News and Events
The Vassar Haiti Project presents the eighth annual Haitian Art Sale and Auction, April 3-5, 2009.
POUGHKEEPSIE, NY-This April, the Vassar campus will become an outpost of a Haitian village, with the eighth annual Haitian Art Sale and Auction. Presented by the Vassar Haiti Project, over 300 paintings, sculptures, handcrafts, and hand-painted silk scarves will be on view and for sale in the College Center's multi-purpose room from Friday, April 3, through Sunday, April 5 (a preview will be on view at the Palmer Gallery, March 30 - April 2). Some of the artists whose work will be on view and for sale, include Fritzner Alphonce, Raymond Lafaille, Pierre Maxo, Mario Montilus, Gary Rochebrun, and Jean Adrien Seide.
Although many of us would not even know where to begin to help the population of a country with 98% deforestation, 70% illiteracy, and 50% unemployment, Andrew Meade reviewed possible options eight years ago and established the Vassar Haiti Project. Since 2001, the project has raised over $400,000 - through various efforts including the annual Haitian Art Sale and Auction at Vassar - and built a seven-room school in Chermaitre, a small village situated in the mountains of rural northwest Haiti outside the city of Gros Morne.
The Haiti Project enables Haitian artists and artisans to be self-sustaining, through the purchase of their artwork, which is then offered for sale at the annual Art Sale and Auction. Co-chairs, Andrew and his wife Lila Meade, noted that Haiti, which used to have a vital and thriving gallery scene, now has limited tourism and sales like Vassar's are one of the only avenues for Haitian artists to reach a marketplace.
Some community members and businesses have donated art supplies that the Meades and other volunteers (now numbering over 100) pass along to Haitian artists. This April, it will be possible to purchase a work of art, created by a Haitian artist, from supplies donated by Catskill Art and Office Supply. "This is the best of our global village," according to Lila Meade.
"Through the Haiti Project's continuing initiatives, we want to support the indomitable Haitian spirit, so vibrant, strong, and free, that is expressed so powerfully and colorfully in the nation's artwork," explained Andrew Meade, director of international services and special projects at Vassar.
"Our goal is to create sustainability in our adopted Haitian community. One of the first steps was building the seven-room school that was completed last year. We visited Chermaitre last spring and saw how all the materials to build the school had to be transported, by hand, up a steep incline to the plateau where the village is located," he noted. "When we gained the plateau, after an hour and a half walk up the hill, we were greeted by 150 schoolchildren serenading us in front of the newly-constructed building."
"Now that the school is completed, we consulted the village leaders and we have four new initiatives for the Haiti Project - planting trees, water purification, regular medical visits, and emergency relief funds. The environment is a terrible concern in Haiti and in Chermaitre. Severe deforestation has led to the erosion of fertile soil. This country once supported two-thirds of produce available in Europe and now barely can feed itself," Meade explained.
Some of the goals include raising money to plant thousands of fruit and coffee trees on the hillsides around the Chermaitre. In addition, with the cooperation of Poughkeepsie Rotary, the Haiti Project hopes to establish water collection and purification systems in the village. Vassar students are helping to coordinate these efforts: Maria Jose, class of 2010, and Raluca Besliu, class of 2011, head up trees for Chermaitre; and Rebecca Valencia, class of 2011, coordinates the water purification efforts.
Lila Meade stressed that, "General relief funds are always needed, as we saw when the roof of the school blew off this fall following a severe windstorm (it survived four hurricanes however). The students coordinated a series of benefits last fall and raised $13,000." She described learning of the roof through an email from Chermaitre, "We have good news and bad news. No loss of life, but the roof blew off." This, she noted, was indicative of how many times these storms cause not only havoc with buildings, but also devastate communities through loss of life.
Raluca Besliu, a sophomore majoring in international studies, noted that she became interested in the Haiti Project during freshman orientation. She said the project provided her "a sense of family, because of the close and friendly interaction among the volunteers. Lila and Andrew (Meade) are two magnificent people and inspire others to embrace the project with their enthusiasm."
Besliu was one of four students, and the only freshman, to go to Haiti during the 2008 spring trip. She was enthusiastic about how "amazing it was to see the school and the children first-hand," but noted, "how tough it was to realize the hardships this village and the Haitian people endure on a daily basis."
With hopes to become a diplomat, Besliu explained that the Haitian trip was a personal challenge for her. On her return to Vassar she decided to co-chair the reforestation committee and they have already begun raising funds for this purpose with small events in addition to money from the Art Sale and Auction. "We've formed over nine committees to work towards achieving the goals the village leaders addressed, with the ultimate goal to achieve total sustainability in Chermaitre. One day I hope to return and see the village flourishing-the school helping to light the village with rooftop solar panels, a clean and safe water supply, and a trade school that will train and provide inhabitants with job skills for the future."
In addition to the Art Sale and Auction, the Meades advised that the Haiti Project is looking for a donation of a 4 x 4 vehicle, for those who may be downsizing to a smaller automobile. Currently Pere Jean Lenord Quatorze walks seven hours to reach the six villages that he oversees, traveling to each village over mountainous unpaved roads. Please contact haitiproject@vassar.edu, if you would like to make a donation of your 4 x 4 vehicle to the Vassar Haiti Project.
For further information about the Vassar Haiti Project and the 8th Annual Haitian Art Sale and Auction, visit http://projects.vassar.edu/haiti. A video documenting the work of the Vassar Haiti Project, may be viewed on the website.
Individuals with disabilities requiring accommodations or information on accessibility should contact Campus Activities Office at (845) 437-5370. Without sufficient notice, appropriate space and/or assistance may not be available. Directions to the Vassar campus are available at www.vassar.edu/directions.
Vassar College is a highly selective, coeducational, independent, residential liberal arts college founded in 1861.
Auction Viewing:
Monday, March 30 through Wednesday, April 1: 11am - 7pm
Palmer Gallery, 1st floor of College Center
Sale of Haitian Paintings and Handicrafts
Friday, April 3: 12:00pm - 8:00pm
Saturday, April 4: 10:00am - 4:00pm
Sunday, April 5: 10:00am - 2:00pm
Multi Purpose Room, 2nd floor of College Center
Live Auction of Haitian Art
Auctioneer: Bill Rinaldi, Rinaldi Auctions
Saturday, April 4:
Registration and preview: 2:00pm - 4:00pm
Live Auction of Haitian art:4:00pm - 6:00pm
Absentee and telephone bidding will be accepted.
Multi Purpose Room, 2nd floor of College Center
Posted by College Relations Friday, February 27, 2009
About the Arts
Powerhouse Theater
The Powerhouse Theater is a collaboration between New York Stage and Film and Vassar College. It is dedicated to both emerging and established artists in the development and production of new works for theater and film. During an intense eight-week summer residency on the Vassar campus, up to twenty different projects are publicly presented, typically engaging more than 200 professional artists and theater students. Plays, musicals, and screenplays are presented in a variety of forms: readings, workshops, and fully staged productions. Since the first Powerhouse Theater season in 1985, New York Stage and Film and Vassar have served more than 2,000 artists and over 175,000 audience members through the development and production of artistically exceptional and affordably priced performances.
Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center
Located just inside Vassar's Main Gate, the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center houses the college's permanent collection, over 18,000 works, including paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, photographs, and glass and ceramic wares, charting the history of art from antiquity to the present. The Permanent Collection Galleries feature 350 works, ranging from the sculpted Head of Viceroy Merymose from His Outer Sarcophagus (Egyptian, c 1375 BCE) in the Antiquities Gallery to Marsden Hartley's oil on canvas Indian Composition (1914-15) in the Twentieth Century Gallery. For information on current and upcoming special exhibitions, self-guided and curriculum-based tours, and group visits, please visit the website. The art center is open to the public, and admission is free.
James W. Palmer Gallery
Located in the College Center in Main Building, the James W. Palmer III '90 Gallery presents eight shows annually, including exhibitions by renowned artists and photographers, studio art faculty and students, and local arts organizations. Recent highlights included Andrea Baldeck’s black-and-white photo exhibit, Touching the Mekong: A Southeast Asian Sojourn, organized by the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology; the Vassar Haiti Project’s annual exhibition and auction of imported arts and handcrafts; and Design Inside, showcasing the work of Vassar’s College Relations design team. All exhibitions are free and open to the public. For information on upcoming exhibitions, visit the website or call (845) 437-5370.
Music Department
Located in the Belle Skinner Hall of Music, the Martel Recital Hall is wonderfully suited, both acoustically and aesthetically, to music performance. With seating for 500, the Martel is home to the Vassar College Orchestra, Choir, Women's Chorus, Madrigal Singers, and numerous chamber groups and ensembles. The Martel concert schedule routinely includes distinguished guest artists, faculty recitals, senior recitals, and special musical events, such as last year's series of organ recitals celebrating the installation and dedication of the college's superb pipe organ, designed by masterbuilder Paul Fritts. For information on upcoming concerts and events (which are free and open to the public unless otherwise noted), please visit the website.
Dance Department
The Department of Dance sponsors several public performances each year. Among those, the Vassar Repertory Dance Theatre (VRDT) has a series of Works in Progress showings in the fall, a winter Modfest performance in conjunction with the The Department of Music, winter galas at the 1869 Bardavon Opera House, and two All Parents Weekend performances in the spring. The department's Master Class program annually invites at least one ballet and one modern expert to campus in addition to two people in other areas of dance. Public performances and lectures are often associated with these renowned visitors. Guest artists in the past have included: Irina Kolpokova, Arthur Mitchell, Helene Alexopoulos, Gregory Hines, Anna Kisselgoff, Donald Byrd, Edward Villella, Ronald K. Brown, Irene Dowd, Allegra Kent, Gelsey Kirkland, Pilobolus w/Adam Battlestein, Suzanne Farrell, Mummenschantz, Eldar Aliev, Deborah Jowitt, Bill T. Jones, Pascal Rioult, Clinton Luckett of ABT, Bill Irwin, and Donald McKayle. Many of the department's dance performances are in the Frances Daly Fergusson Dance Theater, located in Kenyon Hall.