Portsmouth Herald News, NH
March 30 2005
Surprises in store at Haley Farm Gallery
By Michael T. MacDonald
What: Survival Through Creativity, commemorating the 90th and 60th
anniversaries of the Armenian Genocide and the Jewish Holocaust,
featured work by Berj Kailian and Samuel Bak,
When: through April 30,
Where: Haley Farm Gallery, 178 Haley Road, Kittery, Maine.
Contact: Call (207) 439-2669, e-mail [email protected] or
visit
Haley Farm Gallery presents: An Afternoon of Poetry and Verse
Readings by Diana Der Hovanessian and Scott-Martin Kosofsky. Sunday,
April 17, 2-4 p.m.. Haley Farm Gallery, 178 Haley Road, Kittery,
Maine. This reading complements the current art
exhibit.
“Survival through Creativity” is not what you might expect. These are
not dark works composed from nightmares and horrific history.
Instead, the walls inside the Haley Farm Gallery are covered with
bright, colorful, and vibrant images full of life.
In memory of the 90th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide and the
60th anniversary of the Jewish Holocaust, the Haley Farm Gallery in
Kittery, Maine is featuring artwork by survivors of these tragedies –
Berj Kailian and Samuel Bak.
Ninety- year-old Armenian Berj Kailian did not attend the exhibit’s
opening, but despite her absence, everything said about her indicates
that she is an animated, fiery, and kind artist, who encourages her
audience to let her work stand on its own without her interference.
But, if you have questions, gallery owner Jackie Abramian is eager to
answer them and help explain the meaning behind some of Kailian’s
work.
“Escape,” mixed media on paper, by Samuel Bak.
At nine months old, an infant Kailian was wrapped in newspaper by her
mother and they were forced into marches through Armenia. These stiff
blankets of paper have become recurring symbols of memory throughout
the work in this exhibit. “Silences of Women” (Monoprint Enhanced
Collage) is a strong example of this memory. It is a collage of
rolled-up strips of paper placed side by side in a cross-like figure
(another symbol of Kailian’s memory). Those newspapers that kept
Kailian warm are now torn and rolled up and represented in a colorful
painting. Looking carefully, we notice one roll of paper has detached
and is sitting at the base of the frame. This separation is
intentional and Kailin has named this lone piece “Berj.”
The cross-like figure appears in many of her paintings as well. It
also resembles a human shape with wide, welcoming arms and is the
focus of “Myth and Symbol Series Zoroastrian” (Monoprint/Collage), a
vibrantly colored piece filled with oranges and reds. Even though
Berj Kailian has many dark and sad memories, she still looks upon the
world through bright eyes.
“I carry the memories with me every single day of my life. But you
have to survive and you just have to accept that dark companion that
is with you everywhere you go,” Kailian says.
As bright and vivid an artist as Berj Kailian, and coming from a
sadly similar background, is Jewish Holocaust survivor Samuel Bak.
Placed into a ghetto at the age of 7, Bak focuses his artwork on
putting together, repairing, parts of life that have been destroyed
by violent atrocity.
“Our world is composed of broken things – things with bruises, cracks
and missing parts – and we must learn to live with them,” Bak says.
“In Need of Tikkun” (oil on canvas) shows Bak’s attempt to explain
this idea of broken pieces. Tikkun means “repair” in Hebrew and the
painting depicts two old angels with blue wings pointing to a hole
ripped in a sheet or piece of paper. Other works, though, show Bak’s
effort at putting the world back together. The most striking images
are those of birds with broken wings. One is of dove-like birds with
wings made of scraps of wood. Another, “Escape” (mixed media on
paper), shows a large white, paper bird caught in a tree, pierced by
branches, against a vast blue and white sky.
When the result of such amazing stories of survival in the face of
the most horrific of events is such vivid and bright creativity, it
is assuring for us. It helps us to realize there is hope and beauty,
even in a world of broken pieces.