SPEAK YOUR TRUTH Presents Journey Beyond Your Limits Art Exhibit, 5/4

Speak Your Truth has announced its first fundraising event, Journey Beyond Your Limits, an art exhibit and benefit. Speak Your Truth supports artists that have overcome adversity. Journey Beyond Your Limits will feature the art of ChristIna Thomas, Jae Quinlan and Sagine Cave'. There will be Spoken Word performances by Shye Sales, Amber Atiya and MEWZ. Proceeds will be donated to agencies that support victims of sexual assault and aid in sexual assault awareness. These services had a direct impact on ChristIna Thomas, the co founder of Speak Your Truth. As a survivor of sexual assault these services were invaluable in her recovery process. Journey Beyond Your Limits is about finding your voice among difficult circumstances and moving beyond your limits. This show is a declaration to speak your truth. Speak Your Truth / Affordable Art For The Soul represents artists that have experienced adversity and gives them a voice.

For more information, go to: http://speakyourtruthinfo.wordpress.com

The event will take place at The Klimat Lounge, 77 East 7th Street in New York City on May 4th. Admission is a $20.00 donation. The benefit will run from 7pm to 10pm.

Speak Your Truth was founded on the West Coast. Two women found that art can heal. Christina was working on a hospice case and the experience was so moving she came home from a 72 hour shift and painted Speak Your Truth which would be the name and logo of their company. Married in the state of Connecticut these two joined in love also decded to become business partners. The complimentary pairing of Christina's creatvty and Nieta's business savvy proved a union of mind and soul. A start up event that Speak Your Truth had in Washngton State was at Starbucks in Pioneer Square in Seattle, WA. On the East Coast, ChristIna Thomas, co-founder of Speak Your Truth showed at the Peter Louis Gallery in NYC and with John McMullen's Art of Fashion.

The mission of the New York City Alliance Against Sexual Assault is to prevent sexual violence and reduce the harm it causes through education, research and advocacy. www.svfreenyc.org

Victims Assistance Services, a component program of Westchester Community Opportunity Program, Inc., provides free, comprehensive and compassionate services to crime victims and their families, friends and loved ones. VAS also works to end violence through community action, public policy and cultural change and through prevention education programs in schools and in other community venues. http://disabled.westchestergov.com/victims-assistance-services

ChristIna Thomas, visual artist: The family disease of addiction and abuse brought me to the brush. It allowed me to create a family in my mind that consisted of beautiful colors, unique textures and bliss when I was making it. It is a peaceful retreat. The spirit of prayer soaked through the canvas and the meditation was my eyes translation of the world around me. Joy came as I saw others encounter my work and walk away lifted up through the spirit and for that I take no credit. The work that I do was a gift from above and frequently viewers see what they need to see in the paintings and that is how I know my job is done.

I communicate with my audience with words and phrases that I believe are significant. The marriage of text and image in my work are my focus. My goal is for the texture and color to find balance so they can coexist in harmony. Tissue is the material that I use to sculpt the words and it is a tedious process. The letters are then bathed in ink. My color choices are driven by the mood of the word and the intensity of the feeling that I am trying to convey. My work has evolved by integrating metallics into my art. The process is challenging but necessary in the evolution from my previous work.
Jae Quinlan is an accomplished visual artist with a full line of copper-enameled "Cufflynx ", wire wrapped jewelry & hand painted clothing to her credit. Her paintings & life sculptors have been on exhibit in galleries across the Tri-State area with work featured consecutively at Newarks Open Doors Tour & Paul Robeson Galleries @ Rutgers Newark. Jae is co-owner of eclectic trendy boutique " The Artisan Collective" in beautiful downtown Newark and creative mind behind spoken word and music format " Crack The Mic" at the Artisan Collective.

Given her natural flair for bringing life to the canvas, Sagine Cavé shows her love of afros, retro and abstract by fusing them into her original pieces. Sagine was born with an innate love for the arts. Her pieces are a reflexion of her life experiences and she primarely works with arcylic on canvas. A dancer and visual artist for over twelve years, she recently decided to follow her calling and turn her love of painting in her past time into her full-time job. Her signature work has not gone unnoticed. Ms. Cavé has been invited to various art shows over the past ten years including an exhibition at Charlie's Gallery in Toronto, Ontario, a perminant position at the Ottawa, Ontario Underpass, the Negro Community Centre's 2008 Silent Auction in Montreal, Quebec and the lululemon store in downtown Montreal where she was a featured artist. She was also invited as a guest on CBC's All in a Day hosted by Adrian Harwood. Ms. Cavé is thankful for her family's unwavering support, especially since her decision to take on professional artistry. Her website: http://saginesoulart.tumblr.com

Spoken Word: Shye Sales is a performing poet who considers herself a "voice for those yet unable to speak." She has been appeared in the inaugural edition of Kalyani Magazine, which featured "The Cleansing", her first published work. She facilitates a writing workshop for LGBT youth and young adults who struggle with the circumstances of growing up LGBT. The HealLink Circle shows these young people that words may hurt, but they also have healing power. She encourages them to "write through the pain." Shye has just released her first book of poetry, "Salutations to the Dawn". Shye currently hosts, "Crack the Mic," a monthly Open Mic series at the Artisan Collective in Newark and co-hosts, "LPJ's Friday Night Jam" and appears as a contributor on the Women Writers in Bloom Poetry Salon website's Poetry Garden.

Leslie Peterson, who writes and creates art under the name Mewz, is a 42 year old mother and grandmother from Brooklyn, NY. She is a writer, singer, fine artist and craft artist. Leslie has performed with the Performance Art Chorale under the guidance of the diva Miche Braden. She was also a member of Trupraise, a gospel ensemble put together for a concert tour of France. Ms. Peterson is currently working on her first novel.