20 Years 20 Artists January 19, 2008

The public is invited to an evening of live entertainment and refreshments as 516 ARTS celebrates twenty years of Working Classroom, a nonprofit organization promoting a more inclusive, nuanced definition of our collective identity through free, high quality training to aspiring artists from historically ignored communities. This event is FREE. Opening reception 6-8pm, Saturday January 19th. Exhibit runs through January 19 - February 16, 2008.

The exhibition features the work of twenty artists from around the globe who have invested their time and talents to build and sustain this important work/organization. These artists are from Haiti, France, Mexico, Poland and China as well as New Mexico and across the United States. The work includes painting, sculpture, contemporary retablo, photography and video. The exhibition will take place on both floors of 516 ARTS. Music by jazz trio John Lewis and Friends. Catering generously donated by Professional Catering.

"Working Classroom…teaches its students skills few adults can boast – how to conduct oral history interviews and archival research on family and local history – activities that bind people to place and commit them to responsibility for what happens there. It sends them out into the world (and into some arts worlds) where their examples will be doubly significant because of the art world's biases toward white male artists." — Lucy Lippard, from catalog introduction Working Out
www.workingclassroom.org

Featured artists: Isaac AlaridPease, Edouard Duval Carrie, Charles Castillo, Marie-Noëlle de Vibraye, Michael Eder, Gloria Emerson, Tony Evanko, Miguel Gandert, Yolanda Gutiérrez, JoAnn Harper, Gary Eugene Jefferson, Franky Kong, Peter Kaskiewicz, Vivian Marthell, Arturo Olivas, Raymundo Sesma, Carlos Suarez de Jesus, Fred Wilson, Juanita Wolff and Wanxin Zhang

Official Website: http://www.516arts.org/exhibitions.html