The
unveiling of a Max Ferguson painting was the center of a
celebration at the Gallery Henoch on Wednesday, January
22nd. Dozens of supporters braved the icy weather to
gather for the first look at a commissioned portrait
donated by Ferguson to benefit the Edwin Gould
Foundation Services for Families and Children. The
commission was sold at a live auction to highest bidder
Stewart F. Lane, who chose to have the painting done of
his twin sons. A portion of further proceeds from the
exhibition at the Gallery Henoch will benefit the STEPS
to End Family Violence, a NYC program at the at The
Edwin Gould Foundation.
STEPS To
End Family Violence is dedicated to empowering families
and communities through innovative strength-based
programs that promote healing and social change. The
program is a progressive community organization that
values justice and diversity. STEPS provides an array of
services targeted to meet the needs of victims of
gender-based violence: counseling, crisis intervention,
advocacy, and legal services for adults, teens, and
children; group counseling services in both English and
Spanish; creative arts and movement groups and multiple
family groups; community outreach and training to both
service providers and community members; and
alternatives to incarceration and batterers intervention
programming.
Oil
painter Max Ferguson is a graduate of NYU and the Gerrit
Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam. Ferguson has worked on a
number of painting series over the years, including the
New York City subway system, Coney Island, nocturnal
imagery, paintings of his father and Jewish scenes.
Ferguson's work has been widely exhibited since the
1980s, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The
British Museum, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art
and numerous other public and private collections.
In
attendance were: Linda Argila, Stewart F. Lane, Bonnie
Comley and their children: Leah Lane, Lenny Lane and
Frankie Lane, Elie Hirschfeld and Sarah Schlesinger,
Olga, Maria and Daria Balaeskoul, Julia and Jamal
Nusseibeh, Cindy and Jay Gutterman, Lee Fryd, Marcia
McCabe, Sawyer Avery, Alyssa Renzi, Arlene and Daniel
Fisher, Ashley Argila and staff, friends and supporters
of the Edwin Gould Foundation.