Oprah Winfrey. Photo: wiki commons.

As a departure from what I usually do on this blog I would like to share some personal art news.

The show that I curated in Brooklyn NY, back in October titled “Chassidim of Color” will be featured on Oprah’s new show ‘Oprahs next chapter’. The show explores the Chassidic community in Brooklyn and is titled “First Look: America’s Hidden Culture”.

The “Chassidim of Color” art show was a great success bringing together members of the Chassidic community who are artists to display their work.

The show grew out of a desire to share the work of David Ariel De Guglielmi.  At first I had modest ideas but then it morphed into renting a store front in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. The holiday of Sukkot was fast approaching and there would be thousands of people on the streets, a great opportunity to share the work. I put out a ‘call to arts’ seeking Chassidic artists with less than a week to opening, and received 15 applicants. We hung the show and the reception was overwhelmingly positive.  The space was supposed to close at 2AM but I couldn’t get people out until about 4AM as there was such a hunger for the arts. Most amazingly, artists just walked in off the streets requesting to be a part of it, from a 13 year old boy with string art to a 70+ year old lady with digital art.

During the show, Oprah’s film crew stopped by to take it in and interview me on what it is all about. That clip has made it in to Oprah’s show to be screened on February 13th at 10pm as part of the second episode.

Check out the show’s trailer by clicking below: