Thank you to everyone who attended our One Year Anniversary Celebration on March 19, 2022! We had a fantastic time with our artists, guest speakers, and supporters!
If you missed it, no problem. We have it on demand for you to watch at your leisure. Subscribe to our YouTube page and leave comments about what you loved most!
We started our celebration sharing about how The Art Spread was inspired and what The Art Spread does for the community. The Art Spread was inspired by two-cofounders, Rawan and Nadin, who were refugees that fled Iraq in the early 1990’s. Enduring much adversity, they wanted to create a supportive community for everyone experiencing mental, physical and societal challenges and use art to spread perspective, empathy and knowledge, while leading artists with adversity to success.
After introductions, Rawan was our first guest speaker. She was the first featured artist for The Art Spread. Rawan told us about how she was struck by a car, which inspired her to paint. Her dad was her biggest supporter. Her father unfortunately passed from cancer two years after her accident. Painting became so difficult for Rawan, but ultimately became her healing.
Minju Li, our most recently featured artist, spoke about her experience with The Art Spread. Minju immigrated from Korea and never thought she could break out as an artist on her own. She was shy about spotlighting her talents. With the Art Spread, she felt supported, confident, and pushed to do more with her talent and passion as an artist. She loves being a part of The Art Spread community and was thankful for the constant encouragement to share her story.
Gray Lew was our next featured artist after Rawan. She wants to stay with The Art Spread as long as humanely possible. She found us on instagram and instantly connected with our mission. She feels like she is part of a supportive family, where she can share ideas, new pieces and products. She took a leap of faith this year and has dedicated her time to becoming a full time artist. Check out Gray’s newest piece, recognizing the impact of hip hop’s legend, in our shop!
Gray talks about her pieces in our shop, this one called “What a Great Day” sold, with the patron leaving a 5 star review!
John D’Olimpio ‘J.D.’ is our next featured artist! We are so excited to share his talents with you. J.D.’s work has been featured in exhibitions across the United States. Art to J.D. means a therapeutic release of expression that helps him overcome adversity. With The Art Spread, J.D. feels he has a supportive family to encourage him, support him, check in with him, and keep him accountable.
Maryam Sedadi spoke on her experience as a supporting artist with The Art Spread. She felt supported personally and professionally, within and outside of the art world. Maryam’s style of collage work speaks to her Persian roots and culture.
Lindsey Joy Holcomb was one of our guest speakers. She is an artist, who previously spoke at our Brain Awareness Event in June 2021. Lindsey loved speaking at our event, where we brought art together with brain disorders and illnesses to spread perspective. Lindsey is an amazing Art Spread supporter. We are so thankful to have connected with her. Check out her beautiful work on her website here.
Speakers Monique Hooks and Shaunice Roberts previously spoke at The Art Spread’s Vision Awareness Event in July 2021, alongside legally blind artist and photographer Kurt Weston. They love the diversity within The Art Spread and the support outside of the events The Art Spread provides for its community. We can’t wait to see them at our next event!
Board Members Tanya Palacios and Mateo Diaz both felt proud to be a part of The Art Spread and have learned so much about art and community organization. We thank them both for sharing such powerful words with our audience!
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This event was filled with so much love and so many laughs! Truly a special event and I’m grateful for everyone who spent the time to support our One Year Anniversary 🥳
The Art Spread has a great mission. You can tell The Spread has its heart in the right place. It is important to have a sense of community in these wild times. Keep up the good work!!!!
Thank you for the kind words John! We thank you so much for your continued support and hope to see you at our next event.
Thank you for encouraging us along the way! We value having members, like you, as part of our community. Looking forward to hanging out with you at our next event!
Such a great event! I’m glad I could be a part of it.
We are so happy to have you!
I had so much fun at this event! Learning what The Art Spread means to the community left me speechless. I am excited for this year’s support, advancements and community relationships. I am thrilled to highlight our artists’ work and stories more and more.