Ribbon of Hope

Unveiling a Sculpture on World AIDS Day

“Jayel Aheram at the Desert AIDS Project.”

A cou­ple of the artists (Linda & Charles Perkins) my gallery (IncredibleArtist.Com) rep­re­sents was com­mis­sioned by the city of Palm Springs to cre­ate an AIDS rib­bon sculp­ture to be ded­i­cated at the Desert AIDS Project on World AIDS Day, 2009.

The sculp­ture itself is really lovely, the red glass embraced within the cop­per wires shone under the lighting.

Linda is amaz­ing as always. She exudes such an amaz­ing energy. I think it is cre­ativ­ity flow­ing out of her. Charles is amaz­ing, also, with his trade­mark fedora.

Rick Pantele, founder of IncredibleArtist.Com, in col­lab­o­ra­tion with the Desert AIDS Project was instru­men­tal in con­vinc­ing Mayor Pougnet to get the Palm Springs city coun­cil to donate the money needed to com­mis­sion this sculpture.

We (Rick, Michael, Linda, Charles, and I) were ush­ered into the VIP room where we got to meet in per­son Morgan Fairchild, who looked absolutely stun­ning. Jeffrey Lane, Morgan’s pub­lic rela­tions agent, was very cool and fun to pho­to­graph. He has an amaz­ing smile. He joked around and I was able to take a few shots of him ham­ming it up for the cam­era. David Brinkman, exec­u­tive direc­tor of the Desert AIDS Project, was also present. Photos were taken with Rick and the Perkins and Morgan.

State assem­bly­man Manny Perez was also in the room. Rick intro­duced me to Manny and he thanked me for my ser­vice (I never know what to say after­ward when peo­ple do that).

Palm Springs mayor Steve Pougnet made an appear­ance and there were more pho­tos taken. I was co-opted to take more pho­tos and at one point, by Morgan her­self when she handed me her cam­era to take pho­tos with. Of course, that is what inevitably hap­pens with me in any social set­ting. I become the default event pho­tog­ra­pher for some reason.

David Brinkman was the first one on the podium, who made a heart­felt plea to peo­ple present to join the Desert AIDS Project in con­vinc­ing Sacramento to not cut fund­ing for vital AIDS programs.

Morgan Fairchild was next, who reit­er­ated her com­mit­ment to com­bat­ing AIDS. She spoke of her long­time advo­cacy begin­ning as early as 1979 of com­bat­ing the stigma asso­ci­ated with the dis­ease as well as friend­ship with Rock Hudson as he suc­cumbed to the disease.

Terri, a DAP client for years, gave an impas­sioned speech about how much the Desert AIDS Project means to her and many people.

Manny Perez gave a pow­er­ful speech and vowed that he is going to take the fight to Sacramento for his constituents.

Mayor Pougnet talked about the 25-year part­ner­ship the city of Palm Springs has had with the Desert AIDS Projects and sim­i­lar com­mu­nity orga­ni­za­tions. He pub­licly and repeat­edly thanked Rick Pantele, founder of IncredibleArtist.Com, for being instru­men­tal in mak­ing the rib­bon ded­i­ca­tion hap­pen. Finally, the mayor, on behalf of the city of Palm Springs, offi­cially ded­i­cated the Perkins’s sculpture.

After the ded­i­ca­tion, Morgan Fairchild was unsur­pris­ingly mobbed by fans and sup­port­ers thank­ing her unwa­ver­ing com­mit­ment and unceas­ing efforts to the HIV/AIDS cause. I man­aged to slide through the crowd and asked Jeffrey Lane if maybe Morgan would be able to take pho­tos with the Perkins in front of their sculp­ture. It took a while, but Jeffrey was able to get Morgan with the Perkins. I took a few pho­tos and one with Rick as well.

Random Bits

I asked David Brinkman, the snappy dresser that he is, where he got his suit. They are amaz­ing and I want one.

Marilyn Chung, of the Desert Sun, was pho­tograph­ing the event for her news­pa­per. It was nice to see her again. And the cam­eras she was car­ry­ing looked mighty heavy.

Michael Marshall, of IncredibleArtist.Com, made the origami rib­bon I am wearing.

A very touch­ing moment when Morgan Fairchild was approached by some­one who afflicted with the dis­ease. He talked to her, thank­ing her for all the work she has done on behalf of peo­ple like him. But when he started to cry, Morgan embraced him and held him tight in her arms for a long time.

AIDS Ribbon Sculptures

Linda & Charles Perkins are cre­at­ing minia­ture ver­sions of the “Ribbon of Hope,” the sculpture’s name, to be made avail­able in a lim­ited edi­tion. Some of the pro­ceeds of the sale of the art­works are going to the Desert AIDS Project. The rib­bons, with their cop­per wire and red glass, are beau­ti­ful to behold. You can order one of 125 minia­ture “Ribbon of Hope” from their store.