Their artwork is currently on display at the downtown library and will be exhibited through Dec. 31. The New Americans Art Exhibit includes representation from Colombia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Mexico, Russia, Sweden, Ukraine and Venezuela. The artists range from young students to professionals. Many studied art in their own countries before coming to America.
Like many of the artists, Faramarzi said the ideas for her artwork come from her roots, her native land. “Iran is a country with rich history, art and culture, and a country where many famous poets have lived, such as Hafez and Saadi,” she said. She often incorporates Iranian patterns and motifs in her work and is inspired by the poetry, literature and music of her homeland.
Faramarzi and other New American artists will also be selling their wares Sunday at the Global Artisan Market at 2nd Street Market in downtown Dayton. Sunday’s event will also include music, dancing and culture sharing.
Handmade items for sale include:
- Necklaces, earrings, bracelets, rings, and bags by Diana Otero who is from Colombia.
- Cookies, donuts, baklava, kunafa by Wisal Dafaallah from Sudan.
- Mini paintings, magnetic paintings, amulet dolls, and traditional Ukrainian flower crowns by Yuliia Goncharuk from Ukraine.
- Traditional cookies (alfajor) as well as dulche de leche, and a variety of coffee and teapot gift sets are available from Natalia Zarate of Argentina.
- Art and jewelry from Missing Peace Art Space (Rwanda/Mexico).
- Original artwork in watercolor and watercolor pencil by Faramarzi. She’ll also sell an assortment of holiday cookies.
How it began
The art exhibit is marking its fourth year. Jeannette Horwitz, coordinator for Welcome Dayton, said the original idea was to showcase the creative talents of the immigrant community living in Dayton. The project has always been done in collaboration with Dayton Metro Library.
“The Community, Culture and Arts committee for Welcome Dayton was looking for ways to bring the community together, both established residents and new Americans,” said the library’s deputy executive director Rachel Gut, who serves as the chair of the committee. “The Main Library, with its open exhibit space and accessibility to the public, has been a perfect place for the show.”
Gut said the exhibit is intended to display the work of first generation Americans, anyone born outside of the USA. That includes immigrants, refugees and naturalized citizens.
Before coming to America, Faramarzi researched places they might want to settle. They knew they didn’t want a crowded city with a lot of traffic and skyscrapers.
“Luckily we had a friend in Dayton,” she said.
She now works as a bilingual new arrival specialist for the International School at Residence Park, part of the Dayton Public School system. She’s gotten her students involved with the New American Art Exhibit; you’ll see some of the young people’s work in the current library exhibition.
“In the past three years, I have worked with many talented students who are all newcomers to America,” Faramarzi said. “They speak different languages and it’s not always easy for them to communicate with each other but they are talented and the miracle of art is that painting is a common language between us.”
Her students remind her of her own past, the time she first arrived in this country. “Everything was new,” she remembers. “Everything was confusing — new rules, new culture. When you enter a new country, it’s like you’re entering a new world. My goal is to show my students that if you really love art, that is more important than speaking English. Your talent matters more than your accent.”
Faramarzi gets great satisfaction when the library hosts its annual open house reception for the exhibit.
“Seeing their families and seeing their smiles on opening day makes me so excited,” she said. “The parents are so proud of their children!”
Other art on display
Among the other artists whose work is being shown at the library are a mother and son from Ukraine, Yuliya and Denys Goncharuk. The family came to Dayton when the war started in Ukraine and now live in Centerville. Yuliya creates abstract paintings with an alcohol ink technique. Her son’s work is bold and colorful.
You’ll see religious imagery in the work of German Sanchez from Colombia. He and his family immigrated to Miami, Florida when he was four and his father moved the family to Dayton in 2006 for a job opportunity. A graduate of Springboro High School, German received a degree in fine arts from Wright State University in 2019.
Sanchez said one of his pieces in the exhibit, entitled “Con Dolor Comeras de ella Todos los Dias de tu Vida,” is about “Restrictive religious childhood due to evangelical parents who were converted by American missionaries. I was inspired by Adam and Eve’s expulsion from the Garden of Eden and my father’s obsession with televangelist prosperity preachers promising him the American dream. I viewed Colombia as a sort of Eden, a mythical land that I could never return to and a place where I had few but cherished memories of.”
Monica Moscosco, who creates abstract paintings, is from Ecuador and grew up surrounded by family and friends who loved and dedicated their time to art. “When I came to the United States, I dreamed of working in an art gallery,” she said. She enrolled at Sinclair Community College to study art administration and is also an artist.
Other artists represented in the library exhibit include:
- Matilda Prizler who was born in the Miami Valley but whose mother immigrated from Sweden prior to her birth. Some of her pieces have won prizes including the Ohio Governor’s Youth Art Exhibition in both 2023 and 2024.
- Nina Kristof of the USSR Russian Federation who now lives in Brookville and headed an arts and crafts studio for children in her native land. She is especially interested in children’s book illustration and loves plein-air sketching and painting.
- Martha Jeannette, a Colombian American mother of five children and five grandchildren who came to the US in 2003 seeking Asylum. Her passion is sculpting; she paints in acrylic and oil, inspired by dreams and visions related to the Bible.
- Alyaa Ibraheem is from Iraq and received a masters degree in special education from WSU. She is currently an ESL teacher in the West Carrollton City Schools.
- Student work in the exhibition comes from Kenia Nicole Jaime Alvarez, Hekly Lizeth Lopez Chairez and Pacifique Rugira Kirena from Mexico and Elimar Runza of Venezuela who is inspired by his love of animals.
Horwitz said the joy of the library exhibit is seeing the talent from our immigrant and refugee community and learning about their backgrounds. “There is great diversity in Dayton,” she concludes. “You get a little piece of the world right here.”
HOW TO GO
What: New Americans Art Exhibit, hosted by Welcome Dayton and the Dayton Metro Library
Where: Dayton Metro Library, 215 E. Third St. Second floor.
When: 9:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday; 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Closed Sunday. Through Dec. 31.
Admission: Free with free parking under the library.
GLOBAL ARTISAN MARKET
What: Global Artisan Market, hosted by the Market in collaboration with Welcome Dayton
Where: 2nd Street Market, 600 East Second St.
When: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 24
Parking: Free
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