Huntington Students Featured in Embracing our Differences Exhibit
An outdoor art exhibit featuring the work of Long Island artists, including a photo depicting four current Huntington Intermediate School fourth graders, will become part of the downtown Huntington Village landscape through late October.
The show, “Embracing our Differences,” is an effort “to spark community-wide discussions focusing upon the importance of diversity, acceptance and co-existence,” according to a promotional poster for the initiative.
The exhibition will feature more than three dozen billboard size artworks, which will initially be displayed in the Village Green before moving in Heckscher Park. Huntington parent William Grabowski snapped the photo of then-Washington Primary School classmates Savannah Richardson, Holly Grabowski, Danielle Melgar and Emily Williams at the school’s field day last June.
Artists were asked to submit works that demonstrated “diversity enriches our lives; respect for differences in our thoughts and beliefs elevates the human experience; and active rejection of prejudice and hatred enhances our own freedom.”
Similar exhibitions have run in locations across America. Organizers hope they will promote cultural acceptance and universal tolerance. Mr. Grabowski’s work, like the others on display, will be blown-up to 16’ x 12’ and mounted on vinyl. The works “create a visual manifestation of artists’ concepts of the theme,” Mr. Grabowski said.
The show is a presentation of the Suffolk Center on the Holocaust, Diversity, & Human Understanding, Inc. and is being held in conjunction with co-sponsors Suffolk Community College and the Town of Huntington and several community partners, including the Cinema Arts Centre.
Local schools are being encouraged to bring classes to the outdoor exhibit. Mr. Grabowski has titled his photo, “Huntington Team Effort.” The teacher-artist has a second work in the show, too. Docents from the Heckscher Museum and the Suffolk Center on the Holocaust, Diversity, & Human Understanding, Inc. are expected to offer visitors guided tours of the exhibit.
The show, which is scheduled to run through October 24, expects to attract thousands of visitors during the annual Fall Festival October 5-8. A similar project in Sarasota, Florida in 2004 was viewed by 250,000 people, including 13,000 area students.
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