Resume

How do we respond to conflict? The traveling exhibit and educational program Art Not Hate, created by artist Bob Barancik, proposes we do so creatively.

All forms of prejudice are failures of imagination. The arts can help reduce bigotry and promote mutual understanding by providing people with safe and creative ways to express their emotions, opportunities to see the world through another’s eyes, and metaphors for thinking about the unthinkable. Art Not Hate strives to help young people become responsible citizens, good neighbors, and creative problem-solvers.

The exhibit includes floating panel paintings, digital prints, handmade books, and award-winning videos. The exhibit also includes Learning Sheets that educators can use to help students explore through art concepts like prejudice, stereotyping, and the importance of standing up in the face of injustice or bullying.

Part of Art Not Hate, the work “PostHolocaust Casket and Scrolls: From Warsaw Ghetto to Gaza War” features silk scrolls inspired by Jewish history from the Holocaust to the state of Israel. These were created by Bob Barancik, who is a descendant of Warsaw Jews and a family that lost members in the Holocaust. These scrolls catch and preserve the Jewish zeitgeist for both today’s and tomorrow’s museum audience. Nearly 6 million Jews were murdered by the Nazis and their local sympathizers during the genocide. But a saving remnant of activists was able to preserve and nurture the innate creative brilliance of the Jewish people in their ancestral home of Israel.

Art Not Hate has been designed for easy and economical shipping, handling, and disassembly. Each print is mounted on durable, light-weight coroplast panels with archival museum corners and is shrinkwrapped to prevent surface scratches; all panels have been wired for immediate hanging. The artist books have custom-made protective boxes. The shadow box frames for the paintings have plexiglass to avoid shattering and are packed with custom foam core boxes.


Bob Barancik earned an M.A. from the Graduate School of Education at Stanford University, and a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design. He has received awards from the Pennsylvania Department of Education and Leadership Philadelphia for his creative contributions to the civic life of the community. He has served on the advisory boards of the Wachman Fund for International Education, the Middle East Council of Philadelphia, and Creative Tampa Bay.

His mixed-media paintings and prints have been exhibited at many major institutions, including the Florida Holocaust Museum, where he had a one-man show and which holds a number of his works in their permanent collection. He has also exhibited in or is in the collection of the Frye Museum (Seattle), the Minnesota Museum of American Art, the New Jersey State Museum, the Rare Book and Print Room of the New York Public Library, the Van Pelt Library at the University of Pennsylvania, the Center for Maine Contemporary Art, the Florida Craftsmen Gallery, and the Studio@620. A permanent installation of six of Bob’s pieces is on view in the Maine Medical Center, Portland, Maine.

Art Not Hate may remain in a gallery for three days to three months—depending on the needs of the venue and its curator. Please contact Bob Barancik for additional information and a fee schedule.

Download a PDF of the Resume