Saint Louis University Museum of Art

8.24 to 10.7

Women’s Caucus for Art

XVI

Contemporary Women Artists

From the Exhibitions Chair

page

The breadth of work submitted for Contemporary Women Artists XVI was amazing. I enjoyed seeing the entries come in from women artists around the globe. The work spoke of the many facets of our lives as artists, mothers, caregivers and free spirits. It also showed me issues that are of concern to you – violence, the environment, burdens you face, triumphs you experience. It is like getting a little glimpse into your minds and hearts.

3 From the Exhibitions Chair Lisa Becker 4 Juror Statement Beverly Buchanan 6 In Gallery 22 In Catalog Only 27 About the Women’s Caucus for Art ABOVE: Amy Firestone Rose, Short Slips One, 49 x 38", Akua Ink on paper, 2012.

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

Contents

To put together an international call and exhibit takes a lot of work from various people. Since we are a volunteer organization, we juggle the demands of our own lives and jobs with causes we care for such as the Women’s Caucus for Art. I appreciate the help from our board members and volunteers. To Roxanne Phillips for leading our organization, helping circulate the call for art and listening to me rant on the phone about “crazy” artists (Just kidding! Okay, maybe a little)! Janice Nesser-Chu for helping put together the information needed for the catalog and to SLUMA and their dedicated museum staff. Beverly Buchanan was a pure pleasure to work with. She makes your eyes water and cheeks hurt from smiling and laughing so much. I know jurying the exhibition was a great experience for her and she loved reading through your artists statements and viewing your work.

On the Cover: Tracy Brown, Always and Forever, 16 x 26", acrylic on panel, 2011.

Lisa Becker Exhibitions Chair Women’s Caucus for Art St. Louis Chapter

nationalwca.org wca-stl.org The St. Louis Women’s Caucus for Art handles all sales of artwork. Purchases can be made by visiting wca-stl.org or contacting the exhibitions chair, Lisa Becker at [email protected].

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It has been a wonderful experience to see so many talented artists’ works. As a working artist, I have participated in several juried exhibitions. I got my start exhibiting in outdoor art shows where, often, I was the only mainly abstract artist exhibiting. Everyone was welcoming. Let me give you an idea of how I approached the jurying process for this exhibition. Looking at the overall feel of the work, I then look for design elements, weight of the whole structure and color placements relative to the actual title of the work. For me, the presentation has to strike a chord of authenticity in me that elevates color or lack of color to my understanding of the purpose of the title. Abstract or realism must have some kind of rhythm that satisfies my heart. Some of the works, stood out for me for a variety of reasons • D. J. Berard’s “Old White Car” spoke volumes about family outings, racing down the road and first car adventures. • Jane Reed’s “Old Timer at the Fair” could be in a story about family loneliness or about a wonderful storyteller. • Gabrielle Pescador: “I am My Purse” understands the many purposes of a purse. • Elena Horowitz-Brookes’s “Fortune Teller” is not as scary as some I’ve known. • Suzanne Beutler’s “Aztec Dancer” seemed to be a homage to talent and luxury. I enjoyed all the submitted works. Congratulations to the exhibiting artists. Wonderful work. Good luck to all of you.

Beverly Buchanan

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Buchanan has had a long and varied artistic career. Her early sculptures were poured concrete and stone. Buchanan has made several environmental sculptural installations. She works in a variety of media, focusing on southern vernacular architecture, which is her main subject. She is the recipient of a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship, a PollockKrasner Award, and two National Endowments for the Arts Fellowships. She was a Georgia Visual Arts honoree, a recipient of an Anonymous Was a Woman Award, and was honored by the College Art Association Committee for Women in the Arts. In 2011 Buchanan received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Women’s Caucus for Art. Her work is included in numerous private and public collections including the Whitney Museum of American Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New York City and the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Ga. She has had recent solo exhibitions at the N’Namdi Center for Contemporary Art, Detroit, Mich.; Barbara Archer Gallery, Atlanta, Ga.; and currently has her work displayed at the Florissant Valley Contemporary Art Gallery, St. Louis. In speaking about her work, Buchanan wrote: “Remembering the look and feel of structures has been a strong focus in my drawings and sculptures. My vision and interest shifted to the reality of current places and their surrounding landscape. The house and its yard and the road behind and across. Capturing the essence and something of the look and feel of now, versus then, is not easy. I want to continue to develop this idea now of memory versus reality. I hope that you can help me try. My work is about, I think, responses. My response to what I’m calling GROUNDINGS. A process of creating objects that relate to, but are not reproductions of, structures, houses mainly lived in now, or abandoned that once served as home or an emotional grounding. What’s important for me is the total look of the piece. Each section must relate to the whole structure. There are new groundings, but old ones help me ask questions and see possible stories as answers. Groundings are everywhere. I’m trying to make houses and other objects that show what some of them might look like now, and in the past.”

About the Juror

Juror Statement

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In Gallery

D. J. Berard, St. Charles, Mo. BerardStudios.com Old White Car, 44 x 56", acrylic on canvas, 2012. $3,200 Inspiration comes from the places that are familiar. Alleyways, buildings, fields and county roads, Arizona deserts and midwest landscapes are all favorite subjects. While living in Arizona my landscapes took on an almost abstract quality, linear with glazed layers of rust, reds and gold. Now, back in the midwest, my work is again rich in jewel tones and loose brush work. New work continues to be the familiar scenes and landscapes of St. Charles County.

Marie Bergstedt, San Francisco, Calif. mariebergstedtartist.com Clara’s First Phone, 25 x 16 x 15", antique and new cotton crochet, buttons, wire, felt, fiberboard, 2010. $1,200 With my current work, I am reconstructing memories from my childhood. To build the sculptures, I am using a combination of found or recycled materials, handmade and/or used by others, with my own new handwork. Antique pieces are often de-constructed, torn apart or cut, and then shaped to form something new. The sculptural object is related to the original work, but it doesn’t look or feel the same. For me, this is the journey of memories. We have an enduring impression from the past, but what impacted us is not necessarily what others saw or remember from the same experience, or what people envision when they view my artwork. The portrait and telephone included in this submission are part of an eight-piece installation created in honor of my foster mother. She lived for more than 100 years and drew great strength through her phone conversations with friends and relatives. Clara’s First Phone represents the actual historical telephone model prevalent during my foster mother’s early years and recalls for me her stories about life during that time. Suzanne Beutler, Ann Arbor, Mich. suzannebeutler.com Aztec Dancer, 24 x 30", oil on canvas, 2011. $1,000 This Aztec dancer is dressed according to old traditional customs in his family. When I paint people from Mexico, Cambodia, India and the Amazon, it makes me feel like I am a part of our world community. I seek to paint the inner beauty I see in them. This kind of beauty for me is radiance and love that goes far beyond color of hair, skin, youth or age. I have internalized them and have become part of their lives. Even though we come from different cultures, I put myself in their culture with my imagination, knowledge, wonder and appreciation of who they are and their contribution to our life together in this world. Tracy Brown, Tucson Ariz. tracybrownart.com Always and Forever, 16 x 26", acrylic on panel, 2011.
$800 Historically the achievement of women in the arts has been greatly underrepresented. Today, women continue the struggle for inclusion in major museums, galleries and collections. Always and Forever is a reminder of the importance of cataloging, collecting and celebrating women in the arts while continuing the battle for gender equity.

Grace Benedict, Lafayette, Ind. gracebenedict.com Camellia a Flame in my Heart, 35 x 46", colored pencil on paper, 2011. $1,400 In the context of contemporary art, I place myself as a figurative formalist with leanings towards magic realism (elusive, suggestive, yet comprehensible). This platform brings the viewer a new experience of the world we live in which transcends the present. In this way I can relate my personal expression to emotion and the imagination. Investigations of nature and the human form placed together create poetic associations inspired by the medieval “waiting” garden, the symbolic language of flowers, fertility, growth, and fable. Colored pencils offer a rich medium. It was in 1980 that I attended a NOW meeting in New Orleans just having graduated with an MFA. I have spent the duration of my life as an artist and teacher, mother and now, grandmother.

Kacey Cowdery, Webster Groves, Mo. Chintzy Checkers, 22 x 22", cotton chintz fabric, black and white, glass seed beads for blossoms and leaves, 2012. $1,400 Chintzy Checkers is a traditional checker board with twelve play pieces each, white and yellow. Enjoyed in various forms for centuries, this set, both the fabric and the play pieces, are a garden of flowers symbolizing how we nurture a harmonious society through play. Games of all kinds are life lessons, through their rules and structure. To play properly and win the game fairly, we must learn and follow the rules. Our politicians could learn from games, and the lessons they learned as children. Were they taught to cheat? Is winning so important to them that they must refuse to consider the needs of others? Yes, the answer to this question, sadly, is yes.

Janet Culbertson, Shelter Island Heights, N.Y. janetculbertson.net Message to the Future, 22 x 30", layers of paper, acrylic paint and pastel, 2009. $2,600 Since 1968, I have done a series of works depicting oil spills, from the Torry Canyon to the Exxon Valdez, to the B.P. Although the uses of oil are positive and pervasive, so is the extent of damage it does to our environment. These three works utilize black tarry paint, collage and iridescent pigments. The idea of the iridescence for me, represents the paradoxical effect of the shimmering beauty of the oil surface, while at the same time, when spilled,causes so much death and destruction.

9 Barbara Decker, St. Louis, Mo. barbaradecker.org It’s Just ‘Oh’, 44 x 44", acrylic on canvas, 2012. $2,300 In my current work I’ve become increasingly interested in how specific objects, places, as well as constructed images become visual magnets. As a spectator in my environment, it is as if some objects and elements demand more attention. They might be from a museum or elements in accidental or unintentional still-lives found in studios, office spaces and domestic settings – a landscape always in process. It is through the physicality of color, shape, and space, where lines form edges and then dissolve, that objects and images begin to have another “voice,” to speak in some way. My paintings and installations might be thought of as maps or mindscapes in which forms, or the suggested traces of them, become fixed in a time and place. These “objects of resonance,” fragments that are containers of memory and meaning, can be thought of as visual poetry that stimulates investigation, reflection, and the reformulation of ideas. In this arena, that which has personal meaning interfaces with broader, more universal issues. In my work I invite the viewer to become a part of an unexpected journey, where flashes of recognition and implied narratives connect us to one another and to community. Virginia Dragschutz, St. Charles, Mo. geocities.com/vdragsch/ Family Tree, 56 x 12", hand-woven Russian wool and felted wool on mesh, 2012. $500 I tend to work in series, investigating a theory, techniques, or just working to resolve life-changing issues. I work with a chosen media with supplies on hand, applying them instinctively, allowing my inner-selfto come forward. I am comfortable drifting from one media to another, using skills learned to accomplish the message at hand.

Anne Dushanko Dobek, New Providence, N.J. dushankodobek.com

Mary Lou Dauray, Sausalito, Calif. maryloudauray.com Speak Up, 30 x 23", oil and graphite on gessoed watercolor paper, 2012. $995 This painting is one of a series of nine women’s faces that I have recently completed. Speak Up invokes a portrait of the wise, older woman who has become unafraid to raise her voice about the worldwide problems regarding gender issues and social injustices. Sometimes it takes a lifetime of observation, experiences, trials and tribulations to garner the strength and confidence to stand up for one’s equal rights.

Field Fire XX, 24 x 18", photo of installation: wood, paint, rocks, screen printed paper, large field, 2008-12. $1,600 Multi-referential in concepts, all of my work has a decidedly surreal and at times, psychological orientation. Collectively titled Silent Voices, the most recent series, Field Fire, No Olvidado and Parallel Migrations focus on social/political issues relevant to immigration and migration. Many of my larger installations are created in challenging and remote outdoor locations demanding photographic documentation before they are destroyed or eliminated by natural forces (ocean, wind, rain, snow). The precarious and transient nature of the installations parallels the perilous journeys of both migrants and butterflies. Field Fire specifically references the deaths of workers trapped in fields during a (supposed) controlled burn. The wood sculptures are representations (with painted and printed commentary) of the crosses placed in remote locations where migrants have been found dead. The commentary on some of the sculptures is taken from the actual newspaper stories documenting these tragic events. The scale, sites and sculptural elements selected for these installations provide both a narrative base and a certain emotional distance for the viewer.

Clairan Ferrono, Chicago, Ill. fabric8tions.net Reef, 44 x 51", hand painted and dyed fabric, thread, 2011. $2,500 I am a textile artist. I create fiber collages by piecing, fusing, layering and stitching fabric that I have dyed, painted, and/or printed. For several years I have been creating a body of work using windows as both the visual and underlying metaphorical structure. The strata of time and history, human endeavor and natural forces are shadowed and mirrored by windows as they allow one to look in and out. Recently I have been working on a series called Windows into Time. I imagine we can peer through powerful currents of energy to see the beginnings of many natural elements. Reef is part of this series. Each of the small inset pieces is itself a small quilt. Alicia Eggert, Portland, Maine aliciaeggert.com Wonder, 80 x 48 x 4", proximity sensor, servo motors, Arduino microprocessor, MDF, acrylic, house paint, spray paint, 2011. $5,000 I am an interdisciplinary artist whose work commonly takes the form of kinetic, interactive, and time-based sculpture. Due to earning a bachelor’s degree in interior design, receiving a graduate degree in sculpture, and having a sincere interest in dance and mechanics, my art practice is extremely interdisciplinary in nature. I often use language and time as sculptural materials. The inventor Charles Babbage once said, “Machines have been taught arithmetic instead of poetry.” In a way, I teach machines poetry. I teach them to stop making sense. Like found objects, written language appeals to my desire to provide my audience with a very basic level of accessibility. Any literate person can hardly avoid reading, and thus understanding, any text placed before them. The words and phrases that intrigue me most are found in our everyday vocabulary, simple words that have many definitions and thereby allow for multiple layers of meaning. If such a word is constructed in three dimensions, it can be broken down into its most fundamental parts – dots and lines – and assembled and disassembled over time, or as a result of viewer interaction. Words like “eternity” and “wonder” are formed and fragmented, allowing the work’s meaning to remain in flux, and illustrating how language is constantly being reshaped by our interactions, and by the passage of time.

Amy Firestone Rosen, St. Louis, Mo. amyfirestonerosen.com Short Slips One, 49 x 38", Akua ink on paper, 2012. $1,200 This body of work began in vintage clothing shops. I began searching for items that caught my eye because of their iconic design styles and intriguing textures. Each item was used as a relief plate to begin a series of Diptic Mono-prints posing the question “Who wore it best?”

Marcia Freedman, Detroit, Mich. marciafreedman.com JT 20, 48 x 60", oil on canvas, 2011. $5,600 My art process is part of the contemporary cultural dialogue, observing and commenting on events and things that already exist. Using organic forms found within landscape or the human body as a source, my work is based on the fluidity of life and changes that occur in the body due to the effects of genetics and/or the environment. Images of pods, organs, body parts, rocks and cellular forms evolve into abstract images conjuring up complex associations, perceptions and emotions connected to the human condition. Source materials are processed so that multiple readings are investigated. The resultant imagery is abstract and gives insight into the possibilities of processes both artistic and intellectual Katherine Freeman, St. Louis, Mo. katethegreatsblog.blogspot.com/ Untitled, 18 x 14", Digital photo, 2012. $125 I am a St. Louis native, mixed-media artist and photographer with a reverence for ancient artistic techniques, a passion for where modern technology can take my art, and a veneration for common consumer culture waste materials.

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Christine Giancola, Florissant, Mo. christinegiancolaphotography.com Long Live the Unity, 16 x 20", digital print from a film scan; fine art rag print, 1995. $500 This photograph ‘Long Live the Unity’ was taken during the 4th U.N. World Conference on Women in Beijing China, 1995. Women from over 180 countries came together to improve the basic human rights of women. The personal was political. Women were being raped and slaughtered in their homelands, unable to speak openly without danger of bodily harm, sold into sex trafficking, enslaved mentally, physically, and spiritually in human bondage. Women shared their stories, their struggles, and their hopes for a better future for each other, their daughters, and their granddaughters. This experience was life-changing while creating a deep connection, a lasting sense of responsibility and collective empowerment. When will the war on women end? Seventeen years later, women in our country and all over the world are still fighting for the same basic human rights to control their own bodies and keep them from harm. Until all women have this basic human right, none of us are free.

Christine Ilewski, Alton, lll. ilewski.com Inner Eye, Tree House, 36 x 48 x 2", mixed media collage, monoprint, acrylic on canvas, 2012. $2,500 My work has always been “feminine based.” I work from my experience as a woman, a daughter, a daughterin-law, a sister, a mother, a wife. I combine paint with a wide array of collage materials; vintage fabric patterns, religious symbols, architectural patterns, loose sketches, embroidery patterns, domestic receipts, old photographs and advertisements, all reflective of feminine etiquette and complex women’s roles still prevalent today. This body of work continues to use texture, implied and real, reflecting the imprint women leave on objects. I have long been fascinated in the way we leave a bit of our spirit on the things we touch and how these materials tell our story long after we’re gone. Where once, as a younger artist and woman, figures predominated the center of my work, now I find them at the edges, revolving around a central monoprint landscape,the stillness of nature which prevails long after the domestic drama subsides.

Barb Holmes, University City, Mo. BarbHolmesArt.com Just Desserts?, 12 x 12", brass wire, acrylic, collage on board, 2012. $750 I am fascinated by the evocative possibilities of line, texture and color. I explore these dimensions by reinterpreting the ancient art of cloisonné. Cloisonné is a decorative art form that spread from ancient Egypt to the eastern Roman empire, the Byzantine empire, China, Japan and Russia. Small wires created compartments that were then filled in with gems, glass, or enamels. Initially it was used to decorate small objects such as jewelry or weapons. Eventually it was used on larger objects such as bowls, vases, and religious plaques. I have adapted the cloisonné art form to my own pictorial interests. I use brass wire to set the picture’s lines. My compartments tend to be larger than that of the ancients. My compartment filler is typically light modeling paste which I use to create textures. Then I paint, using multiple layers of acrylic washes. In some pieces, I have incorporated collage. The completed work is finished with several layers of acrylic varnishes, producing an enamel-like finish. This is a time-consuming process that has a meditative quality.

Dyann Kramer, Wright City, Mo. dyannkramerart.com Time Exposure, 10 x 14", watercolor on paper, 2012. $500. When I am creating, I see art everywhere. It is inside us all. We just need to engage our minds and hearts, as well as our eyes, to experience it.

Karen Hyams, Woodinville, Wash. karenhyams.com Double, 17 x 12.5", giclee print, 2012. $450 I am a painter whose studio has become a photography studio. After my connection to my work was severed by the loss of almost all of my art, when I finally returned to painting it was with a camera. Making elaborate, very fragile constructions to photograph is as fun as painting in a more immediate but less tactile way. I’m still driven to express the same things. I am most moved by things that contain a lot of tension, opposing ideas or forces that have an uneasy balance. And I’m a sucker for beauty. I can’t help myself. Line is usually the primary element in my images, and I use it to compose a picture and create a framework for everything else. Lighting a construction has become one of the most important parts of the process, and it is a really fun switch from painting. With just a flick of a switch, a swing of a light, I can completely transform something. It feels like magic. I am not attempting literal photographic versions of the work I used to do, although my aesthetic is evident in my new work. Everything evolves over time, and through some mysterious process my work evolves, whether I am making things or not. These photos are just the next step – the first of many. Claire Hyman, St. Louis, Mo. clairehyman.com P Guston KKK Smoking Self Portrait, 10 x 10", unframed, acrylic, steel wool, graphite on canvas, 2012. $375 After Phillip Guston’s KKK paintings, this is my KKK female with self-portrait . Found objects from cast-iron to fabrics initiate my work. I combine figure drawings, often contrasting soft to hard, etched to raised, expressing my own global life as a woman. 13

Mary Mello-Nee, Spencer, Iowa marymellonee.com Three Graces, 24 x 45", oil, wax, graphite on panel, 2011. $900 My figures are imperfect, like the people they represent. Human. They are people caught in ordinary moments that are worth a second look; often revealing extraordinary qualities. Human traits are revealed in the treatment of the surface, like a skin that scars and yet forgives. With a background in printmaking, I approach the support as if it were a life-sized printing plate. The artwork is incised, scraped, burnished, built up with blocks of pigment and wax; drawn on; erased; layered and layered again. Wax, damar varnish, and graphite are used to create a shifting light that changes your perception while moving around the painting. It is this interaction with the textured surfaces and characters in the paintings that is most satisfying.

Beth LaKamp, Fenton, Mo. bettsvando.com Sister was Sick, 16 x 16", oil on canvas, 2011. $400 This painting is one in a series based on photographs of my life as a baby boomer. Playing with paper dolls was a way for me to live in a pretend world just as the dolls lived in a perfect world. The painting, Sister was Sick, is a way of presenting the dolls in the real world as I reflect on the past. April 1968 was a time when two young girls held hands, one ravaged by an illness

Helena M. Langley, Granite City, Ill. whistlestop-gallery.com/symphony/ 245 of their days, 5 x 7", acrylic on board, 2012. $115 245 of their days is a time-line in days. “I bought her car. I didn’t pay because it was full of typos. Here is a fresh bottle. I would lose my license if I did that.” This painting is a response to 245 of their days.

Martha Markline Hopkins, Tuscaloosa, Ala. mahopkins.blogspot.com Nine, 24 x 24 x 4", bottle caps, canvas on board, acrylic paint, 2010. $100 I began making art as a sculptor, and my love of shapes influences my work in painting and in constructions. I start with a minimal premise, and then provide expression, a dichotomy which keeps me dancing from one to the other until I finish the work. I often like to start a painting with a 3-D shape, perhaps by cutouts wrapped in canvas or by gluing objects to a board to be covered with canvas and painted. I like geometric imagery, which often shows up in my work, and minimalism. I was inspired by Eva Hesse’s work, which goes beyond minimalism, and provides expression. I also am influenced by Richard Tuttle’s small constructions.

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Barbara Melnik Carson Ann Arbor, Mich. barbaramelnikcarson.com My Summer Season, 10 x 7 x 3", porcelain clay, wood, driftwood, sand, dried flowers and artist authored poem, 2010. $850 My Summer Season is a sculptural snapshot of a memory. My sculpted face and collected objects in the piece are autobiographical. They tell the story of a summer long past where time was measured in moments and the sun was my watch. I learned at a very young age that everything can be re-used. The landscape of my childhood was the ethnically diverse area of southwest Detroit. The people of my neighborhood came from countries considered irrelevant to mainstream America: Ukraine, Malta, Cuba, Mexico and many others. These countries were rich in culture, and the streets around my home reflected these cultures. The sights, the sounds, the smells, and the stories of my childhood became the well I draw my art from. Every object has more than one life, more than one story to tell.

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Carol Morris, Ann Arbor, Mich. silkrhino.yolasite.com Lilacs, 9 x 11.5 x 1", multi-media, fragments of my poems, 2011. $440 Altered 1956 edition of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Garden of Child’s Verses. My own poems are substituted and my alteration of the illustrations reflects the halcyon days of my time spent with my grandparents in rural Ohio.

Carol Morris, Ann Arbor, Mich. silkrhino.yolasite.com Caterpillar Tree, 9 x 11.5", watercolor and collage on paper, 2012. $150 Trees and caterpillars have always been in my life and sometimes they get morphed in my mind.

Janice Nesser, Florissant, Mo. janicenesser.com on sundays she would sew, from the series ‘Memento Mori’, 13 x 19", inkjet print, 2012. $500 When my aunt went into the nursing home, I inherited boxes of mementos: family photo albums with curled up pictures, tiny musty boxes filled with small collections: broken jewelry, dozens of rosaries, hundreds of cards. I found myself haunted by imitations of family life found in those objects. I spent hours looking at the pictures of gatherings, of moments and times that seemed so perfect on the surface but were not. I searched the faces, ran my fingers over the pages, held the objects in my hand, looking for something more from these fossils of space and time. The feel, the smell and touch of memories of life now passed by. Now I find myself drawn to small flea markets and musty stores, searching out collections, artifacts from the past existing in worn, waterstained boxes long after those who touched them, held them, and collected them, are gone. Sarah Nguyen, Warrensburg, Mo. sanguyen.com The Birthday Party, 33 X 54", oil on paper, 2011. $1,500 My work is inspired by the intricacies of family life and of familial relationships. In my painting, I gravitate irresistibly toward representing the domestic, in particular the lives of mother and children. My paintings use the human figure to express the vulnerability of motherhood and my own obsession not only with the dilemma of raising boys in a violently media-driven culture, but in its midst, caring for a son with a fatal genetic disease. My method of painting involves acts of creation, destruction, and reconstruction. I start by rendering a realistic image of my subject and then slowly dissolve the image, using linseed oil and turpentine, relinquishing control and giving way to the abstract. I then rebuild the form, repainting or drawing in with dry media certain areas to reach an ideal balance of the real and the imagined. To give parts of the canvas a three dimensional aspect, I let the oil collect and dry, pushing the pigments away from the canvas. The process of allowing forces such as gravity, chemical interaction, and random chance to take over the painting temporarily mirrors the lack of control mothers have over the ultimate fates of their children, and the subsequent anxiety that we experience. My paintings honor the conflicted lives of mothers, and the mode of uncertainty and doubt in which we often live by necessity.

Gabrielle Pescador Ann Arbor, Mich. gabriellepescador.wordpress.com I am My Purse I (Mother), 34.5 x 14.5", oil on inherited purse fragment, 2012. $650 Created from an inherited object, I Am My Purse I (Mother) is an expression of mourning and an exploration of identity and memory. In altering my mother’s belongings, I evoke memories of her and our relationship. Each object contains a personal imprint, acting as a poor surrogate in which I attempt to continue the conversation with her, in hope of perpetuating some fragment of a narrative of intimacy.

Roxanne Phillips and Pat Owoc St. Louis, Mo. roxannephillips.com and patowoc.com Turning, Turning, Turning, 22 x 22", disperse dye on polyester fabric, spirit transfer images, hand pulled print, ink marks, hand quilted, 2010. $600 Turning, Turning, Turning is a collaborative piece by St. Louis artists Pat Owoc and Roxanne Phillips. While working on this piece, we had many thematic thoughts including change over time for women, the growth and the wearing down and the reducing of things to bare bones, turning and changing of life, the passing of days and years, the change from a child to a mature woman with all the responsibilities of maturity, and then to growing in wisdom and aging and the reduction of life to its essentials – a logical turning from youth to maturity.

Jane Reed, Lebanon, Ill. Old Timer at the Fair, 12 x 12", acrylic on canvas, 2011. $700 I believe that art is about color and movement. By using colors that collide, yet connect through their direction in brush strokes, I feel I am able to capture that moment of a subject which expresses its essence. Everything is in constant flux, and that is what I hope to convey in my work.

Judith Repke, Bridgeton, Mo. repkeart.com Pepe, 16 x 20, watercolor, 2012. $250 The colors I choose reflect my emotional response to what I see in that moment. In my oil painting, I mix colors wet on the canvas and use the application of palette knife paint to define shapes. I am also fascinated with the effects of light defining areas of dark and light and blended grayed tones to suggest atmosphere. In my transparent watercolors, I combine colors flowing into one another with overlaying transparent washes to achieve my vision. This makes my work very personal and spontaneous I give myself challenges, new parameters and new avenues of expression constantly. I paint my delight in the world God made. My studio is in my home. I am a member of the National Oil and Acrylic Painters Society, Missouri Watercolor Society, Northside Art Association and Artists of Grace. I graduated from the University of Missouri as an art education major

Charlotte Riley-Webb, Stockbridge, Ga. charlotterileywebb.com Interwoven Tales, 36 x 36", acrylic on canvas, 2011. $4,000 I have been excited about my transition into abstraction since I made it about six years ago. Even though it brought with it its own set of challenges, it has given me the latitude to stretch to the depths and heights of my artistic soul. It is no longer just about what I see; it is now more about “how I feel about what I see.” In its purest form, the results of each effort are based on my knowledge of space, line, texture, composition and their relationships to each other. The impetus behind the works in my Earth Tunes series and Still Running Lines Through My Head series are from various sources. Some are a collaboration between the “rhythms of nature” and my earth tones’ palette; some are based on the Sankofa mentality and feature Adinkra symbols, while the Lines series are centered on a lifetime of my interests in theater, poetry and music. Those reoccurring memories and statements that I have heard and retained throughout my life, now having matured, have added clarity and a different perspective to help mold me not only as an artist, but as a person as well. I measure the success of my paintings by the ability to still feel and hear them long after one has seen them. I bring to the canvas the many years of study, experimentation and understanding that I have amassed. This is why the transition into abstraction has been so natural and fulfilling for me as an artist. Naomi Runtz, St. Louis, Mo. The World’s Fair Wall, III, 11 x 14", paper, 2011. $175 I have always loved black-and-white images and these crumbling old walls from the early 1900’s sparkle with the memory that was; longevity now on film and paper.

Evie Shucart, St. Louis, Mo. evieart.com Surrounded by Grief, 20x28", pastel and charcoal on sanded paper, 2012. $800 This piece is number one of my ‘dark series’. The work is based on universal feelings of grief, loss and death.

Patricia Terrell O’Neal, Santa Monica, Calif. ptoneal.com Grand Daughter, Isabella O’Neal, 14x11", oil on canvas, 2012. NFS One of a current series of paintings inspired by the southern California light, wearing shades, my granddaughter is painted from memory as a magazine model.

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Jeane Vogel, St. Louis, Mo. vogelpix.com If Wishes Were Horses..., 20 x 16", mixed media, 2012. $350 Watercolor, photography and printmaking combine to elicit a memory and tease a truth from a dream. 

Teresa Wang, Clayton, Mo. pingwang.wustl.edu/Teresa.htm Past and Present, 30 x 40", oil on canvas, 2012. $800 My current artwork bridges Eastern and Western fine arts. Based on modern Chinese poetry, I craft basic images in my mind. I then place myself into the images and expand on the ideas to create new stories through which my own thoughts are fully elaborated. While my Chinese background heavily influences the formation of my ideas, the art education I received in the U.S. guides my way toward expressing my ideas and presenting my imagination. My imagination developed as I learned to push the boundaries of perspective, create stories, and use cultural influence in my work. I gradually grew as an artist and found my niche in drawing and painting, where I felt free to compose a story with my thoughts and emotions. Then, I become capable of bringing together the qualities of these two distinct cultures, using the poems as a gateway into my mind and emotion and allowing me to create truly personalized work. Jennifer Weigel, Affton, Mo. jenniferweigelart.com/ Memories, 20 x 14", diameter found, altered girl’s dress, 35 mm slides, cotton thread, found lamp, 2011. NFS Jennifer Weigel is a mixed media artist residing in St. Louis with her husband and two cats. Weigel works in a wide range of media to convey her ideas, including assemblage, drawing, fibers, installation, jewelry, painting, performance and video. Much of her work touches on themes of beauty, identity (especially as it pertains to gender identity), memory and forgetting, and institutional critique. Weigel’s work has been exhibited nationally and has won numerous awards.

Kathleen Yorba, Arroyo Grande, Calif. kathleenyorba.com Cell Three, 5.5 x 5.5", encaustic on panel, 2011. $150 The enduring process of lost and found memories as well as themes of known and unknown inheritance inform my practice. My work is universally driven, however, it is also autobiographical. Intrigued by Louise Bourgeois’ autobiographical installations, and Ana Mendieta’s work dealing with place and belonging, I portray the illusive quality of memory in a search for identity. Broadening my practice are interests in genealogical research, DNA studies, and the brain’s illusive memory structure. Inheritance or memory’s mysteriousness becomes more remarkable once valuing studies about twins separated at birth. Even though reared in completely different environments their lives parallel one another. Questions then pursue regarding free will, which consume my practice. Conveyed through installations and two-dimensional pieces I examine and map the dust that carries us through life by using materials such as childhood dresses, maps, wax, and branches. The dresses mostly represent destiny, while maps are a connection to place, earth, and nature. Beeswax was introduced in my practice when in our backyard I found an enormous beehive with protruding branches. Fallen from a tree and rested on the ground with a flurry of activity, the cycle of life, or memory, within its golden walls captured my interest. There is an undercurrent of great meaning for me as I work with my materials to create work that is universal. Yet it is also introspective as I ponder the influence my legacy has on who I am today. In each instance memory continues to reveal its quiet potency and its pervasive authority.

Chelsey Wood, Vermillion, S.D. chelseytylerwood.com Box Drawing 6, 6 x 8", graphite on paper, 2012. $675 As a figurative painter I am repeatedly confronted with the physical and psychological landscape of the female nude. My understanding of my own body is informed and constructed through this shifting social landscape. Through self portraiture, I have questioned and personalized my relationship to this loaded history, placing my own body into its chronology and creating a collection of visual symbols aimed at expressing my own experience and observations.

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Patricia Zalisko, Ft. Meyers, Fla. pkzart.com Evolution, 60 x 48", acrylic, graphite, ink on canvas, 2012. $6,000 My art comes from a place that’s visceral, a place of sensation and emotion without thinking or analysis. Powerful memories and perceptions bubble up. Prompts, like music and reading, trigger recollections of poignant events. Responses are recorded and explored as I toggle back and forth between this cognitive state and my instincts and intuition. The resulting visual language is a metaphor for life’s transitions and experience.

In Catalog Only Donna Dechen Birdwell, Austin, Texas donnadechenbirdwell.com Sun Salute, 18 x 24", acrylic mixed media on Lokta paper, 2012. $408 Much of my inspiration comes from visual images and kinetic processes in nature - galaxies and nebulae, cells and molecules, and vibrating strings you can’t even see. These things have worked themselves into my basic vocabulary of visualization and insist on manifesting in my art. My current work is also, admittedly, a love affair with the handmade lokta paper I first encountered in Kathmandu, Nepal in 2009. The sustainabililty produced Lokta plant has been a source of archival quality paper in Nepal for many generations. Its sturdy texture, soft hand, and idiosyncratic properties won my heart, and I quite simply love working with it in my art.

Alicia Eggert, made in collaboration with Mike Fleming Brunswick, Maine aliciaeggert.com Eternity, 78 x 96 x 3", electric clocks, acrylic, power strips, 2010. $10,000 (see artist in gallery section)

Elena Horowitz-Brookes, Ventura, Calif. elenahorowitz-brookes.com Brookes Fortune Teller, 14.5 x 17", graphite on paper, 2010. $300 My most recent series, End of Bees, is a lyrical depiction of altered reality concerned with depth and space. The painting that started it all, Garden of Disquieting Dreams, is the first glimpse into the otherworld I created. Defying my own post-apocalyptic world with whimsy, the alluring colors and flower-like shapes are juxtaposed with a sense of anxiety, urgency even. I am influenced by graffiti; its social connectedness and immediacy, as though the message couldn’t possibly wait another moment to be expressed. Striped teardrop shapes echo powerless bees frustrated without their stinging power, they spit and ooze into the primordial garden. Removed stingers gather together and form spheres of malice or creation in Pollens End No. 1. My often complementary color scheme is tweaked, creating an acidic charge unexpected in the abstracted fields, while hints of feminism dance in egg shapes around her acrylic works on canvas. My work is a tantalizing look into a world made of earthly elements but still not our own. I explore the richness of those elements and creations just beyond our grasp; not in an attempt to define or categorize, but simply to ponder and admire. In this manner, my paintings and works on paper do not force their viewer to believe any which way. Open for interpretation, they are open arms to exploration and expression.

Pattie Porter Firestone Chevy Chase, Md. PattiePorterFirestone.com I Want To Make You Love Me, 60 x 24 x 18", recycled plastic bubble wrap, monofilament, painted steel, 2012. $1,000 As part of my Above & Below series and using packing material from a large metal installation, this personal piece captures the negative, whining sixyear-old girl begging for love below the adult surface. And still she can pull the strings of some of my worst behavior. I guess I still love her.

Linda Friedman Schmidt Franklin Lakes, N.J. lindafriedmanschmidt.com Hooks and Eyes, 49 x 38", discarded clothing, 2011. POR Process, medium, and subject matter are intertwined and part of the narrative in my artwork hooked from discarded clothing. Does longevity mean we are doomed to becoming bent, distrustful, and dependent in old age with the added burden of the younger generation still reliant on us? If I bend backwards every day in my yoga practice will that keep me from becoming a dowdy dowager in a permanent forward bend? This work expresses women’s angst and discomfort with the back and forth of life. It was created with a hook pushing forward then pulling back strips of clothing that were once on my back and the backs of previous generations. When a fraught personal history looms in the background, it is hard to move forward. Through the deconstruction and reinvention of discarded clothing, I erase a painful past by cutting up and transforming emotional pain, the subject on the surface. Hooking is used to depict and bring to the surface feelings that are usually shoved under the rug. Too many women in our world are like rugs: downtrodden, low, and like rags: used, discarded, disrespected. I take rugs off the floor, 22 reinvent, and rescue rags.

Jamy Kahn, Ventura, Calif. www.jamyjahn.com From Head to Wheels, 36 x 21", series of 12 giclees on paper, 2012. $2,200 I am particularly involved with the idea of how a thought forms, by joining with another thought and then another, becoming a ‘thought process’. I use abstraction to symbolize thought. Thoughts lead to actions, actions become habits, and habits become customs. If you could change one thought within a sequence, interrupt a thought pattern, you could perhaps then shift the resulting behavior pattern, allowing more of an action of CHOICE to result, versus a habitual expression of the same behavior. I paint bigger canvas surfaces and then extract sections of painted areas which to me represent a particular emotion, thought, or aspect of a mind set. Sometimes, I will construct a ‘thought pattern’ or story piece from parts or pieces of different bigger paintings, if these help me to communicate the essence of the moment I am trying to capture. As in life, if you add or subtract a particular person from the ‘picture’, the entire energetic of the resulting mix of people or flow of a situation will be different.

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Sue Katz, Ventura, Calif. susankatzstudios.com/index.shtml Green Robe, 32 x 42", mixed media, 2012. $3,500 My first thought when I start a new piece is not about capturing the image as it is, but more so about creating a mood and figuring out the aspects of how I am going to achieve a desired effect. The color and brightness that I choose bring dimension to the surface, drawing the viewer into that particular piece. I am not afraid to use color. When I am working, I look for patterns and colors that might not necessarily jibe in the eyes of most people, but creative juxtaposition is what inspires me. Color is the essence of my work. How do I begin a collage? When I first start a project, I stand back and look at the basic sketch and decide where I want to take the piece. In my mind, I usually have some idea of the colors and patterns I will be using, but very often that is subject to change as I start working. By layering many hues and textures, I move through the process until I reach the final expression on paper. I use a large variety of found images such as papers, labels, magazine images and generally, whatever I find in my studio that seems interesting for the piece at hand. I feel that collages are images within images. When you stand back from one of my pieces, you engage the work as a whole; but when you are up close, those bits and pieces become worlds of their own. The elements I use are not randomly chosen. Each piece, however small, has its own reason for being in the space that it owns. Casey Lowry, Newman, Ill. Bones and Sticks, 24 x 36", sewn and woven paper with ink, pastel, and pencil, 2011. $750 I consider my work a response to a physical need to create. Because of the immediate nature of this urge, the work is created from (and dictated by) whatever materials I have available at the time. These are often recycled or salvaged materials. I am simply finding inspiration in my everyday life and looking for beauty in what surrounds me. Lorraine Peltz, Chicago Ill. lorrainepeltz.com Too Many Balls in the Air, 40 x 40", oil and acrylic on canvas, 2010. $6,500 Using imagery culled from both personal history and the contemporary moment, my paintings address the nature of private identity and public persona. The current paintings use the remembered image of a particular chandelier and through its simultaneous resolution and dissolution, shift the focus to memory, which can be both melancholic and exuberant. In these paintings the chandelier conjures a remembered culture. With a range of painting languages, including recognizable imagery, signs and symbols, and painterly abstraction, I attempt to mimic the way in which information comes to us and how meaning is made, bit by bit – real-life alongside memory, poetry next to prose, in order to illuminate the larger issues surrounding identity and place that concern us all. These paintings refer to the exterior world and to an interior space of dream, desire, and memory. In an essay about the work, Lisa Wainwright, Dean of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, has written, “Both of nature and from culture, her icons speak to the polemic between essentialism and social construction that still grips feminist discourse. They are a mix of aesthetic delight and conceptual reading.” Sandra Perlow, Chicago, Ill. sandraperlow.net Foolish Things, mixed media, monotype on paper, 2012. $1,200 My work is based on combinations of woodcut, monoprint, collage and acrylic worked onto paper or canvas surface. The work begins with sketches that come from walks around the city. Ideas that are developed come from these progressive sketches. As I work on the paintings and drawings, parts of the surfaces shapes are eliminated by scrapping, blotting and smearing. Selection of ideas for work comes from a continual interest in architecture and landscape. I also draw upon daily life, especially from the movement and expressions of people as they interact, which I interpret as shapes and colors in space.

Erica Popp, Elsah, Ill. Ericapopp.wordpress.com Nest, Ginko Leaves, 2012. NFS A nest is shelter, protection, a place of nurturing and love. It is a symbol of home and wholeness. However, as a physical form, a nest is impermanent and sometimes so fragile that it could be washed down a drainpipe. This nest is especially fragile. It could easily be blown away, swept away, or destroyed by a person or animal walking through it. This nest is just the right size to sit in its center to think, to meditate, to pray, to let unnecessary thoughts be swept away. And yet, this space isn’t quite cozy. It isn’t permanent. This is a conflicted space. Nest is made of ginkgo leaves from all seasons and at various stages of decomposition and preservation. I am interested in exploring the artistic possibilities of ephemeral materials as I continue to explore ideas of permanence and temporality, and how they relate to spirituality and materiality.

Manda Remmen, Glen Carbon, Ill. mremmen.com Family Map, 65 x, 60 x 60", deep, cotton muslin, crepe, devore process, re-claimed hand planed barn-wood chairs, 2011. POR Here, “Once a piece of fabric is ripped, it can never be made whole again,”paraphrased from Carol Browner, head of the United States Environmental Protection Agency in the 1980’s, on her reflections to the response after speaking of “the fabric of the country being torn asunder” in her confirmation hearings. There is an inextricable link between land and body. We collect pieces, land and objects, passed down father to son, mother to daughter. Our memories are tied to these physical heirlooms, just as our identities are. Tablecloths are a female legacy. Made by, used by and passed down mother to daughter. Land ownership is a traditionally male domain, the family farm passed down to the oldest male heir. However, that is not to say that either of these heritages are insulated from the other gender. By spreading a map over a table to cover it I am trying to create a relationship between the individual and the land. The story of the land is told through a female legacy, stitched into an heirloom that can be passed down just as the eldest son will inherit the land and the stories of our ancestors are told to us as children. Although the land of this country is not the fabric, we piece it out and try and stitch it back together in different configurations, buying and selling, trading and inheriting. Browner stated a metaphor that still rings true, “Once a piece of fabric is ripped, it cannot be fixed,” it can only be altered, patched. The fabric of this country is not made up of land, it is woven of the history of its people, and their current state and place. Jane Rieso, New Athens, Ill. Fall Figure, 10 x 48", foam, wood, acrylic, 2012. $600 My work symbolizes all that I observe from my surroundings. I am working from nature and working with a lot of tree images that are transformed into figures.

Savory Song, 30 x 40", oil on canvas, 2010. $5,300 I live on a small almond ranch in Waterford, Calif., a quiet farming community. I was born in California, but raised in Reno, Nevada, where landscapes were barren and space was wide. Childhood summers at Lake Tahoe developed in me a great love of nature. I work both from direct observation of nature and from imagination. My work is about color and feelings. Feelings become the subject, rather than direct observation. The thrill for me in painting lies in the countless possibilities of the interjection of a single stroke of color, upon color. I strive for spirituality in my work. The piece is not finished until it has a certain “presence” about it. For inspiration, I turn to my personal environment: lonely landscapes. It is with a sincere tenderness towards humanity and a reverence for nature that I create my paintings. My art is my effort to capture a moment and preserve the sweetness of it. It’s not just about me making art; it is about honoring this place in the world where I live. Andrea Vadner, Richmond Heights, Mo. vadner.com Plum, 49 x 44", mixed watermedia/resist on paper, 2012. $3,800 Person collides with culture – nature collides with construct – person gets older and still hasn’t picked one.

Gail Vollrath, Washington, D.C. gvollrath.com Convert, 12 x 11", oil, tar on canvas, 2010. $400 My work represents the day, current affairs, conversations and events. Sourcing clip art or actual objects (sometimes found) for the representational images that may or may not be present in otherwise abstract meanderings; I don't typically plan directly my paintings and drawings. I may have a situation in mind and become very anxious to see the result, not limiting myself to specific materials and medium. Employing everything from aluminum to traditional canvas supports, I use oil, tar, china marker, collage materials, and paint pens to achieve complex surfaces and conceptually intriguing finished works.

Nava Waxman, Thornhill, Ontario, Canada navawaxman.com Coincide With Nature, 18 x 14", paper, 2012. $850 Through my work I experience a sense of freedom that allows me to transform ideas and personal perception into a visual expression. I begin to draw and paint with a suggestive feminine figure onto which I cup my inner perception of surroundings depicting nature and abstract elements. The forms and lines are sometimes presented in geometrical ways or in a random flow, crossing the surface, appear, disappear, separate and reconnect. Layers of paint and marks overlap and are arranged to create various points of view.

About the Women’s Caucus for Art

Sally Ruddy, Waterford, Calif. sallyruddy.com

and our 40th anniversary 2012 marks the 40th anniversary of the Women’s Caucus for Art (WCA)! This is a momentous occasion not only for WCA, but also for all women. For 40 years, the Women’s Caucus for Art has fought to ensure the future of women in the arts. This is a time to honor our path and look forward to the next 40 years. The Women’s Caucus for Art was founded in 1972 in connection with the College Art Association (CAA). WCA is a national member organization, unique in its multidisciplinary, multicultural membership of artists, art historians, students, educators, and museum professionals. The mission of the Women’s Caucus for Art is to create community through art, education and social activism. WCA is committed to: • recognizing the contribution of women in the arts • providing women with leadership opportunities and professional development • expanding networking and exhibition opportunities for women • supporting local, national and global art activism • advocating for equity in the arts for all. As an NGO (non-governmental organization) of the United Nations, the Women’s Caucus for Art actively supports the UN Millennium Goals. WCA utilizes art as the universal language to engage artists, NGOS, and civil society on a broad range of issues such as gender equity and environmental sustainability. As a founding member of the Feminist Art Project, WCA is part of a collaborative national initiative celebrating the Feminist Art Movement and the aesthetic, intellectual and political impact of women on the visual arts, art history and art practice, past and present. The St. Louis Chapter is one of 24 chapters of the national Women’s Caucus for Art.

For more information: St. Louis Chapter visit wca-stl.org or facebook.com/groups/54029576429/ 26

Women’s Caucus for Art visit nationalwca.org or facebook.com/groups/107511953206/

Accompanying this exhibition is an exhibit of

Beverly Buchanan’s work Home- space, place, memory at the Florissant Valley Contemporary Art Gallery 3400 Pershall Rd., Ferguson, MO 63135 Janice Nesser-Chu, past president of the National Women’s Caucus for Art and Chair of the STLCC- Florissant Valley Art Department, is the curator for the exhibition. Exhibition dates Aug. 20 - Oct. 11. An opening reception and gallery talk will be held 6 - 8 p.m., Thursday Sept. 6.

For more info [email protected]

S t. Louis C hapter B oard Roxanne Phillips, President Claire Hyman, Vice President Janice Nesser-Chu, Treasurer/Membership Chair Virginia Dragshutz, Corresponding Secretary Christine Giancola, Recording Secretary Lisa Becker, Exhibitions Chair Michelle Zabriski, Publicity Chair Beth LaKamp, Fundraising Chair Mary Nasser, Program Chair Erica Popp, Outreach Chair Roxanne Palmer, Young Women’s Caucus Representative

St. Louis Members on the WCA National Board Anu Sud Hittle, Eco-Art Caucus, Co-Chair Leslie Hume. Director Janice Nesser-Chu, Legacy Campaign Director 2012-14, President 2010-12 Jeane Vogel, Director

S aint Louis U niversity Museums and G alleries staff Petruta Lipan, Director Kathleen Wang, Curator Ben Faser, Business Manager Mary Marshall, Marketing Coordinator J.R. Mooningham, Exhibition Fabrication Dennis Thompson, Public Safety Officer Dana Hinterleitner, Graphic Designer Barth Breneman, Assistant Director, Facilities Management

3663 Lindell Blvd. O’Donnell Hall sluma.slu.edu 314.977.2666

Hours: 11 a.m. - 4 p.m., Wednesday - Sunday