appreciation

A Big Thank You

I want to thank all who helped me create this project. Without your generosity and guidance
it would have been impossible for me to spend the past two years researching and creating this work.

Many thanks to you immigrants and refugees, who allowed me to sketch, photograph, and paint your portraits and share your inspiring stories of sacrifice, struggle and success:

Edilson Rigo from Brazil
Beata Szpakowicz Kombel from Poland
Diego Salazar from Colombia
Maria Salomé from Guatemala
"Angel" from Mexico
Porez Luxama, refugee from Haiti
John Lam from Hong Kong
Richard Mazda from England
Rekha Singh from India
Laura Garcia, DACA recipient from Mexico
Abdul Saboor, refugee from Afghanistan
Mustefa Mohammed, refugee from Somalia
Lidia Lozovsky from Ukraine
Ronald Kim from South Korea
Myo Thway from Burma
Amina Ahmed, from Syria

I must also include you who anonymously shared your concerns and fears that went into the
unnamed "final" portrait.

My thanks also go the fine institutions and wonderful individuals, who gave me time, talent and/or treasure by pointing me in the right direction or spreading the word or helping to pay the way. Special thanks must go to three of the immigrants I painted for jumping in to help: Diego Salazar for donating all the beautiful frames, Richard Mazda, for arranging a preview of the work in the 2018 L.I.C. Arts Open Festival, and John Lam, CEO of the Lam Group, for his recent, most generous pledge. Here, in alphabetical order, are others:

Anonymous (6 very generous contributors -- you know who you are!)
Mahyar Afshar
Rayna Aylward
Elizabeth Ballantine
Joseph Berger
Judith H. Blau
Willem Brans
Dave Brown and team, MetroFocus, WNET-TV
Mario Busta
The Rev. John Callanan, Chaplain, Meadow Lakes, East Windsor, New Jersey
Mauricio Castillo, Saiint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue
Christ Church Cathedral, Indianapolis, Indiana
Julie Denny Clark
Katherine Connors
Ruth B. Cowan
L. Henry Cox & Michael Kunkel
Jessily Crispyn, theeagleonline.com
Claudia Cutter-Dabiri
Susan Davis
Lori Ann Doyon, Editor, Greenline
Jack Deacy
The Right Reverend Nicholas DiMarzio, Roman Catholic Bishop of Brooklyn & Queens
Emily Drooby, Currents News NET-TV
Steve Dunlop
Allyson Escobar, reporter, The Tablet
Angel Estrada, Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue
Carolyn Farin
Troy Farlow
Steve Farron
Elvira Florindo
Dan Fowler
T. J. Houlihan
Stacey Judge, Springpoint Senior Living, New Jersey
Elisa Jensen
The Kerwin Family
Pamela Lewis, writer, Episcopal Journal, Episcopal New Yorker
Tania Lipkind
Charles Little
Kay Lockridge
Albert Marandola
Kendall Martin, Episcopal Migration Ministries
Cynthia Cannon McWhirter, Conference of Endowed Episcopal Parishes
Mae Wong Miller
Frances Mintz
Ethan Moore
The Rev. Matthew Moretz, Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue
Linda Morfi
Roxie Munro
Sana'a Nadim
The Rev. William Norgren
David Orcutt
Dorothy Pacella
Ben Patrusky
The Rev. Canon John Perris, Episcopal Diocese of New York
Lorraine Piekny
Michael Piekny
Michelle Powers, Managing Editor, News Gathering, DeSales Media Group
Jeremy Robbins and staff, New American Economy/
Christina Robertson
The Rev. Ellen Robison, The Riverside Church of New York
Peter Sax
Liz Schaus-Guzzo, Meadow Lakes, East Windsor, New Jersey
Elinore Schnurr
Lisa Schubert, Cathedral of Saint John the Divine
The Rev. Byron Shafer, East Windsor, New Jersey
Eleanor, Lady Shearing
Carrie Sheffield, BOLD TV host
Rhoda Sherbell, NA, artist
Laura Solomon
Steven Speliotis, Speliotis Video
The Rev. Adam Spencer, Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue
James Stepleton
The Rev. Canon Mark Stevenson, Episcopal Migration Ministries
Stephanie Sulaiman, Executive Director, Museum of Urban Art
Robbie & Becky Thomas
Anne Kelly Treantafeles
Peter Trippi, Editor-in-Chief, Fine Art Connoisseur magazine
Tom Tortorici
The Rev. Canon Carl Turner, Rector, Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue
David & Linda Underhill
The Rev. Thomas Vassalotti, Pastor, Divine Mercy Parish, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Georgiana Vines
Elizabeth Vranka, Executive Director, OSilas Gallery at Concordia College, Bronxville, NY
Gary Tisdale-Woods
Nora Chang Wang