international artists' organization Plexus, which created multicultural art environments. Some of these exhibitions traveled to Rome as well as other parts of Europe. 2000-2005 Crayon Show (2001) In early 2001 he began working with crayon, curating a traveling exhibition that winter called the Crayon Show. It displayed at the Open Space Gallery in Allentown, Pennsylvania in June 2000. Counting Coup (2001) Shifreen found himself upset after the 2000 election of George W. Bush as President of the United States, and he put out a call to artists to hold the exhibit Counting Coup in response. Shifreen found listings of artists on the internet and sent over fifty emails. The Museum of New Art (MONA) in Detroit, Michigan had recently opened and was holding a beginning fundraiser, to which Shifreen donated some of his paintings. The director at the time, Jef Bourgeau, appreciated the donation and scheduled Counting Coup for exhibition at MONA. Shifreen co-curated the show with artist Scott Pfaffman, and it opened at the Scott Phaffman Gallery in New York City on January 21, 2001, the day after Bush officially became president. The show, which included artists Leon Golub and Barbara Kruger, traveled also to the Theater for a New City and the Center for Social Change in Northampton Massachusetts. However, the show attracted small crowds in some places, and the show ceased to travel when the events of 9/11 had cemented and legitimized George Bush's presidency. From the Ashes (2001) When 9/11 happened, Shifreen had been working on an art show called Witness. Shifreen, who lived less than a mile from the World Trade Center and saw the second plane go down, hurried to the site to volunteer, but was not allowed to help due to union rules about insurance. Shifreen then contacted Patricia Nicholson, a local activist and dancer, about using the CUANDO building gallery in Manhattan, which had been unoccupied but had non-profit status. He changed his show Witness, intended for October 1, to From the Ashes, and opened in the five-story building in the middle of October. The show included over 150 visual artists, 200 performing groups, and multiple video artists and site specific installations. There were five curators involved, including Willoughby Sharp. The show received press in publications such the Los Angeles Times, The Village Voice, and The Villager. As a result, $7000 were donated to the Fireman's Fund and five fire houses. Casa