Smile for the Holidays December 2, 2010

New York: Celebrate this holiday season by offering the perfect gift; smiles. Galleria on Third, will continue its benefit art series by featuring the work of celebrated artist Dennis Wood just in time for the holidays. Monies raised between December 2 – 16, will benefit Smile Train which the NY Times has called “One of the most productive charities, dollar-for-deed, in the world.”
For over 30 years, Canadian artist Dennis Wood has been “playing with his food” first as a child then as a professional food stylist. His own modern photographic exhibitions feature the unmanipulated use of gelatin, creating kaleidoscopic textures reflecting light. The gelatin as medium infuses Wood’s work with a visceral physicality digital imaging cannot, and yet the abstractions of color, shadow, and ribboning illumination allows for abstract meditation that transcends any working methodology. Wood’s limited edition digital print photography captures the intricacies of this unusual and beautiful medium.
“I am honored to be working with Galleria on Third for Smile Train's "Smiles for the Holidays". A smile is something we take for granted. Imagine if you were incapable of doing such a simple gesture. To give a child hope for the future is to me what life and the holidays are all about. By helping these young children we have the added reward of putting a Smile in our own Heart forever.” Dennis Wood
Galleria on Third, has gained a reputation of one of the best galleries and framing shops in New York, due to its exquisite quality of work, reasonable rates and first-rate customer service (just check Google). What sets it apart as “a different kind of gallery” is its commitment to community and giving back. This event marks Galleria on Third’s eighth benefit art show with the purpose of helping children locally and globally, that need to help others continued with the recent launch of www.benefitartshow.com, which offers amazing art work with the profits benefiting others, making it the only gallery online or off of its kind. In addition to Smile Train, Galleria in Third has partnered with World Vision, Bellevue Hospital, Sauti Yetu center for African Women, and NYU, Langone Medical Center (The Institute of Reconstructive Plastic Surgery).
Smile Train’s mission is to provide free cleft surgery for millions of poor children in developing countries, and to offer free cleft-correction training for local doctors and community medical professionals. With the best result and safety record of any international cleft charity, Smile Train aids children in 77 of the world’s poorest countries. Smile Train not only offers corrective outreach to developing countries, but also seeks to de-stigmatize cleft lip and palate, and, most importantly, to train local medical centers in the surgeries. By empowering surgeons in developing countries, Smile Train provides sustainable solutions to the future of cleft awareness and corrections.