Building Bridges: Art Exhibition & Sale Building Bridges: Art Exhibition & Sale

Building Bridges: Art Exhibition & Sale presents 70 paintings by professional displaced Middle Eastern artists, mostly Iraqi, in four Wichita-area venues. The artwork from refugee artists will be sold by silent auction with proceeds benefiting the artists. By offering Kansans a unique opportunity to appreciate and purchase works by these artists, Building Bridges hopes to challenge stereotypes about Muslim and Arab worlds, convey a human experience and balance the negative portrayal of the Middle Eastern refugees by U.S. politicians and news media. Several Building Bridges exhibitions will take place at Wichita State University and Bethel College during August and September 2016.

In addition, WSU SHIFTSPACE, in collaboration with the WSU Muslim Student Association, held several Art Maker Events during the summer where students and community members created artwork to be displayed and sold to benefit local refugee resettlement. These Art Maker Events, in tandem with the Building Bridges exhibitions, create a rare opportunity to connect the local to the global through art, education and friend-making events.

On the final evening of the WSU Clayton Staples Gallery show, Ahmed Abdullah Fadaam, associate professor of communications at Elon University (North Carolina), will deliver a public lecture. Fadaam is the creator of the broadcast series "Ahmed's Diary -- Life in an Occupied City," produced by American Public Media.

Fadaam also served as a foreign correspondent for Arabic, French, British and American news services in post-2003 Iraq, and teaches a course on war and conflict reporting. In 2007, he won the Gold Medal award from the New York Festival of Radio Broadcasting for ongoing coverage of life in Iraq. Fadaam was trained in sculpture and taught at the Academy of Fine Arts at Baghdad University, where many of the Iraqi painters included in the Building Bridges exhibition also studied. At Elon University, he teaches courses on the history, culture and art of Iraq, the Middle East and the Arab Spring, as well as 3-D animation.

Building Bridges is organized by the following Muslim, interfaith and university partners -- Common Humanity (NYC), Wichita Common Humanity, People of Faith for Peace, Islamic Society of Wichita, Wichita Study Circle, Global Faith in Action, Peace Committee of Lorraine Avenue Mennonite Church, WSU School of Art, Design and Creative Industries, WSU Student Involvement, WSU Muslim Student Association and Bethel College.

People of Faith for Peace thanks the following organizations who endorse and help promote its work -- Unity Church, International Rescue Committee, Episcopal Migration Ministries, WSU Student Association for Interfaith Dialogue, WSU Office of Diversity and Inclusion and the WSU Office of Community Engagement and Opportunity. Special thanks to the Peace and Justice Support Network of the Mennonite Church USA for a Spread the Peace grant, which helped bring this art to Kansas.

Sneak Preview Building Bridges: Art Exhibition & Sale
7:30-9 p.m. Thursday, July 28
DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Wichita Airport, Salon 4
2098 Airport Road, Wichita, Kansas, 67209

At the Sneak Preview, professional, business and civic leaders, both Muslim and non-Muslim, will socialize, preview the best paintings and enjoy Middle Eastern desserts and famous DoubleTree Hilton cookies. Please RSVP by Wednesday, July 27, by contacting Muhammad Akram, 316-651-6006, qadaker@hotmail.com, or Floyd Saunders, floyd.saunders@yahoo.com, 316-680-6482. Cost per person is $15. RSVP and pay online at building-bridges.ticketleap.com/sneakpreview/