Honored to share that my painting “Stories Are Held in the Land” is currently in the Under All is the Land exhibit at Woman Made Gallery in Chicago. The opening reception is this Saturday, April 12, 4-7. The exhibit runs froms April 12- May 10th, 2025. Regular gallery hours are Thursdays through Sundays from noon to 5 PM.
WMG is a wonderful gallery that I visited many years ago when I still had one of my kids in a stroller and holding the other’s hand tightly in my other hand so they wouldn’t run amok in the space. I remember loving the gallery and the work and wishing to myself that one day, I would have one of my creations in this space. I made a little promise that I would try. Fourteen years later I saw a call for art that resonated with me and submitted. I was thrilled that one of my pieces was accepted. It only took fourteen years for me to follow through on my whispered promise to myself! I am slow, but eventually I follow through.
I wrote up an artist statement for my submission. It’s on their website with my painting. You can view the work of the other artists in the show as well. But here it is:
I have always been drawn to the natural world, and my artwork is a personal dialogue with the cycles of life, memory and the passage of time. In my work there is a sense of longing, desire and hopefulness to reconnect with the earth and I create organic pieces that speak to the interconnectedness of all living things. My mixed media paintings incorporate moments captured by my photographs with the richness of paint combined with found materials to create depth in both form and meaning. I draw upon tree imagery often in my work. There is a reason that trees appear in the origin stories universally. Trees are often seen as a bridge between the worlds- world above and the world below. They are often a vital structure of the universe or the source of life as well as wisdom.
Humans have recognized that our lives are vitally connected to trees and we incorporate them into our stories. While I am a suburban dweller and have lived in big cities, I cannot pretend to have an intimate connection to the land. And yet, I know it is true. Is it possible to get back to that truth, when one has been divorced from living in close relation to the earth? My art making serves as a way for me to touch that knowing. The earth is our story, of who we are and where we come from.
This piece in particular speaks to how the earth around us is a living being that contains us all. Our lives, our stories, our tribulations, our joys are embedded in the land beneath our feet and the branches above us. Have you ever been in an area and you can just feel the energy of those who have passed through before you? I often wonder, what have these trees seen? What have these stones witnessed? The earth is a part of all of us, in us, and of us. We ourselves are just a moment, but the earth and the land is always.
Woman Made Gallery | http://womanmade.org | 312-738-0400 | general@womanmade.org
1332 S Halsted St., Chicago, IL 60607 | Street parking nearby
Regular gallery hours are Thursdays through Sundays from noon to 5 PM.
Unfortunately I won’t be able to attend the opening this weekend. I have to be in Philadephia this weekend with the child whose hand I was holding tightly all those years ago. He’s making college decisions this weekend and we’re visiting one of the contenders. Soon I’ll be letting go of that hand…that’s for another post another day.
If you are in Chicago and visit the gallery, please let me know and also take a picture for me! I would so appreciate it.