NEW YORK, August 8, 2023 (CarryOnHarry.com)
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The Vilcek Foundation has partnered with Pen + Brush to develop a digital coloring book featuring 25 works by 15 leading artists who work with the gallery. This Is Who We Are: Color the Artists of Pen + Brush Gallery highlights the many ways in which contemporary artists are exploring themes of gender, immigration, economics, and the natural world. The coloring book is available as a free .pdf download from the Vilcek Foundation. 

Works in the digital coloring book are reproduced in full color and also interpreted as line drawings by illustrator Paula Kinsel, along with short artist biographies on each of the creators. The book is intended to build visibility and awareness of the included artists while encouraging readers and users to delight in the diversity of artists and artwork championed by Pen + Brush. 

The book’s title was inspired by a group exhibition shown at Pen + Brush in 2021, titled This Is Who We Are, which shifted models of traditional exhibitions by enabling the curators and artists to rotate in and add works to the exhibition as works on view sold. Launched as the United States emerged from the darkest days of the COVID-19 pandemic, the exhibition was a commitment to the values of Pen + Brush: to uplift, promote, and find meaningful financial support for artists. Says Dawn Delikat, executive director of Pen + Brush, “It is a statement of empowerment intended to honor their individuality and each of their artistic voices, while bringing them together through the common ground of the Pen + Brush.”

“This coloring book and its collection of selected artists and work salutes what we do here at Pen + Brush,” says Bird Piccininni, Gallery Manager and Associate Curator at Pen + Brush. “Paula Kinsel’s line drawings of the original works capture the unwavering strength, identity, and confidence of the artists we work with globally and intergenerationally. These artists empower themselves, their subject, and their audience. It’s a unique and extraordinary combination of whimsy and activism.”

“These artists empower themselves, their subject, and their audience. It’s a unique and extraordinary combination of whimsy and activism.” – Bird Piccininni, Pen + Brush

This Is Who We Are: Color the Artists of Pen + Brush Gallery is the second coloring book collaboration between the Vilcek Foundation, Kinsel, and Pen + Brush. In 2020, the foundation published Be a Good Ancestor: The Michela Martello Coloring Book, highlighting works by Pen + Brush artist Michela Martello (born in Italy). 

Established in 1894, Pen + Brush is a publicly supported not-for-profit fighting for gender equity in the arts. Pen + Brush provides a platform to showcase the work of women, non-binary, and female-identified transgender artists and writers to a broader audience with the ultimate goal of affecting real change within the marketplace. 

Learn more and download a free copy of the coloring book at Vilcek Foundation: This Is Who We Are: Color the Artists of Pen + Brush Gallery

The Vilcek Foundation

The Vilcek Foundation raises awareness of immigrant contributions in the United States and fosters appreciation for the arts and sciences. The foundation was established in 2000 by Jan and Marica Vilcek, immigrants from the former Czechoslovakia. The mission of the foundation was inspired by the couple’s respective careers in biomedical science and art history. Since 2000, the foundation has awarded over $7 million in prizes to foreign-born individuals and has supported organizations with over $6 million in grants.

The Vilcek Foundation is a private operating foundation, a federally tax-exempt nonprofit organization under IRS Section 501(c)(3). To learn more, please visit vilcek.org. 

Source: The Vilcek Foundation