Women in Conversation Offers an Intimate Look into Women's Experience of the World

Top row: artwork by Jill Milenski; Middle row: artwork by Gayle Pritchard;
Bottom row: artwork by Gail Crum

Our show Women in Conversation opens at the Stocker Center Gallery tomorrow night. We are so excited to see the installation. Gail Crum, Jill Milenski and I (Gayle Pritchard) first met years ago in my first Spirit Boxes, Sacred Vessels and Shrines class. The artwork was so amazing, we created an exhibition of the same name. Now, some twenty-five years later, this sisterhood of artists has created a new exhibition, our third in the past four years, and we seek again to offer a strikingly powerful view into how women see and experience life.

From the passage of the 19th Amendment a hundred years ago – giving women the right to vote – to the present day #MeToo era, we three artists celebrate woman's necessary role in society and the  importance of hearing steady, strong diverse female voices expressed through art. The urge to create is itself transformative and necessary, a balm for the soul. Women communicate differently about the gendered dimensions of their place in the world.

Fairy Tale Series: The Wolf at the Door, in progress. Artwork by Jill Milenski

In this groundbreaking exhibition, we raise our voices and speak through our work, a year in the making. Viewers are invited to be collaborators in completing the circle from the birth of an idea to the magical process of turning that idea into an art object that is put on display for all to engage with.

The pieces presented are inspired by daily life, the result of the way we, as women, skillfully and passionately navigate the multi-faceted roles we play: We are sisters, wives, mothers, aunts, daughters, grandmothers, soulmates, girfriends, caregivers, teachers, advocates, activists and artists.

Women in Conversation is the natural outgrowth of long-time artist friends who share a love of process and materials. The unbroken threads of decades-long conversations about our lives,our families, politics, women's issues, art, and techniques are woven into the work we are exhibiting. The show is a unique opportunity to share a piece of what brings us together as women and artists: the vulnerability, the intimacy that arises from telling our stories in our conversations with each other and through our artwork.

Saturday Night (Record Series) by Gail Crum

Along with the shared narrative, we also often share art supplies and found materials unearthed in junk and antiques stores. We share a love of process, of making something from nothing, or trying out new tools and birthing new visions in our note- and sketch-filled journals. We love laughing at the persistent compulsions that are the never-ending subjects of the objects we create. We share processes and favorite techniques with each other, simply playing and exploring ideas while we stretch to make new work that is out of our usual comfort zone. We nurture each other through our sharing and our play-days.

A box of ephemera ready to
be added to an artwork

We love color, old books and postcards, broken objects, paper dolls, fabric, and time-worn wooden blocks. We peruse junk shops, where intuitively gathered new treasures await our artists' mojo – that magical moment when the discarded trinkets and trash of everyday life are transformed. These snippets, pieces and parts are paired with process to become objects that carry the stories of our ideas.

We invite you to join in this living conversation about women, art and community. The chance to show our work and have this conversation is nurturing and necessary. It's a supportive, feminine thing we do together. We raise our voices to speak through our work. We hope you are moved, amused and inspired. Above all, we hope to see you there.

Women in Conversation

 · Where:

Stocker Art Center, 1005 N. Abbe Rd., Elyria, OH 44035

· When:

- Friday February 28, 4 – 7 p.m.: Opening reception, refreshments, Scavenger Hunt, live music and gallery talk at 6:30 p.m.

- Wednesday, March 4, 6 - 7 p.m.: 'Make and Take' with the artists before the play, Ain't I a Woman?

- Friday March 6, 6 - 7:30 p.m.: Visit the gallery before the Winter Film Series

- Friday, March 27, 6 - 7:30 p.m. | Visit the gallery before the Winter Film Series

- Thursday April 2,  4 - 7 p.m. | Closing reception, refreshments, Scavenger Hunt, live music and gallery talk at 6:30 p.m.

- TBA Other events celebrating Women's History Month and the centennial anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment

Detail of Travel Ban by Gayle Pritchard and
utilizing an altered Handkerchief Memory Project printed by
Clare Murray Adams

Making Shrines at Small Studio

Friends and fellow artists joined Gayle for the Enshrined class.

 As promised, the Enshrined workshop at Small Studio Productions was loads of fun. Gail Crum joined me to co-teach the class, and Ginny at Small Studio has affectionately dubbed us The Gales, and now in her new blog post, Gale Force. That about sums it up! Gail was in the very first Shrines class that I taught some twenty years ago. She says the class changed her life. All I know is that she has been creating shrines, assemblages and collages ever since, and is an amazing artist. It was fun to teach a class together.
There were several long-time friends in the class: Phyllis, Karen and Clare from the "Dye Group", a cadre of women artists who have played together for decades and still keep a journal about what they are doing. Clare just retired from the art department at Malone College, but is teaching her amazing encaustic techniques and other workshops around northeast Ohio and in Columbus at QSDS.

Phyllis, Karen and Clare are "Dye Group" buddies. Gail Crum
co-taught Enshrined with me.

Former studio mate and amazing painter Pam Dills came with two of her friends, neither of whom had done artwork before, but both of whom made amazing pieces. In addition, Zelda, Kim and Denette joined us, and made absolutely stunning shrines with their selected objects and stories.

Enshrined class students working away.

Kim's shrine about her garden-loving grandmother, in progress

More workshops to come, the next on May 17th. Hope to see you there!

Art of Collage Exhibit Opening: Crowded and Fun

Piecing it All Together: The Art of Collage exhibition opening was last night, and it felt like old home week for me. It always fun to see old friends, but even more fun to be in an exhibition together. If you are an artist, you know how isolating it can be to stay in your studio all the time, working. Heading out to see an art show gets you out of your own head, and exposes you to new work being created, alone, by other artists who have been in their studios. Very invigorating!

It was serendipity that this photo could catch the four of us standing in a spot where all of our work happened to be hung side by side. Gail Crum, Gayle Pritchard, Linda and Opie O'Brien, all old friends.

As often happens at openings, I never get a chance to spend a lot of time talking with everyone I want to chat with. This opening was crowded, always a good sign, and several artworks sold right away. I am posting lots of pictures from the show, but didn't get a chance to talk to all of the makers. I hope you will enjoy your vicarious visit anyway.

Nitro by Jeff Kallet, left and French Rope Dancers by Linda and Opie O'Brien, right

The Coronation of the Infant Antonym by Shirley Ende-Saxe

Bridget and her staff did an amazing job hanging the show, and displaying the various forms of artwork. Here, her daughters served as docents for my collage book, For Sadie Jane. Both daughters took turns, and seemed to delight in turning the pages for visitors to the opening.

I love the fact that, regardless of whether or not they ever become artists, these two young women will always love and appreciate art, thanks to their life-long exposure to art and art-makers. Hurrah!

Pieces by Jeff Kallet, Opie and Linda and Gail Crum looked great hung together. Sorry my flash blew out the beauty of Bliss, the piece top center.

Here are the two collages I wrote about finishing the past few weeks here on my blog. I loved how they looked hung with Martha Germano's piece. The butterscotch wall color is an exact match to my dining room color.

That's all for now. I have more pix to post in a few days. If you live in or are soon visiting Northeastern Ohio, stop by the gallery to see the show in person. You won't regret it. Work from all of these terrific artists is included: Clare Murray Adams, Gretchen Bierbaum, Suzette F. Cohen, Gail Crum, Shirley Ende-Saxe, Martha L. Germano, Mel Grunau, Kathleen Harrington, Susan Jacobs, Jeff Kallet, Kim Mettee, Linda and Opie O'Brien, Gayle Pritchard, Joan Rusek and Patricia Schroeder. Each artist has at least half a dozen artworks on display. You are sure to see something you love.

Oh, and thanks for driving me to the show, my sweet husband, for stopping to pick up fellow artist Lois, and for collaborating with me on two of the artworks I displayed. xxoo

The Art of Collage Opening

Piecing it All Together: The Art of Collage opens Friday night, April 1 at the Valley Art Center in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. I will have seven artworks on exhibition. This is a curated, invitational exhibition with several wonderful artists included: Clare Murray Adams, Linda and Opie O'Brien, Jeff Kallet, Gretchen Bierbaum and Gail Crum, among others. Hope you can make it! For those of you long-distance exhibition gawkers, I will post pictures after the opening. I can't wait!

Getting ready for the exhibition, as mentioned in previous posts, inspired me to finish some new work. On the day I delivered my artwork, as I was gathering up and packaging my work, I spied an unfinished work I had begun a few months ago.

My piece on the postcard here, I Hear Voices, was made about my husband, and was inspired by one of his songs. The piece utilizes the song lyrics, and imagery from his childhood. The unfinished work I pulled out last week, and shown below, was a small collage I made after I Hear Voices. It is also about my husband, and uses the song lyric Tell Me Something I Don't Know. Now I just need to complete the assemblage. Here it is still in progress.

This is just a quick snapshot (and not a very good one!), taken to capture my instantaneous idea as I pulled the rest of my art together to deliver to the show. I'm excited to finish it. Step one, always my way of beginning, is to write the story on the background. I will do that while adding paint and drawings, then begin the assembly process. More to come!

This Way, Please, Part 2: It's Hell Getting Old

Here are some more pix from my visit last week to Clare Murray Adams' studio. The day ended with a quick dinner at home before heading out to the gallery at BayArts for the member's show opening. My friend Gail Crum's wonderful piece, It's Hell Getting Old, was one of 50 pieces juried into the exhibition!

It's Hell Getting Old, a mixed media artwork by Gail Crum

My friend Gail inside the free-standing library. 





One of Clare's artworks onsite



Everywhere you looked, indoors and out, Clare and her artist husband are surrounded by artwork. It doesn't get any better than that!



Artwork everywhere! Here are some of John's sculptures



After an inspirational tour of the property, we sat in the living room for dessert. How can you not love the Rooster Chair?

After stopping by the opening to see Gail's new work, we headed over to a local winery to see one of our favorite musicians perform, Cletus Black.  A fabulous bluesy singer-songwriter, Cletus is also just a really cool guy. I have never seen anyone so comfortable in their own skin.



Cletus at the winery

It was the perfect ending to a fabulous day.



It may be hell getting old, but I plan to do it surrounded by art and artists; this is what keeps us young at heart.

This Way, Please, Part 1

 

 

Ah, yes, this way, please. I love this journal, because I treasure my collection of "body parts" images, snapped by my husband at my request. I use them all the time in my artwork.

I am teaching a journal making workshop here locally next month, on October 2nd. All students (young adults welcome) will learn how to make a hand bound Japanese stab-stitch journal. In addition, we will discuss journaling techniques, and I will get the class started by showing them (this could mean YOU) how to "consecrate" their work.  The picture below shows a detail of the binding technique, which I have utilized on one of my own personal journals.

Last Friday was a rare "out of the house" day for me. I get so busy working, that sometimes weeks go by in

which I realize I haven't seen any people...and I'm a Taurus!! Believe, this can be painful. Anyway, my
artist friend Gail Crum and I made a studio visit last week. We talked art all the way there and all the way home, a total of three hours in the car. We also talked art while visiting the artist studio, of course, and we were joined by another mutual friend for lunch, so I got to talk books, as well. It was a lot of fun. Clare Murray Adams and I have been friends for a long time, and our creative paths have aligned themselves through sheer destiny, it sometimes seems.

Here is the door to Clare Murray's studio:

 It was such an inviting and inspiring location. Here is some of what we saw:
Collagraphs:
                                         Zippered rocks and zippered sticks:



                                   and a cool collaborative project Clare is doing with Oberlin artist Rebecca Cross:

And all of this before lunch! More to come in This Way, Please, Part II.