July | 2016 | Stephanie Schlatter Art

A piece from my Ethiopia series

I’m absolutely thrilled — my friend and fellow painter Aklilu is coming to the U.S.!

I met Aklilu nearly 10 years ago, when I attended an exhibition of his art in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. I was blown away by his talent. I introduced myself, and asked if he’d be interested in volunteering with me, helping bring art education to early childhood learners in Ethiopia Reads schools. To my delight, he said yes. And through the years since, he has said yes every time I asked if he’d help Ethiopia Reads children learn art, or if I asked him to help fundraise, etc. He always says yes.

Aklilu and me

When I asked if he could join us for the second An Ethiopian Odyssey, which took place this past January, he has had to say no for the first time, because he was out of the country. He then encouraged two other awesome artists to come along with us: Yacob Bizuneh and Nahosenay Negussie. All three of these wildly talented Ethiopian artists have exhibited abroad and received international attention for their work.

One of Aklilu’s stunning pieces

All of this leads up to an amazing event on Aug. 10, 6-9 p.m., at my studio in Ada: An Ethiopian Odyssey Art Exhibition.

This event is truly a very unique opportunity to see some really special art by all three artists — Aklilu, Yacob and Nahosenay — as well as my own Ethiopia Series and remaining Project 24 pieces, created on location in Leelanau, Mich.

It is a rare chance to see some exceptional African art and my own humble pieces. The event will, in a large part, be a fundraiser for Ethiopia Reads, the organization I have volunteered with for 10 years now. Half of the proceeds also will go to support our Ethiopian artist friends.

This is a more-the-merrier exhibition. If you know people who love art, Africa or both, please forward on this event. Click here to view the details. RSVP is kindly requested, but not required.

Hope to see you all then!

With gratitude,

My sweeties, Marc and Muchacho, and I spent a week in the Great North of Michigan, and a recharging time away was had by all. We played in the lake and in the sand. Lots of ball chasing was involved for the furry one, and he went tubing for the first time.

I cannot pretend it healed our hearts in terms of a world gone mad. Or that just because I feel somewhat reinvigorated that I can now move on and pretend our nation and the world don’t have an enormous amount of work and healing to do. But I can return to my art, to sharing beauty and a love of nature with you all.

Sometimes art is the only thing that makes sense to me. As I’ve said before: Where there is art, there is nothing else; it’s the place that exists beyond the madness. Art and love — and kindness, please. The light in me acknowledges the light in you, and wishes your heart healing, and wishes you all the best of all good things.