interview and a video

 A few weeks ago Extreme Reach and Swag With A Purpose did an interview with me for Gay Pride. I've finally got around to post it. I really don't know much about these companies other than they are supportive of the Gay Community.

"My organization - Swagg With A Purpose - created the concept and executed on the majority of the items and the company I work for - Extreme Reach - assisted and posted everything to their internal sites reaching approx. 1100 people across 22 countries."

Operation Give Them Their Flowers

Honoring Ira Joel Haber

In celebration of Pride month, we are highlighting members of the Queer & Trans community that offers contributions to society in any capacity (culture, media, the arts, etc). It's an effort to recognize and support their contributions as well as potentially exposing them to a new audience.

Ira Joel Haber was born and lives in Brooklyn. He is a sculptor, painter, writer, book dealer, photographer and teacher. His work has been seen in numerous group shows both in the USA and Europe and he has had 9 one man shows including several retrospectives of his sculpture. His work is in the collections of The Whitney Museum Of American Art, New York University, The Guggenheim Museum, The Hirshhorn Museum,The Albright-Knox Art Gallery & The Allen Memorial Art Museum. Since 2006 His paintings, drawings, photographs and collages have been published in over 300 online and print magazines. He has received three National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships, two Creative Artists Public Service Grant (CAPS) two Pollock-Krasner grants, two Adolph Gottlieb Foundation grants and, in 2010, he received a grant from Artists' Fellowship Inc. in 2017 & 2018 he received the Brooklyn Arts Council SU-CASA artist-in-residence grant.

Please take a moment to see the world through Ira Joel's eyes:

We are huge advocates for gender expression and identity and want to be respectful of everyone’s choices to identify. How do you choose to express your identity? What are your pronouns?

I am a gay man, have been for my entire life when I was also a gay boy, a gay teen, a gay young man. My identity is who I am as an artist mainly but also as someone who has lived on this earth for 75 years. My story is complex and I was in the village walking home on that hot June night when Stonewall exploded. I watched from the corner so I was there but did not join in. I was not yet 22 years old. We had no sense of identity back then. I lived in Chelsea before it became a mecca for rich people. I lived with roommates and grew up and was opened up as an artist and a young gay man. My blog is full of my stories on being gay. I will add it to this.

What is your creative expression? What’s your passion, in your opinion, that brings joy, laughter, inspiration, motivation or any good feeling to others?

My passion is my art, no two ways about that. I have been making art it seems forever. I started to show my art in museum shows and galleries when I was very young in my early 20's and was included in two Whitney annuals as they were called back then in 1971 and I think 1974. I cannot be responsible for anyone else's good feelings. I make art, present it on the internet for the most part and hope that people like it. I have a presence on Facebook where I share my writings and my art.

I would imagine pride in yourself is a contributing factor to how you choose to express your creativity. What does gay pride or pride month mean to you?

I have to say that the whole gay pride thing doesn't have the same feelings for me now that it did in the beginning. I marched in the first gay pride march from the village up to central park and it was scary as we were a small group. I marched in many other marches after that or I watched the parade from the sidelines. Maybe it has to do with age. I am very political though and take care in supporting the pro-gay pro causes. I am appalled by the state of the country. I sign petitions and stay aware of the dangers we as gay people are facing. I am especially concerned by the terrible actions against trans people and young gays and women.

I believe mental health is an important component to the success of every queer and trans person. What are your thoughts on self-care and how does it show up in your daily routine?

I have done many gay male groups mostly when I was younger. I took part in gay art groups, and did volunteer work for the gay men's health crises in the early 90's for about 4 years. Self-care means treating myself as well and as kind as I can. I've taught art to seniors which has given me a great feeling of joy and hope both for myself and for the seniors who took my many art classes. I go to a gym when I can and I try to be as positive as I can. I don't use drugs any more or drink, not that I am trying to push that on anyone else. Being 75 of course is not like being 35. My nights of wildness are way behind me. Making my art of course is important and gives me great deal of pleasure.

Do you have anything you would like to share about yourself or what you are working on/promoting to the Extreme Reach world?

It's very hard for me to reach out to the galleries, so I put my art on the internet in literary magazines, on Facebook, on Instagram and on my blog. I also have a book business online which keeps me busy and have been doing that for many years to try to make a buck.

One of the reasons for this spotlight is so we can bring a new audience to your creativity and talent. Where can people find you or see/support your artistic expression?

As I said, people can see my art on Instagram, Facebook and my blog. They can also google me which will bring up many links to my art and many of the magazines that have published my art over the years.

Below is the link to the video they did on my art. It needs some twinking but it is really nice I think.

Thank you Brian Hamilton for your support.