A Move Against Hate

Presented by The Sh’ma Project

Curated by Jan Friedman

Works by Bernardo Vallarino; Loli Kantor; Marianne Lettieri; Nan Phillips; Jan Ayers Friedman; Carol Chanson

The Sh’ma Project: Move Against Hate 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.

Dale Brock and Visiting Angels Gallery

March 4 - 26, 2022

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 United 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 As 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.