Seventeen IWCA members have work represented in Around the Bend, at the South Bend Museum of Art. The exhibit will run through June 26, 2022. Pictured (clockwise from top) are works by Liz Roetzel, Susan Ward and Jessie Lentych Lloyd.
Kay Weshues with her recent work at ART SHARE, Sunday, June 12, 2022
IWCA continues to offer opportunities to share work in progress at our monthly ART SHARES. This month we met at the South Bend Museum of Art, toured the Around the Bend Exhibit, then gathered to see five artists present their most recent work. This is a casual, relaxed setting for showing what you are doing, or just taking a look at what other members are up to. Keep your eyes open for the next ART SHARE on IG and Slack.
IWCA is initiating an Art Share opportunity for our members each month from 3-5 PM at Good Shepard Montessori in South Bend.
Monthly Art Share 3-5 p.m. Sundays: April 10 May 15 (third Sunday) June 12 2022 Join us from 3-5 pm the Second Sunday of each month to discuss and appreciate each other’s artwork. 15 minutes each will be spent on 6 artists. Show up even if you don’t sign up. Follow the link below to RSVP to share your work. https://forms.gle/N8xWUjDLmhCzdvGv6 This is a great opportunity for social interaction, sharing our creative energy and artwork. Hope you can join us! Good Shepherd Montessori School, 1101 E. Jefferson Blvd., South Bend, Indiana 46617
Here are a few photos from The March 13 Art Share:
Linda, Judy and Laurie at Art Share March 13–details of arwork above
CHICAGO — Woman Made Gallery (WMG) is pleased to present “Reciprocity” juried by Barbara Ciurej and Lindsay Lochman. This exhibition includes 21 woman-identified and non-binary artist pairs anchored in photography and image-based practices and considers the reciprocal relationship between each pair.
The exhibition is on view at the gallery and online. A virtual opening reception is planned for Friday, March 5th, 6 – 8 pm via YouTube and Zoom. Registration is recommended. Please visit WMG’s website and follow social media for more information. All works available for sale are listed on WMG’s webstore.
Pastel painting for the Indiana Women’s Caucus for Art show, “Living Waters”
“From the Lake Shore toward the City”
Pastel by Cathy McCormick
This is a view of a beach at the southern tip of Lake Michigan with background showing an industrial complex that was built nearby. My idea was to show the natural beach where people go to swim and relax, while industries operate in the same area. Is industry a threat to the beach, or can they exit together in peace? How does the factory affect the beach-goer’s experience?
The scene might also call to mind the artist Frank Dudley who dedicated 40 years of his life toward fighting to preserve the Indiana dunes he painted. Those efforts led to the creation of a protected state park for the dunes in 1925.
Efforts to preserve the lake shore and dunes continue, and artists continue to play a role in calling attention to the natural landscape and its relationship to industry along the Great Lakes.
“Blair Holt”, my most recent oil painting, joins other portraits in the nation-wide effort of the Women’s Caucus for Art (WCA) to raise awareness about gun violence.
Blair lived in Chicago. He was 16 years old when he was shot and killed while riding a school bus. A gang member got on his bus and started shooting. Blair leaned over to protect a person and took a bullet that proved fatal. The “Faces Not Forgotten” project of the WCA will put together 800 portraits of young people under 20 killed due to violence during the past ten years. The “faces” assembled into quilts will be shown in Washington, DC before touring the country.
While working on this painting in late February, six people were shot and killed in Kalamazoo, MI where I live. Kalamazoo became the 44th U.S. city to experience gun violence in 2016! I feel that artists doing these portraits are using their art in a very meaningful way for the families and for our society. What follows next is a bit of my art process.
The composite photo represents a development of the painting. After making a grid over the original photo and transferring it to the 10 X 20 inch linen canvas, I began an underpainting using white and burnt umber. The underpainting established the drawing and the values from dark to light. I also was searching for a background to call iconic religious art featuring saints to mind. I felt Blair’s action of protection of another over his own life deserved that reference. After I painted a double row with diamond shapes around the head, I showed the painting to a friend. I already knew, but she affirmed for me — “It looks like a plate!” Eliminating the circles and leaving the diamonds proved to be the answer. My color choices were also based on the idea of an icon with the use of the gold in back of the head. After the underpainting, I added background color and began thin layers of color on the face following the dark to light values of the the underpainting.
When I was close to completion I found the face was too flat and I had a white spot on the nose. Fear arose as I knew I must “jump in again” and I might not improve the painting plus I had a due date to consider! Well, fear must be faced and it was worth it …adding more light to the right side of the face and eliminating the dot on the nose not only made a better portrait but allowed more of Blair’s innocence to show.
It is an honor to be involved with the “Faces Not Forgotten” project.
