Voices: An Artist’s Perspective

International Juried Exhibition, presented with UniteWomen.org at N.A.W.A. Gallery in NYC from April 2 – 30, 2015 with Joan McLoughlin, McLoughlin Gallery, San Francisco and Amanda Uribe, gallery nine5, NYC, jurors for the exhibition, chose top three works each to be honored. Karen Gutfreund, Curator and the Executive Committee of UniteWomen.org, Karen Teegarden selected 26 works for the NAWA Gallery and an additional 102 for the online gallery and exhibition catalog.  Voices: An Artist’s Perspective is a feminist exhibition with 26 women artists raising their voices to tell individual stories that advocate for the fight for social, cultural, economic and political rights and the inclusion of all voices in its push for gender equality and identity using a woman’s voice as the visual narrative to effect change.

Works, in all media, are displayed that speak to, examines and explores the social, political and economic issues related to women’s activism; art that expresses the women’s perspective on issues of identity, gender, women’s rights, political rights, reproductive rights, and issues of societal control and justice. The art ranges from literal to poetic, abstract to representational, and psychological, to social and political commentary. Many of the works explore the concepts of being a woman in today’s global society and how social constructs define their experience whether internal, external, imagined or imposed, and how this defined and shaped identities, relationships, ideas and politics. It is the intention of UniteWomen.org and Karen Gutfreund Art to present these issues in visual form, creating a public forum for action, reaction, and informed discussion.

View the online catalog here.

The artists exhibiting at the gallery are:  Shonagh Adelman, Carrie Alter, Jocelyn Braxton Armstrong, Gwynessa Balvanz, Joanne Beaule Ruggles, Lorraine Bonner, Krista Cibis, Katie Cooney, Sherri Cornett, Elena De La Ville, Cat Del Buono, Donna Festa, Joan Bemel Iron Moccasin, Veronica Jaeger, Judy Johnson-Williams, Marky Kauffmann, Meg Madison, Jessica Maria Manley, Allison McElroy, Freyda Miller, Soubie Pizzuti, Trix Rosen, Sondra Schwetman, Cristina Velazquez, Adriana Villagran, and Corinne Whitaker. Juror’s picks were: Jocelyn Braxton Armstrong, Joanne Beaule Ruggles, Cat Del Buono, Donna Festa, Allison McElroy and Sondra Schwetman.

ABOUT UNITEWOMEN.ORG: UniteWomen.Org is a national non-partisan 501(c)3 tax exempt non-profit organization. Our mission is to end inequality for women that stems from prejudice and discrimination, and to defend and advance the human and civil rights of women and girls by educating the public to propel a changing societal conversation about women’s rights. With campaigns such as “Unite Against Rape” and “We Are Good Women,” we are giving a voice to women all over the country to publicly speak out to break stereotypes, stop victim blaming and fight discrimination, misogyny and rape culture. We are an all-volunteer organization that was founded on social media, and have over a thousand volunteers around the country dedicating their time and resources. Our meetings are held in real time on the Internet, and our work is done within the more than 250 Facebook groups we manage. UniteWomen.org is working within our established network and collaborating with other national and local organizations to expand our message beyond the typical women’s and civil rights audience.

ABOUT NAWA:  The purpose of the National Association of Women Artists (N.A.W.A.) is to foster public awareness of, and interest in, visual art created by women in the United States. The Association promotes culture and education in the visual arts through exhibitions of its members’ works, educational programs, scholarships, awards, its historical archive, and other appropriate means. While encouraging contemporary and emerging artists, the Association honors and continues the long and important contribution of women to the history of American culture and art. Through N.A.W.A.’s exhibitions, programs, events, education programs and archive, the Association fosters awareness of the monumental contribution of women to the history of American culture and art. www.thenawa.org

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#CuratorLove, Bonnie Kamhi and “HerStory” 2019

Bonnie Kamhi “Devoured in Nature”

The “HerStory” 2019 continues a decades-long dedication by Renée Phillips in creating and presenting an annual exhibition devoted to art by women on the Manhattan Arts International website. This call was open to all women artists around the world and all themes, subjects, styles and mediums were welcome. The show ran run through September 20, 2019. (I give my sincere apologies to the artist and to Renée for the lateness in my write-up, I was sidelined for a while due to personal issues and my writing got put on the back burner for some time).

I was so pleased to be asked to be a special recognition art award panelist again for “HerStory” 2019 that was juried by Renée Phillips, Director of Manhattan Arts International. She is an amazing mentor and career advisor for art professionals and it is a privilege to work with her in support of women in the arts. Renée stated “We will continue to present annual “HerStory” exhibitions until there is a fair and equal balance of women artists represented by art museums, galleries, art book publishers, major private and public collections, auction houses, and the media.” I could not agree more—and I will continue my focus on exhibition opportunities for women artists, particularly on feminist themes until we see equality not only in the art world but in society also.

For this exhibition I chose the work of Bonnie Kamhi. She is a sculptor, photographer and natural story-teller who expresses contemporary and timeless messages about women. My usual focus is activist/feminist art and while Bonnie’s work does not fall within this genre, to spoke to me of the strength and resilience of women.

Bonnie’s work is visually arresting—it stopped me in my tracks to delve in and explore further. The work is gorgeous and lush, but now knowing her process I am even more intrigued and mesmerized. She is truly unique in her practice. The work has so many layers and nuances and while the exhibition had many fabulous pieces, I kept coming back to Bonnie’s work over and over. It sparked something in my mind and heart that could not be ignored.

A master of form, Bonnie first creates beautiful sculptures, with porcelain clay, of women with exquisite details. How she can capture such realistic form in pieces quite small is a mystery to me. As a feminist, I appreciate that the female form is not through the lens of the male gaze of objectified female—the arched back, unnatural pose with jutting buttocks or hips, waiting passively for male attention. Her figures are strong, self-assured and comfortable in their own al-natural skin, in a meditative state.

She then creates a still life with flowers to place her figures. The figure appears as the original Eve, before man cast and blamed her for sin and subjugated to patriarchy and deemed inferior and weak. The figure is in paradise, reveling in her solitude.

Lastly Bonnie photographs the still life and prints the image as her final art. The lighting and tonality in her prints is superb. My favorite of her works is “Devoured in Nature”, Archival print on Entrada Rag Natural paper, 23 x 29 inches, 2017.

From Bonnie’s statement: “I tell stories through a three-part process that involves first creating sculptures, then photographing and transforming them into digital images.  The focus of my work involves marrying various aspects of the female form with the grace, beauty and lushness of leaves, flowers, and nature.  In this way, I am able to evoke and express emotions within me that I need to share. The special hands-on relationship I have with physically forming each sculpture gives me the freedom to materialize in three dimensions whatever I visualize in my mind.  The fact that I actually touch and feel the softness and flow evolve as I manipulate the clay. It allows me to nuance my work with an intimacy and closeness that I cannot achieve in any other way.”

Bonnie’s artwork is in numerous private collections which include many commissions. All of her work is printed on archival paper “Entrada Rag Natural.”  High quality archival inks are used in the workmanship of the production. The buyer of her art receives a signed Certificate of Authenticity. More of her work can be viewed here: https://bonniekamhi.com/

The hand that rocks the cradle also rocks the world. Women are coming together in empowerment and to create positive change. Women build things, they are the glue for society in creating and maintaining families and building the foundations for their children and their future children to be successful. Women are also coming together to address issues to fight for our shared values and humanity and demand what we need from those in power. Bonnie’s work celebrates women’s beauty and strength.

I’m very empowered by the number of high-quality exhibitions being put together to promote women in the arts. 2020 is going to be a banner year, with exhibitions, the celebration of the 100th year of women voting in the US and hopefully with many more women being elected into politics too!

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