{"id":40368,"date":"2022-05-28T00:06:32","date_gmt":"2022-05-28T06:06:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/durango-artist-travels-to-poland-to-lift-the-energy-of-ukrainian-refugees\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T02:55:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:55:14","slug":"durango-artist-travels-to-poland-to-lift-the-energy-of-ukrainian-refugees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/durango-artist-travels-to-poland-to-lift-the-energy-of-ukrainian-refugees\/","title":{"rendered":"Durango artist travels to Poland to \u2018lift the energy\u2019 of Ukrainian refugees"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"A
A mixed media on canvas art piece called \u201cTaxim in Istanbul\u201d by Durango artist Suzanne Horwich. She traveled to Krakow, Poland, on May 22 to share her artistic experience with Ukrainian refugees in hopes of \u201celevating their spirits and lifting their energy.\u201d (Courtesy of Suzanne Horwich)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

A Durango artist traveled to Krakow, Poland, late this month to help refugees fleeing the Ukraine-Russia war by teaching visual arts in hopes to inspire people and help them heal from their traumas.<\/p>\n

Suzanne Horwich, who has spent the last two years living in Durango, is a mother, educator and abstract artist, as well as a producer and photographer. She said her goal is to help refugees \u201cimagine, create and heal\u201d through art lessons. She also plans to facilitate a large-scale installation piece in which she will invite others to contribute.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really recognize the power of imagination and the healing properties that come with imagination,\u201d she said. \u201cYou create a lot of hope. When you\u2019re talking about art, you\u2019re really talking about beauty.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Horwich\"
Horwich<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Horwich organized her trip with the Jewish Community Center of Krakow<\/a>. She said the center has been feeding or giving supplies to 300 to 500 refugees daily and has served about 60,000 refugees over the past 10 weeks.<\/p>\n

The center pivoted from the role of a basic Jewish Community Center into a humanitarian aid facility \u201covernight,\u201d she said. It is providing medicine, food, clothing, housing and day care in addition to lending support to LGBTQ groups and women\u2019s groups.<\/p>\n

\"A
A mixed-media on canvas art piece by Durango artist Suzanne Horwich called \u201cHamam.\u201d She traveled to Krakow, Poland, to invite refugees to practice art with her, the supplies for which she will buy for them. (Courtesy of Suzanne Horwich)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Horwich said she wants to \u201celevate the spirit and lift the energy\u201d of refugees by creating art with refugees of all ages. She is bringing an art kit with her and intends to buy more supplies to provide refugees with portable art kits of their own. She withdrew money from her 401(k) to support her travels, she said.<\/p>\n

Horwich has lived and worked as an artist in Istanbul, Turkey; Scotland; Israel; the Caribbean; and Colorado, but she has never been to Poland.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a little nerve-wracking because I don\u2019t know exactly what I\u2019m walking into because I\u2019m sure there\u2019s a lot of trauma going on,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She loves working with artists together on a campus and that\u2019s the sort of vibe she wants to provide to refugees.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love the freedom of everyone just working together, no pressure,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd I have taught that in the past. So that\u2019s what I\u2019m going to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Horwich said her first trip, which is scheduled to last seven days, is really just her \u201cpilot trip.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very aware that with great possibility I\u2019m going to have to alter what I think,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She is prepared to reassess her vision and her program, fine-tune it and return with a refined idea of how to help refugees in Krakow.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the theme running through this is \u2018imagine, create, heal,\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cWhatever way I can help make that happen, I\u2019m going to figure it out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A
A mixed-media on canvas by Durango artist Suzanne Horwich called \u201cKadikoy.\u201d She said her goal is to help refugees of the Ukraine-Russia war \u201cimagine, create and heal\u201d through art lessons and a large-scale installation she is planning, with an invitation to any refugees who want to participate in creating the piece. She traveled to Poland on May 22. (Courtesy Suzanne Horwich)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Horwich partnered with the Jewish Community Center in Aspen to open an art gallery in 2014. When she was seeking ways to bring her art experience to refugees in Poland, she made good headway with the Jewish Community Center in Krakow.<\/p>\n

She pitched her idea to the center about three weeks ago, and within the same day she received an enthusiastic response, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI pitched it, and in under 24 hours this organization said we are offering trauma therapy already and we think that what you want to do would dovetail so nicely,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Horwich said she is trying to set up a fundraiser but everything is moving so fast that she is still trying to set up her website for it.<\/p>\n

After her weeklong trip to Poland, Horwich plans to return to her two daughters, ages 10 and 14, in Durango and contemplate how she will tackle her next trip, she said. She has also scheduled two speaking engagements for July and September, where she wants to raise awareness about the situation with refugees in Poland, talk about the Jewish Community Center of Krakow\u2019s humanitarian efforts and share her own efforts to contribute to that humanitarian aid.<\/p>\n

Horwich said she has a daily mantra. She asks herself every morning how she plans to \u201clive joyously\u201d that day. Every evening before bed, she asks herself how she can live with more joy the next day.<\/p>\n

She said she knows it sounds a bit cheesy but she lives by it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am a big believer that the energy you put behind everything dictates the outcome,\u201d she said. \u201cNow, I know that there are exceptions. But I am a firm believer in people\u2019s perspectives, people\u2019s attitudes, people\u2019s energy, and that is how I came to this.\u201d<\/p>\n

cburney@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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