SPRINGDALE -- Refugees and immigrants to the United States will share through art their journeys to Northwest Arkansas.
Canopy Northwest Arkansas hosts its first Art of Welcome Gallery on Saturday Nov. 5 at Sol Nox Studio in Springdale. Canopy is a refugee resettlement's agency working with Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service. Staff and volunteers help refugee families get started with life in the United States and support them as they become part of the Northwest Arkansas community.
The gallery will feature art by local refugees, immigrants and Canopy staff. The pieces will be for sale in a silent auction.
Two showings are planned: from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. for $25 and 4 to 8 p.m. A $50 special access ticket for the evening showing gives ticket holders a tote bag filled with pieces of original art. A solo dance performance also is slated for the late showing.
The auction will benefit Canopy, which did not hold its annual fundraising gala this fall, said Jess Claire, Canopy's volunteer program manager.
The gallery will feature the work of 15 artists from Afghanistan, Iraq, Laos, Vietnam, Mexico and more -- many of them Canopy staff or clients, Claire said. The auction also will include paintings by children in the weekly after-school program, she said.
The art pieces will include painting, photography as well as crafts like baskets, pottery and rugs made in the traditions of the artists' home countries.
Canopy has welcomed more than 350 people to Northwest Arkansas since December 2016 and enrolled more than 100 children in local schools, according to the Canopy website.
Malath Alarnosi, a Canopy case manager, has provided paintings for the gallery event.
Alarnosi also uses photography to show the successful stories of women from different countries in the Middle East, she said.
Alarnosi, a refugee of Iraq, came to Florida in 2014. She left Iraq on a special visa because she had worked in support of the U.S. Army, she shared.
She said she loved drawing and painting, but her work in electrical engineering in Iraq kept her busy.
"That first year here was very tough," Alarnosi said. "I was looking for something to fill and calm me."
She had to learn the systems of this country and integrate into the community. But she started drawing and painting with her children who were 4 years old, 2 years old and 1 year old at the time.
She shared her art with friends. They encouraged her to share her work via social media and some small art galleries.
"Art is an amazing way to educate people about who we are and why we are here," Alarnosi said. "Their stories are really art. And art is a way to share our stories without language."
Many refugees come to the United States do not understand English.
Alarnosi said she will tell the stories of other refugees with whom she has worked.
"To live in a camp is really hard. We're talking a tough and hard reality," Alarnosi said, hearing the experiences of family members still in camps. "People who have to live in camp for nine to 10 years, how much they suffer."
Alarnosi told of small tents, little food or clean water and an unknown future for the families. Members of her family have been living in a camp for seven years just waiting for their turn to settle in a different country.
Art of Welcome Gallery
When: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 4 to 8 p.m. Saturday Nov. 5
Where: Sol Nox Studio, 800 E. Emma Ave., Springdale
Tickets: $25, $35, $50 available on the Canopy website
Information: canopynwa.org