Month: September 2014

Beautifully Composed Art with a Social Conscience

Arts and Culture
Christine Hanlon’s beautifully composed images of outcast souls struggling to survive in barren urban landscapes seem to be ripped from today’s news stories about increasing poverty in America. Yet, her deeply felt paintings also are timeless in their portrayal of classic themes explored by great painters through the ages.

Haunting Art Portrays the Human Face of the Poor

Arts and Culture
Jonathan Burstein’s reveals the humanity of the homeless people, panhandlers, and down-and-out workers who appear in his paintings like saints walking among us unseen. His art is most beautiful and shot through with transcendence at those moments when it portrays people seemingly crushed to the earth by poverty and hopelessness.

Berkeley Artists on the Fringe

Arts and Culture
Artistic creativity arises from those trampled down by mainstream society. Artist Moby Theobald said, “There’s sort of a history of the starving artist. When a person is poor, they turn away from the outside world, or they feel turned away by the outside world; and so it maybe sparks their creativity.”

The Poetic, Prophetic Art of Michael Creedon

Arts and Culture   Poetry
Michael Creedon poetically chronicled the lives of those exiled onto the cruel streets, until he himself fell victim to that same fate. His poetry was full of love and mercy for the poor and dispossessed, and expressed his deeply held belief that each one of those lives was of sacred worth.

Arnold White’s Artistic Vision of Justice and Humanity

Arts and Culture
“Through my art I show the plight, struggle, humanity, and the seeking of justice of the human race. I will always paint the message of humankind — the unheard voices, the denied, the neglected, the grass roots. To address social issues — to wake up America and the world to the way it ought to be.”

West Grand Hotel Sued by City of Oakland

Features   Uncategorized
Oakland Attorney Andrew Wolff has clients at the West Grand Hotel and said: “This is the worst housing condition I have ever encountered in my practice, and the level of tenant abuse is obscene. I commend the City of Oakland for taking this place down.”

United Nations Condemns Criminalization of Homelessness in the U.S.

Features   Uncategorized
The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination stated it is “concerned at the high number of homeless persons, who are disproportionately from racial and ethnic minorities and at the criminalization of homelessness through laws that prohibit activities such as loitering, camping, begging, and lying in public spaces.”