NORTHERN VALLEY — One 18-year-old Closter resident is focusing on peace and reconciliation as the theme of her art show dedicated to helping underprivileged children in Bangalore, India.
Esther Hah, a senior at Northern Valley Regional High School at Demarest is displaying her art Friday, Feb. 8 at 7:30 p.m. at the Emerson Bible Church to raise educational funds for children in Bangalore. The money would go towards scholarship funds at Bangalore’s St. Paul’s Mission School, helping families who otherwise couldn’t afford the private school.
Hah became interested in the cause through her father’s church, the Fountain and Rock Church in Emerson, which is a Korean Presbyterian denomination. Through her father’s ministry, Hah heard about St. Paul’s Mission School, an elementary school founded by Korean Presbyterian missioners and now run by Christian Indians.
"Education is a crucial part of society and you need it to survive. [The poorer students] want to go to school but don’t have enough money for tuition so I wanted to help contribute," she said.
So Hah resorted to creative measures.
"I have been interested in art for quite some time but this is the first time I’m doing a benefit," she said. She hopes to raise $1,000 and guarantees that 100 percent of the proceeds will be donated directly to the children by a youth pastor at her father’s church when he visits.
On display and for sale at the Emerson Church will be several of Hah’s mixed media paintings and sculptures, all focusing on the themes of reconciling the forces of a tumultuous world.
"There are pieces that focus on violence and harmony," said Hah, who is inspired when she thinks of children who are less fortunate.
"I brainstorm and think of ideas. As a citizen and as a human I think it is part of our responsibility to help those in need."
For this cause Hah is even willing to sell some of her most treasured portfolio pieces.
One example is a sculpture of a dove and the world she spent days molding and shaping out of copper metal sheets and glass beads.
"The dove is shielding the world from harm. The world is made of wire and tangled with beads which represent how fragile and vulnerable the world is," she said.
The message of the sculpture is one she thinks is pertinent to the show and her cause.
"The dove is peace and reconciliation and harmony. Hoping for a new future, a bright future."
E-mail: wilde@northjersey.com or call 201-894-6706
