HOPE LIVES: ART FOR ALS
MAY 7 - 31, 2024
The 2024 Hope Lives: Art for ALS exhibition has closed, but we have great memories!
The Opening Reception on Saturday, May 11th was loads of fun with many visitors, artists, and families. Many thanks to Glynis Murray (ALS TDI), and artists, Jordan Brenner and Mary Porter, who made the trip to San Francisco for the event. Everyone who attended was interested in learning more about the artists and their creative processes. People spent a lot of time with the artwork and we were able to spread the word about ALS. Three paintings sold at the Opening - congratulations to Scott Craig (”Love and Pain”) and Mary Porter (”Joshua Tree”). Michelle Bianco’s, “Majestic,” sold before the show was installed!
The Wine Tasting & Poetry Event on Saturday, May 18th was AMAZING! It took on a life of its own as attendees and poets engaged with each other in excited and compassionate ways. Many people discovered a Midwest connection during Amanda Moore's poem, "Detasseling," which she wrote, inspired by Scott Craig's painting "Harvest." Others found their rhythm through their shared ALS connections. Congratulations to Sandra Murphy-Pak ("The Universe") and Scott Craig ("eM") on the sales of their paintings during the event.
The poetry was incredibly touching. It was incredible to share a room with so much talent.
You can see the artwork and read the inspired prose on the Poetry Page.
The Closing Reception was quieter but more intimate. There were many people who stopped and spent time to appreciate and learn about this year's slate of artists.
Please congratulate the winners of the artistic awards:
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Sandra Murphy-Pak's "Universal Astra" - Lynn Giovannelli Award of Excellence ($300)
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Mary Porter's "Breath of Life" - Juror's Choice ($150)
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Ken Brenner's "Fluidity" - People's Choice ($75)
"Universal Astra" by Sandra Murphy-Pak
"Breath of Life" by Mary Porter
"Fluidity" by Ken Brenner
Many thanks to everyone who attended the exhibition, made a contribution as a Sponsor, donor or as a pair of helping hands. So far, we have raised $3200 for the ALS Therapy Development Institute.There's still time to act!
Artwork will remain for sale on this website through the end of August.This exhibition is curated by Melissa Stephens and is an annual event. She created the exhibition to keep hope alive and strengthen compassion through education and beauty.
Stephens holds this exhibit to honor her sister, Lynn, who bravely battled ALS for 3 1/2 years.Located at the San Francisco Women Artists Gallery in California, a portion of artwork sales from this exhibition is donated to the ALS Therapy Development Institute (ALS TDI), whose sole mission is to discover and develop treatments for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS.)
Thank you to the Hope Lives: Art for ALS Sponsors:
THANK YOU, POETS!
Ekphrastic poetry is prose inspired by works of art. On Saturday, May 18, 2024, select poets read their ekphrastic poetry that was inspired by the artwork in the Hope Lives: Art for ALS exhibition. See the artwork and read the poetry here.
Participating poets were: Judy Halebsky, Amanda Moore, Dean Rader, Sarah Rosenthal, Kim Shuck, Rebekah Wolman
Judy Halebsky is the author of three poetry collections, most recently Spring and a Thousand Years (Unabridged). Her honors include fellowships from MacDowell, Millay, and the Vermont Studio Center as well as a Graves Award for Outstanding Teaching in the Humanities. She directs the MFA in Creative Writing program at Dominican University of California and lives in Oakland.
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Amanda Moore’s debut collection of poetry, Requeening, was selected for the National Poetry Series by Ocean Vuong and was published by Ecco in 2021. It was a finalist for the Northern California Book Award and featured in Oprah's O Magazine Favorite Things issue. Her poems, essays, and translations have appeared in journals and anthologies, including Best New Poets, ZZYZVA, Catapult, and Ploughshares. A high school teacher, freelance editor, and workshop leader, Amanda lives near the beach in San Francisco, California with her husband and daughter. More at http://amandapmoore.com.
Dean Rader has authored or co-edited eleven books, including the poetry collection Self-Portrait as Wikipedia Entry and Works & Days, which won the T. S. Eliot Prize. His new book, Before the Borderless: Dialogues with the Art of Cy Twombly, features Rader’s poems alongside corresponding images by the artist Cy Twombly. He is a professor at the University of San Francisco and a 2019 Guggenheim Fellow in Poetry.
Sarah Rosenthal is the author of Estelle Meaning Star (Chax, forthcoming), One Thing Follows Another: Experiments in Dance, Art, and Life Through the Lens of Simone Forti and Yvonne Rainer (punctum; collaboration with Valerie Witte, forthcoming); The Grass Is Greener When the Sun Is Yellow (The Operating System, 2019; collaboration with Valerie Witte), Lizard (Chax, 2016), Manhatten (Spuyten Duyvil, 2009), and several chapbooks. Her short film We Agree on the Sun has received numerous accolades on the film festival circuit, including Best Experimental Short at the 2021 Berlin Independent Film Festival.
Kim Shuck is a silly protein. Shuck also writes poetry, essays, and many very short autobiographies. She holds an MFA in Fine Arts/Textiles from San Francisco State University and has shown work on four continents. Kim is solo author of ten books and has edited, co-edited, assisted in editing, acted as coffee monkey for or wandered through the editing of a further ten. Shuck served as the 7th Poet Laureate of San Francisco. Kim maintains a vibrant visual and written art career. Shuck's latest books are This Wandering State vol. 1, one of the editing projects, and Noodle, Rant, Tangent, a collection of essays.
Rebekah Wolman is based in San Francisco, on the unceded ancestral lands of the Ramaytush Ohlone people. Her poetry, in a wide range of forms and on a wide range of topics, has appeared in a number of online publications and in three print anthologies. She is a winner of Cultural Daily’s 2021 Jack Grapes Poetry Prize and the recipient of the 2022 Small Orange Emerging Woman Poet Honor.