"Diego's Rooster II" by John Kotula
Songaguera is the title of South County artist John Kotula's upcoming exhibition at the AS220 Project. The exhibit open Sunday January 4 from 4pm-7pm. At 5pm John will give a talk entitled,"Art and AIDS in Honduras" and at 6pm local rockers Los Monos Locos will perform!
Sonaguera is the name of the town in Honduras where John and his wife, Deborah Drew, lived from 2005 - 2007, as Peace Corps volunteers working on health projects. John's exhibit grew out of his experience working on HIV/AIDS prevention. The work consists of direct documentation such as journal entries and photographs, but most of the exhibition is a painted visual record of living in Sonaguera that is personal to John.
John recently returned to Sonaguera accompanied by a group of students from the Eastbay Met School. The school is in the process of developing a program that students will visit Honduras and Sonaguera on future trips to learn and serve in this community. Plans are underway for a small group of students to spend a month in Sonaguera teaching English. As part of fund raising activities to make this possible, Honduran artist Cruz Bermudez has given the school permission to sell prints of his paintings. Seven of Cruz' paintings from private collections will be exhibited. Profits from sale of the prints will help support Project Sonaguera, educational travel by students from the East Bay Met School.
Cruz Bermudez is a Garifuna artist who lives and works in the city of Tela. The Garifuna are an Afro-Caribbean people with communities along the north coast of Honduras, as well as in Guatemala and Nicaragua. Cruz' paintings depict scenes from his culture including fishing, dancing, and cock fighting.
"Sonaguera" opens January 4 and is on view through Jan. 24th. Also on view in the AS220 Main Gallery* "Body Painting" by Paul Roustan and "Global Influences"* by Andrew Sloan. In the Open Window, "The Sleep Series" by Adrienne Adeyemi. The Youth Gallery features the work of Kourtnie Aileru, Benito Rios, and Joe Davis.
Gallery Hours are W-F 1pm-6pm and Saturdays noon-4pm and by appointment. Please call 401. 490.6164. to make an appointment or if you have any questions regarding the exhibitions.