For the month of April, Obliq and Gallery Luxx have hosted a tribute to Debra Friedman, the former dean of ASU’s College of Public Programs and vice president of the Downtown campus.
Friedman lost her battle with lung cancer on Jan. 26, and “Peace of Mind: A Tribute to Debra Friedman’s Life and Legacy” aims to show her importance in the community.
“She had an incredible vision for Phoenix across all sectors, classes and socioeconomics,” friend and colleague Malissa Geer said. “She had an ability to navigate all these different groups while at the same time individually care for each person. She wanted her students, staff and community members to be successful.”
Geer said she created the art show because of the number of people who wanted a way to honor Friedman.
Coincidentally Larry Ortega, who runs Obliq and Gallery Luxx at the Arizona Center, needed an April exhibit. Geer knew Ortega well because of the galleries’ proximity to the Downtown campus. These galleries would offer a space to grieve, celebrate Friedman’s life and allow for everyone to be involved, Geer said.
“Her life had a positive impact. Her loss is real, tragic and sad,” Geer said. “I think art is one way to express grief and loss.”
Geer worked closely with Friedman at the Downtown campus for years as a first generation college student and later a College of Public Programs graduate.
Geer met Friedman in 2005 through the College of Public Programs, a year before the college moved Downtown. When Geer served as the community engagement liaison to the Downtown campus, she collaborated with Friedman to integrate the downtown arts community with the College of Public Programs and the Downtown campus. They shared compatible visions on improving the vitality of the downtown arts scene to have the campus grow alongside the community, Geer said.
Geer would reach out to local nonprofits and community members and ask them to take part in the new Downtown campus by showcasing their art on the blank walls of the University Center. Together Friedman and Geer had represented the College of Public Programs for years and built long-term engagements with nonprofits and artists until Friedman’s departure to the University of Washington Tacoma in 2011.
Her experience as a curator for the Downtown campus led Geer to volunteer as the curator for the “Peace of Mind” tribute. Geer said the show was a “community collaborative tribute” to Friedman’s life. Geer collaborated alongside 25 other artists and six community organizations who had all worked with Friedman in the past.
Felipe Ruiz Acosta, director of strategic marketing and design at ASU, came up with the tribute’s name. Geer sent Ruiz emails, a handwritten letter and text messages written by Friedman to inspire a name for the memorial.
Ruiz chose a text message that Friedman had sent to Geer where she described her peace of mind when she saw people become the best they could be through accomplishing their goals.
“The tribute was us continuing forward in our work, knowing that will give her a peace of mind, but also knowing that we have a responsibility to ourselves and to each other to continue to move forward in positive community impact,” Geer said.
The tagline — “Take good care of yourself, changing lives is the hardest work there is” — was derived from the last line of the last handwritten card Geer received from Friedman.
“I knew that Debra would have written that to anybody she knew or didn’t have the opportunity to meet,” Geer said. “Her desire was to see all of us become the best.”
Obliq gallery showcased work mostly from individual artists. Gallery Luxx showed art that was created and pulled from organizations. The majority of the pieces presented by contributors were older works selected in memory of Friedman, or were artworks that she had admired.
Jessica Shea is a hobby artist who met Friedman through the ASU Community Arts Program. She had worked with her on and off since 2007.
“She was inspirational and incredible to work with,” Shea said. “She set an amazing example as a leader and was a mentor to so many people.”
As a contributing artist, Shea dedicated her acrylic painting, “The Tree of Life” to the tribute. Friedman had seen the painting when it was shown at the University Center gallery.
John Aguilar, a painter and an emeritus professor of anthropology, dedicated six acrylic paintings from the Emeritus College. Friedman and former Emeritus College dean, Richard Jacob, founded the ASU Emeritus College Art Exhibit in 2006. There will be a permanent wall collection at the gallery in honor of her memory that will include some of the paintings from “Peace of Mind.”
“Debra was so exceptional. She did a lot in a short time,” Aguilar said.
Contact the reporter at allyson.gerrard@asu.edu
