Black History Month Highlight:
"North Stars" Installation
February 1, 2016 - Angels Flight • Literary West
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"The history of U.S. abolitionists is one of love and bravery and dedication and strife and bloodshed, and of people of mixed gender and race working together.
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In homage to these freedom fighters, artist and contributor Hope Demetriades canonizes them in "North Stars," her ongoing, traveling mixed-media installation, also viewable at http://www.hopedemetriades.com/ ‪#BlackHistoryMonth‬"
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Monrovia Celebrates Black History Month
February 27, 2015 - Monrovia Weekly
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"Monrovia had a long list of activities in conjunction with Black History Month this year. The Monrovia Historical Museum and the Monrovia-Duarte Black Alumni Association organized visits from artist Hope Demetriades, Dr. Wilma Ellis Kazemzadeh, and the New Buffalo Soldiers."
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Building the First Slavery Museum in America
February 26, 2015 - New York Times
KGEM-TV: "Conversations with Ralph Walker"
Disclaimer: In the years following the interview, I have continued to educate myself on the abolitionists and how to be anti-racist. Thus, I would choose to rephrase certain aspects of the interview to better fit modern verbiage.
Monrovia Historical Museum and Monrovia-Duarte Black Alumni Association commemorate Black History Month in February.
January 30, 2015 - Monrovia Patch
"Ralph Walker of KGEM TV station said, “Our star is Hope Demetriades and her art featuring American abolitionists.” Visitors can speak to this local artist on Feb 8 and Feb 15 from 1 pm to 4 pm at the Museum. She will also be one of the main speakers at the Alumni Association luncheon on the Sunday following on Feb 22nd at the Monrovia Community Center."
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Monrovia Historical Museum to Honor Abolitionists for Black History Month
Two receptions will be held for “The North Stars” installation, depicting U.S. reformers as saints.
January 20, 2015
"Mixed-media artist Hope Demetriades will showcase her works portraying U.S. abolitionists as saints at the Monrovia Historical Museum during Black History Month. “The North Stars: Canonizing the American Abolitionists” highlights the bravery, sacrifice, vision, unity and triumph of reformers who worked to eradicate slavery in this country. Two Q&A receptions will be moderated by KGEM-TV’s Ralph Walker and held in conjunction with the Art Aids Art humanitarian organization (www.artaidsart.org)."
Each reception, Sunday, February 8, and Sunday, February 15, is free and open to the public. A trip to a slaveholding, Louisiana plantation when she was 7, and a visit to the slave quarters at Mount Vernon when she was 10, contributed to the artist’s early, intense interest in racial unity. Later, after being bussed to inner-city schools, she became aware of the stilllingering, powerful and destructive effects of slavery and racism in the United States.
“Since then I have always wanted to work for the cause of racial unity, and hope that in some small way my artwork can move us in the right direction. We are all one. When racism goes unacknowledged, the wounds fester rather than heal,” explains Ms. Demetriades. “The story of our American abolitionists is a beautiful example of oneness, which I believe we should celebrate and strive to embody as individuals living in an exquisitely diverse culture.”
Before, during and after the Civil War, American abolitionists—men and women who were African American, Native American, Caucasian, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Polytheistic—put aside their differences, devoting and risking their lives to end slavery. Depicted as saints, abolitionists featured in the show include Harriet Beecher Stowe, John Brown, Frederick Douglass, Angelina Grimké, Frances Harper, Henry Highland Garnet, William Lloyd Garrison, the Tappan Brothers, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman and Theodore Weld.
“The North Stars: Canonizing the American Abolitionists” will remain installed at the Monrovia Historical Museum until February 20. It will move to The Webb Schools in Claremont, Calif., before traveling to other schools, churches and museums across the country. Installations, lectures and interviews with the artist may be booked upon request.
Hope Demetriades holds a MFA from Cal State Fullerton, and a BA in Art and Psychology from Pitzer College. To learn more about the artist or view images from “The North Stars: Canonizing the American Abolitionists,” visit www.hopedemetriades.com