New Artwork “Guns Kill” by Bonnie Lautenberg Launches National Fundraising at giffords.org/miamiexhibit Honoring 10th Anniversary of the Giffords Foundation to Protect Americans from Gun Violence.
“Americans are demanding a safer future, and if we come together we can create a future free from gun violence,” says Former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, Founder of the gun violence preventing organization, Giffords.
“This vital message is reaching people across the country, thanks to Bonnie Lautenberg’s powerful artwork Guns Kill.” The non-profit organization is celebrating its 10th anniversary and is joining forces with the artist Bonnie Lautenberg at giffords.org/miamiexhibit.
Contributors at giffords.org/miamiexhibit will will receive a first edition, fine art print of the artwork Guns Kill, signed by Lautenberg (100% of the proceeds will benefit the Giffords organization’s mission to protect Americans from gun violence).
The exhibition Lady Liberty: A Bonnie Lautenberg Retrospective has been extended due to popular demand for two more months, until May 14 at the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU through May 14
The artwork is currently on view at the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU in Miami Beach, where the exhibition Lady Liberty: A Bonnie Lautenberg Retrospective has received rave reviews – with national acclaim by Artnet News as one of the “Must-See Museum Shows During Art Basel Miami Beach” and as “One of the Hottest Exhibitions During Art Basel Miami Beach” by Elite Traveler Magazine.
Bonnie Lautenberg divides her time between New York and Florida, where she has a second home in Palm Beach. The artist was selected by the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU to headline its new season due to her rising national acclaim, and because Florida is her home during part of the year (the museum’s mission is to exhibit the work of Florida artists).
Located in South Beach’s historic Art Deco District, this museum was originally the first Synagogue in South Beach – making this a full-circle moment for Giffords because she recently took the spiritual milestone step of completing her bat mitzvah as an adult. Giffords’ father was Jewish, and she has been exploring and studying her Jewish faith for more than 20 years.
Working with Lautenberg to present this initiative here is especially moving for Giffords, because this is the State of Florida’s official museum dedicated to telling the story of more than 250 years of Florida’s Jewish history, arts and culture.
Being surrounded by her friend’s museum exhibition, with her photographs and artworks of powerful women, makes it even more special to Giffords.
“Giffords’ recent bat mitzvah in 2021 was as joyous and tearful as you’d expect,” states this moving piece in The Forward, which goes on to say: In 2011, Giffords was shot in the head in an attack that left six people dead and 13 injured at a Saturday morning constituent meet-and-greet outside a grocery store in Tucson.
Giffords resigned from her public office at the U.S. House of Representatives, but her work as an advocate to protect Americans from gun violence continues. The article by Amy Silverman also states: For Giffords, her Jewish studies have been an important source of strength, culminating in her recent bat mitzvah ceremony.
Learning to chant a Torah portion in Hebrew, studying the meaning of the text and offering an interpretation to the congregation, not to mention memorizing all the prayers that accompany the ceremony, can be a lot for anyone, whether you’re 13 or 51.
But Giffords’ bat mitzvah also came with additional challenges, and concluded a long, hard journey. It was an emotional moment two decades in the making.
“The story of the Jewish people is one of endurance, of bravery, of the will to keep going — and learning those stories has been a source of comfort and inspiration to me. I’ve had to keep going, to believe I could keep moving, in my own life. So many people who’ve been injured, or suffered a loss, struggle to keep moving.”
