Ellen Frank Illumination Arts Foundation Inc.
CITIES OF PEACE, a suite of nine monumental, 6 x 8 foot gold-illuminated paintings honoring the history and culture of cities that have suffered major trauma and strife, is now available for sale and travel by the Flomenhaft Gallery.
CITIES OF PEACE honors the history and culture of world cities that have experienced major conflict and trauma, including Jerusalem, Baghdad, Kabul, Beijing, Hiroshima, Lhasa, Sarajevo, Monrovia and New York. Transforming anguish into beauty, the monumental gold-leaf painting series emphasizes understanding as prerequisite to peace, and celebrates the best of the human spirit.
CITIES OF PEACE directs world attention to the critical role of cities in sustaining what is creative and hopeful in civilization. The CITIES OF PEACE Project includes peace education, exhibitions, symposia, publications and film.
For centuries, societies far apart in culture and religion have shared the exquisite art form of illumination. A decorated Hebrew marriage contract (or katubah), an embellished New Testament manuscript, and a dazzling Koran all bespeak the reverence and intensity of feelings expressed through this fine art in pictures, paint, and precious metals. Ellen Frank’s approach to illumination pays homage to these works, but in paintings of much larger scale and broader context that is reflective of the contemporary art world.
In contrast to the September 11 attacks, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and ongoing crises in the Middle East and Africa, the gold-illuminated CITIES OF PEACE paintings emphasize understanding as a prerequisite to peace and celebrate the best of the human spirit, transforming anguish into beauty.
CITIES OF PEACE evokes tapestries, embroidery, architectural mosaics, woodcarvings, and metalwork. Mica, bronze powders, and many types of gold leaf create multilayered imagery that shimmers and resolves itself into successive scenes of time, place, and humankind. Crimson leaf, the color of our blood, is tucked into each painting to honor the dead. Text, in the tradition of micrography (text shaped into images), appears in some of the works. The arts of each country portrayed are incorporated into the paintings. While serving as memorials to particular eras and locations, the paintings also become border crossings that enable visions of greater compassion and heightened consciousness among peoples.
CITIES OF PEACE was created at the Illumination Atelier in East Hampton, New York, under the artistic direction of Ellen Frank with interns from China, Korea, Colombia, Estonia, Japan, Poland, Canada, Scotland, England, Honduras, Russia, Costa Rica and the United States. Works devoted to Phnom Penh, Berlin, Beirut, Seoul and other cities will continue the project.
CITIES OF PEACE was recently exhibited at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in Manhattan, and received press video coverage on PBS Arts News and on NY1, and was a featured story on NPR.