antiwar art show in Philly in September

[jimboloco]

Date: Thu, 04 Aug 2005 10:39:27 -0400
Subject: [vvawinc] Art show on VVAW march to Valley Forge
For further information: http://www.operationraw.com
(click into the link and to the right, the map of Vietnam, further links to see art and info)

Hi, Enclosed is a heads up on an event you may find of interest.

Antiwar Art Show

“Antiwar Vietnam veterans inspire art and action”— that’s the aim of an
art
event that opens Labor Day weekend in Philadelphia, Pa. The decidedly
different art show commemorates a march 35 years ago by Vietnam
Veterans
Against the War from Morristown, NJ, to Valley Forge, Pa. The show is
called
Operation Rapid American Withdrawal 1970-2005 Exhibition.

Comparisons with the war in Iraq are encouraged, says Jane Irish, the
show’s
organizer. “Visual artists have power, and with this exhibition we will
use
this power as another democratic check and balance,” Irish, an artist
who
focuses on social issues and political art, said in a news release.

The exhibition is at the Ice Box Project Space, Crane Arts Building,
1400
American Street, Philadelphia. The opening reception is Friday, Sept.
2, at
6:30 – 9:30 p.m. The show runs through Sept. 25 as part of the Live
Arts
Festival and Philly Fringe.

An oral history panel is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 3, at 2 p.m.,
followed by a poetry reading at 4 p.m. The panel includes Tony Velez, a
photographer and veteran who recorded the march, other march
participants,
and filmmaker Jack Ofield. The poetry reading features veteran poets
W.D.
Ehrhart, Gerald McCarthy and Jan Barry.

A 1970 documentary film of the march, Different Sons: Vietnam
Remembered,
will be shown as a projection loop during the exhibition. The film was
made
by Ofield, an Emmy Award winning producer, assisted by the New York
Film
Industry For Peace.

Sixty-three artists will present new works reflecting the peace march.
Among
them are 18-22-year-old soldier-aged artists, veterans of the Vietnam
War,
Philadelphia-based artists and artists outside of Philadelphia.
Participants
include Ron Abram, Amy Adams, Terry Adkins, Sam Belkowitz, Shannon
Bowser,
Brian Brotman, Gerard Brown, Charles Burns, Mark Campbell, Steve
Donegan,
Jessica Doyle, Joy Feasley, Susan Fenton, Matthew Fisher, Sherman
Fleming,
Don Fox, Will Gabaldon, Sarah Gamble, Arthur Gonzales, Patrick Grugan,
Susan
Hagen, Carolyn Healy, Mary Henderson, M. Ho, Diane Hricko, Richard
Hricko,
Alex Hughes, Cathleen Hughes, Jane Irish, Jeanne Jaffe, Christianne
Kapps,
Juliana Espana Keller, Nick Kripal, Kit Layfield, Tristin Lowe, Gabriel
Martinez, Sarah McEneaney, Kait Midgett, Susan Moore, Thomas Morrissey,
Joshua Mosley, Jack Ofield, Sharyn O’Mara, Michael O’Reilly, Peter
Parker,
John Phillips, Tom Porett, Cynthia Porter, Andrew Prayzner, Janet
Richard,
Sarah Roche, James Rosenthal, Ann Seidman, Mark Shetabi, Larry Spaid,
Paul
Swenbeck, Ira Upin, Jeremy Vaughn, Tony Velez, Bill Walton, Natalie
Weiters,
Ben Woodward, Sarah Zwerling.

The work ranges from small drawings to large paintings to photographs
to
sound and media art. “All kinds of strategies will be used to reflect
the
original Operation Rapid American Withdrawal: techniques of resistance,
movement through landscape, symbolic props, camaraderie and bigotry,
introspection and community conversation, remembrance of the dead and
soap
box speechmaking, celebrity and nostalgia,” said Irish. “The show will
draw
its power from contemporary artists’ personal re-imagination of the
past.”

--Jan Barry