Faces of Syrian refugees the focus of charity MCC art exhibit

After six years of watching the war-ravaged faces of Syrian refugee children in the news, Dee Abbate could no longer stay passive.

She contacted several charities for permission to use their photographs of Syrian refugee children and began painting their faces. They acquiesced, provided all proceeds from the sales of those paintings go toward the charities' humanitarian aid efforts for refugees.

"I started doing it as my own personal expression ... my desire to do something to help. And other people then joined me," said Abbate, 75, of Oakwood Hills. "We now are 22 artists."

Those paintings are the focus of a new art exhibit at McHenry County College.

"Painting Syria's Children: The Refugee Portrait Project" will be on display through July 31 in the Epping Gallery, in the hallway of Building B on MCC's Crystal Lake campus, 8900 Route 14.

More than a dozen local artists have contributed to the project that aims to help the 8.4 million children caught in the crossfire of Syria's ongoing civil war and resulting global refugee crisis. Their paintings are inspired by photographs taken of Syrian children living in refugee camps in Lebanon and Jordan. The project aims to raise awareness and money to support three charities providing humanitarian aid to child refugees in Jordan, Lebanon and other parts of Europe and the Middle East.

The artists are Jeanne Clohisy of Arlington Heights; Teresa Bedal of Barrington; Judy Arvidson, JoAnn Benthusen, Lucy Dellapina, Sherri Fowler and Lynn Loch, all of Cary; Johanna Gullick, Judith Hollister, Julie Janzen and Diane Ward, all of Crystal Lake; Susan Ploughe of Lake Zurich; Kathie Stevens of McHenry; Alice Schank of Spring Grove; and Susan Havey of South Barrington.

According to United Nations Children's Fund, more than 80 percent of Syria's child population has been affected by the conflict, either within Syria or as refugees in neighboring countries.

Seeing an American woman who had adopted two amputee children from Syria on TV triggered Abbate to spring into action.

"I'm too old to adopt," said Abbate, a lifelong artist and former MCC administrator who later retired as director of the College of Lake County's Vernon Hills satellite location. "There's nothing large I could do, but the small thing I could do is ... to paint faces to raise money."

Roughly 19 paintings have been sold and about 25 to 30 paintings are available for sale benefiting WorldVision, Catholic Relief Services, and Act for Peace. They cost anywhere from $175 to $700 and include contemporary, oil, acrylic and watercolors.

"We have been selling them very fast," Abbate said. "I have donated five already. There are other artists who have donated three, four or five paintings to the project. They are selling and being replaced as I speak."

To view the artists' work, visit mchenry.edu/artgallery. To purchase a painting, write Abbate at deezart@comcast.net.