The CORA Foundation (Community Outreach and Resources for the Arts) is formed for the following purposes:

• To support and encourage educational cultural activities and events in the greater Syracuse Community.
• To support and encourage artists within a wide range of disciplines.
• To work with Central New York arts organizations to enhance the availability and quality of cultural presentations for the diverse communities of greater Syracuse.
• To bring to diverse audiences exhibits of works from outside Central New York that otherwise might not be available to Syracuse area people.

CORA FOUNDATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Our dynamic Board of Directors is comprised of professional artists, long time social activists, educators and community planners of diverse experience, ages and ethnicities. All are committed individuals who share our desire to bring this unique gallery experience to Syracuse, joining the handful of progressive art galleries which currently exist nationwide.

Dik Cool, President

Dik is the founder and President of Syracuse Cultural Workers (SCW). He began the internationally acclaimed Peace Calendar in 1972 and published it under the auspices of the Syracuse Peace Council for 11 years. Since buying the 505 Hawley Avenue (ArtRage) building in 2005, Dik has had a vision of a political art gallery in mind. The not-for-profit gallery is a wonderful complement to SCW in that it can display images that would never sell as products in the market place. The gallery can provide a less diluted forum for both artistic and political expression.

Ruth Putter, Vice President

After her husband Norton died in 2001, Ruth was looking for a memorial to honor his many years of volunteer work fighting against social injustice and racism; and defending freedom of expression in all human activity including the arts. Dik Cool’s idea of a progressive gallery in a gentrifying neighborhood sounded perfect. Dik had purchased an old store front with good space and location that needed renovating. So here was her project - supply seed money and watch with pleasure while the transformation of Cinderella into a beautiful ballroom where exhibits, lectures, community outreach could all take place in ArtRage, The Norton Putter Gallery.

As a young photographer living in New York city, Ruth was influenced by the “Decisive Moment” work of Henri Cartier Bresson and photographers who worked and lectured at the Photo League, especially Margaret Bourke White. In Syracuse, she studied with Fred Demarest at SU and exhibited, still do, largely in the surrounding area including SU Lightwork, the Everson galleries and beyond. Ruth has had photographs published in national photography and feminist publications and calendars. As a board member and Vice President of the CORA Foundation, she look forward to working with our dynamic all around director Rose Viviano and others towards a successful and rewarding achievement, and an unique addition to the local art scene.

Linda Perla, Treasurer

Linda is a co-founder of the Syracuse Cultural Workers and past editor of the Peace Calendar and has served on the steering and finance committees of the Syracuse Peace Council. She is a member of Then Again, a retro women’s trio, and sings in several choirs. Linda holds an M.S. in education and an M.L.S. in library and information studies from Syracuse University, and has worked as a teacher, computer programmer and librarian. She currently co-owns a Long Island-based business, to which she telecommutes from Syracuse. She is an active member of Plymouth Congregational Church, where she serves on several arts and fund-raising committees. She has traveled widely and is a writer and avid gardener.

Hanah Ehrenreich, Secretary

Ms. Ehrenreich is the Project Coordinator for the New York State Department of Labor 13-N grant “Regional Transformation Strategies through the Energy & Environmental Systems Cluster: A J2J Initiative”, based at CNY Works. Ms.Ehrenreich holds an MSc in Violence, Conflict, and Development Studies with Merit from the School of Oriental & African Studies (SOAS), University of London; and a BA in Government with Honors from Smith College. She specializes in sustainable development and local economies, and is committed to the progress of Upstate New York as a vibrant and growing region. She has lived and worked in London, Israel, Belfast, and Washington, DC.

Ms. Ehrenreich is an Executive Board member of Artrage: the Norton Putter Gallery and SyraJews: the upstate Young Jewish adult network. She is active in the 40 Below Public Arts Task Force and the Westcott Street Cultural Fair planning committee. In addition, she is a professional member of the Urban Land Institute, US Green Building Council, GreeningUSA, and the SOAS U8 Development Society.

Carol Berrigan graduated with a Fine Arts major from the college of Mount St. Vincent in New York City. A graduate fellowship in hand she attended New York University with a major in Art History, meanwhile teaching art in New York City schools. After two years she returned to her home in Syracuse and continued teaching art in Syracuse schools for two years during which time she met Jerome Berrigan, subsequently they were married.

When in 1975, all four of their children were in school, Carol applied for and was granted a doctoral fellowship from Syracuse University School of Education. As she began at the University she was invited to join the Center on Human Policy the purpose of which was to champion the rights of children with disabilities. Upon completion of her degree she taught graduate courses on inclusive education from 1979 to 2002. When Carol discovered that Italy had the best national policy in the world on including all students with disabilities in regular classrooms with proper supports she designed and taught an inclusive education course for Syracuse University in Italy. Beginning in 1984, from early May to mid-June, she continued the course annually until her retirement in 2002. With her Art History background she also made available optional sessions exploring the art of Italy for her students on their free weekends.

Carol and Jerome have worked for peace and justice for decades. Jerome is a retired English professor and all his life he has witnessed for peace and justice, many times serving prison sentences. In retirement both Jerome and Carol continue close personal involvements with peace witness, service for the poor, support for the disability movement, and dedication to community art displays wherever they occur. Artrage, the Norton Putter Gallery, exemplifies for them a need for art expressive of social justice.

Tom Huff is a stone sculptor working in a variety of stones, styles, and themes, traditional and contemporary. He also creates mixed media / found object sculpture. In much of his work, Huff addresses the current situation of Native Americans mixing cultural, stereotypical, political and autobiographical elements. He began carving stone, wood, and antler at home, inspired by the artists at the Cattaraugus Seneca Nation. He later attended the Institute of American Indian Arts (AFA, 1979) in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and the Rhode Island School of Design (BFA, 1984) in Providence, Rhode Island.

Currently Huff is an adjunct professor at the Onondaga Community College in Syracuse, New York, teaching an annual summer stone carving / Iroquois Art course with other native artists.

Huff curates the following shows: The Nuclear Indian Series, a solo installation; Tonto Revisited: Indian Stereotypes, an exhibit of found objects and images; and group exhibitions of contemporary Iroquois artists from the Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy.

Huff is also a writer whose prose and poetry have been published, and he is the editor of Stonedust, an Iroquois arts newsletter.

A former Trustee of the Iroquois Museum in Howes Cave, New York, Huff has served on various boards and committees including the Everson Museum in Syracuse, New York; Stone Quarry Hill Art Park in Cazenovia, New York; and Atlatl, a national Native arts organization in Phoenix, Arizona.

Huff maintains a carving studio at his residence on the Onondaga Nation near Syracuse, New York, with his wife, sculptor Trudi Shenandoah, his son Charlie, and his daughter Kali.

Glen Lewis was born under American apartheid in the State of South Carolina. His professional experience includes his work in community planning and landscape architecture at the Department of Park, energy conservation research and development at Synertech Systems, and neighborhood revitalization at the Department of Community Development. In addition, Glen has spent time working with young people with developmental disabilities, learning the finer point of American barbeque and searching for artists working outside of the mainstream.

Michael Swatt is a self taught artist. He materializes ideas to encourage interaction, reflection and ultimately beautify space. Initially Mike was inspired by NYC and Washington D.C. galleries and museums. He was influenced by the use of space, the Curation, presentation and the diversity of works.

Mike’s paintings strive to evoke a relationship between chaos and control. He uses a systematic process of pattern and arithmetic with alternating fields of color. He allows the patterns he creates to interlace, resulting in both diverging layers of airiness and premeditated geometry which together promote movement.

Mike chooses to keep the entire process in he full control. He builds and stretches each canvas by hand then primes, sands, paints and finishes the edges. With each canvas Mike begins with either a colorfield or a system of shapes and colors for a background. From this background he moves toward setting patterns of specific lines, shapes and angles. Last he incorporates color correction and color reversal in select areas.

Mike is currently creating his art in a new format. In the past he has produced primarily in a studio setting. Since December 2006 he has been creating in front of an audience. He paints on stage at night clubs, galleries, museums, private functions and outdoor exhibitions. Performance painting allows Mike to draw energy and stimulus from a crowd of people. Creating in this format grants him the opportunity to interact with other people, and it encourages feedback and a personal glance into his artistic process.

Anita Welych is a Syracuse-born artist of Colombian heritage who teaches art at Cazenovia College, where she serves as Foundations Director. She studied painting at Cornell University, Syracuse University and the Universidad Nacional in Bogota, Colombia. She has received two Fulbright grants to study and teach in Colombia.

Welych was co-director of the Syracuse alternative gallery Altered Space from 1990-1996. Most of the exhibits focused on social or political themes, such as women and health, consumerism, mental health issues and hate crimes. Altered Space made a commitment to empowering the artist in everyone. Gallery members initiated the outrageous Cheap Art Auctions to showcase such work and make art available to everyone at affordable prices.

Welych’s own creative work explores social issues, particularly those affecting women. She combines painting, drawing and nontraditional materials (like hair, makeup, fingernails and vintage linens) in artist’s books, collages and installations.

She has served on the boards of Open Figure Drawing and the Joanna Spitzner Foundation, and has supported the activities of the Syracuse Peace Council, particularly working on newsletter cover art and illustrations.

Welych, the daughter of immigrants, grew up in poverty on the near West Side of Syracuse, where she witnessed occasional discrimination against her parents. Her mother picketed to unionize Syracuse University’s library employees. Thus sensitized to social issues at an early age, she was active in social justice groups in high school and environmental causes in college. In Colombia, Welych witnessed abject poverty and despair. She learned the role developed nations play in perpetuating such poverty. Welych illustrated training workbooks for people working with street children in Colombia and taught or lectured at several universities while on her second Fulbright grant.

Welych’s lifelong sensitivity to pressing social issues drives her to become a board member of the Cora Foundation and artRage Gallery.