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GiGi (Colson)
Desaulniers
GiGi Desaulniers
has been able to gather ideas from the people and cultures she has experienced, the main source of inspiration for her artwork
which includes watercolor, oil, knife-cut silkscreen paper collage and black
and white photography.
An artist, freelance
writer and speaker, GiGi seeks to share her experiences traveling and being actively involved in issues regarding women and
poverty in developing nations in order to create poverty awareness and inter cultural understanding. On multiple occasions she has volunteered with Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta,
India.
She is founder and
executive director of the Institute for Poverty Awareness and Education, Inc. (IPAE) http://ipae.org She was a participant in the 2000 Grameen Bank
International Dialogue held in Bangladesh and was a delegate at the 2001
Asia-Pacific Micro-Credit Summit in New Delhi, India.
She is president of IPAE International, Kolkata, a partner organization to SWARAJ, India, of which she is a member of
the executive committee providing micro-loans to village women in West Bengal.
GiGi owns GiGi's
Global Specialty Art and Gifts, the place where art and story meet bringing to the fore artists of exceptional local and international
talent.
GiGi has studied
art privately for many years including watercolor with Robert Ducharme; oils with
Lynne Meleleu, and has taken courses at Rhode Island School of Design.
She wrote the art
column, The Call Gallery for The Call, (the daily for Northern Rhode Island and
Southeastern Massachusetts) for several years highlighting local artists and the art scene throughout Rhode Island and has reviewed for Art New England.
She has been published in several local as well as national and international publications and is writing a book about
the people she has met on her journeys.
She was a member
of Chicago’s Woman Made; SCBWI (Society of Children's
Book Writers and Illustrators); S.P.A.C.E. (Studio for the Promotion of Arts, Culture and Excellence) and presently holds
membership with the Wickford Art Association.
She has shown her
artwork through local exhibitions and participated in fund-raisers for non profit organizations, including Bowls Against Hunger
Art Auction for the Rhode Island Food Bank.
GiGi’s premier
one woman show was held in the summer of 1997 in "Le Jardin" at Cadeaux du Monde, Bellevue
Avenue, Newport, RI. In September, 1997, she was awarded in the Newport Council for International Visitors Photo Contest
for a photo taken of the children in Brahmapur Village,
Calcutta, India.
In 1998, GiGi exhibited at the SCBWI Members Exhibit,
Los Angeles, CA and WomanMade Gallery, Chicago, Illinois.
Also, the Museum of Work and Culture in Woonsocket, RI; Handled With Care Gallery, Warwick, RI; TSETSE Gallery, Providence,
RI and India Cafe, Providence, RI.
1999 exhibits included, Handled With Care Gallery,
Warwick, RI; Gallery Flux, Providence,
RI and Scollay Square Gallery, Boston
City Hall.
Year 2000 exhibits included, Goddard College,
Plainfield Vermont; Macy’s Black History Month Exhibit, Boston; Scollay Square Gallery, Boston City Hall; TSETSE Gallery,
Providence, RI; and the Hunger Awareness Exhibit, University of Rhode Island, Providence, RI.; Cadeaux du Monde, Newport RI;
solo exhibit; Artist in residence, Santarella Museum and Gardens, Tyringham, Massachusetts; and Wickford Art Gallery, Wickford,
RI; University of Rhode Island (Providence Gallery).
2001exhibits included: Cadeaux du Monde, Newport, RI, solo exhibit;
returning artist in residence, Santarella Museum
and Gardens, Tyringham, Massachusetts, and University of Rhode Island, Providence, RI.
2002 exhibits:
University of Rhode Island, Providence (March and April exhibits),
returning artist in residence, Santarella Museum and Gardens, Tyringham, Massachusetts, T’s Restaurant, Park Avenue, Cranston, RI.
2003 exhibits:
URI Feinstein Providence Campus and solo exhibits at Family Resources Community Action, Woonsocket,
RI., Cadeaux du Monde, Newport, RI
and The Trellis Restaurant, Williamsburg, Virginia,
solo exhibit.
2004 exhibits:
URI Feinstein Providence Campus (Honors Colloquium on Hunger) and solo exhibits at Cadeaux du Monde, Newport,
RI , Ganache Hill Gallery, Williamsburg,
VA., Woonsocket Harris Public Library.
2005 exhibits:
Gallery Opening, Global Village Art; September, Union Church, Providence
on the Art Trolley Tour; November, Feminine by Design, Soucy Insuranc Agency sponsored exhibit at Global Village Art Studio
& Gallery
2006 exhibits: Wickford Art Association, Wickford, RI; Now open at GiGi's
Global Specialty Art and Gifts, Woonsocket, RI
GiGi’s pieces are permanently displayed
in private collections throughout the United States
and internationally. Her works can be found at Ganache Hill Gallery, Williamsburg, Virginia. She has a watercolor on permanent display at the Fijian Embassy
in New York City.
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