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Columbia Community Affairs newsletter March 9, 2001 Harlem Horizon Art Studio: Twelfth Annual Exhibition By Arun Kristian Das After spending 12 years mentoring more than 1,600 children and 100 adults in the arts, Bryan Collier is calling it a day. The director and chief painter of Harlem Hospital's Harlem Horizon Art Studio is stepping down from his position of giving artistic guidance, inspiration and encouragement, to pursue children's book and film projects. Collier's peers at Harlem Hospital presented him with a surprise plaque on February 6 at the 12th annual Harlem Horizon Art Studio exhibition in the Rotunda of Columbia University's Low Memorial Library, the epicenter of campus history and tradition. The event was hosted by Columbia's Office of Public Affairs in honor of Black History Month. Since its inception in 1989, the art studio has been a place for young patients of Harlem Hospital's Pediatric Department, as well as youngsters and adults of the Harlem community, to express themselves through artwork. By providing studio space, professional art materials and instruction, Harlem Horizon and Collier have helped many young artists to emotionally overcome serious injuries by using painting as a focus for their energies and frustrations. And the program has been rewarding for its director, as well. "The art studio has opened me up in so many different ways in terms of understanding what my real purpose is in being an artist," Collier said. "And it has shown me the way in telling the truth with my art." Over the course of his years at Harlem Hospital, Collier watched many young, budding artists grow into accomplished adults with families. And while some of his former students may never take up art in their adult lives, Collier believes the importance of the studio lies in its providing people the opportunity to be creative and express themselves at a particular time, especially in moments of hardship. "Although you might do it once and never again, you're still ahead of the game," he said. "I think [this event] is another indication of how the University cares for the community," said Columbia University Trustee Jerome Chazen, chairman of the Community Affairs Committee, which supports Harlem Horizon. "The very fact that we hang these painting in Low Library gives them real status. I certainly hope that Harlem Hospital continues to do the great job it does, and our job is to continue to celebrate what it does and to support it." More than 20 paintings by 14 artists were on display, circling the Rotunda in a spray of color and emotion, including Wendell A. Rondon's "Dark Star," which features a brooding, ominous image of a masked man standing among tombstones. Another highlight of the exhibition was Abraham Daniel's "Vibrant Thoughts"-a large face painted with a bright, varied and intricate color scheme, living up to its title. Other artists featured were Dawn Adams, Dorian Bumbray, Frances Deegan, Louis Donaldson, Victor Dotson, Darryl McCullough, Mustafa Muhammad, Joseph Pinckney, Deborah Rowell, Karima Sappé, Kimberly Singleton and Gregory Smith. "The studio is a home away from home," said Daniel, 24, who has been with Harlem Horizon from day one. "It's where I can go to be myself. When everybody else is playing basketball or baseball, I'm in the studio painting." Daniel's story has reached legendary status by now and serves as the studio's most compelling inspirational tale: When he was just nine years old, his fall from a three-story scaffold left him lying in a coma with a broken spine. On waking from the coma after 33 days, he had only minimal use of his limbs. Daniel became one of the art studio's first students, having learned to paint from the confines of his wheelchair. But one day when he could not reach the top of his canvas, he forced himself to get out of the wheelchair to finish the painting. After that, Daniel worked very hard to walk on his own again, forsaking the wheelchair for a cane. Attended by University President George Rupp, Harlem Hospital program officers, and schoolchildren and prominent members of the Harlem and Morningside Heights communities, the exhibition reception was punctuated by additional remarks and presentations by Dennis Walcott, president and CEO of the New York Urban League, and Aissatou Bey-Grecia, the director of the Harlem Hospital Injury Prevention Program. And while the showcase of the event was painting, of course, the evening provided a kind of convergence of different art forms: a trio of musicians from the nearby Bloomingdale School of Music played selections of peaceful, flowery chamber music, and Columbia's own Gospel and Theatrical Praise Dance Ministries presented a riveting, soul-touching performance of "Amazing Grace" by an accappella soloist and a single dancer. But the evening's emotional center was Collier, to whom many were saying an official "thank you and good-bye." Of his longtime mentor, Daniel said: "He's like a brother to me. Whenever something was on my mind, I would talk to him. ... He's very encouraging when it comes to the arts; he always pushes you to do your best." Collier also expressed warm feelings for Daniel, describing him in two succinct thoughts: "He wears his heart on his sleeve. Master painter." For the young schoolchildren at the reception, seeing the artistic achievement of the Harlem Horizon artists may serve as an inspiration in their own lives. Even "Master Painter" Abraham Daniel had words of advice for those who might follow in his footsteps. "Do your best, and paint as much as possible," he said. "Try not to listen to other people when it comes to art. Always try to use your own mind because your imagination is just as good as anyone else's." The advice he gave was also, in a way, an expression of hope for his own future as an artist. "You may stop growing physically, but you never stop growing mentally," Daniel said. "And as long as I can grow mentally, my artwork will grow." ### |