The Harmony for Peace Foundation announced the winners of its inaugural International Peace Art Competition at an awards ceremony on Friday. Chihiro Kondo took top prize, winning $1,000, for “Love Wind,” a work of acrylic and Japanese paint on board. Her work and the works of the other participants from nine countries formed the 50-piece Harmony for Peace Foundation’s Peace Art Competition Exhibit, which ran June 3 through 5 at the Chelsea Art Museum in Manhattan.

Suzu Ishii’s “In Search for…” won second prize and $500, while Victoria Goro-Rapoport’s “Mephisto’s Feast” captured third place and a prize of $300. Two honorable mentions, the Peace and Harmony prizes were taken by Toshiyuki Watanabe (“No More Hiroshima. No More Nagasaki”) and Kathryn Hart (“Domination”) respectively.

The pieces were selected for their depiction of world peace, global awareness or peace making and the connection their artist statement had to these themes. Judges include renowned visual artist Senju Hiroshi; Curator of Contemporary Art at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Julien Robson; environmental conservationist and conceptual art photographer Dr. Joe Zammit-Lucia; and Harmony for Peace Board Members Mark Di Paolo and Dr. Alexander Motyl, who is also a visual artist and author.

“Our winners and the exhibit itself created a lively, visual dialogue about peace, one that we are hoping will continue and grow until more reasonable solutions to conflicts around the world are employed,” said Tomoko Torii, Harmony for Peace executive director, who spearheaded the effort.

Harmony for Peace was founded in 2009 by harpsichordist Yasuko Mitsui, whose family was affected by the Hiroshima bombings, to use music and art to promote world peace and nuclear non-proliferation. The group has raised funds through its artistic events for the Hiroshima International Council for Health Care of the Radiation-Exposed (HICARE), which has been using knowledge gleaned from the Hiroshima tragedy to care for radiation-exposed populations in various parts of the world. Recently HICARE has sent healthcare professionals to the Fukushima nuclear plant area to assist those who have been exposed to radiation.

Jamaican classical pianist Paul Shaw, hailed by The New York Times as “both a virtuoso with herculean technical command and a sensitive introspective artist,” performed at the opening ceremony on Friday. On Saturday, the group presented a concert featuring Daniel Maimone (tenor), Asako Tamura (soprano) and Drago Bubalo (piano). Pianist Gideon Broshy performed classical music selections and Wataru Niimori (jazz piano) and Akiko Sasaki (koto, a Japanese traditional stringed instrument) collaborated on a jazz set on Sunday.

The exhibition runs online at www.harmonyforpeace.org, where interested parties can purchase the pieces (ranging from $150 to $8,000) through the end of July. A price list of the artwork is available on the website to download and also is available by emailing art2011@harmonyforpeace.org or calling 484-885-8539. A portion of the proceeds will go to Harmony for Peace’s Japan Relief Fund, which is dedicated to helping those affected by the devastating March earthquake and tsunami get the medical attention they need, as well as its core mission of promoting nuclear non-proliferation and helping the radiation-exposed and their communities.

About the Harmony for Peace Foundation:

The Harmony for Peace Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, seeks to promote cross-cultural understanding through music and the other arts, serving as a bridge among nations to promote mutual respect, nuclear non-proliferation and a common path to world peace. In keeping with its mission, the organization has presented several successful musical events in top concert halls like Carnegie Hall and Avery Fisher Hall in New York City, and venues in the Philadelphia metropolitan area.

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