Hopeful

Hey everyone,

Just wanted to do a quick post today to thank everyone who came out last night to support the event. Ashita was a great success and it was an amazing turnout, not to mention the great food donated by Guu Izakaya and great performances.

Throughout the night, I had talked to some people who had actually experienced part of the quake in Japan and was there when it happened. And still, many of them are a bit shaken up about it. Let us be hopeful that things will get better for all these people and families currently affected by this unfortunate event.

I was able to take some photos of the event for those who missed it. I have posted them on my Flickr account. Unfortunately I was busy in the gallery room most of the hours and missed a few of the great performances.

Please also check out this other set of photos from Hirata as well.

Here are the two pieces I contributed for the event.

Hopeful
6'' x 6''
Graphite and Acrylics on tea-stained paper, framed
SOLD


A New Birth
9'' x 11''
Graphite on tea-stained paper
SOLD

Thank you to the new owners of these pieces. All of proceeds went to support the Red Cross Fund to help Japan.

Finally, many thanks to Rafi, Daisuke, and all the organizers and people who came out to the event. Hope we can all do our best to help a country in need.

ASHITA: Artists for Japan

Hi everyone,



I will have a piece at the upcoming event 'ASHITA: Artists for Japan'
My friends Harvey Chan, Tessar Lo, Nimit Malavia, and Keita Morimoto will also have work there. This is going to be a great event. Hope to see you there!

The event is on Tuesday, March 29, 2011.
7pm at the Great Hall in Toronto, Canada
--> Facebook Event page
--> The Japan Foundation

Cover: minimum donation $10 (students $5 with ID)

Our heart and minds are with the Japanese people and now its time for action!
The Toronto arts community felt the shock much like everyone else when images first started to appear on the news and stories through friends started to come in

Many of the artists have traveled to Japan as visiting artists or to study its rich culture and its embrace with nature and nurture. We have made many friends and built bridges through collabora...tions and deep friendship

Curator Rafi Ghanaghounian and Artist Daisuke Takeya are organizing a fundraiser event that will bring the arts community of Toronto together to support our friends in Japan both mentally and financially. All artists and performers will give their time and efforts for this very cause

This night will include musicians, artists, poets from both Canada and Japan. As well galleries have donated books and other items available for purchase

Thank you for your support!

Participating groups, sponsors and partners:
The Great Hall, GUU restaurant, K6cards, Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre, Japanese Visitors Association (JAVA), Nihongo Art Contest 2011, Toronto Artists Fund Raising, Orange LLP, Healing Japan, Hardboiledinc for doing our shirts!!

Special Thanks to: Kateryna Topol, Christine Seki

Participating galleries (more coming!):
OBorn Contemporary, Le Gallery, Show and Tell Gallery, Art Metropole, Koyama Press, Narwhal/Magic Pony, OUCHI Gallery NYC, Orbital arts

Participating artists (more coming!):
Howard Podeswa, Laura Horne, Fiona Smyth, Yuriko Kubota, Tomori Nagamoto, Winnie Truong, Nicholas Di Genova, Shigeko Okada, Keiko Tokushima, Ayako Bando, Sonomi, Kobayashi, Bernice Lum, Ron Loranger, Pierre Julien, Richelle Forsey, Jae-hong Ahn, Juno Youn, Miki Shinozaki, Keita Morimoto, Shinobu Akimoto, Yumi Onose, Shinya Kumazawa, Martin de la Rue, Joshua Choi, James Fowler, Martin Ouellette, Patrick DeCoste, Daisuke Takeya, Matt Evans, Martin Reis, Aisha Simpson, Harvey Chan, Peter Chan, Shary Boyle, Akira Yoshikawa, Rie Aikawa, Bud Fujikawa, Laura Adams,Tanya Reed, Dasar, REN, Amy Wong, Risa Kusumoto, Chrisopher Hayes, Takashi Iwasaki, Seth Scriver, Nimit Malavia, Junko Mizuno,Ruthanne Henry, Braden Labonte, Michael Toke

Participating performers:

Your MC's for the evening:
Rafi Ghanaghounian and Nana Akimoto

music:
Clara Venice and Ken Ogawa
Nobu Adilman: Choir!Choir!Choir!
Rambunctious featuring Michael Louis Johnson
Ashely Ingram

performance:
AKA Dance (Keiko Ninomiya, Amy Hampton, Mike Dell)
Natasha Bailey, Nayeon Kim, Adam Herst, Yumi Onose
VPV (Daisuke Takeya, Ayumi Sawada, Tatsu)

tea ceremony:
Tomori Nagamoto and Mika Sato

poetry by:
Ewan Whyte, Bonnie Bowman

DJ
Luis Jacob
Derek Mainella"

Thank you Rafi, Daisuke, and Keita for having me in the show.