#PressforProgress art exhibit: A peaceful, yet powerful, art movement | The Berkshire Eagle

PITTSFIELD —

[Excerpted]

... Power of Art began with the 2017 Women's March in Boston and a movement that brought artists together across the country. In January 2017, as a new administration took hold in the White House, people around the world came together in marches and demonstrations to support women, health, immigrants, LGBTQ communities, the environment and more.

 

Ceramics artist Roxanne Jackson and New York curator and writer Jessamyn Fiore felt exposed and threatened, hearing the new national leadership promise to roll back women's rights, individual rights and abortion rights — and they sent out a call for art.

... Jackson and Fiore's event began a national movement with their blessing... And in the Berkshires, a former Manhattan lawyer and artist, Stephanie Cohen, led a movement to join in.

Last May, Cohen organized an open-call show of her own with some 90 artists, from high school to retirement, who all donated their work and raised more than $6,500 in one night to benefit the Massachusetts ACLU and the Berkshire chapter of the League of Women Voters...  And not all of these artists are women.

... In celebration of International Women's Day and its 2018 theme, #PressforProgress, the Power of Art will support the Elizabeth Freeman Center, one of the county's chief resources for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault, and BTG Plays' year-round programs, as well as the artists involved.

... Among her fellow artists in the show, some make clear statements, as activists in Stockbridge artist Maurice 'Pops' Peterson's collage-like scene hold up signs that read: I'm with her.