By Shanice Punnett
Two Kew Gardens community art shows will merge to celebrate International Day of Peace and Earth Day.
All are invited to view the Global Art Project for Peace exhibition and The Potter’s Wheel Artists exhibit “Off The Wall” through April 22 at Austin’s Ale House, at 82-70 Austin St. in Kew Gardens.
Carol Lacks, coordinator of the event, said she has organized small art shows in the past, but this is her first time working with the Global Art Project.
“We don’t have galleries in the community and we would like to give artists a chance to show their work,” she said. “PS 99 has a group project that will be on display. It’s very exciting.”
The Global Art Project for Peace Exhibition will include 18 Queens artists and two groups that have registered online with the Global Art Project — an award-winning international organization that has linked 115,000 participants in 82 countries.
This month, participants worldwide and from Queens are creating a work of art expressing their vision of global peace and goodwill. The art will be displayed locally in each participant’s community during the first three weeks of April, and then mailed to an assigned global partner in another country or state in the USA as a gift of global friendship.
For The Potter’s Wheel Artists Exhibit, numerous potters have created a diverse grouping of wall art. These are three-dimensional, in some cases touchable and also functional, meaning they are useful in many ways, inviting you to take them “off the wall” and put them into pleasurable use.
The Potter’s Wheel is a teaching studio and gallery which has been in existence for more than 35 years.
Owner Grace Anker said the Wheel worked with Global Art Project as a way of bringing people together.
“Last year we did a pottery show with wall pieces,” she said. “I felt comfortable doing it again. It’s a nice way to bring people together.”
Anker expects a good turnout after more than 100 people attended last year.
The International Day of Peace is devoted to strengthening the ideals of peace both within and among all nations, while Earth Day is a day of collective environmentalism for a sustainable future, and locally a multicultural celebration of global peace and goodwill through art titled “Peace, Love and Pottery.”
The show is a free event and Austin’s Ale House will be hosting another show in October displaying the artwork received from all the global partners.
