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Seeing Ourselves: Photographs of Safe Haven

Presented by Blend Studio at Blend Studio

October 3-October 31, 2009

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Safe Haven Family Shelter proudly announces Seeing Ourselves: Photographs of Safe Haven, will be displayed at Blend Studio. The exhibit will be displayed through October 31, 2009. The opening reception will be held during the First Saturday Gallery Crawl on October 3rd, from 6:00pm to 9:00pm. In addition, an artist talk is scheduled for Saturday, October 10th from 1:00pm to 3:00pm.

Blend Studio, a local art studio, opened its doors in June of 2009. The main focus of the gallery is to organize community-based, contemporary art exhibits and to provide a space and opportunity for artists to impact the community. "The Seeing Ourselves exhibit is a step forward to develop a dialogue about issues, dealing with homeless families," stated co-owner of Blend Studio, Ben Vitualla. "By hosting the exhibit in the Downtown area of the Arcade during the popular First Saturday Gallery Crawl, we hope that this project will gain new audiences and raise awareness about the impact of Safe Haven in homeless families? lives."

In April of 2008, the Frist Center for the Visual Arts partnered with Safe Haven Family Shelter to provide cultural enrichment through a community art program offered to its residents. Nashville-based photographer Allen Clark and the Frist Center's outreach educators led a two-week photography workshop for participants, who ranged from age three to 65 years, to learn about composition, visual storytelling and photographic techniques. On the final day of the workshop, each resident was provided with a Holga 120N camera and were invited to create and capture the compositions they had planned. "The photographs selected for Seeing Ourselves represent life patterns and happenings that are experienced by people living in a variety of circumstances," said Andee Rudloff, educator for the outreach at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts and curator of the exhibition. "Instead of simply documenting the conditions of homelessness, the images remind us that we all share common hopes dreams and goals."

Safe Haven Family Shelter empowers homeless families with children to live independently through social, financial and faith-based guidance. Safe Haven is the only shelter program of its kind in Middle Tennessee that serves homeless families as a whole unit, with a comprehensive approach to address the underlying causes of homelessness and help each family regain self-sufficiency. Safe Haven Family Shelter is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that has served the community for over 25 years. For more information, please visit www.safehaven.org.