FEBRUARY 11, 2010 ISSUE
Raffle Tickets on Sale for Painting by Cap-Haitian Artist
Other Organizations Solicit Help for Haiti
John Schoo stands by the Haitian painting he has donated to be raffled off as a fundraiser for the Watauga County Chapter of the American Red Cross Haitian Disaster Relief Fund. Photo by Corinne Saunders
Sandra and Gaetano Siano smile next to a piece of Haitian sequin art that utilizes both voodoo symbols and Catholic symbols. Slaves once used this artform—“vivres”—to communicate to each other, Sandra said. Photo by Corinne Saunders
Raffle tickets are on sale at Black Bear Books for a Haitian painting donated by local collectors John Schoo and Cynthia Gandee. Raffle tickets are also available through the Watauga County Chapter of the American Red Cross for $10, and donations are also accepted. All proceeds will support Haitian Relief through the International Red Cross.
The original painting by Cap-Haitian artist Eem Valcin is 40 inches by 30 inches, said Erin Thompson, manager of Black Bear Books.
The drawing will take place on March 1, in conjunction with a 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. lecture on Haitian art and culture.
Those interested can view the painting, which is hanging in the Black Bear Books café along with other Haitian artwork Schoo and Gandee have displayed.
To purchase raffle tickets, visit Black Bear Books, located at 2146 Blowing Rock Road in Boone, or click to www.wataugaredcross.com.
“I’ve been to Haiti a couple times, [and I was] feeling depressed about what happened,” Schoo said. “We decided we’d pull our collection together, [and] offer this piece as the subject of a raffle.”
The couple, which splits their time between Tampa, Fla., and Blowing Rock, will keep their collection on display through the raffle date of March 1.
Schoo spoke briefly on Haitian art on Thursday, February 4, at Black Bear Books when raffle tickets first went on sale.
“Artists in Haiti were not well-educated, [and] up until the 1940s, [they were] not educated at all,” Schoo said.
He said that DeWhitt Peters, an American artist, “found a natural art talent—a talent for creating ‘art of joy’—comes from Haitian people specifically.”
Peters “brought in paints and started a school of art in Port-au-Prince,” Schoo said, adding that painting, sequin art and metal art were taught.
The colorful art typical of Haiti shares a happy theme, and Schoo attributed this in part to the people’s pride in the insurrection of 1791, which made Haiti the first independent black nation in the world when they overthrew the French.
The Haitians developed a unique culture, turning back to their African roots and turning back to voodoo even while incorporating aspects of Catholicism, Schoo said.
“They’re a very spiritual people who have learned to live with a lot less than [those] in American culture,” he said.
The Episcopal cathedral destroyed by the January 12 earthquake housed murals painted by some of the great Haitian masters DeWhitt Peters discovered, and losing the building “is comparable to losing the Sistine Chapel,” Schoo said.
“We don’t want to lose interest,” he said of aiding those devastated by the earthquake in Haiti.
The Haitian Perspective
“Haitian people are a very proud people,” said Sandra Siano, who moved to the High Country with husband Gaetano four years ago.
“Throughout all the things we’ve been through: the dictatorships, democracy [and] coup-de-tats, you’ll never see a Haitian cry because they’re so proud, [they] never show sorrow. The earthquake images are the first time I’ve seen tears in the eyes of so many Haitians.”
Sandra and Gaetano are both fifth-generation Haitian; Sandra’s background is Italian-French, and Gaetano’s is Italian-Palestinian, she said.
In 2005, the Sianos “moved here because we purchased the Mast Farm Inn,” Sandra said. “We wanted to start life over.”
She had vacationed in the High Country with her parents for 15 years, she added, and her parents also live in the area. Gaetano’s family still resides in Haiti.
Sandra’s parents wanted to retire in Switzerland, she said, but after dropping off her sister to watch events at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Ga., they drove on the Blue Ridge Parkway and found themselves in a town called Little Switzerland.
Making a snap decision, her parents bought property there and retired in North Carolina instead, she said.
Sandra and Gaetano, who have been married for 10 years, met while attending one of the two American schools in Haiti, she said.
“I left Haiti for college,” Sandra said, adding that she attended the American University of Paris in France and then spent one year at Parsons: The New School for Design in New York before moving back to Haiti in 1999.
Sandra recalled that she did not like to decorate with Haitian art when she was younger because it almost overwhelmed a room.
“Haitian art has such a presence,” Sandra said. “It’s very colorful, very powerful. There’s nothing subtle about Haitian art.”
But even beyond purchasing tickets for the painting raffle, Sandra encouraged locals to continue to lend a helping hand to the people of Haiti.
“They need everyone’s help for the next five years,” Sandra said. “Gaetano and I think the key is to not forget.”
In America, she said, when a disaster strikes, a force always comes in to help: 9-1-1, FEMA and other local and governmental forces, she said. But in Haiti, “there is no support on the ground.
“In one town, a week [passed after the earthquake] before anyone even got to the town,” she said. “There is no one for them to turn to; no government structure. The people are helping each other, but [they] don’t have the means.”
Different groups are doing what they can to help in Haiti, but there is no holistic plan because of the lack of governmental structure, she added.
One man in Haiti whom the couple knows opened a soup kitchen in his former place of business, a pizza parlor. Now he serves lunch and dinner to people that wait in lines out the door and down the street for a free meal. He is only able to provide the food because of outside donations, Sandra said.
“That to me is as important as the Red Cross,” she said. “These are people on the streets getting immediate help.”
Gaetano’s cousin began a nonprofit called Sow A Seed to help children in orphanages, and Sandra encouraged people to donate to this organization, also.
For more information about the soup kitchen or for contact information for sending donations, become a fan of Muncheez Food Drive Haiti on www.facebook.com. For more information about and/or to donate to Sow A Seed, click to www.sowaseedonline.org.
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