Memories of a Childhood in Syria and Lebanon

OPENING RECEPTION – SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 9th from 6-8pm

Employing vivid color, rich pattern, stunning beauty, and admiring love, Lebanese-American artist Helen Zughaib has brought her father’s childhood stories of Syria and Lebanon in the 1930s and 40s to life. In 1981 Zughaib received a BFA from Syracuse’s University’s College of Visual and Performing Arts and has since become one of the world’s most renowned Arab American artists. Her work is in the collections of the White House, World Bank, Library of Congress, and the Arab American National Museum. We welcome Helen back to Syracuse where we will exhibit her full series of 25 gauche paintings, each illustrating a story as told by her father, Elia Zughaib.

“As an Arab American, I hope through my work to encourage dialogue and bring understanding and acceptance between the people of the Arab world and the West. My work is ultimately about creating empathy and a shared space for introspection and dialogue. I ask the viewer to see through someone else’s eyes; to walk in another’s shoes.”

EXHIBIT SPONSORS
Diana F. Cramer, Margrit Diehl, Lynn Fallon & Greg Daily, and M. Russell & F. Marion Lee

SEASON SPONSORS
Annemarie Deegan, Edgewood Gallery, Chris Flynn, GEGENSATZ PRESS, Sam Gruber, Ruth Heller & Bennet Schaber, Joe Marusa & Beth Drew, Jeremy McKay, Lauren & Walter Melnikow, Diane Murphy, Shirley & Larry Novak, George Savage, Ellen Schwartz, Sharye Skinner, Syracuse Antiques Exchange, Ann Tiffany & Ed Kinane, Ron VanNorstrand, and Shaila Wood & Ramesh Gaonkar

SPECIAL BENEFACTORS
Bousquet Holstein PLLC, Onondaga County, The Dorothy & Marshall M. Reisman Foundation, New York State Council on the Arts, WRVO, Anonymous, Donald Blair & Nancy Dock, Therese A. Deegan, Sandra Hurd & Joel Potash, Ann Jamison, Anthony Malavenda & Martine Burat, Rick Olanoff & Susan Wadley, Robert Sarason & Jane Burkhead, and Mary Stanley