Cleveland's First Annual Refugee and Immigrant Art Exhibition Recap
During the month of November 2021, US Together Cleveland held it’s First-Annual Refugee and Immigrant Art Exhibition, entitled, Making Home. It was an incredible success, and we are already looking forward to next year’s exhibition! The work of artists from around the world occupied SPACES gallery for a month, with supporters having the opportunity to visit the exhibition on three separate Fridays.
The exhibition featured art from eleven Artists seen below. To learn more about these artists, check out our Meet the Artists Highlight Part 1 and Part 2. There were also pieces of art from 10 local refugee and immigrant youth who attend Cleveland’s International Newcomers Academy.
· Claudio Orso - Immigrant from Italy
· Augusto Bordelois - Immigrant from Cuba
· Will Sanchez - Of Mexican descent
· Kubra Al-hilali - Refugee from Iraq
· Haneen Abbas - Refugee from Iraq
· Christian Amuli - Refugee from the Democratic Republic of the Congo
· Mariela Paz - Immigrant from Honduras
· Miss Vimbayi - Immigrant from Zimbabwe
· Abbas Al-hilali - Refugee from Iraq
· Larissa Teufel - Immigrant from Kazakhstan
-Mariia Kharevych - Refugee from Ukraine
November 5: Exhibition Opening Night
We opened our exhibition with the following guest speakers: US Together Director and Co-Founder, Nadia Kasvin; Cleveland’s Office Director, Ron Hedrick; President of HIAS, Mark Hetfield; and Church of the Savior’s Reverend Amanda. After the wonderful introduction, attendees enjoyed the gallery and the amazing food from Habesha: Ethiopian and Eritrean Restaurant, a local restaurant that provided samosas for the opening night. Habesha was founded by Jamal Musa, his wife Tigist Gebremichael, and their friend Hiriyti Weldeslasie, who are all former refugees from Ethiopia and Eritrea. Together, these entrepreneurs went through US Together’s Microenterprise Development (MED) program, which provides refugees the tools to start their own micro-business. Tea and coffee for all three days were provided by Phoenix Coffee and Storehouse Tea.
November 12: Artist Panel and Erhu Musical Performance Show
Will Sanchez and Claudio Orso speaking on the Artist Panel
Guests observing art from the children at Thomas Jefferson International Newcomers Academy
On the second Friday, guests began their night by listening to Janice Liu’s musical performance of the traditional Chinese instrument, the Erhu. She also gave a brief history of the instrument. This was followed by an artist panel with two of our featured artists, Claudio Orso and Will Sanchez. They both told incredible stories of their experiences as both immigrants and the descendants of immigrants.
Claudio is from Torino, Italy, and he spoke about his journey moving to the United States and his experiences in the country. He spoke passionately about his time working as an art teacher at the International Newcomers Academy, a school specifically for immigrant and refugee children, and the joys of watching the students grow.
Will Sanchez spoke about his life and how he got into art, as well as the challenges he faced in entering art shows as they were primarily white, non-immigrant spaces that he and many of his peers were often excluded from. This barrier led him to open La Cosecha Galeria in the Stockyard neighborhood of Cleveland, which gives these artists access to a gallery space for their own shows.
Attendants could also enjoy food from Tasty Space, a bakery and another refugee-owned business. Hanna Yendrys, a former refugee from Ukraine founded the business as another participant in the MED program.
November 19: New American Artisan Market
Refugee and Immigrant vendors displaying their work in the gallery.
On the third Friday, we hosted a market within the gallery to allow supporters the opportunity to support refugee-made products from our MED program as well as items from other refugee and immigrant artists and organizations that support them, including Koshesha LLC, Butterpear, and One World Shop. One of US Together’s very own case managers made traditional Afghan doughnuts for the attendees of the final show. This marked the end of our first Art Exhibition, and we are incredibly grateful to all who attended and made these amazing events possible!
