During 2022 and 2023, illuminated Letters hosted a variety of events around the exhibit.
Here are some of the event details.
Connect March 12, 2023 - Connecting, Becoming One
Wrestle February 12, 2023 - Names and Naming
Illuminate January 15, 2023 - Lighting the Darkness
Check back regularly for more events and videos and materials from recent events.
Native, multicultural, and contemporary names and the national re-naming trend.
What: Harwin Studios hosted the last of the three winter 2023 salons with “Smitty,” Tsungani Chief of the Lelooska clan. Smitty’s presentation explored the rich Native American tradition of naming and re-naming. Noted Northwest artist and creator of the Illuminated Letters exhibition, Sara Harwin immediately followed Smitty’s talk to present and explain the multiple meanings of three panels currently exhibited at her studio through March 31. Her presentation included a visual meditation and other tools for viewers of this segment of the Illuminated Letters: Threads of Connection exhibition. Her talk was designed to provide insights to understand complex concepts of cultural and trans-cultural traditions and how these traditions foster human connections (connectedness).
Ms. Harwin’s work is founded on the structure of Hebrew concept Shoreshim. This concept identifies three ancient Hebrew letters and identifies them as the roots of words that have sacred and mystical concepts that apply to current as well as historical meanings. An explanation and contemporary examples of Shoreshim are presented at each salon along with a question-and-answer session with the speakers.
Return to top
What:Call him an illumination specialist, Professor Jeff Schnabel discussed aspects of the human response and need for light. He explored his thoughts, research, and experience about how light shapes our emotions and actions. Professor Schnabel’s multiple involvement in darkness and light includes co-founding the Portland Winter Light Festival, https://www.pdxwlf.com. The 2023 February festival is expected to be attended by over 300,000 visitors. Jeff Schnabel is the Director of the School of Architecture at Portland State University, the 2015 recipient of the Van Evera Bailey Fellowship which supported his research on design after dark and how nighttime changes the design strategies of buildings and cities. Schnabel is a member of the Willamette Light Brigade, the International Nighttime Design Initiative, and the Media Architecture Institute.
Professor Schnabel and artist Sara Harwin, engaged salon participants now able to view three of the 24 six foot panels currently displayed at Harwin Studios. The complete Illuminated Letters: Threads of Connection exhibition is actually sewn and digitally printed museum gallery panels 2,500 sq. ft. in total length. The interactive work by Sara Harwin uses textures and media to a create multiple light and dimensional experiences. The work offers explanatory meanings based on original art and “shoreshism” the basic three letter core structure of words in Hebrew. The work offers explanatory meanings based on original art and “shoresh” the basic three letter core structure of words in Hebrew. Viewers will see Hebrew shoreshim (panels), with equally enlarged imagery of nature - planets, trees, seasons, and geometric silk-covered floating particles meticulously assembled in shapes designed to reflect light.
Return to topWhat: Words and movement can lead us to personal and universal intersections, “connections,” that provide a deeper understanding of individual experience. Methods for pursuing that concept will be demonstrated at the February 12 Illuminated Letters Salon at Portland-based Harwin Studios. This second event in the 2023 monthly series addressed the concepts of connection, central to the Illuminated Letters exhibition currently on display through March 31, 2023.
Who and How: Author, dancer, teacher, playwright, historian and co-founder of the Oregon Ballet Theater Carol Shults will speak and present media to demonstrate her concepts of connection. Northwest artist and creator of the Illuminated Letters exhibition, Sara Harwin will then present on the multiple meanings of the word, a central component of her Illuminated Letters exhibition. Ms. Harwin’s art is founded on the structure of Hebrew concept Shoreshim, which identifies three ancient Hebrew letters that create the roots of words. These words “connect” and have historical and current sacred and mystical meanings. There are three of 24 panels currently on display at Harwin Studios.
Return to top