The past four months, my painting titled "Divine Love That Surrounds Me" has been included in the traveling exhibition ~ "Celebrating Women of Courage".
Early February is when I received the call to include my oil painting of the "young woman" into this exhibition located at the Ukrainian National Museum in Chicago, Illinois. The local Iroquois Museum in Howe Caverns recruited me and my painting to be included within that exhibition. The show is a dedicated to women who are veterans of war and honoring the strength, power, and beauty of women. We all have things that happened in our lives, and we all need a way to express them. This is what this show wanted to showcase, was the strength that we as women possess. Even in the face of despair and grief, we still rise from the ashes of sadness and hurt to create something beautiful and meaningful for ourselves. By helping ourselves, and believing on our own strengths as individuals and as women, we in turn help the people that are important in our lives by giving them hope and strength to be a better version of themselves.
This is why I am so honored to be a part of this exhibition. I as a woman have seen my fair share of grief and hardships, but I don't have any regrets about what has happened in my life. Good or bad, each experience that occurs in our life happened for a reason. It is to encourage us to be better versions of ourselves, to teach us valuable life lessons, and to reward us for our blessings and gratefulness. "Divine Love That Surrounds Me" is a simple visual depiction of the strength of women. As Haundeonsaunee (People of the Longhouse), women very important part of the community. She is the life giver, and with out her life will be nonexistent. The painting is a visual story that we as women carry a lot and we have to carry get our strength from our families and communities. The most important support we have is with ourselves and with Creator.
I am very honored to have been chosen to be a part of this exhibit. My work for the first time is traveling to other galleries across the United States, that makes me very proud. My painting is a representation of the work that I do as an artist, and glorifying the beauty and strength of Haudenodaunee women.
Divine Love That Surrounds Me, Oil on Canvas, 24x36 in., 2014