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Updates

The Guild Hall Museum, in East Hampton, now has the complete Cities of Peace Illuminated Treasure Suite.

The National Library of Israel, Jerusalem now has the complete catalogue of Hanukkah Illuminated: A Book of Days.

The Magnes Collection, at the University of California, Berkeley, now has The Book of Judith in their permanent collection .

This is especially wonderful as Ellen studied there and also was a Professor there for number of years.

The Magnes wrote a wonderful tribute to Ellen and her Book of Judith.

We are also proud to announce that three young artists, who had previously worked with Ellen Frank on Cities of Peace Projects in Pristina, Kosovo and Krakow, Poland, created a Tribute Painting for Cities of Peace titled Encounters. The painting had its grand unveiling in Rondine, Italy on June 9, 2023. For more information please follow this link:

ELLEN FRANK ILLUMINATION ARTS FOUNDATION, INC.

Our Mission

Ellen Frank Illumination Arts Foundation, Inc. (EFIAF) is a change agent, using art as a driver of peaceful coexistence among former enemies, people from conflict zones, children of parents who murdered each other, and marginalized populations, even those having no language in common. We build transformative change through peacebuilding and human rights education, cultural diplomacy, interdisciplinary inquiry all of which we do while we are creating museum quality gold-illuminated paintings. Beauty, participatory collaborative arts engagement and creativity becomes doorways to peace.

The core values that guide EFIAF include a belief that art and culture matter in preventing the destruction of civilization and in rekindling the human spirit: that cultural diplomacy, peacebuilding, and leadership training are essential to our future.

Our Founder’s Story

For as long as I can remember, I have dedicated my life to continue the legacy of my courageous family who chose to act for positive social change in a then hostile world. To those of you who know me, I do this as my imperative: to unite peacebuilding and human rights education with visual arts, so aptly called the Art of Illumination.

The works we create with artists, scholars and students the world over, purposely embrace beauty: eschewing images of violence is a governing principle. Neuroscience supports my commitment to beauty. Images of violence stimulate neural pathways to rage, whereas beauty stimulates the brain’s capacity for peace and compassion.

ELLEN FRANK

1946-2021