[FAC] EVENT/ART/PANEL: Council of 100 - AIDS Today: A Panel Discussion

[Starr Lopez]

EVENT: Council of 100 - AIDS Today: A Panel Discussion

WHEN: Saturday, March 29, 2008 from 10:00a – 12:00p

WHERE: Fresno Art Museum, Bonner Auditorium, 2233 N. First Street, 
Fresno, CA 93703

COST: Museum Admission -
$4 Adults
$2 Students, Seniors

EVENT DETAILS:
The Council of 100 and the Fresno Art Museum will be presenting a panel 
discussion on AIDS Today on Saturday, March 29, 2008, at 10:00 am in the 
Bonner Auditorium of the Fresno Art Museum. The panel discussion will be 
moderated by Brian Jessup, Minister of the Universalist Unitarian 
Church, and will include panelists;

Cynthia Brazil Karraker, Executive Director/Founder – All About 
Care/Camp Care, Fresno

Dena Myers, Public Speaker, Fresno

Simon Paul, M.D., Medical Director, Community Special Services HIV Care 
Center, Fresno

Jennifer Ramage, Educator, Visalia

Dr. Devendra Sharma, Professor, Communication Studies, Fresno State 
University

Stephanie Wilde, Artist/Director, Stewart Gallery, Boise, Idaho

The organization of this event came about as a result of the upcoming 
art exhibit of Stephanie Wilde, whose exhibition, /“Half a Life”, /will 
be in the Fresno Art Museum March 25 through May 18, 2008. Of Stephanie 
Wilde’s work, art critic Peter Frank writes, “The drawings and etchings 
of Idaho artist Stephanie Wilde brings to our attention an artist as 
interesting as she is obscure. Her messages are urgent, but her approach 
is gentle and archaic. Concerned with the environment, with racism, with 
greed and corruption, with AIDS, Wilde uses an ornate graphic style to 
create elaborate stylized renditions of figures engaged in tableaux 
steeped in symbol and allegory.”

Christopher Schnoor of the Boise Weekly Newspaper writes, “This is an 
art show about human suffering in an indifferent world that has the 
wherewithal to eradicate it. It is a dark vision that is virtually 
medieval in both its intensity and its iconography….Yet, this is also a 
very personal art as well, one fueled by Wild’s pain and frustrations. 
Concurrent with the spread of HIV/AIDS in this country was the birth of 
her son with a rare blood disorder, and the terror of knowing that his 
consistent need for transfusions exposed him to this danger, drove her 
to investigate the epidemic and address it in her art. Eventually she 
would travel to West Africa to see the effects of the disease firsthand. 
AIDS in Africa has been a perennial theme in her work since.”