Her Art/Their Art 2024 Catalog

FEBRUARY 16THMARCH 29TH, 2024 INTERURBANARTHOUSE.ORG

8001 NEWTON STREET OVERLAND PARK, KS 66204

Natasha Ria El-Scari Curatorial Partner 2024 Her Art, Their Art The patriarchy is here, is alive, is thriving in the form of the banishment of truth telling history, the attack on women’s rights to choose and on all the other atrocities upon the woman that we are forced to bear witness to and that we are forced to contend with in our own lives. How are women presented during this time, and most importantly, how do women and those who identity as women and/or femme choose to allow vulnerability and reflection simultaneously? How do women see themselves and the world at various stages of their lives and how do those stages live in the mind and body?

Her Art, Their Art operates as a journey of window peaking, down the block we call America and into the bedrooms, minds, kitchens, worlds and natural dwellings of where women are placed, where they want to be and where their minds can take them. This exhibit is a conversation starter of how little we actually see, feel and seek to understand what it means to birth and protect, love and nurture ourselves and others, to heal, to agitate, to progress, to grieve and to prepare for the battles and victories of life. I am excited for all this exhibit means as we define HER, the ever-changing meaning and the steadfast and resolute of what it means to be woman.

BIO Natasha Ria El-Scari is a writer, performance poet, educator and currently teaches at the Kansas City Art Institute.and is the Director of the UMKC Women’s Center. She is also a certified life coach, editor and publisher for established and new writers. In addition to her six books, her poetry is published in anthologies and journals. She has four spoken word CDs (available on all media outlets) and one DVD. She is the founder/curator of Black Space Black Art and the founder/owner of the Natasha Ria Art Gallery in Kansas City, MO. For more information: www.natasharia.com

My Youth Is Gone acrylic collage on panel

Aimee Freesia

@aimeefresia

@aimeefresia

AIMEE FREESIA Sometimes I’m just completely struck by the beauty of driving home. I believe this was a super early Walmart run.The sun was rising and I was enjoying that when it hit me “I’m no longer young” followed quickly with “I’m exhausted.”

I try to be in the moment. Watching, observing and taking things in. While driving I saw a tan-leather woman smoking and pulling weeds.I loved everything about the scene, and had to recreate it. Just do you, boo.

Leather Woman mixed media on panel

www.lexowstudios.com @anglexow

ANGELA LEXOW Goddess Rising Copic marker on paper

The Celtic goddess Cerridwin was the inspiration for this piece. She is sometimes depicted as a crone, but more often depicted as the mother turning into the crone. She is a goddess of rebirth, wisdom, transition and transformation. As you get older in our society, you tend to become invisible. In my 40’s, I was still fighting to be seen. It was a wild time of transition, turbulence and life lessons. Now on the cusp of 50, I am once again transitioningmy body is changing, my mind, and the things I hold important. I do not feel invisible, but I do feel free of many expectations. I can fully settle into who I truly am. I hope that the next era of my life is full of learning, wisdom and peace. I want to embrace the mother-crone.

Angelica Ahumada DeJesus Angelicadejesus.bigcartel.com

Angelica is a self taught, multi-medium Artist in Kansas City. Her main mediums are acrylic paints and card stock paper. For over five years she has professionally practiced art. She has created her own contemporary geometric style that she uses to express the beauty in individuality. That is the main focus point in her practice but Angelica also creates art that incorporates her culture/heritage and her experience as a woman.

November 18th Acrylic and tempera paint on wood panel

My work recently has been focused on ideas of the level of community and support required among women and femme people in the arts and business in order to survive and build the world we need to thrive.

Referencing the communality of bees, I used a copper colored wire hexagons to make a kinetic works of art with resin pieces I’ve created hanging off of the hive cells. They move and adapt to their environment, twisting and swaying. Each hangs from keychain clips and most contain NFC chips which, when tapped to a phone, will pop up a link notification. They have the potential to share information, referencing our need to share what we have learned with each other and build together. The keychains can be purchased individually, turning each into a digital business card that can literally go on to have a life serving a small business. As they sell, the artwork changes, evolves, and creates a new visual conversation to not only discuss our challenges, strengths, and needs as women and femme people in business and the world; but also to contribute something that can help, create new stories, and adapt to our needs.

April Marie Mai Hive Metal, paint, resin, glitter, NFC tags, ink

AprilMarieMai.com @AprilMarieMai

Ashleynerman.com. @iamashleynerman

ASHLEY NERMAN

I AM VIRTUOUS Acrylic, soft pastels, glitter & encaustic oils on stretched canvas

I AM DIVINE Acrylic, soft pastels, glitter & encaustic oils on stretched canvas

ASHLEY NERMAN Ashleynerman.com @iamashleynerman

Ashley Nerman is a multi-disciplinary artist based in Leawood, Kansas. Drawing inspiration from meditative introspection, nature, rituals, and global travels, her art becomes a dance of influences from numerology, cosmology, to quantum physics. Each creation serves as a portal, inviting viewers to embark on a transformative journey that empowers, heals, inspires, and uplifts the spirit. She strives to evoke thought, provoke introspection, and invite viewers into a visceral exploration of the interconnected tapestry of human experience.

Ashley graduated from the University of Kansas with a B.F.A. in Textile Design.

The Ever-Unfolding Self series includes layers of sacred geometry, reflections of nature & a variety of beautiful, postural women dancing atop the surface as a portrait emerging from love. I AM affirmations are painted in oil as a vibrant positive, powerful layer of statements meant to transform limiting beliefs & align with the highest vibrational frequency possible.

These powerful affirmations amplify positive neural plasticity by tapping into the quantum field through the power of feeling. This experience casts spells to bring your dreams into reality. When we're tapped into our innate gifts and honor our essence of love & joy, we expand time, increase our vibration, and attract abundance. Allow this piece to awaken the other-worldly mystery within providing a transformational experience empowering, healing, inspiring and uplifting the spirit and creativity within us all. Step into your highest timeline of love.

AVRION JACKSON AVRIONTM.COM

Fallen Chrysalis Wood and Acrylic Paint

This is a tribute to remind although your womb wings might be seen as broken you can still soar!

Brittany Noriega IG @bmnoriega ‘Mother’ is an intimate exploration of the transformative journey of motherhood, expressed through an interplay of fluid forms and natural motifs. Each element of this piece is an homage to the growth and blossoming that come with bearing and nurturing life. The floral elements symbolize the organic and ever-evolving nature of motherhood, an intricate combination of resilience and grace. This drawing is not only a representation of the physical act of becoming a mother but also a reflection on the personal evolution it spurs. The metamorphosis from a solitary individual to a source of life and sustenance is depicted through the gentle fusion of human and floral forms, capturing the essence of becoming something new —an ode to the beauty and complexity of maternal love and growth.

Mother Graphite and Charcoal on Foam Core Board 8 ft x 4 ft $5000

CANDI PHILLIPS With artists on both sides of her family tree, it was inevitable that Candi Ayres Phillips would have art materials always at hand. She attended Kansas City Art Institute; illustrated children’s books by self-publishing writers, and developed an original jewelry and wearable art line. Her creations were sold at stores on the Plaza and Crown Center in Kansas City and gift shops in Kansas.

“Occasionally I've used die cut punches, metallic powders, brush markers and colored pencils. It amuses me to create little surprises within the piece; a still life with sunflowers and meadowlark had a "secret" grasshopper resting at the top of the vase,” she said.

Currently, she finds creating non-representational paperworks a challenge and a delight.

CANDI PHILLIPS

CICELY JONES

@cicely.jones

Cicely Jones is an emerging curator and oil painter eager to shake up the Kansas City arts scene. She is a recent graduate of UMKC where she earned her Bachelors in Art History with a minor in Black Studies. Jones was the Lead Exhibition Intern at Studios Inc and an Andrew W. Mellon Undergraduate Curatorial Fellow (MUCF) at the NelsonAtkins Museum of Art. She currently serves as the Exhibitions Director at the Kansas City Artists Coalition.

“As I develop my curatorial focus and strengthen my own art practice, I am interested in representing the unique perspective I hold being a young black woman in the arts. Drawing from personal experience, I understand the importance of representation and belonging. My goal is to create thoughtful and intentional dialogue through the artists and art I showcase.”

Neighborhood Hero oil and acrylic on canvas

CINDY BRENDZEL @cindyfabart.com Sometimes you find yourself surrounded by darkness. You can see faint outlines of structures and objects, but you can’t identify them. Then bright lights come out of nowhere from all sides and disappear almost immediately leaving you momentarily blinded. Are you in an abandoned house? Or a haunted forest? Then you remember…. you’re Driving After Dark.

This work is a collaboration. Six women worked independently to each make a small improvisational textile piece using the same and similar fabrics.The intention was to then create one artwork. This is the result. Artists:Cindy Brendzel, Heather Braman, Lilly Coniglio, Michelle Dowell, Karen Hansen, Sherry Kreiling

Driving After Dark Textiles, machine stitching

CLARISSA KNIGHTEN

rissasartisticdesign.com IG @rissas_artistic_design

Recursive Orbits - 2024 When I am working on sculptural wearable art I am dedicated to the project. As I create my mind continues to fabricate new ideas with the remaining materials.

Recursive Orbits is the result of this process. It is a moving meditation.

Nicole’s Renaissance

DENITA ROBINSON

@artbydenitanecole

ELIZABETH PURSELL

LIPS (Lepidopterous Lipstick) Acrylic & Spray Paint

IG @PlayfulPaletteKC I create art that investigates survival while interrogating my own identity as a woman and an artist. The theme of my portraits and nature studies relate to naturalism, metamorphosis, and transformation. I explore the ephemeral nature of existence from the feminine perspective. My imagery and voice speak to the binding and blinding, broken and beautiful plight of life.

RESISTANCE Acrylic & Spray Paint

BROKEN WING Acrylic & Spray Paint

ELLEN CATHERINE @hearts.stars.art Unavoidable Uterus is a textile collage piece that addresses the complexity of female infertility. Approximately 1 in 6 people globally are affected by infertility. Women’s health issues are historically under-funded and under-researched. It is vital to know we are not alone when we are in pain and bleeding out, especially when our reproductive freedoms are being stripped from us.

This patchwork of upcycled clothing & fabric scraps draws awareness to this issue by boldly displaying some of the many symptoms & side effects of living with reproductive difficulties. The veritable weave of fibrous materials represents pain often ignored, physical mutations, and the inconvenience of menstruation that doesn’t play by the textbook.

Ellen Catherine is the sparkling spirit fueling Hearts & Stars Art, a social media exhibition of the chaotic creative process. She is currently working with fibers and reigniting her passion for photography, exploring themes of feminism, infertility, and the natural world.

Unavoidable Uterus 36 x 46.5 Textile Collage

EMERALD POWELL IG @em.pow.arts

This piece titled “rest” takes inspiration from the artist Egon Schiele as he often leaves parts of his portraits such as the body or clothing unfinished allowing the imagination of the viewer to fill in the blank. I began this portrait by rolling the paper out on the floor and laying down upon it to trace my body creating a life sized self portrait. I’ve always thought of orange as the color of creativity so it came to be a fitting bed to lay on. The colored pencil detail of the skin and hair represents the buzzing potential flowing through my body.

Lastly, I decided to let the negative space shine through the clothing mimicking white clouds floating through the sky.

Rest Gouache and colored pencil

Rest Gouache and colored pencil

FELIZ KEHINDE felizkehindeartistry.com @felizkehinde.art

Their Eyes Were Watching God

In Their eyes were watching God, two boys with eyes cast upward can be observed. Light shines down from above which may lead the viewer to assume that the boys are watching God. But with a deeper look, the viewer should notice the single halo, symbolizing unity and holy innocence, behind their heads and the golden band of emanating light surrounding them.

Studies have shown that Black children are seen as significantly older and less innocent than their white counterparts. Black children, especially boys, too often suffer the consequences of these erroneous beliefs as they are not given the protection that assumed childhood provides. I chose this title because I believe God is found in the vulnerable, thus, it is the viewer who is watching God. In Say you’re one of them, the girl has donned her holy garb.

Light emanates from her and a halo can again be observed. With these symbols, the girl tells us that she is one of the holy ones. In classical art, God, angels, and saints are always depicted as white. These paintings are two in an ongoing series I am creating so that our children are able to see themselves in the holy.

GLORIA HEIFNER theartstudioofgloriaheifner.com

When I realized women had not gained genuine equality and we were losing the gains my generation had made, I knew I had to bring my voice to the struggle. This began with my “Audacious Women”, series which is a portrait series of women who dedicated most or their entire lives to fight for women’s equality. These acrylic portraits include quotes attributed to each woman providing a glimpse into her mind and are displayed with a short bio of the woman depicted.

I eventually incorporated images from my research and from my portraits into another medium I have been working with, reverse decoupage. Reverse decoupage is a unique medium which involves gluing paper images onto one surface of a clear glass piece (bowl, vase, plate, etc.) allowing images to be viewed through the glass. This technique expands the viewing experience from a flat surface to multiple views inside and outside, making the composition much more challenging with multiple points of interest.

In the last few years, I have added the fight for women’s healthcare to my subject matter. Recognizing that if we are going to legislate something we must be able to look it squarely in the face or in this case, the uterus, I developed my “Uterus” series of paintings which have also been incorporated into reverse decoupage pieces.

GWEN THOMAS @Gwenzgreyarea

Art is an out stretched arm lifting me out of the clutches of my "monkey brain." Art is the safe space to exist! Under the umbrella of creativity I, now know that I won't be denied! I'm in the forest now. I'm no longer hindered by the trees! Nobody Knows the trouble I've seen. Nobody Knows about the sorrows I've experienced! I declare, I'm an artist now! I marvel at my adventure into oils, acrylics, watercolors, fabrics, inks, pens, markers, resin, and collage! With my hands in the air, I'm twirling around, looking up towards the sky, saying, "I have Absolutely No Regrets, I love my country!"

Nobody Knows Acrylics, pens and collage

HANNAH FINNAN www.hannahfinnan.art @hannahpa1nts

I make autobiographical landscapes of the “weird west” that obscure personal narrative to make them universal. Using oil to create figurative paintings allows me to appropriate imagery and ephemera from American pop culture to create a surreal and humorous universe with which to tell my story. I want my audience to consider the bizarreness of the American West as a metaphor for navigating the American landscape as an outsider trying to find their place. Through the setting of the “ weird west,” my landscapes attempt to portray my narrative while remaining opaque enough for all viewers to relate to.

Creating figurative oil paintings comes with attached preconceptions to the subject matter I choose to depict, which can be used to my advantage. I use the setting of the “ weird west” combined with aliens and ephemera from the cultures I am a part of to inspire cultural confusion within my works, pushing the absurdity of how difficult it is to find one’s way through an eternally strange landscape. I am interested in the process of enculturation and to what extent I participate in or reject this social phenomenon. In taking inspiration from many avenues, I piece together a body of work that entails my journey as a child of immigrants navigating America.

"Head in the Clouds" Oil on Panel

"You've Caught Everything C'ept a Clue" Oil on Canvas with Invaders

Teen Girlhood, a dress using sublimation printing, encapsulates teenage girlhood through a series of four illustrations. This visual narrative delves into the challenges of adolescence, illustrating the transformative journey of growing up as a girl. The dress becomes a canvas, echoing the sentiment that this period can be tumultuous, yet within the struggles lies the celebration of community and reclamation of a girl’s identity in a world that often imposes limitations on girlish pleasures.

HANNAH GRABLE @hanbananaart

The intentional omission of the figures gazing away fosters a collective connection, inviting viewers to see themselves in the images landscapes.

Positioned in natural settings, the figures blend into landscapes, highlighting the profound connection between feminine energy and nature’s organic beauty. The raw hem symbolizes the inherent imperfections and messiness of a girl’s adolescent experience, suggesting a journey through metaphorical fields.

The intentional messiness challenges societal expectations, celebrating the authenticity and resilience of women. Teen Girlhood stands as the unyielding spirit of teenage girls, navigating selfdiscovery with an understanding that, like nature, the journey is messy, imperfect, and uniquely beautiful. The audience is invited to witness the intertwined threads of personal growth and support between women, acknowledging the beauty found in the imperfection of growing up.

Teen Girlhood Mixed Media Fibers

HANNAH HYATT @arthearts2005 I create art because is always brought me joy after finishing a piece of art work. And being able to experiment with different mediums is like planning and going on an adventure I can see myself doing art for the rest of my life. Like creating and going to different worlds and the stuff I’m making right know is just me experimenting with how things work and react to each other.

Trypophobia Ceramic and acrylic

Man Eater Acrylic on canvas

ISABEL FLORES @isabelfloresart Originally from Chiapas, México. I graduated from the Chiapas Visual Arts School with a focus on painting while experimenting with different dry and wet techniques, mainly oil painting and watercolors. I also attended Arts Education as a part of my studies and Art Therapy diploma and as a result, I was able to teach classes in Visual Arts for children in México.

Among my interests are studies regarding race, class and gender perspective, myths and legends of preHispanic Mexican and Western culture and I have a deep love for dogs and cats.

I believe in artistic creation as a means of expression to connect and transform towards new possibilities.

Don’t Give in Me Prietita Mixed Media

My Jano bifronte.

Oil on wood.

Taxonomy of a butterfly girl who just wanted to fly away.

Mixed media.

J R LYLE

JRusshell.com @J.Russhell

Art is in itself an expression without boundaries. It tells a story unique to each person it encounters. It does not subscribe to categories, or classes, or genres.

Art just is. It is what it tells you in a particular moment, and can differ in the next. That is why it is so absolutely captivating.

- J R Lyle

JANICE "JWOO" WOOLERY @jwoo668 "A Long Way ... Backward" is commentary on the inequality that persists toward women. In the 1970s Virginia Slims cigarettes ran an ad campaign, marketing to women, with the slogan "You've Come a Long Way Baby." During this time there was so much progress and momentum behind women's human rights: The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), Roe v.

Wade, etc. The ERA was on the verge of being ratified when anti feminist Phyllis Schlafly led the charge and made sure it never made it into the constitution. And just recently, Roe v. Wade was overturned by a radically conservative and illegitimate Supreme Court.

Further pushing women back in time. And so, we start all over.

A Long Way ... Backward Mixed Media/Found Objects

JEAN HERSHEY jeanhershey.com

I feel my artwork is created my an inner presence in me, coming from deep within. I call it my Zen place, others may call it the subconscious.

I want people to have emotions (good or bad) about my artwork, question what it’s all about and “just feel something.” Again, good or bad.

I’m Flying at Last Acrylic on Canvas

JESSIE POHL

@jessie_bo_bessy

Jessie Pohl is a Kansas City Metro artist, she enjoys experimenting with color and techniques. Her latest inspiration has been capturing movement with bold strokes and bright colors. Having an adventurous spirit Jessie finds inspiration all over the Kansas City area from the downtown KC murals to the vast sprawl of the Overland Park Arboretum.

A Beautiful Morning Acrylic

JOHA BISONE www.johabisone.com @johahaha

Inspiration is found within the neverending supply from the natural world.

Bright colors, intricate patterns, and textures get me really excited. I take this information and create otherworldly landscapes. Hints of realistic imagery are intertwined with abstract elements.

Using intuition and curiosity to lead the way. I would love for the viewer to escape and submerge into my surreal worlds.

I appreciate the unpredictability of watercolor and acrylic ink, my main mediums. It can be challenging but so rewarding when you get it to do what you want or letting go a little and it shows you what it wants to do! I like the process of building layers and for the translucent qualities it can give. It also helps emphasize some of the fluid-like movements I create throughout the piece. Always experimenting and learning something new with these mediums!

I work primarily with commercial cottons and silks, using a variety of techniques, both piecing and rawedge fusing, sometimes embellishing with stamping, digital printing, yarns, and found objects.

KAREN HANSEN Stepping Into the Light Fiber

My work is inspired by nature …the surrounding Kansas prairie and the Wisconsin lakes where I grew up. Some is realistic, although recently I have been exploring more abstract and modern designs.

My pieces have been featured in books and magazines, and have been exhibited nationally and globally.

Lo, They Go With Clouds Ascending Fiber

KASHIRA PETTIFORD www.kashcreates.com In my series, I explore the profound essence of black women as the enduring blueprints inspiring all works of art. Set within the captivating space of a museum, my photographs celebrate the intrinsic beauty, strength, and cultural significance of black women, portraying them as the very embodiment of artistic inspiration and creation. Through this visual narrative, I aim to honor their legacy while inviting a reevaluation of societal perceptions, highlighting the pivotal role they play as the foundational muse for artistic expression across time and culture.

SiSi Brenae and Mrs. Wade Photography

SAINT SiSi and Cecilia Photography

The Blueprint of The Record Player Photography

KATELYN GARDNER Kaitlyn Gardner is a freelance contemporary dancer and choreographer, originally from Tucson Arizona. Kaitlyn has danced professionally in Kansas City’s community since before she graduated from UMKC’s conservatory in 2019. She has danced for Tristian Griffin Dance Company, Haley Kostas, Alexis Borth, Olivia Emert, Caroline Dahm and Wylliams Henry Contemporary Dance.

Choreographically, she’s presented work at Charlotte Street’s, Scratch Night, in November 2023. As well as created on the dancers of Tristian Griffin Dance Co. at Mosaic, presented by InterUrban ArtHouse in 2022. Most recently she presented a collaborative work with her brother at City In Motion’s, Modern Night at the Gem (2024). She believes in movement as a language, and that we as dancers are the vessels for viewers. Kaitlyn hopes her creations facilitate thoughts that lead to realizations or questions within the viewers mind.

KATRINA KELLER @life.growing.towards.the.sun

Katrina Keller is a self-taught, emerging artist. Her work primarily focuses on the feminine form, and she uses this archetype as a vessel to explore the human experience and its collective expressions. Katrina uses mixed media techniques within her body of work to create a narrative of duality, transcendence, and inner exploration. Her drawings depict women engaging with nature, portraying moments of vulnerability, strength, and introspection.

At the core of Katrina's artistic practice is a portrayal of the complexities of navigating a world that is both tender and harsh, and the underlying resilience of the human spirit.

Each of her artworks is a tribute to the inherent sacredness within each of us and the awe of simply being alive.

Blooming Together: A Celebration of Sisterhood Mixed Media (watercolor, colored pencil, marker, soft pastel, gouache)

Through my artwork, I express emotions that are otherwise inaccessible because of my brain injury. Before sustaining multiorgan damage from COVID-19, I was a busy mom, physical therapist, college professor and academic department chair. Overnight, this virus damaged my body so severely that I’m still unable to care for myself two years later.

This loss of identity accompanied with a new physical and cognitive disability has been overwhelming. My self image was completely intertwined with my career, and that was suddenly lost. I can no longer function as a mother or wife and completely rely on loved ones to provide daily care. Abstract painting helps me process and accept my new place in this world.

I create in short bursts, a limit of seven minutes of focused creative energy while lying on the floor using tools to minimize my physical tremors. Each of my paintings represents a specific challenge of being bed-bound/homebound and unable to participate in the busy life I once knew.

I would describe myself as an intuitive painter who depicts harmonious chaos. I hope to portray a message of hope and joy in a world filled with uncertainty.

Summer Memories Acrylic, Oil Pastel and Graphite on canvas

www.KELLYMEINERS.art

KELLY MEINERS

@maddijoedwards

MADDISON JO EDWARDS Two Sisters III Relief and screen print

Standing the Weather Linocut reduction relief

Maddison Jo Edwards is a printmaker whose work focuses on expanding the mythic American Western into the contemporary. In the mythic West, tensions exist between the romantic perspective of the American wilderness and a ruthless desire to conquer it. An individual has a duty to society but can also be outcast and outlawed. The physical line of the edge of the unknown, the frontier, is also a symbolic one reaching the boundaries of personal unknowns.

She appropriates these inherent dichotomies to examine historical issues and as an outlet for personal narratives. Claiming the Western by its nature of storytelling allows it to be a tool to express her experiences as a woman individually, generationally, and externally.

colibrosaproductions.com @colibrosaproductions

MARÍSA ADAME GRADY To be genderfluid in my experience is to be cloaked in womanhood that never fit.

As such, these poems came into being when ruminating on my gender presentation in pieces: when pieces felt right and when they didn't. Having grown up in a conservative family, my genderfluidity was shut down from an early age. I never experienced peace in my presentation until wearing winter boots for the first time in college after moving from Texas to Ohio. Cutting my hair short in college was another moment of gender euphoria. Of course, this started family asking questions again that I wasn't, at the time, ready to answer.

I grew my hair out and felt the resentment of masquerading once again within a gender where I feel I don't quite fit. That's why I use ze/zer pronouns; it's almost "she/her" but not quite -- because "she/her" doesn't quite fit. The poem "erosion" is part of a series of poems on catcalling. When I lived in Chicago, I was catcalled so frequently, it felt like my humanity diminished every time I left my apartment. Encased in a womanly body, I'm subject to different experiences of womanhood; these poems dig into specifics.

artprovesthesoul.com @artprovesthesoul

MARY MAUDE This is a rhinoceros who got sick and her body started changing. She could see and feel the changes but no one else could. Which made it difficult for anyone to help her. She’s still recognizable as a rhinoceros, though.

There’s just something off about her body which now behaves like water and is always painfully shifting. It’s estimated that around 30 million Americans are diagnosed with one or more of 10,000 known rare diseases. This piece was sculpted by a woman who is battling multiple rare diseases herself. She pledges 50% of her sales to charities supporting research.

www.artwanted.com/maryanncoonrod @mary ann coonrod

MARY ANN COONROD “Piper” is the title of my present series in color pencil drawings.

Weaving and playing with repetitive colors and forms is a simple and meditative process.

To me it is a feminine form of art, working with patterns that create rhythms.

Piper # 3 & # 5 Colored Pencil

MELANIE NOLKER melanienolkerart.com Lucy Stone is a distant relative of mine.

She is noteworthy for many things. In the 1800’s Lucy fought against family and societal norms for her education and was the first Massachusetts woman to earn a college degree. She became a speaker on an abolitionist circuit throughout the country. As she was taken more and more seriously, she also began to speak on Women’s Rights and became known as the “Morning Star”of the woman’s rights movement. She led the call for the First National Woman’s Rights Convention in 1850. She married, and was the first woman in America to keep her maiden name. She and her spouse Henry refused to have the word OBEY in their vows replacing it with CHERISH. Lucy founded and edited the Woman’s Journal of Boston and had a US stamp issued in her honor in 1960 for her contributions to the Women’s Rights Movement.

Helping to tell Lucy’s story of strength and resilience, symbols of ladders, lanterns, thumbprints and paper dolls run Lucy Stone: A Woman of Her throughout this work.

Times and Ours I’m proud to share her DNA. Mixed Media

MICHELLE POND mapoetpoems.blogspot.com @pondpoetry Visual art and poetry have been in conversation since the time of the ancient Greeks. I pair original photographs and poems that speak to one another.

I explore places such as parks and gardens. I am taken in by shadows, reflections and various life cycles I see. I also benefit both physically and mentally from my time in nature. I am surrounded by beauty, the resourcefulness shown by animals, and feel the joy of new births and new growth.

I look for something in each picture that will convey a universal concept and write about that.

Since the photo is a prompt, the poem may not always be a literal description of it. The poem is the result of where the picture takes my thoughts.

As you look at my work, I hope you will join in the conversation. Do you see what I see or do you have another story to tell?

NATALIE DEAM deamwood.weebly.com @deamwood Coral Grotesque Acrylic

Inspired by the way climate change and loss of biodiversity affects my local environment, my work creates speculative ecosystems to investigate the way humans relate to other beings. Within these ecosystems I aim to break down traditional understandings of the boundaries between human and animal, body and environment, living and inert material. Despite acknowleding environmental degradation, my work nevertheless aims to celebrate the enduring beauty and strangeness of the natural world and nuance our complex, ever-changing connections with it. Entangling real and imagined, invasive and endangered, marine and midwestern forms, I consider the ways that I am not only intimated connected to my immediate environment but to global, past, and future landscapes.

NEDRA BONDS

Phishing for Trouble Beadwork on Canvas

Blues: For a Broken Balloon Beadwork on Canvas

Nedra Bonds is an artist who uses her talents to share messages about social justice and to teach and preserve history. Her primary art medium is quilt making. She has created more than 100 quilts.

They have been displayed in various traveling art shows and locally at the Jazz Museum, Bruce R. Watkins Cultural Heritage Center, the University of Missouri-Kansas City and Park University. She majored in American Studies at the University of Kansas and spent some time teaching college classes and working in the field of education.

Nettie Zan is an artist, writer and body work advocate living in the red midwest as a transagender human and river rat communitarian.

Their current work is all from the “small gods of animals” series which emerges from a deep study of ancient arts, notably art of world religions and petroglyphs. The work aims to return to a basic set of shared symbols, anatomies and emotions, while investigating the taboos that arise in culture and putting those on display. Nettie has been published widely, including their most recent novel, “American Foursquare,” and they show visual work occasionally.

A Prayer for Wombs acrylic and posca

A Vision of Childbirth acrylic

Nettie Zan teaches meditation at Inner Space Yoga, hosts a thriving Writers Circle at Cherry Pit Collective and are the recipient of a 2024 Studio Residency Award at InterUrban ArtHouse. They would love to invite you into studio to talk art, dreams, river, do tarot, dance or just lean back and share a quiet moment.

NETTIE ZAN nettiezan.com

REGAN CHRISMAN-BOMAN reganchrismanbomanart.com @regan_chrismanbomanart

My work centers around the experiences of a gendered body and mind as they cope with the feeling of the unknown. These concepts are explored formally in diaristic narratives through the lens of a distorted reality. Through this reality I tell stories of isolation, mental health, the body, and the mundane of daily life.

Through the use of panels, cropped imagery, garish colors, and repeating forms, I build imagery that provides a contrast to the heavy underlying themes that emerge within the work. All of these different devices fuse to create the building blocks that my distorted reality exists in. My visual language is multifaceted, and each facet is signaling a different state within the visual system. Although my work is diarist in nature, the stories I tell are not unique to myself. I invite others into a space where people feel seen in moments that are made to be isolating, intimate, and secluded, toggling between asking and answering the question “is it just me?”

My Purse Oil and waterbased monoprint on BFK paper

Purple Bubbles Oil and waterbased monoprint on BFK paper

Rawartpaint.com @reabbie

REMY WHARRY

My Beloved Acrylic and Paper

My artistic expression of the “Media that Made Me” series is deeply influenced by the rich and diverse stories and experiences found in the works of black women writers that have influenced my own life in such profound ways. Creating art centered around black women authors is an intentional choice that seeks to amplify the voices often marginalized in mainstream discourse.

Through my art, I aim to celebrate and honor the literary contributions of black women, highlighting the mental health complexities, awareness, strength, resilience, and creativity embedded in their words.

In each piece, I strive to capture the essence of the characters conveyed in the literature. The use of color, form, and symbolism is carefully chosen to convey a visual representation of the narratives penned by these remarkable authors.

My art is a tribute to the power of storytelling and its ability to shape our perceptions, challenge preconceptions, and connect us on a profound level.

These stories have resonated with me, made me think deeply about my ancestry, as well as how I move about life and mother my daughter.

Mother Oil on Canvas

Ballerini’s art is defined by linear lines, emotion and passion.

Art is critical and art is essential for survival as the walls of the caves have shown us.

Passerella Senza Facce (Faceless Catwalk #3) Oil Pastel on Paper

ROSSELLA BALLERINI

When making art, Ballerini sees it as a serious business. Her piece “The Secret Room”, pastel on paper, which won first place in a Madison Wi. show in 97, was inspired by some very important people in a room speaking of things Ballerini wanted to hear.

So Ballerini drew it as she sat and thus created “The Secret Room”.

It was well received and sold quickly at the art show.

SAM THOMPSON

regionalbysam.com @regionalbysam

As a child, I was content to live in my own five-dimensional world, where I could feast on dreams and live independently. Throughout my adolescence, my sense of wonder dulled considerably because I was stunted by the school system and other societal rules that mentally made me feel small. Most times, I was hopeless and displeased with the world I had to exist within, and the only way I could cope was by creating art.

Presently, I’ve figuratively cut the male gaze cord, and I’ve taken agency over every aspect of my life. Historically, our patriarchal society has attempted to place labels on others, promote limited viewpoints, and remove any sense of individuality to keep a sense of order. Yet, it is important that we find unique ways to fight back for an equitable future.

Personally, my creativity has propelled me in ways I couldn’t ever imagine, and I want to inspire others to bravely live their truth too. I hope that my art can serve as a safe haven and a reminder to all that we must keep moving forward.

SARAH TAYLOR-HINDS

Embroidered Textile “Circles”

Sharon Rodriguez a Photojournalist likes to tell stories with her Fine Art Photographs. She told stories of the Johnson County Homeless from 2015 to 2020. Recovering from the Pandemic she wants to tell her story.

“OCTOBER” for Her Art Show tells the story of a Senior Photographer that wanted to do a series of Senior Women in Photographs inspired by the movie Calendar Girls. The women she asked said they had Body Issues and would not participate.

So in her typical fashion pursued the project Photographing herself as the model she wanted to create.

Oct -My Body is a Beautiful Expression of Life

OCTOBER is the name of this piece. Sharon Rodriguez is like the Month of October. Some times you need a sun hat for her sunny disposition. Some times it is cold and you need a spot of tea!Enjoy this piece of the new direction.

SHARON RODRIGUEZ @rodphoto1022

SHELLY PINTO My mixed media paintings are a reflection of my inner self, inspired by patterns, colors, and shapes that connect with my history, environment, and inner thoughts. I create my artwork by mixing colors, cutting shapes, and overlapping patterns, finding an inner calm and a connection to the world.

My fascination with color and movement has always been a part of me, and I merge exotic surface patterns and the culture of India to create a unique and international vision in my artwork.

Through my art, I aim to glimpse my inner world, connecting with the audience on a deeper level. My art is like a colorful kaleidoscope, full of life and ever-evolving.

.

Connection Void

shellypinto.com @shellypinto_art

SHERON SMITH www.sheronsmithfineart.com

Earth Mother Acrylic / Mixed Media

SMITHA GEORGE smithageorgeart.com @artzification The artwork "Persistence" is a visual representation of the enduring human spirit and the strength found in tenacity. The composition is characterized by a central figure, symbolizing the individual. The background is adorned with various elements. The use of vibrant colors and dynamic brushstrokes reflects the energy and determination required to navigate through difficulties. The choice of warm and cool hues signifies the emotional highs and lows experienced during the pursuit of goals.

Ultimately, "Persistence" invites viewers to reflect on their own journeys and find inspiration in the ability to persevere. The artwork serves as a reminder that, like the central figure we all have the strength to endure and overcome obstacles on the path to our goals.

Persistence Acrylic on canvas

STASI BOBO-LIGON Stasi Bobo-Ligon’s work is visceral in its direct application of what's happening in her world.Painting is a language she's continuously learning, articulating things of personal importance nonverbally and leaving things open to interpretation by the viewer. Stasi enjoys oil painting due to how forgiving the material is, allowing her to start in one place and start over at any point in the process. There’s also a strong interest in collage and assemblage—giving new meaning to found objects. Stasi’s influences are Abstract Expressionism, Neo Expressionism, Contemporary, Assemblage and Outsider Art.

@Stasiboboligontheartist

TERRI POLLACK terripollack.com @terrikpollack

Eva Oil on Canvas

Sunny Oil on canvas panel

TONIA HUGHES www.toniaindigohughes.com

Some of my earliest and most riveting childhood memories came from staring at old photos belonging to my grandmother. The power of a weathered photograph to inflame my imagination and spark connections to strangers was intoxicating. Later, as a part of the “MTV generation,” I was captivated by the emotional stirrings of music videos and sound bites. And as popular media was impacting my mind, life experiences were shaping my conscience. Growing up as a Queer woman in the Deep South and having a brother with Down Syndrome meant that I personally witnessed the consequences of marginalization. Then, further experiences such as marriage, parenting, and the deaths of loved ones, broadened the topics of my work beyond the socio-political arena. This history of experiences channels itself through me, and manifests as a motivation to create emotional and socio-political work utilizing the influential mediums of photography, video, sound, and installation. I strive to give the viewer an emotional spark like the ones I have experienced. My intent is to connect them to the complexities of political issues surrounding sexuality, gender, feminism and the oppression of marginalized communities; as well as with more universal topics such as grief, loss, and emotions involving interpersonal relationships. I feel a responsibility to be a “ripple in the water,” and to produce visual work that promotes empathy, social change and awareness.

Quaranteen at the FolliesBergere