United & Proud 2002

Curator Statement Welcome to the United & Proud Exhibit! ArtsUnited celebrates its third anniversary with a diverse show of works by South Florida artists. Some are young, some not so young; some are women, some men; some are white, some people of color; some were born in Florida, others have chosen to make their homes here; some are gay, some are not. Shown in four library venues around Broward County, this exhibit represents the diversity that makes South Florida such a great place. June marks the anniversary of the Stonewall rebellion, a milestone in the history of gay rights in this country. We are reminded of the contribution of gay and lesbian artists throughout history. While artists living today are less secretive about their sexual orientation, many of the greatest artists in the past had to be. "Shakespeare, Tchaikovsky, Walt Whitman, Paul Cadmus," come readily to mind. ArtsUnited encourages artists to explore, develop and show their art, regardless of age, sex, race or sexual orientation. Since our inception, we have been proud to exhibit the work of relatively unknown artists, some of whom have never before been shown in public. We are especially grateful to the Broward County Library for providing these very public exhibit spaces for us this month. We hope that you enjoy the diversity of the artists on exhibit here, United & Proud in the name of art! Chris Yoculan United & Proud Curator

ArtsUnited to Bring Gay Pride to Local Libraries Event will Capitalize on the Success of Art Explosion Ian Drew, Express Gay News ArtsUnited, a local nonprofit organization that promotes the work of gay and lesbian artists, will present special Gay Pride Month exhibits at local libraries in June. The group will partner with the Broward County Public Library system to present United and Proud!, an exhibition in 'celebration of gay and lesbian pride' month that will feature the works of gay and lesbian artists from throughout the area. This is the second year for the exhibit, but this year it will be shown simultaneously at four different library locations throughout the county. The Broward County Main Library will host the opening reception on June 7 from 6 to 8pm, and the exhibits will also run from June 3-28 at the Fort Lauderdale, North Regional/BCC and South Regional/BCC locations. The opening reception promises to be like a smaller version of the successful annual ArtsUnited event, Art Explosion. Art Explosion took over ArtsServe on March 20 with dozens of local artists and performers showing off their work. Similarly, the June 7 reception will allow the public to meet and greet local visual artists with live music, poetry and refreshments at the Main Library's Gallery Six. "What better way to show people the positive contributions of gays throughout history than through art," says ArtsUnited Vice Chair Chris Yoculan. "We are going to make a powerful statement through this exhibition by showing off the work of the best gay and lesbian artists in the area. It will be the best way we could think of to really show off our stuff for gay pride month." The exhibits are free and open to the public. The organization is asking the public to provide feedback by completing comment cards at each exhibit. ArtsUnited uses art to present a positive message about the gay community. It currently hosts monthly public exhibits at the Stonewall Library and Archives in Fort Lauderdale. It also sponsors showing of select visual artists at Stork?s Bakery in Wilton Manors and will debut a new networking group for the creative community called the Salon Series in July.

United & Proud North Regional / BCC Library

United & Proud Main Library

United & Proud Program

UNITED & PROUD EXHIBIT          The 2002 United & Proud Exhibits contain over 150 paintings,  photographs and sculptures created by 55 local artists.  More information about the artists can be found on the Artists’ Table located to the right of the entrance to the exhibit.  The artists represented are:                                                                                   Alesh                                         Beto Alvarez                         Jose E. Arce Jr. Lena Bell***                             Lee Brady                              Marjorie Byrel*** Robert Caffaratti                       Rob Cauvel                           Peter Cocuzzo***                Scott Clark**                            Lois Champi Cleary              Jaimie Cordero          Yvan Danthier                          Mimi Davis                            Dennis Dean                         Tommy Doodle                         Harriett Dreaming***          Gordon Duvall Dyan                                          Lois Fielier***                      H. Gordon Fleming Abby Frank                             Robert Gaines***                  Mario Garcia         Roger Graning                          Don Hanover                        Mara Hyman*** Violet King***                         Alek Kononov**                 Alan Lake Randy Leibowitz                      Hinda Levine***                 Frank Liberty        Chris Linden                             Manuel Lubian                     Thom Lupari                    Carla Margarit                            Liz Meyers                            Beth Newman                       Joe Raymond**                       Hegina Rodrigues                Alex Rossi Steve Shires                              Carlos S. Smith***              Steve Sticht Shirley Tiano                            Diamonds Trost                   Chris Vallatine* Lady Vanessa**                      Will Wagner                         Suzanne White   Peter Wyman*                          Gozde Yilmaz                         Christopher Yoculan           Vilma Zeno                  Max Marks                            Patta         Performing this evening are:   Kharisma;             Crystal Bretz, Cristina Andriani and ______           Beyond Words:    Lourdes Crosby, Mary Jane Ferdman, Lenny Ben-Shiman, Brent Strachan                 Keyboard:                Open Mike poetry by various ArtsUnited Artists.       *     Courtesy of Cobalt Blue Graphics **   Courtesy of Galerie Macabre *** Courtesy of 9Muses Gallery

United & Proud Ft. Lauderdale Branch

United & Proud South Regional / BCC Library