Twas a nice lunch at the Hammer cafe with cousin Mary Kay, Jim, and their friend Karon Wright, president and co-founder of The Greater Contribution. TGC is a non-profit that seeks to make a "greater contribution" to the world by helping people suffering from hunger, poverty, disease, natural disasters and war by raising funds for micro loans that help poor women and their families work their way out of poverty. Karon and all their "staff" are volunteers so 93% of the money they raise goes to micro loans. Karon and other pay their own way to fly to East Africa to support and train the local leaders to train impoverished women in business skills, giving them loans to start and then help them transition to bank loans and the formal economy. Their stats are impressive: 99% of borrowers doubled their income in their first 6 months in the program. All the returns on the borrowed money are reinvested in new businesses. Some of the money goes to the village that uses the money to make community improvements.
After lunch, Mary Kay, Jim and I toured the museum. I am always very moved by Hammer's permanent collection and of course the John Singer Sargent portrait of Dr. Pozzi.
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| Sargent painted this painting of Dr. Samuel Jean Pozzi in 1881. Dr. Pozzi was a prominent Parisian gynecologist and avid art collector who was romantically linked to some of the most famous female socialites of the time. The description of the larger than life painting refers to the red robe and carpet along with the positioning of the hands "suggests a refinement that borders on decadence". |
Mimi Lauter, one of the young "Made in L.A." artists, painted the above enormous richly colored painting which was my favorite by the way. The L.A. Times reviewer, Christopher Knight, described her work as "cave paintings of the soul, their densely scratched imagery readings as wild landscapes merged with viscera". I just liked the mixture of warm colors. The exhibit is at the Hammer until September 2nd.
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