In just one podcast interview, Ombretta Agró Andruff, the founder and executive director of ARTSail Residency and Research, gave me a renewed interest in the ocean. Ombretta understood immediately why I wasn’t keeping up with all of the changes that are happening in the ocean that most definitely impact our climate. NYC does that to you.

Now that I look at the ocean every day in Miami Beach, I hope to help Ombretta with marketing.

Ombretta was born in Italy. She is a Miami Beach and Turin based freelance curator and ocean warrior. She brings more than 25 years of curatorial expertise with an international practice across non-profit institutions, commercial galleries, and art advisory pursuits with private clients.

Since her move to the US in 1998 she has curated solo and group shows in Europe, the US and Asia collaborating with museums, art festivals, commercial galleries and art fairs, as well as the 2006 Winter Olympic Games.

Ombretta is an avid swimmer, diver and kiteboarder.

The minute I met Grace Hopkins at the Berta Walker Gallery in Provincetown, MA, I knew I wanted to interview her for Art Lovers Forum. She is deeply involved in the art world, and I felt she could teach me so much. I was so right.

For most of the year, Grace is the director of the Berta Walker Gallery, one of the most respected in PTown. She loves working for Berta who has a strong understanding of art, and the business of art, after working for the Whitney Museum, Marisa del Re, and Graham Modern Galleries.

Grace is an artist who creates very unique art by using photography to create square abstract images. Grace details how she manages to produce work that focuses on objects that often go unnoticed. She really has an amazing story.

Grace is the daughter of noted artist Budd Hopkins, who was also an author and ufologist. He was a prominent figure in alien abduction phenomena and related UFO research. Her mother, April Kingsley, was a respected art historian. Grace’s parents were friends with art world luminaries like Franz Kline, Mark Rothko, Robert Motherwell, Willem de Kooning, et al.

Grace lived most of her life in the art communities of Manhattan and Outer Cape Cod (Provincetown, Truro, Wellfleet).

Welcome to Art Lovers Forum. There’s a nonprofit art organization that’s quietly becoming a global force — using creativity to stand up for Israel and to fight antisemitism.

It’s called Art World for Israel, and I have to thank artist Dahlia Dreszer for introducing me to its incredible founder, Ariel Penzer.

Ariel told me that since the attacks on Israel on October 7th, 2023, too many Jewish artists have faced online harassment — and a heartbreaking drop in art sales. She decided to do something about it.

That’s how Art World for Israel began — as a simple chat group among friends. They invited more friends, and then more, and it just kept growing.

Today, there are more than 1,200 members — artists, writers, collectors, dealers, and advisors — from all over the world: Zimbabwe, Colombia, Europe, and of course, right here in the U.S.

The mission is powerful: to connect Jewish artists in with their peers in Israel, to build professional opportunities, and to promote positive visibility through exhibitions, talks, and events.

As Ariel puts it, “We believe in peer-led initiatives, local gatherings, studio visits, and professional development to grow our community.”

It’s a reminder that although the Jewish population makes up only about 0.2% of the world — roughly 15.7 million people — we continue to be, as Ariel says, small but mighty.

With everything from shows and openings to workshops and studio visits, Art World for Israel has become one of the most inspiring movements in the Jewish art world today.

@artworldforisrael @bloomsteadfarmresidency @arielpenzer