#WomenNow
Opening Reception: Thursday, March 7, 6-8pm
On view: March 7 - March 30th, 2024
Artists Talk: March 30th, 4-6pm
Nancy Bruno is a New York based artist and educator, whose artwork is energized by a range of mediums, from ceramics to found objects. Her artwork integrates material and form to express complexity and conflicts. Nancy Bruno is a New York artist and educator. She is energized by clay and all the wonderful possibilities the ceramic process has to offer. She enjoys working with different clays, firing processes, and surface treatments. Her passion for clay comes from exploring the vast history of ceramics as well as her studies at the Pottery Workshop Jingdezhen and archaeological digs. Nancy's ceramic art references her experiences as a woman through ceramic sculpture and vessels, transforming the female figure, and integrating material and form to express complexity, conflicts, and emotion. Nancy's artwork has been exhibited in various NYC exhibitions and has curated exhibitions with Long Island City Artists. Bruno is currently a professional art teacher for NYC Department of Education.
Nancy Bruno is a New York based artist and educator, whose artwork is energized by a range of mediums, from ceramics to found objects. Her artwork integrates material and form to express complexity and conflicts. Nancy Bruno is a New York artist and educator. She is energized by clay and all the wonderful possibilities the ceramic process has to offer. She enjoys working with different clays, firing processes, and surface treatments. Her passion for clay comes from exploring the vast history of ceramics as well as her studies at the Pottery Workshop Jingdezhen and archaeological digs. Nancy's ceramic art references her experiences as a woman through ceramic sculpture and vessels, transforming the female figure, and integrating material and form to express complexity, conflicts, and emotion. Nancy's artwork has been exhibited in various NYC exhibitions and has curated exhibitions with Long Island City Artists. Bruno is currently a professional art teacher for NYC Department of Education.
India Evans “You don't just see India Evans' works, you enter them, drawn by a slightly illicit-feeling fascination, like you're sneaking into the underground temples of ancient Roman mystery cults. She often leads the eye down long hallways and dark passages that might open up to infinite vistas if we could follow them far enough. Released from their original settings, her antique nudes are free to entice and cavort to their own bacchic purposes...becoming elemental and ineffable as Egyptian gods. Or they choose to speak in butterflies or birds. Her images are tactile and layered, three-dimensional -- or maybe four, since time plays such a large hand in them. The lyrical language fragments she stitches into them can be like obscure inscriptions on broken monuments that occlude as much as they reveal. Maybe it's a dream language, at once surreal and familiar, earthy and numinous, holding keys to hidden mysteries. A young woman opens her legs at the center of a pattern that looks ancient and powerful, like a net of ley lines, or tribal tattoos. It seems an image of pure sex magic, but the inscription adds another dimension of meaning: my heart is the secret the universe is telling.” - John Strausbaugh
India Evans “You don't just see India Evans' works, you enter them, drawn by a slightly illicit-feeling fascination, like you're sneaking into the underground temples of ancient Roman mystery cults. She often leads the eye down long hallways and dark passages that might open up to infinite vistas if we could follow them far enough. Released from their original settings, her antique nudes are free to entice and cavort to their own bacchic purposes...becoming elemental and ineffable as Egyptian gods. Or they choose to speak in butterflies or birds. Her images are tactile and layered, three-dimensional -- or maybe four, since time plays such a large hand in them. The lyrical language fragments she stitches into them can be like obscure inscriptions on broken monuments that occlude as much as they reveal. Maybe it's a dream language, at once surreal and familiar, earthy and numinous, holding keys to hidden mysteries. A young woman opens her legs at the center of a pattern that looks ancient and powerful, like a net of ley lines, or tribal tattoos. It seems an image of pure sex magic, but the inscription adds another dimension of meaning: my heart is the secret the universe is telling.” - John Strausbaugh
Paola Martinez-Fiterre is a Cuban artist currently based in New York. Martinez Fiterre studied at the University of the Arts (ISA) in Havana until 2017. In 2019, she graduated from the International Center of Photography (ICP) in New York, having been awarded both the ICP Director's Fellowship and the ICP New Media Fellowship. Paola was recently awarded the Cintas Foundation Sondra Gilman Gonzalez-Falla Fellowship in Photography 2023-2024. Her practice focuses on the representation of the female subject traversed by the experience of migration. In the past two years, Paola Fiterre's work has been awarded The Reed Foundation Fellowship for Cuban Artists to attend the two-week residency at The Vermont Studio Center, En Foco Photography Fellowship in 2022; and the ICP x Tory Burch Artists Fellowship in 2021. Currently, Fiterre explores expanded photographic and performative practices. Her works are part of the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
Paola Martinez-Fiterre is a Cuban artist currently based in New York. Martinez Fiterre studied at the University of the Arts (ISA) in Havana until 2017. In 2019, she graduated from the International Center of Photography (ICP) in New York, having been awarded both the ICP Director's Fellowship and the ICP New Media Fellowship. Paola was recently awarded the Cintas Foundation Sondra Gilman Gonzalez-Falla Fellowship in Photography 2023-2024. Her practice focuses on the representation of the female subject traversed by the experience of migration. In the past two years, Paola Fiterre's work has been awarded The Reed Foundation Fellowship for Cuban Artists to attend the two-week residency at The Vermont Studio Center, En Foco Photography Fellowship in 2022; and the ICP x Tory Burch Artists Fellowship in 2021. Currently, Fiterre explores expanded photographic and performative practices. Her works are part of the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
Jay Michelle Elizondo
Michael (2020) is a drawing depicting my Father crying that I recreated by memory from his original, which served as a revenge gift to my mother for breaking his heart. Though she lost the original, it remained burned in my memory since I first laid eyes on it. As a child, my Father's drawing perplexed me as it challenged his homo- and Transphobia, shaming me for crying and not recognizing me as a girl. Witnessing his willingness to portray himself crying made me feel seen and validated.
I'm A Girl (2023) is a 5-minute digital video that features me at four years old, trying to desperately convince my family that I'm a girl, despite their resistance. The video is edited from a videocassette filmed by my Abuelita in her Columbus, Ohio, garden, with subtitles added for clarity and my deadname censored. I witnessed all the joy fade from my little childhood face, from innocently requesting to put makeup on for her picture to be taken, to being told by her Grandmother and Father that she’s not a girl and to stop pretending. I cried for her the first time I watched; I cried harder than I've cried in a long time. My life could have been so different if they had just believed me. This video confronts the harsh reality that trans children face when trying to express their true selves.
Missy (2020) is a series of photographs where I assume my mother’s appearance and perform her actions in her Columbus, Ohio home. I imitate her to better understand her experiences in times where my Transness has strained, yet deepened our bond. Alongside and throughout the photographs are my mother’s real-life personal objects re-imagined. Opulence fashioned from household objects are arranged across her bedroom vanity, car, and bathroom. I drenched their surfaces in crystals, sequins, and glitter mosaics, re-imagining them through a fantasy feminine outside the reality of their source material.intentionally blur the authorship between mother and child.
Jay Michelle Elizondo
Michael (2020) is a drawing depicting my Father crying that I recreated by memory from his original, which served as a revenge gift to my mother for breaking his heart. Though she lost the original, it remained burned in my memory since I first laid eyes on it. As a child, my Father's drawing perplexed me as it challenged his homo- and Transphobia, shaming me for crying and not recognizing me as a girl. Witnessing his willingness to portray himself crying made me feel seen and validated.
I'm A Girl (2023) is a 5-minute digital video that features me at four years old, trying to desperately convince my family that I'm a girl, despite their resistance. The video is edited from a videocassette filmed by my Abuelita in her Columbus, Ohio, garden, with subtitles added for clarity and my deadname censored. I witnessed all the joy fade from my little childhood face, from innocently requesting to put makeup on for her picture to be taken, to being told by her Grandmother and Father that she’s not a girl and to stop pretending. I cried for her the first time I watched; I cried harder than I've cried in a long time. My life could have been so different if they had just believed me. This video confronts the harsh reality that trans children face when trying to express their true selves.
Missy (2020) is a series of photographs where I assume my mother’s appearance and perform her actions in her Columbus, Ohio home. I imitate her to better understand her experiences in times where my Transness has strained, yet deepened our bond. Alongside and throughout the photographs are my mother’s real-life personal objects re-imagined. Opulence fashioned from household objects are arranged across her bedroom vanity, car, and bathroom. I drenched their surfaces in crystals, sequins, and glitter mosaics, re-imagining them through a fantasy feminine outside the reality of their source material.intentionally blur the authorship between mother and child.
Sandra Erbacher
My practice revolves around an exploration of the archive as a structure that reveals power dynamics, and reproduces oppressive social conditions. My primary focus lies on the in-between spaces, traces, and fragments found within different archives. I believe that an archive is partly defined by what it excludes - specifically, the voices, perspectives, and lived experiences of marginalized individuals. Bringing a postcolonial and feminist perspective to bear on the question, my aim is to not merely consider the content of the documents themselves on a linear historical timeline, but to point out gaps and biases, and to examine the bureaucratic system and structure of the institution in which an archive is embedded. By copying and remixing archival fragments and traces, which may take the form of photographs, or text-based documents through collage, my goal is to reorganize the grammar inherent in an archive. The image worlds constructed seek to instill doubt, question the limits of representation, and underscore the inadequacy of both language and image in conveying the complete story.
Sandra Erbacher
My practice revolves around an exploration of the archive as a structure that reveals power dynamics, and reproduces oppressive social conditions. My primary focus lies on the in-between spaces, traces, and fragments found within different archives. I believe that an archive is partly defined by what it excludes - specifically, the voices, perspectives, and lived experiences of marginalized individuals. Bringing a postcolonial and feminist perspective to bear on the question, my aim is to not merely consider the content of the documents themselves on a linear historical timeline, but to point out gaps and biases, and to examine the bureaucratic system and structure of the institution in which an archive is embedded. By copying and remixing archival fragments and traces, which may take the form of photographs, or text-based documents through collage, my goal is to reorganize the grammar inherent in an archive. The image worlds constructed seek to instill doubt, question the limits of representation, and underscore the inadequacy of both language and image in conveying the complete story.
Katelyn Kopenhaver
Kopenhaver initially deployed the phrase NOT FOR SALE in 2014 on the back of clothing pieces, a collaborative bangle project, and site-specifically on her back in Las Vegas. The phrase is a target for anyone who has ever felt, been, or is a commodity. Ten years later, she intentionally claims the opposite. WILL YOU BUY ME is a direct commentary on our cultural narcissism and what it means to sell one's "self" in the current 21st-century post-modern, truth-variable world. Debuted during the art fairs in Miami, guerilla-style, she became a commodity herself. She stood with a QR code
on her skin, blending in with the walls, the podiums, and the surrounding art, allowing people to scan, consume, and discard her. WILL YOU BUY ME is an eerie parallel to how organizations in positions of influence drive the perception of personal identity and commodification of the self. Being incessantly traded for social interaction and visibility - pushing for the consumption of sex, victimhood, imagery, polarization, and the refusal to acknowledge or understand oneself via mass media. The "products" she sells will morph and fluctuate as the project and its inputs evolve, producing different outcomes with unique results. At current: Katelyn's Advice - a phone call, Katelyn's Smile - an object in the mail, Katelyn's Debt - community service.
Katelyn Kopenhaver
Kopenhaver initially deployed the phrase NOT FOR SALE in 2014 on the back of clothing pieces, a collaborative bangle project, and site-specifically on her back in Las Vegas. The phrase is a target for anyone who has ever felt, been, or is a commodity. Ten years later, she intentionally claims the opposite. WILL YOU BUY ME is a direct commentary on our cultural narcissism and what it means to sell one's "self" in the current 21st-century post-modern, truth-variable world. Debuted during the art fairs in Miami, guerilla-style, she became a commodity herself. She stood with a QR code
on her skin, blending in with the walls, the podiums, and the surrounding art, allowing people to scan, consume, and discard her. WILL YOU BUY ME is an eerie parallel to how organizations in positions of influence drive the perception of personal identity and commodification of the self. Being incessantly traded for social interaction and visibility - pushing for the consumption of sex, victimhood, imagery, polarization, and the refusal to acknowledge or understand oneself via mass media. The "products" she sells will morph and fluctuate as the project and its inputs evolve, producing different outcomes with unique results. At current: Katelyn's Advice - a phone call, Katelyn's Smile - an object in the mail, Katelyn's Debt - community service.
Margaret Roleke
America faces large challenges; racism, gun violence, global warming, and an assault on the truth. My work is an urgent response to these issues. I create cyanotypes, prints, sculptures and installations that explore these themes. Living near Sandy Hook Elementary School, the site of a 2012 mass shooting, inspired sculptures made out of shotgun shells. To this day, I donate a percentage of all work sold to organizations that work for gun control. I move between different mediums creating work that speaks to current issues.
Margaret Roleke
America faces large challenges; racism, gun violence, global warming, and an assault on the truth. My work is an urgent response to these issues. I create cyanotypes, prints, sculptures and installations that explore these themes. Living near Sandy Hook Elementary School, the site of a 2012 mass shooting, inspired sculptures made out of shotgun shells. To this day, I donate a percentage of all work sold to organizations that work for gun control. I move between different mediums creating work that speaks to current issues.
Yolonda Ross
A personal highlight for Yolonda came in season four of The Chi, when her character Jada was diagnosed with breast cancer. Ross took it upon herself to learn more about the effects of cancer on the women who are fighting the disease everyday, primarily women of color. She visited, then began working with the grassroots organizations in Chicago, (CHET, Tatisa C Joiner Foundation, Equal Hope) that are helping to shrink health care disparities for women of color. The effects of Yolonda’s powerful portrayal moved viewers, so much so that a 100k gift was made by Rhonda Feinberg, on behalf of Joseph and Bessie Feinberg Foundation, to the cancer organizations Ross worked with. This generated the “Beauty Is Me” gala, that Yolonda put together to celebrate and raise awareness to the hard working grass root organizations she worked with during “Breast Cancer Awareness” month. It also gave Yolonda and the organizations the opportunity to thank the Feinbergs for their generous gift. At the event, Yolonda, an avid painter and photographer, unveiled portraits she took of several members capturing their strength and beauty at different stages of their cancer journey. The event was open to the public and warmly received. Prints can be purchased on the SHOP page. A portion of the proceeds go to the foundations Yolonda continues to work with.
Yolonda’s humanitarian work, as well as her acting work have been recognized by the Creative Coalition which honored her at their Hollywood Mother’s Day Tea: Salute to the Working Mothers Who Care event.
Yolonda Ross
A personal highlight for Yolonda came in season four of The Chi, when her character Jada was diagnosed with breast cancer. Ross took it upon herself to learn more about the effects of cancer on the women who are fighting the disease everyday, primarily women of color. She visited, then began working with the grassroots organizations in Chicago, (CHET, Tatisa C Joiner Foundation, Equal Hope) that are helping to shrink health care disparities for women of color. The effects of Yolonda’s powerful portrayal moved viewers, so much so that a 100k gift was made by Rhonda Feinberg, on behalf of Joseph and Bessie Feinberg Foundation, to the cancer organizations Ross worked with. This generated the “Beauty Is Me” gala, that Yolonda put together to celebrate and raise awareness to the hard working grass root organizations she worked with during “Breast Cancer Awareness” month. It also gave Yolonda and the organizations the opportunity to thank the Feinbergs for their generous gift. At the event, Yolonda, an avid painter and photographer, unveiled portraits she took of several members capturing their strength and beauty at different stages of their cancer journey. The event was open to the public and warmly received. Prints can be purchased on the SHOP page. A portion of the proceeds go to the foundations Yolonda continues to work with.
Yolonda’s humanitarian work, as well as her acting work have been recognized by the Creative Coalition which honored her at their Hollywood Mother’s Day Tea: Salute to the Working Mothers Who Care event.
Arlene Rush
When I was asked to do a proposal based on the chore poem, Sechita images spontaneously started to appear in my mind.
The emotional power of the poem speaks to me of gender, race, wishes, hopes, dreams and limitations experienced throughout history for women, particularly women of color.
The position of the sculpture low to the ground makes the viewer approach and embrace the platform like a stage. The rich purple fabric draped embraces the color of imagination while the lady in green dances the role of an Egyptian goddess of love.
As an archetype of feminine power and beauty, the interference oxide green petal-like forms give movement that signifies the dancing of her role.
The wealth of the Gold pennies is lessened by its value; cheapened by her status as an entertainer performing for a rude loud crowd.
In the center the glass mound reaches up to paradise with the shattering glass dispersed as the symbol to the allusion of her dreams and her ascension to heaven.
Arlene Rush
When I was asked to do a proposal based on the chore poem, Sechita images spontaneously started to appear in my mind.
The emotional power of the poem speaks to me of gender, race, wishes, hopes, dreams and limitations experienced throughout history for women, particularly women of color.
The position of the sculpture low to the ground makes the viewer approach and embrace the platform like a stage. The rich purple fabric draped embraces the color of imagination while the lady in green dances the role of an Egyptian goddess of love.
As an archetype of feminine power and beauty, the interference oxide green petal-like forms give movement that signifies the dancing of her role.
The wealth of the Gold pennies is lessened by its value; cheapened by her status as an entertainer performing for a rude loud crowd.
In the center the glass mound reaches up to paradise with the shattering glass dispersed as the symbol to the allusion of her dreams and her ascension to heaven.
Agata Surma
My art work has always been an exploration of life's complexities—its joys, sorrows, pains, and ecstasies with women at its center. My most recent series "Alchemical States" knits together a story of female genesis in the world constructed and run by men.
In my art, the woman is at the center of the world and holds no concern for the beholder, offering other women a path to a fuller image of freedom, without restriction, in the realm of sexuality, desire, and the feelings of sensual innocence and pleasure.
Apart from working with acrylic and oil paint, I use glass, silica sand, gold leaf and semi-precious stones to sculpt on canvas an atmosphere of chaotic abstract preciousness, elevating the images to a religious, icon like status. My women weave order out of this chaos, and even more so they draw their creative power from it.
I am drawn to texturing materials as they relate directly to my work experience in natural resource extraction. Viscous oil, shiny specks of gold, lustrous diamonds are so desirable, yet it's important to keep in mind that everything beautiful and precious must have a shadow side as well.
Agata Surma
My art work has always been an exploration of life's complexities—its joys, sorrows, pains, and ecstasies with women at its center. My most recent series "Alchemical States" knits together a story of female genesis in the world constructed and run by men.
In my art, the woman is at the center of the world and holds no concern for the beholder, offering other women a path to a fuller image of freedom, without restriction, in the realm of sexuality, desire, and the feelings of sensual innocence and pleasure.
Apart from working with acrylic and oil paint, I use glass, silica sand, gold leaf and semi-precious stones to sculpt on canvas an atmosphere of chaotic abstract preciousness, elevating the images to a religious, icon like status. My women weave order out of this chaos, and even more so they draw their creative power from it.
I am drawn to texturing materials as they relate directly to my work experience in natural resource extraction. Viscous oil, shiny specks of gold, lustrous diamonds are so desirable, yet it's important to keep in mind that everything beautiful and precious must have a shadow side as well.
Caroline Voagen Nelson
Her Vote is a multimedia project by Caroline Voagen Nelson developed in honor of the 100 years anniversary of the 19th Amendment, granting women the right to vote in the United States.
The project has encompassed a large site-specific animated installation, an animated book about notable suffragists, and augmented reality prints.
To learn more about the project, visit www.cvoagen.com/hervote
Caroline Voagen Nelson
Her Vote is a multimedia project by Caroline Voagen Nelson developed in honor of the 100 years anniversary of the 19th Amendment, granting women the right to vote in the United States.
The project has encompassed a large site-specific animated installation, an animated book about notable suffragists, and augmented reality prints.
To learn more about the project, visit www.cvoagen.com/hervote