Brock/Visiting Angels Gallery-The Sh'ma Project: Move Against Hate
Exhibition on Display: March 4 - 26, 2022
Works by Bernardo Vallarino; Loli Kantor; Marianne Lettieri; Nan Phillips; Jan Ayers Friedman; Carol Chanson
MISSION STATEMENT
The Sh'ma Project: Move Against Hate, harnesses the power of the arts to teach young
adults about the Holocaust and human rights. Sh'ma – which means ‘listen' in Hebrew --
comes from the central prayer of the Jewish liturgy. The Sh'ma Project entreats the
audience to listen and respond to one family's story of the Holocaust using three
different approaches: dance film, Upstander Workshops, and free Open Educational
Resources. The Sh'ma Project creates a safe space for young adults to learn about the
Holocaust and to explore, identify, and ultimately reject hate speech and behaviors
that lead to atrocities and genocide.
ARTIST'S BIOS
Bernardo Vallarino is a Colombian-American mixed-media sculptor and installation artist
interested in geopolitical issues of violence and human suffering. His works reflect his
observations on the hypocrisy he perceives existing between the rhetoric of human life
and the violent behavior of humanity. With his artworks, Vallarino strives to engage his
audience visually but also morally and philosophically, finding inspiration in history, the
media, his personal experiences, and his lifelong interest in insects and entomology.
Vallarino, a NALAC (National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures) fellow, graduated
with a BFA in sculpture from Texas Christian University, an MFA in the same field from
Texas Woman's University, and is the current coordinator of Fort Worth Art Collective
and a board member at Artes De La Rosa. He has exhibited widely at galleries and nonprofit
spaces in Texas, Oklahoma, York, England, and Barcelona Spain. Vallarino received the 2020
SMU's Moss/Chumley North Texas Artist Award from the Meadow's Museum of Art and has
displayed artwork at the Amarillo Museum of Art, Arlington Museum of Art, and most
Recently at the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas.
Marianne Lettieri is a visual artist whose mixed media constructions and art installations
investigate shifts in cultural and individual values associated with everyday objects and
discarded materials. She presents these artifacts in new configurations that reinforce the
interconnectedness of people and communities through time and infuse historical symbols
with contemporary meanings. Solo exhibitions include Never Ending Thread at San Jose Museum
of Quilts and Textiles; Marianne Lettieri: Reflections at San Francisco Museum of Craft
and Design; Don't Get the Wrong Impression at Fort Worth Community Art Center; Strings
Attached at Monterey Peninsula College; House/Work at Peninsula Museum of Art; Evidence
of Life at Doug Adams Gallery in the Badè Archaeology Museum, and Changing Context at
Azusa Pacific University. Numerous books and art journals have featured her art, including
Placemaking and the Arts by Jennifer Allen Craft, Art-Making Collections & Obsessions by
Lynne Perrella, Image Journal, SEEN Journal, Sand Hill Review, and Ruminate Magazine. She
has an M.F.A. in Spatial Arts from San Jose State University and B.F.A. in Drawing and
Printmaking from University of Florida.
Loli Kantor is an Israeli-American photo-artist and documentarian whose work centers on
personal, community, and cultural memory. Her works are long-term projects with a depth
of content and context. Her most recent completed project centered on Jewish presence and
cultural renewal in East-Central Europe, focused mostly on Poland and western Ukraine. As
a daughter of Holocaust survivors, her work is deeply personal yet objectively speaks
about current events. The project was published as a monograph entitled Beyond the Forest,
Jewish Presence in Eastern Europe by the University of Texas Press in 2014. This followed
on a previously self-published artist's book from 2009, There Was a Forest: Jewish Life
in Eastern Europe Today, 2005-2008. Kantor is a widely exhibited artist in the Unite
States and internationally. Her work is included in museum collections including The Museum
of Fine Arts (Houston, TX), Galicia Jewish Museum (Krakow, Poland), Lishui Museum of
Photography (Lishui, China), Lviv National Museum (Lviv, Ukraine). Kantor's work has
garnered critical acclaim in such publications as The New Yorker, The Boston Globe,
Dallas Morning News, LENSCRATCH, LensWork, as well as Public Radio International. She
has been awarded numerous accolades including Top 50 at Critical Mass, Photolucida (2010)
and the Award of Excellence at Lishui International Photography Festival (2009). Kantor
was born in Paris, France, and raised in Tel Aviv, Israel. She immigrated to the United
States in 1984 and has since lived in Fort Worth, Texas.
Nan Phillips is a full-time artist with over 20 years' experience in art glass and figurative
sculpture, Nan opened her own classes in Richardson in 2008. She finds introducing others
to the process of creating their own artwork fun and exceptionally rewarding. Nan is a
co-founder and currently President and webmaster of Texas Jewish Arts Association, an
Advisory Board Member for the Arts Incubator of Richardson (AIR) since 2008, and on the
Board of Directors of the Richardson Arts Alliance. My artwork is held in public and
private collections around the Dallas area, Austin, Denver, Louisville, California, New
York, London and Australia. Her work has been acclaimed in exhibitions at the Mizel Museum
of Denver and the Museum of Biblical Art in Dallas, and has been highlighted in the Dallas
Morning News, Frisco Style Magazine, Richardson Living Magazine, and WFAAs Good Morning,
Texas.
Jan Ayers Friedman is a native Texan who remains a self-taught artist in painting, sculpture,
and photography. Her passion for making connections within a wide range of interests has
led to becoming a co-founder of the Texas Jewish Arts Association, which has led to her
role in organizing the Move Against Hate invitational exhibition. Jan is a Fellow in the
Jewish Art Salon New York, a member of the Fort Worth Art Collective, the Texas Artists
Coalition, the Texas Sculpture Group, and the International Sculpture Group. Her
exhibitions include: Hebrew Union College, Los Angeles James Surls Invitational, Houston
Spinoza, Marrano of Reason, Amsterdam Adjunct Invitational Exhibit for the Jerusalem
Biennial, Dallas Art In The Metroplex, Fort Worth Yeshiva University Museum, New York
Texas Biennial/ Art Car Museum, Houston Jan was an invited speaker at the Texas Sculpture
Association's Pecha Kucha event at the Nasher Sculpture Museum in 2015. She intends to
finish her art degree someday.
Carol Chanson is a metal fabricator and is Jan Ayers Friedman's sister and collaborator.
She works with silver, copper, and argentium to create her own custom jewelry for
commissions and for those who are simply lucky enough to know her. Carol works with
Jan on special projects, and currently prefers to remain quietly in the background, to
her sister's dismay.
ENRICHING THE COMMUNITY THROUGH ART
The mission of Arts Fort Worth, formerly known as the Fort Worth Community Arts Center,
is to provide a quality event, visual and performing arts venue for all of the community.
This historic and dynamic arts complex boasts seven indoor galleries, an outdoor gallery,
artist and performance studios, and office suites nonprofit arts organization, is managed
by Arts Fort Worth on behalf of the City of Fort Worth.
Arts Fort Worth also provides educational programming, promotes experienced and emerging
artists. Arts Fort Worth's three theater spaces hosts a wide-range of performances by
local and nationally known artists and organizations- the Hardy and Betty Sanders black
box theater, the traditional William Edrington Scott Theatre, and The Vault, which hosts
Fort Worth Fringe acts.
HISTORY
Located at 1300 Gendy Street, Arts Fort Worth is part of the most architecturally
significant museum districts in the United States. The striking modern Herbert Bayer
building (with a later O’Neil Ford addition) opened to the public in 1954 as home to one
of the most prestigious and oldest collecting organizations in the state of Texas, the
Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. When, in 2002, the Modern moved down the street, the Fort
Worth Community Arts Center opened. Now known as Arts Fort Worth, the building continues to
exhibit world class art and support the performing arts for more than half a century.
LOOKING FOR A UNIQUE SPACE FOR YOUR EVENT?
Arts Fort Worth provides versatile spaces to meet a variety of rental needs. Whether you
require well-lit exhibition areas, unique rooms for meetings, special events, or the
comforts of an accessible, professional-quality performance venue, this dynamic arts
complex includes the black box Hardy and Betty Sanders Theatre, the William Edrington
Scott Theatre, which seats 498 guests, seven galleries, and studio and office spaces,
including a conference room overlooking the Cultural District towards downtown. These
spaces are adaptable to a wide range of uses, including conventions, special events,
weddings, workshops, and theater productions. If you're interested in more details
contact us!
