THE HUMAN FAMILY TREE/A WALK THROUGH PARADISE...SEVEN INSTALLATIONS

HEIDI HARDIN'S ARTIST STATEMENT

(from 2013)

It is my belief that the peoples of the earth live within webs of cultural and social forces, much as stars and planets exist within webs of natural forces that both bind them together and keep them apart.  Though we seem to live as separate individuals, nations, cultures, and faiths, in truth we are as one in our humanity.  My current project, Human Family Tree/A Walk through Paradise…, (Paradise...)  is an evocation of the universality of the human family through a multimedia meditation on the experiences we share, regardless of faith, culture, or ethnicity.

My life and art have taught me that a true code of ethics must be based on trust in the deep spiritual intimacy that can bind us all together.  In this faith, I walk through our earthly paradise, at home with that universal family.  The current body of work embodies this faith, celebrating home and family, earth and humanity.  Paradise… centers on families who are followers of various major world religions.  Each successive installation (seven in all) will focus on a single religion, presenting 78 paintings in a multimedia installation including touching objects, environmental displays, and original music.  (See a map of the layout of all seven installations below.)  All paintings will be based on photographs of the past century of families of different ethnicity, who stand as icons for all peoples who have journeyed to America to make their home.  In each installation, a labyrinth of footpaths and columns replicating the mythic Tree of Life (image below) will create a “walk through paradise” among the paintings. When complete, this project will survey the assimilation of immigrants to America through public education, advertising, and the Brownie camera.

Part I of Paradise…, The Human Family Tree. focuses on four Christian families of Asian, African, Latin, and European descent. The Human Family Tree debuted at the Bayview Opera House in San Francisco, CA from December 19, 2000, through January 14. 2001. It was then shown at Newspace Los Angeles from September 11 through October 13, 2001.  Part II, Families in Paradise was exhibited at SomArts Main Gallery in San Francisco from January 8 through 28, 2004.   Part III, Art of the Family is currently in progress. When Part III is complete, four Jewish and four Islamic families of different ethnicity, respectively, will be portrayed in these latter two installations.

Think Round's current emphasis will be to host simultaneous exhibitions of these first three installations under the title: Families of Abraham and is intended to serve as a touchstone for panel discussions and family art-making on the topic of global social and political conflict resolution among these family members. Selected paintings from The Families of Abraham exhibit are scheduled for exhibition from October 18 through December 30, 2013, at Hardin Studios in San Francisco, CA. For more information about Paradise... or if you would like to participate, volunteer, become a subject family of Paradise... please contact info@thinkround.org. To see all 78 paintings, each, of the Parts I and II, Human Family Tree (The Four Christians) and Families in Paradise (The Four Jews), visit www.heidihardin.com. To see a selection of 78 paintings of Parts III, Art of the Family (The Four Muslims) please visit www.thinkround.org.

The music and sound environments for Paradise... are created by Los Angeles composer, Jonathan Sacks, a long-time collaborator with Hardin. Both are fellow graduates of Masters's programs in art and music from UC San Diego. Sacks' orchestrations are part of Hollywood blockbusters like Bugs Life, Monsters, Inc., Toy Stories, and Seabiscuit. Hardin's paintings have been exhibited in museums and galleries since the early 1980s. The artist was represented by Newspace, LA until 2006 when the gallery closed and its archives were transferred to the Smithsonian Institute. Since that time her artwork has been represented by HARDIN STUDIOS San Franciso.

THE PARADISE MANDALA

FAMILIES OF ABRAHAM (2019)

THE FOUR JEWS, CHRISTIANS, AND MUSLIMS

PRESS RELEASE: SEPTEMBER 2019

Think Round Fine Arts Launches Innovative Multi-Location Exhibit of Peace, Understanding, and Unity for Humankind. Encouraging Global Unity with Pioneering Exhibit - Families of Abraham--

Art that Transcends Boundaries!

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — September 1st, 2019 —Think Round Fine Arts announces their groundbreaking exhibit and the inaugural launch of Families of Abraham.  This multi-destination art exhibit demonstrates unity in diversity.  The concept and art show were 20-years in the making by Heidi Hardin, Executive Director and Founder of Think Round, Inc. and Think Round Fine Arts.  In the current social landscape, these stories and struggles are more important than ever to be represented and told.  According to the United Nations, "The number of international migrants worldwide has continued to grow over the past seventeen years, reaching 258 million in 2017." *

Families of Abraham (Jews, Christians, & Muslims), presents a selection of 234 portraits of four Jewish, four Muslim, and four Christian families of different ethnicity who immigrated to America to make their homes, and start a new life. These family portraits will be on display September 29th - December 29th, 2019 at the following locations: Think Round Fine Arts, Calvary Presbyterian Church, Sherith Israel, and the Islamic Society of San Francisco. This show of interfaith camaraderie, respect, and admiration is to be a catalyst to unify all.

Heidi Hardin explains, “It is my belief that the peoples of the earth live within webs of cultural and social forces, much as stars and planets exist within webs of natural forces that both bind them together and keep them apart.  Though we seem to live as separate individuals, nations, cultures, and faiths, in truth we are one in our humanity.”

Family photo albums have been transcribed into Hardin's genre paintings that offer an unexpected window into the shared human experiences that bridge the personal and the universal.  Her vision of families is an evocative multimedia meditation on the developmental and archetypal experiences we share within our own families, regardless of faith, culture, or ethnicity. On a symbolic level, these installations explore ideas about cultural self-definition, the pervasiveness of the American dream, the universality of, and new directions imagined for, the human family and their faiths.

“This unique and thoughtful exhibit is a great tribute to all immigrants of every culture, tradition, and age. Represented are the three universal journeys of every human being experiences—the individual journey, the relational journey and the collective journey. It is not be missed.” –Angeles Arrien, Ph.D., Cultural Anthropologist.

A full program of related activities will accompany Families of Abraham (family art making, school tours, salon/suppers, and more!). For details of these additional activities, exhibitions and receptions dates at all four sites, please visit https://www.thinkround.org/events-1#/current-events. 

Think Round, Inc. is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. Its mission is to demonstrate life’s fullest potential through the arts and sciences, especially where environmental concerns meet neighborhoods and families. Think Round’s programming reflects the same core concerns that guide their artists and their artwork. These include environmental awareness, universal spirituality, and the power of creativity to transform people's lives.

 PART II: FAMILIES IN PARADISE

THE FOUR JEWS

THINK ROUND FINE ARTS PRESS RELEASE
OCTOBER 2018

Everyone is invited to join Heidi Hardin, Rachel Leibman, and Jonathan Sacks for ArtSpan’s 2018 Open Studio and beyond, for this exaltation of art, culture, and family. A full program of Family Art Making Workshops, Artists and Family Talks, Guest Speakers, Interactive 3-D Digital Demonstrations, Performances, Jewish Immigration Story Telling, and much more, will accompany this exhibit on Saturdays, from 10-11:30AM, beginning October 14 through December 30. Additionally, Hardin will lead Guided Walk-Through Meditations every Sunday from 4-5PM, and School Tours and Art Activities on Friday afternoons from 1-2PM. Gabriela Hofmeyer, artist/volunteer will help facilitate Human Family Suppers (potlucks) and Salons on Tuesday evenings from 6-8PM. All classes, activities, and refreshments are free of charge.

Please visit: http://www.thinkround.org/events-1/#/our-artists/ for a full calendar of events. Think Round Fine Arts is located at 2140 Bush Street, Suite 1, San Francisco, CA 94115. For more information or to RSVP for classes, meditations and dinners, please call Heidi at (415) 602-9599 or email: heidi@heidihardin.com. Space is limited so please call now. Gallery hours are 9-noon, Tuesdays and Thursdays, and by appointment. The opening reception for Hardin, Liebman, and Sacks is on Saturday, October 6, from 4-8 pm, with Artists’ Talks at 6 pm.

Sixteen years in the making, Hardin premiers: Families in Paradise (The Four Jews), 78 portraits of four families of different ethnicities who have traveled to America to make their homes and a new life. This installation is Part II of Hardin’s extended project, The Human Family Tree/A Walk through Paradise…seven installations, otherwise known as Paradise…  Paradise… is an evocative multimedia meditation on the experiences we share, regardless of faith, culture, or ethnicity, and centers on families who are followers of seven major world religions. Each successive installation focuses on a single religion, presenting 78 freestanding portraits, along with touching objects, environmental displays, and an original soundtrack by Hardin’s longtime collaborator and fellow UCSD alumnus, Los Angeles composer, Jonathan Sacks.

Snapshots from family photo albums transcribed into genre paintings offer an unexpected window into the shared human experiences that bridge the personal and the universal. A labyrinth of footpaths and columns replicating the mythic Tree of Life creates a ‘walk through paradise’ among the paintings for viewers. On a symbolic level, these installations explore ideas about cultural self-definition, the pervasiveness of the American dream, the universality of, and new directions imagined for, the human family and their faiths. As human longevity extends dramatically in the coming decades, and broken heartstrings from family trauma through new trauma incident reduction modalities are able to be healed, Hardin, in this project, call for human beings to consciously decide to manifest heaven on earth, creating paradise here and now. This new vista urges forward Think Round Fine Arts’ nonprofit code of ethics: Earth is home. Humans are family.           

THE SACKS FAMILY

THE PESTRONG FAMILY

THE PESTRONG FAMILY

THE SPONG-FERNANDEZ FAMILY

ARTISTS’ STATEMENTS

HEIDI HARDIN

(2018)

Since 1999, I have been creating The Human Family Tree/A Walk Through Paradise…seven installations as a personal meditation on home and family, and as a way for me to heal the many broken heartstrings of my chaotic childhood being raised as one of seven kids by alcoholic and sex addicted parents. Disillusioned by the absence of the Christian values of the faith that I was baptized and confirmed into, I began to explore families practicing other faiths to see if and how they were teaching the distilled wisdom of their faith to their children. In this process, I became aware of the fears of people who are practicing various major world religions, like Buddhist, Hindus, Jews, and Muslims. Many were unwilling to participate in my project because they feared retaliation and hate crimes against them and their families. I also learned that even in the most seemingly progressive city in the world, San Francisco, Muslims are harassed on public buses and Jews are afraid “to be seen” because of a variety of complex, racial, political, and social fears related to their ethnicity and faith. I discovered that even in San Francisco, there are extreme biases within individual faiths against people of minority races or ethnicities.  These revelations of intolerance and the fears they engender are underlying the existence of daily life for millions of people practicing different faiths--a fact that seemed unbelievable to me until they were revealed in one-on-one interviews of prospective subject families of my project. 

Painting families of different ethnicities who are practicing the seven major world religions over the past twenty years has given me the courage, strength, and hope to face and accept the many traumatic events of my own childhood that left me with few memories of my childhood and teen years and kept me in a flight from reality. Now after, thirty years in recovery and decades of therapy of all types, I find that as the #MeToo movement breaks out on the national stage this morning with the allegations against Brett Kavanaugh by Julie Swetnick, a lovely woman who in her early teens while in public high school was cruelly drugged, then traumatically, brutally gang-raped by young men of privilege and protection--I still feel burnt up by the many men in my life, including my dad, who, like Magritte, deny their abuses, deny their broken places, and hide behind the green, forbidden apple! (Please see my self-portrait below that directly speaks to this truth for myself.) [Trauma recovery research done by Kaiser Permanente and the CDC in 1992, correlates adverse childhood experiences (ACEs*) and their impact on human health across a lifetime. (Please visit Nadine Burke-Harris “TED Talk” about how childhood trauma affects health across a lifetime. Take the ACE test at: https://www.ncjfcj.org/sites/default/files/Finding%20Your%20ACE%20Score.pdf. If you have four or more ACEs and would like to seek help for free, confidential, peer-to-peer, non-medical, non-diagnosing recovery from ACEs or adult trauma, please call Heidi to enroll in our biannual health and wellness program, Turning the Tide of Trauma (TTT). Created and presented by Diana Canant of the Ardicare Foundation, TTT has transformed my trauma in ways so significant and profound, that I urge anyone with trauma to take this step toward manifesting heaven on Earth in your own life!]  

Just recently, Think Round, Inc. was accepted into the United Religions Initiative (URI) as a Cooperation Circle. URI Cooperation Circles give people of different backgrounds the opportunity to work together and tackling important community and global issues their members care about. Together, with the help of URI and its communities, we hope to manifest heaven on earth, which will require: the end of aging (or at least gaining the knowledge and belief that aging is a curable illness), the end of ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences), the end of the suppression of women and children by male-dominated world religions, a paradigm shift in human belief systems from a fear model to a love model of living, and life-long intergenerational learning; however, we know our limits! We just hope that human beings can begin to consciously evolve spiritually by understanding and accepting their roles as deliberate creators, capable of and responsible for, creating heaven on earth, thereby earnestly living their lives on earth as they imagine it to be in heaven! Our plans for the future are to complete The Paradise Project and build the Center for the Human Family to house it and the several other objectives for programs and projects to be implemented there that foster human spiritual evolution, conflict resolution, and sustainable living on the planet.                 

September 26, 2018

RACHEL LEIBMAN

These collages tell stories about Jews living in the diaspora. Each piece provides a different narrative, some quotidian and some profound. Although life in the diaspora has often been difficult and cruel, it was important to me that Jews not be depicted only as victims. Jewish people have been proud and resilient, brilliant and common, challenging and generous. In short, beautifully human. So, my stories are of tailors and peddlers, rituals and journeys, scientists and musicians, persecution and resistance.

From an artistic point of view, composition is very important to me. I would like for viewers to be able to stand at a distance from my artwork and see something beautiful, exciting, interesting or pleasing. But the medium of collage affords the opportunity to provide an additional level of meaning. I have chosen source materials which further the narratives of the stories. As you get close to the pieces in this exhibit, you will see women scientists, Yiddish actors, partisan fighters, passports, visas, manuscripts, thimbles and thread.

I collected much of my materials from the Internet but also put out a call on social media for people to send me pictures of their loved-ones and ancestors. I received a treasure-trove of depictions of Jewish life around the world. In many of my collages I included photographs of people I know: My grandfather who came through Ellis Island, my in-laws as bride and groom, my friend David who fought in Vietnam, Maggy who was part of the Kindertransport, and my cousin Rob who is an awesome soccer goalie. I think that incorporating these personal materials helps to add relevance and intimacy.

My hope is that when you look at my artwork, you will in turn feel gratified, angry, proud and encouraged. I hope that some of my pieces will just make you laugh.

MORE ABOUT THE COMPOSER

JONATHAN SACKS

Originally from the Boston area, Mr. Sacks studied composition at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, with graduate studies completed at the University of California. His teachers included Kenneth Gaburo, Pauline Oliveros, and Pulitzer Prize winner, Roger Reynolds. He was awarded an Artist in Residence from the California Arts Council, and an HEW grant from the for the composition of three touring musicals. Mr. Sacks has won numerous composition competitions, including the Independent Composers Association and the Pacific Composer's Forum.

His concert works  have  been  performed  in  New  York  and  Los Angeles by members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, XTET, and the California Ear Unit. He is currently composer-in-residence for the Classical Theatre Lab. In addition, Mr. Sacks has composed incidental music for productions of "Hamlet", "Much Ado About Nothing", "Macbeth", and "Cymbeline", Chekhov's "The Three Sisters", Dickens' "A Christmas Carol", Brecht's "Mother Courage", Euripides' "Elektra" and Mark Medoff's new play "Stumps". He is currently at work with internationally-produced playwright Robert Auletta on a musical theater piece "Full Lunar Light".

As a member of The Contemporary Arts, Music, and Performance Alliance, he co-produced multi-media productions at the John Anson Ford Amphitheater as part of the L.A. County "Summer Nights at the Ford" series, the Ruth Bachofner Gallery, and Mount Saint Mary's College.

Jonathan Sacks is active in film music as arranger and orchestrator. Jonathan Sacks is active in film music as arranger and orchestrator. He has orchestrated film scores by Randy Newman, Michael Kamen, Mark Snow, Harry Gregson-Williams,Christopher Stone, and William Goldstein [including “Monsters, Inc.”, "Toy Story 2", "A Bug'sLife",  "The X-Files” (movie) and “Seabiscuit "]. Additionally he has been an arranger for the rock group KISS, for David Foster, Barbra Streisand, and for commercials.

Jonathan Sacks and Heidi Hardin have been friends and collaborators for the past twenty-five years creating performance artworks and installations including Stardust, Incantations: Book 1/Parsifal and Self Discipline, The Human Family Tree Project: Parts I, II, and III, Part III: Art of the Family will be on display at Think Round Fine Arts in San Francisco’s trendy Fillmore District in October, November, and December 2017.

Mr. Sacks is affiliated with BMI.

INSTALLATION VIEWS

THINK ROUND FINE ARTS 2018

DETAILED CALENDAR OF ACTIVITIES RELATED TO THIS EXHIBIT

SEPTEMBER

23           Wiser Conference:
Heidi Hardin speaks on The Human Family Tree/A Walk Through Paradise…
Diana Canant speaks on Turning the Tide of Trauma
Location: Marines Memorial Theater Union Square, 609 Sutter Street, SF, CA 94102
Time: 6PM.
For more information, please visit: 2017wiserconference.eventzilla.net and use:
PROMO CODE: PEACEMAKER for $25 tickets

October—December Class and dinner group sizes are limited to 8-10 people! You MUST sign up to be able to participate in classes. To register, please email or call: heidi@heidihardin.com or (415) 771-2198

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 7TH FROM 4-8PM

ARTISTS’ RECEPTION AND 3D DEMONSTRATION OF HFT

OCTOBER

7             4-8PM Reception
6PM Artists’ talks: Heidi and Salma
Demonstration/3D modeled Paradise Project: Oro Fernandez

ALL SATURDAYS BEGINNING OCTOBER 14TH FROM 10-NOON
FAMILY ART MAKING CLASSES & EVENTS (FOR TEN)

OCTOBER

Salma’s workshops
14           Mandala workshop
21           Arabic Calligraphy Workshop
28           Salma’s slides and talk about her art and why she does it!

NOVEMBER

4 & 5 SF OPEN STUDIO –WEEKEND 4: 11AM TO 6PM
4             Multi-media presentation – In Search of Eternal Love

Heidi’s workshops
11           Portrait drawing class
18           Slide presentation with talk about Heidi’s art: Why she does her art
Biaye Family Talk Video other Muslim Subject Family Talks
Demonstration/3D modeled Paradise Project: Oro Fernandez
25           Culture Packs/Family portrait painting and storytelling workshops

DECEMBER

2             Reception Think Round Fine Arts Fundraiser
Demonstration/3D modeled Paradise Project: Oro Fernandez

Heidi’s and Others’ workshops
9             Culture Packs/Family portrait drawing and storytelling workshops
16           Culture Packs/Family portrait drawing and storytelling workshops
23           Jenny Bender and Amanda Herman: Muslim immigration stories
30           Jenny Bender and Amanda Herman: Muslim immigration stories

EVERY TUESDAYS BEGINNING ON OCTOBER 10TH FROM 6-8PM
HUMAN FAMILY SUPPERS (FOR EIGHT ADULTS)!

Please call or email to sign up to attend or lead one of our Human Family Suppers. All suppers will be held here at Think Round Fine Arts. We will be using the People’s Supper formats and guidelines. Please visit their website if you’d like more information about their dinners: https://thepeoplessupper.org/. If you would like to lead one of our suppers, we will provide you with our training and guidelines. Please sign up by emailing or calling Heidi: heidi@heidihardin.com or (415) 771-2198

MONDAYS-FRIDAYS BEGINNING OCTOBER 9TH FROM 10-NOON
K-12 SCHOOL TOURS & ART ACTIVITIES

Teachers, please call or email Heidi for a date! heidi@heidihardin.com or (415) 771-2198
Sample Vocabulary we’ll learn:
Art Words - Color Wheel, Composition
Science Words -DNA, Genetics
Art Activities: How to draw a portrait in oil pastels, and frame it!

SUNDAYS BEGINNING OCTOBER 8TH FROM 4-5PM
GUIDED WALK THROUGH MEDITATIONS LED BY HEIDI HARDIN (FOR TEN)

Find your hooks and unhook from broken heartstrings or find your joys and celebrate them in this family-focused labyrinth by walking through Hardin’s paradise made up of front yards, backyards, queens, moms, kings, dad, boy groups, girl groups, adolescents, princes, boys, princesses, girls, infants! It’s a mindfulness meditation centered on your now with an eye to your future. After clearing your circle, you will be guided to centered within your body using short asana and pranayama exercises. Then, through an open-heart inner teacher practice, you will ask your inner teacher two simple questions: Where am I at right now? and What do I need to focus on to get where I am going? Your body will lead the way! You just need to listen and follow your heart to discover, there truly is “no place like home!” RSVP: heidi@heidihardin.com or (415) 771-2198

STILL TBA
MAGIC OF WHY® PROCESS SESSION LED BY LYNNE HARDIN (FOR TEN)

Remember your soul’s intention this lifetime or heal broken heartstrings in this interactive journey within… For more information, please visit: www.magicofwhy.com Interested? Please email or call Heidi at heidi@heidihardin.com or (415) 771-2198. We will hold a seat for you in this workshop and call when the date and time is determined.

HUMAN MESSAGES NEW VISTAS (2017)

A TWO WOMEN EXHIBITION

THINK ROUND FINE ARTS PRESS RELEASE
OCTOBER 2017

Everyone is invited to join Heidi Hardin and Salma Arastu for ArtSpan’s 2017 Open Studio and beyond, for this exaltation of art, culture, and family. A full program of Family Art Making Workshops, Artist Talks, Guest Speakers, Interactive 3-D Digital Demonstrations, Performances, Muslim Immigration Story Telling, and much more, will accompany this exhibit on Saturdays, from 10-noon, beginning October 14 through December 30. Additionally, Hardin will lead K-12 School Tours with Art Activity, M-F, 10-noon, by appointment, Guided Walk-Through Meditations every Sunday from 4-5 pm, and Human Family Suppers on Tuesday evenings from 6-8. All classes, activities, and refreshments are free of charge. Please visit:http://www.thinkround.org/index/#/our-artists/a full calendar of events. Think Round Fine Arts is located at 2140 Bush Street, Suite 1, San Francisco, CA 94115. For more information or to RSVP for classes, meditations and dinners, please call Heidi at 415-771-2198 or email:heidi@heidihardin.com. Space is limited so please call now. Gallery hours are 9-noon, Tuesdays and Thursdays, and by appointment. The opening reception for Hardin and Arastu is on Saturday, October 7, from 4-8 pm, with Artist Talks and Interactive 3D Demo by Oro Fernandez of Hardin’s extended project: The Human Family Tree/A Walk Through Paradise…seven installations at 6 pm.

For more than thirty years, Arastu has created images with continuous, lyrical line and a variety of re-purposed materials in an effort to express joy in the universal spirit that unites humanity. Through her art, she has been able to transcend physical and mental limitations to create images of transformation. As a woman, Hindu, Muslim, artist, and mother, she sees this challenge as a unique opportunity to create harmony through the expression of the universal in her art. Titled, Celebration of Calligraphy, Arastu’s paintings surround and serve as context for Hardin’s 78 portraits of four Muslim families, one of which is Arastu’s.

Fifteen years in the making, Hardin premiers: Art of the Family (The Four Muslims), 78 portraits of families of different ethnicities who have traveled to America to make their homes and a new life. This installation is Part III of Hardin’s extended project, The Human Family Tree/A Walk through Paradise…seven installations.   Paradise… is an evocative multimedia meditation on the experiences we share, regardless of faith, culture, or ethnicity, and centers on families who are followers of seven major world religions. Each successive installation focuses on a single religion, presenting 78 freestanding portraits, along with touching objects, environmental displays, and 36 original soundscapes and music by Hardin’s longtime collaborator and fellow UCSD alumnus, Los Angeles composer, Jonathan Sacks.

Snapshots from family photo albums transcribed into genre paintings offer an unexpected window into the shared human experiences that bridge the personal and the universal. A labyrinth of footpaths and columns replicating the mythic Tree of Life creates a ‘walk through paradise’ among the paintings for viewers. On a symbolic level, these installations explore ideas about cultural self-definition, the pervasiveness of the American dream, the universality of, and new directions imagined for, the human family and their faiths. As human longevity extends dramatically in the coming decades, and broken heartstrings from family trauma through new trauma incident reduction modalities are able to be healed, Arastu and Hardin, in this project, call for human beings to consciously decide to manifest heaven on earth, creating paradise here and now. This new vista urges forward Think Round Fine Arts’ nonprofit code of ethics: Earth is home. Humans are family.                                  

The Biaye Family

The Arastu Family

The Gali Family

Anonymous

SALMA ARASTU

ARTISTS’ STATEMENTS

“Celebration of Calligraphy” is a new series of paintings to enlighten and awaken the spiritual connection of universal humanity through lyrical and fluid imagery of Arabic Calligraphy and Islamic patterns.

Salma Arastu shares: “I find myself yearning to find infinite possibilities of the lyrical line itself on large canvases. I just want to plunge myself into the pleasure of contemplating the abstract flow of the swelling lines, and form compositions of lines and fields within a given space and enjoy the celebration of calligraphy through lyrical visions. I paint to express the prayers of my heart and intend for the energy of the calligraphy, powered by the positive messages from the texts, to reveal the joy and celebration that I experience while creating them. Each verse I portray gives me strength and peace, and I hope to instill these feelings in my viewers.”

HEIDI HARDIN

Heidi Hardin shares: “Having the opportunity to paint families of different ethnicities who are practicing the seven major world religions over the past twenty years has given me the courage, strength, and hope to face and accept the many traumatic events of my own childhood, growing up in an alcoholic, sex-addicted home. Trauma recovery research done by Kaiser Permanente and the CDC in 1992, correlates adverse childhood experiences (ACEs*) and their impact on human health across a lifetime. (Please visit for more information: https://www.ted.com/talks/nadine_burke_harris_how_childhood_trauma_affects_health_across_a_lifetime.)

Thanks to a new trauma recovery program offered by Kaiser in San Francisco, the Community Self-care Demonstration Program, otherwise known as Turning the Tide of Trauma, I have finally found an effective way to heal the devastation of being molested and raped as a child, as well as the eight other adverse childhood experiences I endured. Through this program and through my painting over the years, I have been able to find my own internal wisdom about these events and redefine my own reality with respect to them.

The Human Family Tree Project/A Walk Through Paradise…** seven installations is intended to mark the end of marginalizing the issue of childhood trauma here in the US*** and around the world and to celebrate the heart of its cause and cure: home and family. In the opinion of California Pacific Medical Center pediatrician, Nadine Burke Harris, “thirty years from now a child who has a high ACE score and whose symptoms of ACEs go unnoticed and untreated will be anomalous….This is treatable. This is beatable. The single most important thing we need to do today is to have the courage to look at this problem in the face and say, this is real and this is all of us. I believe that we are the movement.” Think Round, Inc. has joined the movement. Turning the Tide of Trauma is now a program of Think Round, Inc. Open enrollments happen bi-annually as part of our free programming. Will you join the movement?

*Ten ACEs (otherwise known as “childhood enders” by Save the Children) that will dramatically increase the risk of chronic illnesses (including asthma, heart disease, diabetes, lung cancer, addictions, depression, suicide) over a lifetime: 1) alcohol and/or substance abuse in the home; 2) incarcerated parent(s); 3) domestic violence; 4) divorce/abandonment; 5) sexual, verbal, physical, emotional abuse; 6) hunger/malnutrition; 7) mental illness in the home; 8) poverty; 9) lack of education; and 10) lack of care/affection.

**Paradise… is also intended to raise questions about how and why the major world religions discriminate against women and girls, and how this sexual discrimination pervades almost every aspect of humanity’s secular and religious life. (For more information, please read Jimmy Carter’s A Call to Action: Women, Religion, Violence, and Power.)

***In the words of Dr. Robert Block, the former President of the American Academy of Pediatrics, "Adverse childhood experiences are the single greatest unaddressed public health threat facing our nation today."

To determine your ACE Score, please visit http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/03/02/387007941/take-the-ace-quiz-and-learn-what-it-does-and-doesnt-mean. If you have a score of four is free, non or more ACEs, please call Heidi and enroll in our trauma incident reduction program, Turning the Tide of Trauma. It -medical, non-religious, and confidential. See attached flyer for more information.

PART II: FAMILIES IN PARADISE (2004)

TWO JEWISH AND TWO MUSLIM FAMILIES

SOMARTS PRESS RELEASE
OCTOBER 2004

Families in Paradise… is the brainchild of community artist and painter, Heidi Hardin, who combines her own paintings with those of elementary school students and their art instructors, all participants in her nationally acclaimed Children’s Mural Program. The result is a multimedia installation that celebrates the Earth as home and all of humanity as family.

Hardin presents 78 oil paintings based on photographs from the past century of two Jewish and two Islamic families. These families stand as icons for all peoples who have journeyed to America to make their home. Hardin’s paintings are presented freestanding in a multi-sensory installation that includes touching objects, original music and whispered texts in a labyrinth of footpaths and columns replicating the mythic Tree of Life. The music and sound environment is created by Los Angeles composer, Jonathan Sacks, a long-time collaborator with Hardin. Both are fellow graduates of Masters programs in art and music from UC San Diego. Sacks’ orchestrations are part of Hollywood blockbusters like Bugs Life, Monsters, Inc., Toy Stories, and Seabiscuit. Hardin’s paintings been exhibited in museums and galleries since the early 1980s. The artist is represented by Newspace, LA.

On the walls surrounding Hardin’s families will be paintings by twenty notable Bayview and Hunters Point Shipyard artists such as Joe.Sam. These artists have taught in Hardin’s Children’s Mural Program (CMP) over the past 12 years. The CMP uses painting to teach a sophisticated environmental science curriculum about the Earth—its precious air, water and soil, its plants, animals and people.  The setting for Hardin’s Families in Paradise… is provided by scores of paintings created by the children in the 2003 CMP and are included with their teacher’s art in a rainbow display that will surround the main gallery at SomArts.  Also included will be the symbolic paintings of newcomer Marcia O’Hara with texts by Ingrid Coffin, both focusing on the hero’s journey--the earth walk we share as human beings. 

Families in Paradise… is the second of seven installations in Hardin’s larger vision called, The Human Family Tree/A Walk Through Paradise… that features families in America who are followers of various major world religions.  When complete, this extended project will survey the assimilation of immigrants to the United States through public education, advertising, and the Brownie camera.

Families in Paradise… and The Children’s Mural Program were conceived by Hardin while serving as the In-Schools Visual Arts Programing Director for the Bayview Opera House, a non-profit community cultural center in Bayview Hunters Point. The presentation of Families in Paradise… is a collaboration of SomArts Cultural Center and The Bayview Opera House, both community cultural centers operated under the auspices of the SF Art Commission.

THE PESTRONG FAMILY

THE SACKS FAMILY

THE GALI FAMILY

PART: I THE HUMAN FAMILY TREE (2000)

THE FOUR CHRISTIANS

INSTALLATION VIEWS
NEWSPACE 2001

BAYVIEW OPERA HOUSE PRESS RELEASE
OCTOBER 12, 2000

THE BAYVIEW OPERA HOUSE PRESENTS…
THE HUMAN FAMILY TREE/A WALK THROUGH PARADISE, AN ENVIRONMENTAL INSTALLATION

On December 19, 2000, as part of holiday and millennium festivities, and in celebration of cultural differences and the spirit of harmony and humanness that unite a cross-section of San Francisco residents, the Bayview Opera House will premiere, The Human Family Tree/A Walk Through Paradise, an environmental installation. The installation will center on seventy-eight paintings created by SF artist, Heidi Hardin, and thirty-six corresponding original musical works by Los Angeles composer, Jonathan Sacks. 

Visitors to the Opera House will find the theater transformed by an elaborate labyrinth of pillars and paths, based on the ancient tarot of the Egyptians, or Tree of Life. Each of the ten, four-sided pillars and the twenty-two triangulated paths will hold paintings created from family photographs—images that span the past one hundred years, and document each family’s history. Four families have been selected to represent major ethnic groups, standing as icons for Americans of African, Latin, Caucasian, and Asian descent.

Each of these families has been associated with the Bayview Opera House and the Bayview Hunters Point community, either directly or indirectly, for the past eight years or more. Shelley Bradford Bell has served as a member of the Board of Directors and is currently the Executive Director of the Bayview Opera House. Leslie Aguilar has served annually as artist/instructor for the Children’s Mural Program, an in-school, visual arts program of the Bayview Opera House. Scott Madison served diligently for nine years as the Secretary of Board of Directors of the Bayview Opera House. Richard Uchida is the husband of the artist; in that capacity, he has served to assist Ms. Hardin in the many Bayview Opera House project and programs created by her—including this project.

The photographs have been selected to represent archetypal evolutionary human experiences (for example, infancy, childhood, adolescence, motherhood, fatherhood, marriage, death, etc.), and will be installed on panels decorated with papers that evoke the dreams and aspirations of the times. The musical soundtrack is composed to match the emotional vibration of each of the shared human experiences depicted. The art and music are a celebration of the Great Work of American families. The experiences depicted recreate the circular nature of life and the spiritual evolution of all peoples as members of the human family.

The Bayview Opera House is proud to present this exhibition in celebration of the holiday season and as a marker of the true beginning of the new millennium. It is a highlight of two years of ongoing programming that has centered on ethnic diversity. The installation will run through January 14, 2001, and will be open Monday through Saturday from noon until five each evening. A reception for the subject families and the artists will be held December 19, 2000, from 3-6:00 p.m., at the Bayview Opera House, at 4705 Third Street, between Newcomb and Oakdale, SF, CA 94124.   

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NEWSPACE PRESS RELEASE
SEPTEMBER 2001

Newspace presents San Francisco artist Heidi Hardin and her installation of paintings documenting California family histories. The paintings are incorporated into an installation combining objects, music, and elaborate displays which take the viewer on a “walk through paradise” in which we are guided along a path and must come to a rest stop before each “station” of family history.

Hardin’s work examines the family photo album as a tool for evoking common human experiences linking four separate cultural experiences while allowing the viewer to see the inner culture within each family. Four different families stand as icons for Americans of African, European, Asian, and Latin descent. Hardin’s paintings are expanded using cultural decorative arts, handmade papers, trimmings, and flowers as well as an original musical score by composer Jonathan Sacks.

An accomplished figurative painter and muralist, Hardin has been working in San Francisco where “The Human Family Tree” first debuted at the Bayview Opera House. The installation visits Los Angeles courtesy of Home Depot and Newspace.

The audio above is a phone interview with Karon Viggiano about what Think Round, Inc. does for the community. From our children's programs moving forward to working on this project: The Human Family Tree/A Walk Through Paradise. The interview was in November 2014.