Join us at the ONE Arts Center (72 North Champlain) to celebrate Fair Housing Month with an exhibition featuring the work of Sabah Abbas, Marchelle Mixson, and Corrine Yonce. Partially funded by HUD and a big thanks to Jasper Hill Farm for their generous donation of craft cheeses.
Sabah Abbas: I grew up in Bahgdad, Iraq and began drawing illustrations for magazines, books and public service projects in 1988. I produced illustrations for four children’s books and created public posters for UNICEF to promote children’s immunizations in Iraq. Between 1990 and 1999, I exhibited my paintings 12 times at the prestigious Widad Orfali Art Studio in Bahgdad. I also studied history at university and was a journalist with the Iraqi Journalist Syndicate from 1988-1999. I left Iraq in 2003, moving first to Jordan, then Syria, where I studied classical Arabic arts at the Nada Technical College in Yarmouk. My family immigrated to the U.S. in 2014. Since my arrival in Vermont, I have studied oil painting techniques at CCV, volunteered as an art classroom assistant at the Davis Studio and the Integrated Arts Academy at H.O. Wheeler, and exhibited at the S.P.A.C.E. Gallery in Burlington. My work is inspired by Iraqi culture and history, and by the traditional Arabic art style. My medium is oil on canvas.
Marchelle Mixson: To me, fair housing suggests more than affordable living. When I first relocated to Burlington, I was swept up in outcries about the gap between the cost of living and median income. This held my attention until I shifted my concerns to the communities within our community and lack thereof. I moved to Vermont at eighteen for college, and at the time, I never really acknowledged my race, how it set me apart, or whether or not I would find comfort and familiarity in one of the most homogenous states. College distracted me from Vermont's lack of diversity, but upon graduating I saw the city and state in a different light and knew I'd leave sooner than later. Despite the passive, and reoccurring otherness I have felt and continue to feel in Vermont, I now have a much better sense of self and I am able to revel in my blackness. My art, however playful it may seem, showcases the awkward tension that I regularly encounter and the positivity that I try to exude above it all. My work has allowed me to escape experiences and become completely absorbed by them.
Corrine Yonce: "Voices of Home" combines the audio narratives and painted portraits of affordable housing residents in a work that demonstrates the importance of safe, healthy, affordable homes. With the support of Burlington City Arts, Vermont Affordable Housing Coalition, Vermont Youth Tomorrow, and CVOEO’s Thriving Communities, the portraits make their way around Vermont to challenge the stigma that can surround affordable housing, and to share what home means to those who may have faced challenges getting the housing they need to thrive. Voices of Home can be seen next at New City Gallerie in downtown Burlington.
APRIL IS FAIR HOUSING MONTH
April is Fair Housing Month, and has come to be recognized and proclaimed as such nationally as well as at state and local levels because the Federal Fair Housing Act was signed into law on April 11, 1968.
This is our third year celebrating inclusive communities during Fair Housing Month, using a creative initiative, “Heart and Home: Celebrating Inclusive Neighborhoods for Fair Housing Month”!