Though it continues to be cold rain and snow showers on Islesford, Henry has just returned from the Southern Hemisphere’s summer, spending a couple weeks under glorious sun, painting in South Africa. Henry sketched out several dozen canvasses on location from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth to the Northern Cape’s Kalahari Desert. Though he returns to stateside painting priorities, Henry is determined to put together his various African forays into an exhibition at a yet to be determined venue.

Painting in the Desert

There were two other highlights in the Isaacs’ trip to South Africa that must be mentioned. Joining friend and colleague Ashley Bryan and Rich Entel, Donna and Henry began their stay with a visit to the Kopenang Community Trust near Johannesburg. Assisted by the visionary guidance of Sister Sheila Flynn, hundreds of women of local townships have put together embroidery cooperative, which supports themselves, their children and grandchildren, and provides both income and education to a population hit hard by HIV/AIDS and violence. The embroideries are unique works of art, displaying extraordinary use of color, composition, and drawing, go to: http://www.kopanang.org/.

Tswalu Six AM oil on linen 40x60"

The visit to the Ubuntu Centre was a wonderful reunion with old friends and meeting countless new ones by the end of our stay in Zwide, Port Elizabeth. http://ubuntufund.org/. The scope of this center’s care is impressively holistic. It is the entire township that they want to care for! Health and Education services and schooling are rapidly expanding. We arrived on the first day of the opening of their pre-kindergarten school! Celebrating just over ten years of its establishment, we were able to meet young people whose lives have been profoundly changed by this institution. Ubuntu is there to stay. See what you can do to help be a part of this effort.

And back stateside!
Every bit as busy, Henry opens a show with friend and colleague Craig Mooney at Gallery One in Nashville on March 31st. http://www.galleryone.biz/Events.shtml.

The Island Institute in Rockland, Maine is hosting a one-person show:
“Henry Isaacs. Lessons from an Island”, Opening April 20th and running into mid-June.
The Islesford Dock Restaurant, of Little Cranberry Island will be catering the opening, celebrating their twentieth year of making the best food of any island on the coast!

View to the North from Prout's Neck, Maine oil on linen 20x40"

A portion of the proceeds from the sale of Henry’s pictures will benefit The Outer Islands Teaching Learning Collaborative. This is a three year old merging of teaching talent, student initiatives and friendships between five one or two room schoolhouses off the coast of Maine. Cliff Island, Mohegan, Isle au Haut, Matinicus, and the Cranberry Islands. On the map these islands are separated by hundreds of miles and daunting logistics to get to, but for the kids of the schools, thanks to technology and hard work, they learn and play together on a daily basis. Visit: www.outerislandstlc.org.
Go to: www.islandinstitute.org. to see how you can purchase one of Henry’s paintings this spring and help our islands with a single check!