Goodbye, Harry Rosen

Dr. Harry Rosen, 2016

Tomorrow (11/18/18) is the funeral for my friend Harry Rosen.  Dr. Rosen, who died on Thursday at the age of 89, was Emeritus Professor at the McGill Faculty of Dentistry, a pioneer in prosthodontics and a celebrated and immensely talented and driven sculptor.

It was a privilege to document Harry's sculptures over the past ten years through photographs. What fascinated me most about Harry was how he seemed to be built of the very same stones he found, moved, chipped, ground, molded, cast, set, donated, showed and shared. Like his sculptures, this gentle giant of a man was unshakeable and unmistakeable. A rock-solid mensch.

Delores and Harry Rosen

My sincere condolences to Harry’s wife Delores, his entire family and his many friends, fans, students and colleagues.

You can view a gallery of images I took of Harry at work up at his family cottage in Lake Patrick, QC, and the many sculptures he donated to institutions around Montreal here:
http://www.ezrasoiferman.com/harryrosen/

The funeral is Sunday, November 18th at 1pm at Paperman’s in Montreal. You can read the beautiful death notice his family wrote here:
https://www.paperman.com/en/funerals/2018-11-18-dr--harry--rosen

To learn more about Harry’s career and his sculptures, please visit:
http://www.drharryrosen.ca

Hemp for the Homeless - Denver, 2018

Dropping off the 50 Hemp for the Homeless Kits at Denver Homeless Out Loud with Cici and Adam from HoodLamb Colorado and the Hemp for the Homeless team. 

It's my birthday today, April 13th, so I thought I'd share some very exciting news and a few photos. 

Last weekend, I attended the NoCo Hemp Expo in Loveland, Colorado. I went down on behalf of Tweed, Canada's - and the world's - largest cannabis company, which recently hired me on as a business development consultant as a followup to my artist's residency there. 

Mario, Marc, Ez, Gregg - The Hemp for the Homeless team about to pack up 50  'Hemp Help Kits' at NoCo. (Photo by Lauren Brown -- Click pic for Bigger Version)

While I was at NoCo (the biggest hemp industry event in the USA), I organized another round of my HEMP FOR THE HOMELESS project (started in 2007) which collects functional and nutritious hemp products from hemp companies and creates 'Hemp Help Kits' for folks in need. 

Nancy Metcalf and Lauren Stansbury of Dr. Bronner's 

With the help of 20 generous corporate sponsors this year, me and my hemp/filmmaker buddies Gregg Silver, Marc Ostrick, and Mario Hamelin, gathered enough awesome hemp products at NoCo to fill 50 hemp tote bags for Denver Homeless Out Loud which does incredible advocacy for Denver's 7,000+ homeless residents. 

Contents of a Hemp Help Kit (click pic for bigger view)

DHOL was thrilled to receive our kits and we were so happy to share. The feedback from the folks they support has been incredible. 

A recipient of one of the kits, outside Denver Homeless Out Loud

Gregg Silver (right) giving out a Hemp Help Kit 

I am so grateful to everyone, especially Gregg Silver who inspired me to kick this project back into gear last year at NoCo 2017 and go full steam into it this year. 

Me, up on stage at NoCo, talking about the project

Stay tuned for a short film about Hemp for the Homeless coming this Spring and for more related initiatives in the future. 

Jourdan Samel (L) and Ari Sherman (R) of Evo Hemp, a Hemp for the Homeless sponsor 

If you have a hemp company and want to help support the project, please contact me via EzraSoiferman.com

HUGE THANKS to all our Hemp for the Homeless Sponsors for the following amazing, donated hemp goods:

Dr. Bronner's - Soap, skin balm, hand sanitizer, lip balm
Tweed - Travel & accommodations
HoodLamb Colorado (aka HoodLab) - Hoodies and T-shirts
EnviroTextiles - Long-sleeve shirts, socks, rope
Hemptopia - Tote bags, T-shirts, socks
Chiefton Supply Co. - Hoodies
Satori Movement - Socks
Palmetto Harmony - Skin care products
Evo Hemp - Nutritious snack bars
Hemptique - Hemp rope
Hemp Way Foods - Hulled hemp seeds
Nutracis - Hulled hemp seeds
DoxMix - Toasted hemp seeds

Me and Summer Star Haeske of EnviroTextiles, a Hemp for the Homeless sponsor

SPECIAL THANKS to our education, outreach and bonus material contributors: 

NoCo Hemp Expo
Denver Relief Consulting
Vote Hemp
Hemp History Week
Norie Criswell of Hemp The Earth Clothing
Straight Hemp
Abaka Hemp Clothing
Lauren Brown Consulting

CiCi Dunn of Hoodlamb Colorado with clothing distributed as part of the project.

Thanks for reading this and for believing in the tremendous versatility of hemp to better our world and to inspire change. 

Love to all from Montreal.

-Ez