The NewTown Collection: A Gift of Hope

On December 14, 2012, twenty children ages six and seven along with six adults were tragically taken from this world in Newtown Connecticut. Rochester, NY artist Henry Avignon opened a discussion about this tragic event with his two children, from which his 10 year old son requested that his father give a gift of art to the families of Newtown to provide a measure of solace. Henry went on to create a body of work which contains 26 individual Giclee prints inspired by the photographs and family statements of the victims. These 26 images have been created as a memorial to each of the 26 victims who were killed during the mass shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Henry Avignon is an emerging artist whom like most artists in the beginning of their career, do not have the necessary funds to realize their vision, specifically in this case, the ability to print and frame the work. Avignon is working with Excelsus Solutions whose equipment produces these museum quality fine art prints and with Black Radish who does the framing.

Through the generosity of Richard and Jennifer Sands, patrons of Henry work and who spear headed this project; the first edition of the 26 prints has been purchased and will be donated in its entirety to the Newtown, CT community through the Newtown Cultural Arts Commission.

The first goal of this project is to raise enough money to fund the printing and framing for the second edition that is intended to be gifted to each family whom the image was created. The second goal is for all proceeds remaining after the funds have been raised for the gifting of the collection to be distributed to the Sandy Hook Scholarship Fund.

*This collection was created as an opportunity for the public to give the gift of art. This will not be presented as a gift from the artist but rather as a gift from our collective communities.

**All arrangements have been made so that the Superintendent of the Newtown School District will be receiving and distributing the prints to the families who are awaiting their gifts.

AXOM Gallery & Exhibition Space  of Rochester, New York is currently Exhibiting Edition 1 of the collection to help raise the much needed funds.  We would like to ask you to consider making a one-time contribution towards this project that is aimed towards healing our wounded community through the gift of deeply inspired art.  There are still many works available from the 3rd and 4th edition if you would prefer to make your contribution through acquisition works directly.  Each work in the collection is 26" x 26" with a 3" border.  It is a museum quality Giclee print on Hahnemuhle 350gsm acid free paper framed in white.  Please contact the gallery for any inquiries. Contact information can be found at http://axomgallery.com/contact/ 

You can look at the complete collection at: http://henryavignonart.viewbook.com/new-town-collection.   Additional information about the exhibition is also on the AXOM Gallery website: www.axomgallery.com