Local artists featured at HREI

COEUR d'ALENE - A Gandhi-inspired exhibit featuring local artists is set to open March 10 at the Human Rights Education Institute.

The exhibit will be unveiled at 6:30 p.m. at the institute, off Northwest Blvd. adjacent to City Park in Coeur d'Alene.

The art presented at the opening represents the featured artists' interpretations of Mahatma Gandhi's "seven social sins," a series of social behaviors Gandhi deemed damaging to humanity.

Local artists include Donna Bain, Harold Balazs, Allen Dodge, Mary Dee Dodge, Rhea Giffin, Barb Mueller, Joan Smith, Austin Stiegemeier and Marci Wing.

The art opening kicks off a new series of exhibits, opportunities for dialogue and programs planned at the Human Rights Education Institute.

The seven social sins penned by Mahatma Gandhi in 1925 will be the recurring theme of events hosted at the institute during the next two years.

The seven social sins, according to Gandhi, are:

• Wealth without work;

• Pleasure without conscience;

• Knowledge without character;

• Commerce without morality;

• Science without humanity;

• Religion without sacrifice;

• Politics without principle.

The March 10 exhibit opening is free and open to the public. North Idaho College's chamber choir will perform, and light refreshments will be served. Donations payable to the "Friends of the Human Rights Education Institute" will be accepted.