Category Archives: General

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“Migrations” – an exhibit at the Sheen Center, NYC

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Join us tomorrow – February 23rd at 6 pm – at the Sheen Center, 18 Bleecker St., NY, NY for the opening of the exhibit entitled “Migrations.”  The exhibit runs through April 9th.
 
In “Migrations,” world maps are devoid of borders. Instead, they are imbued with what DOEprojekts calls “Coreforms,” which are shapes that indicate continuous movement and migrations.
 
PAX Rwanda has partnered with DOEprojekts to create these stunning embroidered maps of the continents.
sheencenter.org

PAX Rwanda at Port Authority – Read about it in The Bergen Record

PAX RWANDA Fine Art Embroideries Return to Port Authority Bus Terminal to Celebrate Black History Month – 41st Street and 9th Avenue, NYC, February 1-28

Read the article:

"In one piece, gray goats shine with silver thread in the bright sunlight of an afternoon market. In the backgrounds, blue mountain ranges recede into fog, spotted by cloud shadows. "
“In one piece, gray goats shine with silver thread in the bright sunlight of an afternoon market. In the backgrounds, blue mountain ranges recede into fog, spotted by cloud shadows. “

http://www.northjersey.com/news/transportation/art-brightens-n-y-bus-terminal-1.1507227?page=all

Last Days! See PAX Rwanda at Port Authority Bus Terminal

This beautiful exhibit is coming to an end this weekend…  Go see it now.  It’s in the South Building of the Port Authority Bus Terminal between the main ticketing plaza and the 9th Avenue entrance.  It can be seen 24 hours a day!

Thank you, from PAX Rwanda!  And, oh…happy_rutongo

We’ll be back at the Port Authority Bus Terminal for the entire month of February to celebrate Black History Month!  See more new embroideries then.

PAX RWANDA: Exhibition of Fine Art Embroideries at Port Authority Bus Terminal, 41st Street and 9th Avenue, NYC, November 1-30

New York, NY, November 2015Pax Rwanda: Embroideries of the Women of Savane Rutongo-Kabuye,” an exhibit of original embroideries created by Rwandan artists, is currently on view 24/7 in the Port Authority Bus Terminal concourse near the 9th Avenue entrance.

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Fruit Market

The exhibit has toured galleries and museums since 2011: at Mark Miller Gallery on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in September 2015; in New Jersey at the African Art Museum of the SMA Fathers in Tenafly, the Ocean County Artists Guild in Island City, the Puffin Foundation in Teaneck, and the Cottage Gallery in Ridgewood. It has also been featured at the Textile Museum in Washington, DC, and the Norwood Artspace in Columbus, Ohio.

The embroideries depict Rwandan culture, flora, and fauna and are designed by women who are survivors from both sides of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsis.

 Their technique of threading three different colors onto one needle is unique to this workshop and was pioneered by its creator and artistic director, Christiane Rwagatare. With it they produce subtle blends of colors that bring their compositions to life, fashioning with needle and thread what the painter does with brush and paint. Each piece requires at least three months of meticulous effort.

 The collection is curated by Juliana Meehan, a New Jersey educator, who discovered the embroideries in a small shop in the Rwandan capital of Kigali in 2010.

 

Pax Rwanda Exhibit at Port Authority Bus Terminal, NYC

PAX RWANDA: Art that Heals the Wounds of War with Needle and Thread

 

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New York, NY – November, 2015 – A unique collection of vibrant embroideries depicting Rwandan culture will be on view at the Port Authority Bus Terminal in the heart of Manhattan during the month of November.

The exhibit, entitled Pax Rwanda: Embroideries of the Women of Savane Rutongo-Kabuye is comprised of works by women survivors of the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsis—both Hutu and Tutsi—working together as part of the reconstruction and reconciliation that characterizes modern Rwanda.

Some of the works on display have never been shown before.  Most are part of the “permanent collection,” which is a one-of-a-kind selection for exhibit only.

The collection was started in 2010 when Juliana Meehan, a New Jersey educator touring Rwanda, discovered the extraordinary textiles in a small shop in the Rwandan capital of Kigali. Meehan recognized the superior quality of their work and the importance of their efforts at peace and unity and began an effort to support them by exhibiting and selling their work in the USA.

Meehan explained, “One woman was just about to get married when her young man was killed in the genocide. Other artisans are widows; some are the children of survivors, and still others have men in prison. They work together in the hope that their children will have a brighter future.”

The textile workshop—known as “Savane Rutongo-Kabuye”—was founded by Christiane Rwagatare, a Rwandan who lived much of her early life in exile because of Rwanda’s political turmoil. Upon returning to Rwanda in 1994 following the genocide that claimed the lives of more than 800,000 men, women, and children, Rwagatare discovered a group of village women selling small embroidered items for their livelihood. Noticing their skill and desiring to help in Rwanda’s reconstruction, Rwagatare conceived the idea of a workshop where they might create these full-size fine art textiles.

Rwagatare announced that anyone interested in working in an “embroidery cooperative” should come to the local church at a designated time. More than 100 women answered the call, although she could only take fifteen with the best embroidery skills. That was the start of the workshop.

Their technique involves loading three different colors of thread onto one needle, producing subtle blends of colors that bring their compositions to life. Each unique piece requires an average of three months of meticulous effort by several artisans.

Meehan purchases the works through her small business, Rutongo Embroideries LLC, at prices set by the workshop. Since discovering them in 2010 and undertaking to sell their work in the United States, Meehan has seen their wages rise.

According to Meehan, “Everywhere I have exhibited these works—in museums and galleries in the New York metropolitan area, Washington DC, and Columbus, Ohio—people have received them with great enthusiasm and awe.”