Mel Lehman to Showcase Artwork Created by A Variety of Artists from Middle Eastern and Arab Cultures at Landis Homes

Art Exhibit: Tuesday, February 6, 3:00 – 5:00 pm

Landis Homes is pleased to announce an upcoming art exhibit featuring artworks created by a variety of artists, presented by Mel Lehman. The exhibit, scheduled for Tuesday, February 6, from 3:00 to 5:00 pm, promises to be a captivating showcase of unique art portraying the beauty and humanity of Middle East and Arab culture. The event will take place at Landis Homes, located at 1001 E Oregon Rd, Lititz, PA 17543.

Mel Lehman, a Lancaster County native and graduate of Lancaster Mennonite High School, has cultivated a remarkable career spanning literature, theology, and international humanitarian work. Lehman earned a BA from Eastern Mennonite University, an MA in theology from Union Theological Seminary, and an MA in literature from Columbia University.

In the first part of his career, he worked for 20 years at Church World Service as an editor in international humanitarian issues and during that time he made several visits to the Middle East. He increasingly came to realize that the ordinary people he met there were very unlike the images of Middle Easterners he was often seeing in the U.S. media. In 2009 he founded a peacemaking organization called Common Humanity which seeks to build a better understanding of the people of the Middle East through art.

The exhibit will feature artworks from around 20 Middle Eastern artists, with a significant number hailing from Iraq. Prior to the U.S. invasion in 2003, many of these artists had flourishing professional careers. However, the ensuing violence compelled them to seek refuge in Syria, joining the ranks of a million other Iraqi refugees. Mr. Lehman encountered these artists in Damascus, facilitated by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and has been collaborating with them for over a decade. Additionally, the exhibit includes paintings by Syrian artists and a piece from Gaza.

In addition to the exhibit, Mel Lehman will be teaching a class at the Pathways Institute for Lifelong Learning^®, further extending the opportunity for individuals to engage with his insights. For more information about the class, visit ThePathwaysInstitute.org/Lancaster-county.

Refreshments will be provided during the exhibit.

For those unable to attend the exhibit, artwork can be explored on Lehman’s website, CommonHumanity.org.