstrom Museum of Art with the assistance of co-curator and participating artist Gwen Westerman. Dr. Westerman is an enrolled member of the Sisseton Wahpeton Dakota Oyate and is a scholar on the faculty of Minnesota State University, Mankato, serving as professor of English and Humanities there. She is co-author, with Bruce White, of the 2012 book Mni Sota Makoce: The Land of the Dakota, which examines the history of the Dakota people and their deep cultural connection with what is now Minnesota. She wrote an essay for the exhibition about what it means to commemorate the events of December 26, 1862.
A series of programs have been planned in conjunction with Hena Uŋkiksuyapi, including screenings of the recent film Dakota 38 (8 p.m., Tuesday, December 11, 2012, Wallenberg Auditorium, Nobel Hall of Science, Gustavus Adolphus College; and 7 p.m., Thursday, January 10, 2013, Treaty Site History Center, St. Peter); a Round Table Discussion with artists and other members of the Dakota community, moderated by Dakota Elder Dr. Chris Mato Nunpa, with a Musical Prelude in the form of a performance by a group of Dakota Elders of the Dakota hymn Lac Qui Parle, presented after an Historical Discussion of the hymn by Dakota Elder Reverend Sidney Byrd; and a lecture by Kevin Gover, Director of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian (3:30 p.m., Sunday, January 27, 2013, Alumni Hall, Gustavus Adolphus College).
Programming is presented as a collaborative effort of the Hillstrom Museum of Art with the College of Arts and Humanities of Minnesota State University, Mankato, the Nicollet County Historical Society, and the Building Bridges Conference Committee and the Diversity Center of Gustavus Adolphus College; Kevin Gover's lecture is supported by funds from the Lefler Lecture Fund.
As an historical adjunct to Hena Uŋkiksuyapi, a panel exhibition will be shown in an adjacent space. Titled Commemorating Controversy: The Dakota-U.S. War of 1862, it was created by Dr. Elizabeth Baer, Professor of English at Gustavus Adolphus College, and Ben Leonard, Director of the Nicollet County Historical Society with students in a 2012 Gustavus January Term class of the same name.
All events are free and open to the public. Regular Museum hours are weekdays, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and weekends, 1 to 5 p.m. Please note that the Museum will be closed during the semester break when College classes are not in session, from December 20, 2012 through January 6, 2013. Please visit the Museum's website for further information.

Art Exhibition The Metamorphosis to Freedom: by a Holocaust Survivor

The Metamorphosis to Freedom by Dr. Robert O. Fisch
November 1-December 27, 2012
Tychman Shapiro Gallery
Minneapolis Sabes JCC
4330 S. Cedar Lake Road, Minneapolis, 55416

"Remain human-even in inhuman circumstances." Dr. Robert O. Fisch

Dr. Fisch is a retired pediatrician and visual artist as well as a Holocaust survivor. His art expresses issues of humanity that he hopes will heal the world in the aftermath of the Holocaust.



Many of his works in this exhibit are a reflection from Fisch's experiences in a Nazi concentration camp documented through eloquent paintings and moving prose. Fisch states, "The impact on all of us who survived remains in our experience. I feel that all of us who were marked by the yellow star were tattooed inside. We have a special obligation, not a privilege, in being alive. As survivors, our moral and human obligations are essential, and our standards have to be based on human principles rather than on practicalities. We who survived are not different from others; we just played a special role in a special time."
For more on the exhibition please contact the Sabes Jewish Community Center at 952-381-3400.
For more on Dr. Fisch and his artwork please visit his page on the CHGS website.

The Art of Zhen Shan Ren International Art Exhibition

Coffman Memorial Union
Great Hall
May 2-4, 2012
Free and Open to the public

Ancient Traditions Increasingly important in Turbulent Modern Times

The Art of Zhen, Shan, Ren, opens an intimate window into ancient and contemporary China. The works reveal the traditional Chinese culture based around mind and body cultivation (self-improvement) and living in harmony with nature. With moral improvement, a resilient inner beauty arises. The re-emergence of this tradition in China has come through in the recent popularity of Falun Gong over the past 2 decades.



With beauty however, has come tragedy, as another side of the exhibition reveals the Chinese Communist Party's horrifying treatment of those who practice Falun Gong.
Since 2004, in a plight to relieve the pressure of the situation in China, the exhibition has toured some 200 cities in 40 countries throughout Europe, the Americas, Asia and Australia receiving numerous proclamations and letters of support from various government offices and other organizations.
Professor Zhang Kunlun, founder of the exhibition and former Director of the Institute of Sculpture at the Institute of Art in Shandong Province, China, himself a practitioner of Falun Gong, said:"Our art comes from a pure heart and our work reflects our personal experience. Art is able to greatly influence the way people think and it also directly connects with human morality. And the two interact."
Professor Zhang was detained for three months in a labor camp in China, simply because he believes in truthfulness, compassion and tolerance. In 2004, he started to work with other artists who practice Falun Gong to create this exhibition.
For further information: Visit the website by clicking here.
Media Contact: Meiling Lee 763-234-8596

Holocaust Survivor, Doctor Robert Fisch's "Metamorphosis to Freedom" Exhibition Now on Display

Now through December 5
Normandale Community College
9700 France Ave S
Bloomington, MN

"Metamorphosis to Freedom, " is an exhibition including paintings and prose by Dr. Robert O. Fisch, is a narrative of his personal journey from suppression to freedom and underscores the importance and privilege of being free.
For more information on the Normandale Community College showing please click here.
For more on Dr. Fisch please visit his CHGS web page.

Art Survives: Expressions from the Holocaust

October 10-December 22, 2011
Reception: Sunday, October 16, 7:00 p.m.
Tychman Shapiro Gallery
Sabes JCC



This extraordinary exhibit showcases the work of five Holocaust survivors who use art as a means to approach all they witnessed. These artists created work during and following the Holocaust, and some still create art today. The colorful artwork created on the walls of the barracks and shreds of paper using coal and pieces of colored pencils are a testament to the human spirit, enduring against insurmountable odds.
This exhibit offers a rare opportunity to view the art of Samuel Bak, Alfred Kantor, Dina Gottliebova Babbitt and Ela Weissberger on loan from the Gotthelf Art Gallery San Diego Center in La Jolla, California. Additionally, this exhibit includes work from local survivor Lucy Smith.
Artist Biographies (PDF) art-survives-bios.pdf
In loving memory of Stephen Feinstein by Susan Feinstein
Related Events:
Opening Reception: Sunday, October 16, 7:00 p.m.
Remarks by Jodi Elowitz, Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, U of M followed by a reception and gallery tour.
Seeing The World Through Art: Creating a Symbol from Your Childhood Memory
Workshop with David Feinberg
Sunday, October 30, 1-4:00 p.m.
Art is a way to investigate the world. During this workshop, create an artistic symbol from your childhood, using inspiration from the exhibit. Your symbol becomes your story and is expanded when shared and explored in a larger context. No artistic experience necessary, just an open mind!
For more information visit the Sabes JCC website.
For Artistic Responses to the Holocaust visit the CHGS Virtual Museum.
Art Survives Expressions from the Holocaust. Article TCJewfolk.com

The Art of Zhen Shan Ren International Exhibition

March 28, 29 and 30, 2011
11:00a.m.-8:00p.m.
Great Hall, University of Minnesota Coffman Memorial Union

The Art of Zhen, Shan, Ren (Truth, Compassion, Tolerance) International Exhibition is an extraordinarily moving, intimate and inspiring exhibition detailing both an inner spiritual life and an outer human rights tragedy. Realistic oil paintings and Chinese water-colors from mostly Chinese artists give a unique insight into the spiritual discipline Falun Gong, also called Falun
Dafa.

Falun Gong, a form of meditative exercise originating in China, is based on the principles of Truth, Compassion and Tolerance. Part of the exhibition is dedicated to showing how the practice of Falun Gong has changed people's lives, providing them with a return to traditional Chinese values.
On July 20th 1999 Falun Gong was banned in China, and since that date 11 years ago many thousands of practitioners have been tortured in an effort to "transform" them. Part of the exhibition deals with the terrifying ordeals people - including the artists themselves - have gone through.
Professor Zhang Kunlun, founder of the exhibition and former Director of the Institute of Sculpture at the Institute of Art in Shandong, himself a practitioner of Falun Gong, said: "Our art comes from a pure heart and our work reflects our personal experience. Art is able to greatly influence the way people think and it also directly connects with human morality. And the two interact."
Dr Zhang was detained for three months in a labor camp in China. In 2004, he started to work with other artists who practice Falun Gong to create this exhibition. United by their experiences, the artists use their art to tell their stories, speak out and call for an end to the persecution of Falun Gong in China.
Since 2004, the exhibition has toured over 200 cities in 40 countries in Europe, the Americas, Asia and Australia. In that time, the exhibition has received numerous proclamations and letters of support from various government offices and other organizations.
The artists featured are: Xiaoping Chen, Dr Xiqiang Dong, Tingyin Shi, Zhengping Chen, Kathleen Gillis, Yuan Li, Daci Shen, Ruizhen Gu and Dr Kunlun Zhang.
The exhibition was made possible by a grant from the Student Activities and Coca-Cola® Grant Initiative, and is hosted by the University of Minnesota Falun Dafa Twin Cities Club and the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies.
Full page print.pdf