The Work of April Gornik

Since that first benefit five years ago, Gornik has helped build a powerful bridge between the reproductive rights community and the art world.  She has offered not just her own artwork for auction, but advice and unflagging support on many levels.  Indeed, Gornik and her husband each donated work for the first Choice Art auction in 2004, which benefited PPHP and two other New York area Planned Parenthood affiliates — Planned Parenthood of Nassau County (PPNC) and Planned Parenthood of New York City (PPNYC) — as well as Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA).  The event raised more than $1 million, earmarked in part for the historic March for Women's Lives, which took place in Washington, DC, in April 2004.  The success of the auction opened the door for Choice Art 2006, held earlier this year.  Gornik not only helped secure Diane Sawyer as a keynote speaker but created a unique lithograph called Light on the Sea, commissioned specifically for the event.  Both auctions brought donors, artists, and reproductive rights supporters together at Sotheby's, one of the world's premier auction houses. 

Choice Art 2006 was just the latest of many contributions Gornik has made during the years she has supported Planned Parenthood and its mission.  Growing up in the suburbs of Cleveland, Gornik was aware of Planned Parenthood as an organization from an early age.  She says, "When I was young and I first needed advice about reproductive rights, Planned Parenthood was the place to which I turned.  It was there for me, and I consider it an essential part of the culture and an essential part of women being able to determine their own destinies."

As an adult in New York City in the early 1990s, spurred by the rampant violence against abortion providers and the anti-choice policies of the first Bush administration, Gornik joined the Women's Action Coalition.  She protested in the name of reproductive rights and helped organize an auction and benefit to raise funds for what was then the National Abortion Rights Action League.  With that experience under her belt, she was later connected to PPHP and its annual East End benefit through the well-established art community in the Hamptons. 

PPHP had found powerful new supporters in Gornik and Fischl, and, when Gornik suggested a companion auction to PPHP's annual fundraising event, an exciting new way to raise funds for its mission was born.  Gornik herself was deeply touched by the volunteers and staff who helped to organize the auction.  "Everyone was so extraordinary and believed so much in women's rights and were doing their best to help girls and young women understand their options throughout their lives," says Gornik.  "They all had such a positive attitude.  I thought it was wonderful, and very, very inspiring."

Today, Gornik is as passionate as ever about the struggle to protect women's heath and safety.  "Look at what's happening in South Dakota and the way that rights are being eroded in a more subversive way around the country," she says.  "It feels to me like a very dire time."

As a special gift to Planned Parenthood, Gornik and Maurice Sanchez of Derriere l'Etoile Studios have continued to make available a limited edition of Gornik's work, Light on the Sea, 2006, available for $1,000 each.  Orders can be placed through PPFA by completing the printable order form or by calling PPFA art consultants, Livet Reichard and Company, at (212) 868-8450, extension 209. All proceeds from the sale of this edition will benefit four Planned Parenthood organizations — PPHP, PPNC, PPNYC, and PPFA.  The print itself — which evokes sunlight pouring through clouds onto the ocean — is at once beautiful, positive, surreal, and turbulent.  Says Gornik, "The strongest art that exists is art that invites a variety of interpretations."