CUENTOS Foundation .... Art Building Bridges.

The Coppersmith Artisans from Santa Clara del Cobre

[ Bi-Annually ]

Every other year coppersmith artisans from Santa Clara del Cobre visit the U.S. to offer presentations and hands-on copper smithing workshops with youth and adults in a variety of locations throughout the Chicago and nearby midwestern cities such as El Hogar del Niño and Galeria Colibri in Pilsen, Open Studio in Evanston, Rogers Park Artist of the Wall Festival, Mexican Fine Arts Museum, Silversmith Guild of Michigan in Detroit, and Craft Alliance Gallery in St. Louis.

Ritmo del Fuego inspires a sharing of cultural passions and spirit as well as a passing down of cultural traditions and art forms.

Hanah Diab is a Palestinian artist born in Las Vegas, NV. She lives and works in Chicago, IL. Hanah Diab's mixed media paintings narrate moments of real and imagined experiences, and capture the spirit of struggle against injustice. Hanah received her BFA from The Art Institute of Chicago in 1997. She has exhibited nationally in venues such as The Williamsburg Art and Historical Society in Brooklyn, New York; E3 Gallery in New York; Gallery 2 and ARC gallery in Chicago, IL; Reset Art in Philadelphia, PA; The Athens Institute for Contemporary Art in Athens, GA; and Marquette University in Marquette, WI.

“My paintings and drawings document my own existence and the existence of a culture that is often denied. I use different combinations of fabric, wood, gold leaf, acrylics, ink, charcoal, hand-made papers, and dried plant materials to create pieces that explore universal emotions through very specific and personal aspects of my life. I use pattern as a way of transforming, fixing, or analyzing a situation that I can not reconcile logically. Through layering of surfaces to reflect my struggle to decipher the world around me, they become an imprint and a record—at once nostalgic and historical.”

email Hannah at: widgettttt@aol.com

"KALIMAT/MILLIM" (words)

[ October 2006 ]

kalimat / millim (words) is a performance/ installation work by artists Kanaan Kanaan (Oregon) and Michele Feder-Nadoff (Chicago), who have been collaborating and exhibiting together since 2002 in response to the ongoing conflict in the
Middle East.

"As a Muslim and a Jew we grew up having prayers for everything: for the rain, the thunder, the sun rising, for the wind, the rainbow, and the washing of hands, for death and birth. Our work is like building a house and sweeping the floor together."

Traditional Afro-Cuban Music
with DJ Leyva and Live Music with
GRUPO TARIMA SON

[ 2006 ]

TARIMA SON was formed in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago and plays music originating from Veracruz, Guerrero, Michoacan, Hidalgo, Jalisco and other states of Mexico. This music came about through the culture created by the mixture of African slaves brought to this coast by the Spanish (who also brought their own music with strong influence of the Moors), and the indigenous peoples of Mexico such as the Totonacas, Nahuas, Puhrepechas and many others.

Douglas Ewart led participants through an African Instrument building workshop and then presented a solo concert.

The talent of Douglas Ewart expresses itself in many forms-- instruments that double as sculptures, music that combines the traditions of four continents with fresh inventions, masks and costumes fit for rituals ominous or joyous, death-defying improvisations combining master musicianship and acting- that the whole might be mistaken for the work of a small culture rather than one man.