LexArt has a wonderful exhibition coming and invites all of us to join at their special opening on October 9th. 

Details below and at: https://www.lexart.org/exhibit-information/refugee-artisans-of-worcester

Please help spread the word and invite your members, friends, and neighbors to join as well!

LexArt is partnering with Refugee Artisans of Worcester (RAW) to stage a gallery exhibition of their artwork and handcrafts, bringing their artists and the RAW program to the attention of our community. I hope you will see this as an opportunity to help promote the effort to help the Worcester refugee population to economic self-sufficiency, assimilation, help celebrate their cultural heritage and the richness they bring to our communities and nation. Each one of them is a great story in itself.

Claribel the young woman in the bottom left of the attached photo came to the U.S. from Guatemala alone at thirteen years old. With the help of foster parents and RAW she graduated high school this year and is going to community college.  Some images of her work.

Below a short narrative

Worcester is one of 27 cities throughout the US that supports the relocation and assimilation of international refugees. Founded in 2010 by Worcester residents Joan Kariko and Ellen Ferrante, Refugee Artisans of Worcester (RAW) is a unique non-profit project that works to support refugees and assist them to self-sufficiency through the sale of their artwork, while archiving their heritage and cultural crafts.

RAW artisans originate from the African and Asian countries of Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, Rwanda, Burundi, Liberia Kenya, Bhutan, Nepal, Burma, Iraq and Pakistan.

RAW embraces and promotes the cultural diversity of Worcester, recognizes the beauty of the refugee populations’ traditional craft, the economic opportunity that craft practice provides them, the therapeutic value of working with their hands and engaging in their traditional craft in a foreign land, the dignity afforded them as a result, as well as the merits of assimilation given refugees through engaging in the business of producing and marketing their craft, managing their resources and engaging the English-speaking population. 

RAW works with many (69) non-profits and social services in Worcester. These organizations update RAW on recent refugees and provide contact information for RAW to get in touch with potential artisans. RAW compliments the many refugee resettlement programs in the city by seeking community awareness and assistance.

LexArt seeks to introduce the RAW non-profit project and its artisans to our community and foster a supportive environment with traditional craft as our common language. We hope it is the first of many such collaborations. One hundred percent of realized gallery sales will support RAW artisans.

The show opens October 8. Artists will be doing demonstrations at the reception open to the public, October 9.