New Speakers Added to Myra Roberts - Project Tolerance Event on November 2 at BIG ARTS

Oct. 22, 2012 - PRLog -- “Faces of Anne Frank: Project Tolerance,” an exhibit with paintings by Myra Roberts, will be on display in BIG ARTS Founders Gallery through December 1. An artists reception will be held 5:30 to 7 p.m. Friday, November 2.

The exhibit features the original series of powerful paintings of Anne Frank by Sanibel artist Myra Roberts. Roberts’ 30 paintings in this series were published in a full-color catalog called, Project Tolerance: The Faces of Anne Frank. Of the work, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wrote, “Your artwork is very moving and I am grateful to you for undertaking this effort to promote tolerance by sharing the story of Anne Frank.”

For more information about Roberts: http://myraroberts.com/

BIG ARTS will host an ARTSalon on Project Tolerance 4:30 p.m. Friday, November 2, with Ella Nayor and Myra Roberts. Nayor, author of Faces of Tolerance: Everyone Counts, worked with Roberts to create this multimedia presentation, which includes a film by Rusty Farst. “It is my dream that through our work, we will spark thought and enlightenment about intolerance and hatred,” Nayor says. “If we start taking the time to see each other as people all belonging to one human family, we can begin to live more peacefully as a planet.”

For more information about Project Tolerance: http://www.projecttolerance.com/default.html

Two additional speakers have been added to this ARTSalon; Robert Hilliard and Cesare Frustaci.

Robert Hilliard has worked in various media, taught at a number of universities, and was the Chief of Public Broadcasting at the Federal Communications Commission and Chair of the Federal Interagency Media Committee. He has published more than 35 books, including Surviving the Americans: The Continued Struggle of the Jews After Liberation. Hilliard served with the U.S. Army in Germany in 1945 to 46 and witnessed the struggles of recently liberated Jews to survive in the face of bureaucratic indifference, the continued hostility of the German population, and anti-Semitism within the U.S. Army. Hilliard and another G.I. started a massive letter writing campaign to the American people to tell the story of the continued suffering of the Holocaust survivors. Ultimately, the contents of the letters came to the attention of President Truman and played a key role in reversing U.S. policy towards the Jews. These letters make up much of his memoir, Surviving the Americans. In the book, Hilliard paints a gruesome picture of deprivation and casual cruelty that challenges the conventional notion that many of those who died after liberation could not have been saved.

During WWII, Cesare Frustaci and his mother, a Hungarian ballerina, were forced into a Jewish ghetto in Budapest. When he was seven, his mother thought he would be safer out on the streets, away from the ghetto. Eventually, he was captured and sent in a cattle wagon to a youth detention camp. His mother was sent to a slave labor concentration camp in Germany. After two years of separation, they were reunited in a small village on the border with Romania. Frustaci now resides in Port Charlotte and regularly volunteers with the Holocaust Museum of Southwest Florida to share his story.

ARTSalon is an opportunity to talk with professionals in artistic fields to better understand their creative process. Tickets are $5.

Founders Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.          

         Founders Gallery Grand Patron Sponsor Deborah and John La Gorce.  

         Want to read more? Please visit us at www.BIGARTS.org for more event and performance information, including links to performer’s sites. To purchase tickets, stop by BIG ARTS, 900 Dunlop Road, Sanibel, or call BIG ARTS Marks Box Office at (239) 395-0900.