Montreal couple sell their art for ALS research
Montrealers Pearl and Mortimer Levy
are holding an exhibition and sale of her sculptures and his photographs this week, in cooperation with the Montreal Neurological Institute. All profits will go to the Neuro, toward research into amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig ’s disease. Mortimer Levy lost his older sister, Anne, to ALS in 1986.
The Neuro will give a tax receipt for the full purchase price of photos and for 25 per cent of the price of sculptures. The couple are assuming the costs of the materials.
The exhibition will be at Centre d’art E.K. Voland, 4710 St-Ambroise St. The vernissage for the show, called Formes et Images, will be held Thursday from 5 to 8 p.m. The show will continue Friday from noon to 5 p.m. and Saturday from 1 to 4 p.m.
Pearl Levy has her studio in the St-Ambroise building, formerly a Simmons mattress factory. Most tenants are artists; building owner Voland created an exhibition gallery on the ground floor. Levy is represented by Galerie Michel-Ange, with whom she is working for this exhibition, and by Galerie Valentin.
Montreal’s fifth annual Bladder Cancer
Canada (BCC) Awareness Walk will take place Sept. 18 at Notre-Dame-de-Grâce Park, at Sherbrooke St. and Girouard Ave. Registration is at 10:30 a.m., and the walk begins at 11:30 a.m.
In Canada, bladder cancer is the fourth most common cancer in men and the 12th most common in women; research into the disease is ranked 20th in terms of funding. The mission of BCC, the only national patient advocacy group of its kind, is to help patients and their loved ones, to increase awareness and to fund research into the diagnosis, treatment and elimination of bladder cancer.
Trained volunteers offer support by phone and email, and there is an informative website (bladdercancercanada.org). As well, BCC hosts regular patient education meetings across Canada; the next Montreal meeting will be held Sept. 14 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Jewish General Hospital’s Hope & Cope Wellness Centre, 4635 Côte-Ste-Catherine Rd. All are welcome.
“With increased awareness, more Canadians are likely to identify the symptoms ... quickly and proactively,” said Dr. Wassim Kassouf, a surgeon at the McGill University Health Centre, associate professor and program director, department of surgery (urology), at McGill, and chairman of BCC’s medical advisory and medical research boards. “With early detection, the prognosis (for bladder cancer) is quite good for most patients.”
Visit bccwalk.ca to learn more.
not a household name in the Portuguese community, but during the Second World War, as Portuguese consul general in Bordeaux, France, he saved the lives of 30,000 people, most of them Jews: against the orders of his government, he granted visas and passports to enter Portugal.
On Sept. 14, the Portuguese Association of Canada and the Jewish National Fund of Montreal present A Portuguese Hero: The Aristides de Sousa Mendes Story. The event will take place at the Victoria Hall Community Centre, 4626 Sherbrooke St. W., from 7 to 9 p.m.
Andrée Lotey, who learned not long ago that her father had escaped the Nazis with the help of de Sousa Mendes, will describe her journey of discovery and show the 25-minute documentary La Valise Verte. The crowdfunded 20-minute documentary I Am Alive Thanks to Aristides de Sousa Mendes will also be shown; it will be introduced by Louis-Philippe de Sousa Mendes, the war hero’s grandson.
The event is the first in a series by the Jewish National Fund intended to reach out about its work beyond the Jewish community. Tickets cost $5, available at jnfmontreal. ca or by calling 514-934-0313, Local 235. Proceeds will go to the Portuguese Association.
Aristides de Sousa Mendes is