I have always been inspired and awed by the primitive shapes and figures in cave paintings and in ancient African and Aztec art. Centaur Whimsy is part of a series of paintings in which I explore those elements. Pieces of canvas are stitched together to give it a textile feel and to add another dimension. Vivid color and different mediums also play with the primitive-like forms. Although these elements were the inspiration for my painting, it is what each viewer sees and feels that is the ultimate description for Centaur Whimsy.

This year is revealing a lot of unexpected and unusual experiences.

(We have included for your enjoyment a personal letter from President Natalia Koren Kropf detailing from her own point of view the challenges and sense of accomplishment that NAWA’s move to the National Arts Club has entailed, following her quarterly update below. Please also note the pictures and description of NAC’s historic premises in this issue. SB)

The New year is bringing us new hopes and new possibilities with the new office.

As the snowy blizzard has swept across the East Coast, our team is focusing on NAWA’s online exhibitions and virtual events, making sure NAWA is even more visible online. Although the quarantine is still in place, the social climate is hopeful for a change, and we all crave more in-person exhibitions and events. However, we are hoping for the Fall Season to be our coming out of the shell, and for the next six months, we will be online only.

With our new series NOON with NAWA, we are happy to see our members over the zoom every last Wednesday of the month at noon, to share the updates and answer any questions you might have. Please check your emails often for all NAWA announcements and zoom links.

Meanwhile, we have interesting online exhibits on our home page.

Cold, Resilience of Grief, Small Works Winter, the latter is the NAWA version of Affordable Art Fair, hence the size limitation. We are honoring March Women’s History Month with the exhibition Special Women. HERstory.

Our PR committee is working hard to keep the members together through the very engaging Facebook Members Group. If you have not done so already, please join us to keep our vibrant art community alive and interactive, share your work in progress, share your news, and most importantly, look at other artists’ work and give them your feedback.

Also please subscribe to NAWA YouTube Channel with amazing content and inspirational interviews.

NAWA’s NEW HEADQUARTERS

By
Natalia Koren Kropf

Thanks to a combination of circumstances, good luck, and extensive communication with all parties involved, NAWA has officially moved into a landmark building formerly known as Samuel Tilden Mansion, which bears a National Historic Landmark dedication plaque on the exterior wall. Some of you are familiar with the NAC which has hosted NAWA Annual Luncheons in recent years—a tradition we will be able to keep at a discounted price from now on!

While some of you may google “National Art Club NYC” to find out more about its history, I would like to tell you a story that will become NAWA’s history.

As our lease was ending, NAWA Board members were looking for an answer “To stay or to go?”

On one hand, we had an office with a gallery, in a location familiar to the members—next to public transportation, Port Authority, and Penn Station. On the other hand, during the lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we had been closed with no certain date to reopen. As of today, in February 2021, we are still operating remotely. We could not use the gallery nor allow visitors immediately after reopening.

Life in NYC as we know it has changed. We had moved our exhibitions and operations online, we developed our social media outreach, but the question remained unanswered: Shall we wait through the pandemic lockdown or take a risk, to make a move, and save money?

Luckily, one of NAWA’s members, Judi Gilden, who is also a member at The National Arts Club, was in communication with Susan G. Hammond in the past regarding NAWA Luncheons and other events hosted by NAC. I am thankful to Susan G. Hammond, former Executive Director and current Board Advisory member, who recommended Judi Gilden. Ms. Gilden remembered that NAWA formerly had shown interest in the NAC spaces. However, the timing was off, and the mutual interest did not come to fruition at that time.

Susan reached out to Judi to see if any spaces might become available during the six months of the Quarantine. Some of the guest rooms were being converted into offices and at a much lower cost than a regular office space.

By then we were successfully operating the office remotely. We had four online exhibitions, the 131st Annual, as well as hosting Virtual Receptions, establishing Online Jurying, distribution of the Awards, accepting New Members, and showcasing their work online. Theoretically, we could do with a limited size office and no gallery attached.
Several Board members (each time in different combinations) had been coming to the National Arts Club to see room availability. They were shown several rooms and we had to navigate between the size, the cost, and the location within the building. I had to negotiate a lot. The correspondence was quite extensive!

Ultimately the Board had to make the final decision: To keep paying high Manhattan rent with an uncertain prospect of re-opening in a year OR to move into the prestigious National Arts Club in a landmark building with a well-known historical address? Everyone on the Board exclaimed: “It’s a no-brainer!”, voting unanimously.

Now with Judi’s recommendation and Susan’s past business connections to NAC, the inquiry was sent out, revised, and to our amazement the spaces were available. Thus, the space for NAWA has been secured and that space is magnificent!

Personally, I am grateful to everyone who has made the transition to the office possible. First of all, my dear husband Eric H. Kropf who came with me to NAC on several occasions to help move the office furniture to the third floor without the elevator (!) and who offered his advice during the correspondence with the NAC Housing Committee. I would also like to thank Biana Kovic and Jill Baratta, who besides organizational work and correspondence, were physically involved in the move, packing and unpacking, and setting up the new office. It is a good thing we are in shape!

Professionally, I would like to thank each and everyone on the NAWA Board of Directors for their support, advice, and trust that everything would turn out well in the end.

You may be wondering about the loss of the physical gallery. We shall see. At this time, it is too early to tell, but one thing we had noticed while wondering in the maze of the NAC hallways, was their remodeling of gallery spaces, merging them into one ground floor gallery with movable walls.

Now the construction is complete, and we are in the process of negotiating the scheduling and pricing as the proud new tenants of the National Arts Club.

Dear NAWA Community,

I hope that you are continuing to engage in creative expressions during these unprecedented times.

The past three months have been very exciting and busy for NAWA.

On December 30th, we have proudly moved to our new location, 15 Gramercy Park South, Room 301, New York, NY 10003. NAWA also has a new phone number, 646.461.0068. We hope that this location will help us significantly impact the art world and look forward to hosting exhibits in 2022.

As most of you know, we have successfully moved all our scheduled exhibits online. Please visit the website (www.thenawa.org) to view your peers’ outstanding work if you have not done so already.

I am overjoyed to say that we have welcomed 38 new members from 17 states in January. Furthermore, we will have a new members exhibit and reception in April/May, and I invite you to mark your calendars. NAWA will be accepting new members’ applications again from March 1st to March 30th through www.showsubmit.com. If you know of any fellow artists who would enjoy being part of our community, please invite them to apply.

One of our goals for this year is to add additional features to the NAWA member accounts. You can currently add your website or a social media platform that features your work by simply logging into your member account, which will automatically update our member directory.

NAWA ‘s goal is to keep open communication with our members. This year we are taking a step further and are proud to say that NAWA’s President, Natalia Koren Kropf has started to host a live Zoom event called NOON with NAWA. The event will be hosted every last Wednesday of the month.

Lastly, our social media platforms are growing. If you have not done so already, please visit our YouTube channel, follow us on Instagram, like us on Facebook or join our Facebook GROUP which is exclusive for members.

As always, I wish you continued success and creative expression.

Warm Regards,
Biana

NAWA EXHIBITION AWARD WINNERS

COLD Awards
1st place: Winter, Christine Whalen-Waller, acrylic with collage
2nd place: The Throw Away Society, Joanna Biondolillo, photograph
3rd place: Snowy Day, Nancy Jacey, colored pencil on Illustration Board
Honorable Mention: Skating on the Frog Pond, Boston, Carolyn Latanision, watercolor

Winter Small Works Awards
1st place: The Lady of Shalott, Victoria Maria Ermler, oil on canvas
2nd place: Toe Shoes, Mary N. Hurwitz, sculpture
3rd place: Stepping Out, Sharon Krinsky, mixed media collage
Honorable Mention: Quagga, Edie A. Dillon, mixed media sculpture with found objects
Honorable Mention: Lena, Chesleigh Meade, mixed media collage
Honorable Mention: Lone Tree in the Lavender Field, Cynthia Fleury, color photography

Resilience of Grief Awards
1st place: Benjamin 1944, Sonia Stark, photography
2nd place: Gunned Down Grandsons, Patricia Anderson Turner, sculpture
3rd place: Memories and Monoliths, Linh Vivace, oil on canvas
Honorable Mention: Looking into the Depths, Pamela Flynn, seed beads on canvas

Jane Freilicher, Parts of a World, 1987, oil on linen, 68 1/2 x 53 inches, 174 x 134.6 cm. Courtesy of the Estate of Jane Freilicher.

Jane Freililcher: Parts of a World

Kasmin is delighted to announce a new exhibition of work by American painter Jane Freilicher (1924–2014) on view at 297 Tenth Avenue until February 27, 2021, comprising some 15 still lifes spanning the artist’s career from the 1950s to the early 2000s. Together, these works illuminate Freilicher’s interior world, tracing her steadfast attention to the intimate domestic subjects that characterize her scenes—flowers, drapery, and New York backdrops.

Freilicher’s light-swept canvases are instantly recognizable for their framing of everyday objects.  She often situates the viewer at the threshold of the inside and outside, her scenes derived from reality but painted into a fiction. Unconcerned by traditional associations between femininity and florals, Freilicher painted instead in the same spirit and dedication as Pierre Bonnard and Henri Matisse—a subtle and unrelenting observation of domestic life. “Her pictures always have an air of just coming into being, of tentativeness that is the lifeblood of art.” John Ashbery, a close friend of Freilicher’s, articulated this phenomenon.

A Brooklyn native, Jane Freilicher came of age in the era of Abstract Expressionism at the center of a group of influential artists and poets, including painters Willem de Kooning, Rudy Burckhardt, Joan Mitchell, Larry Rivers, Fairfield Porter, Alex Katz and poets John Ashbery, Kenneth Koch, and Frank O’Hara.

Founded by Paul Kasmin (1960–2020) in SoHo in 1989, Kasmin now encompasses two gallery spaces anchored in the heart of the Chelsea Arts District at 10th Avenue and 27th Street, New York City.

Betye Saar: Call and Response

(The Morgan Library & Museum, New York City)

(February is Black History Month, and we wanted to draw special attention to this exceptional woman artist. SB)

On August 26th, a monumental event took place on behalf of American women everywhere. The Women’s Rights Pioneer Monument was unveiled on Literary Walk in NYC’s Central Park, starring Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Sojourner Truth. This 14-foot bronze tribute, several years in the making by sculptor Meredith Bergmann, is long overdue. Until the present, if women wanted to see themselves memorialized in such a surrounding, they would have to go contemplate Alice in Wonderland with her Mad Hatter or the winged angel over Bethesda Fountain. Those days are gone.

Morgan Library & Museum
One of the most significant assemblage artists active today, Betye Saar (b. 1926, Los Angeles) addresses themes of spirituality, gender, and race in her work. She is part of the strong Southern Californian tradition of creating art through found objects. For the past fifty years, Saar has combined items typically discovered at flea markets and secondhand stores into conceptually and physically elaborate creations. “Finding something old that has its memory has always been important to me,” she explains.
Saar’s creative process starts with a particular found object—a piece of leather, a cot, a tray, a birdcage, an ironing board. These objects are ordinary, used, slightly debased things most people would simply pass by.

After identifying a primary object that calls to her, Saar surveys her stockpile of other found materials to see what feels appropriate to combine with it. Once she has arrived at a vision of the final work in her mind’s eye, Saar responds with a sketch: “The sketch is to remind me how [a piece] is going to look when I get it put together.”

Saar has kept sketchbooks throughout her career, laying out quick visuals for works. She has also kept more elaborate travel sketchbooks containing exquisite watercolors and collages. This exhibition offers the first public opportunity to view Saar’s sketchbooks and examine the relationship among her found objects, sketches, and finished works—illuminating, in the artist’s words, “the mysterious transformation of object into art.”

https://www.themorgan.org/exhibitions/betye-saar

VIOLA FREY
August 15, 1933 – July 26, 2004

By Sarah Katz

Viola Frey with monumental figures and paintings in her studio, Oakland, CA, 1987. Image courtesy of M. Lee Fatherree; artworks by Viola Frey © Artists’ Legacy Foundation/ Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY

I met Viola Frey when I went to California College of the Arts and Crafts. She blew my mind. I had had two years of study in ceramics at The School for American Craftsmen at RIT under Franz Wildenheim, a Bauhaus potter, so I had learned a very European tradition. I had begun to make pots without holes, which caused a a philosophical crisis in me and I thought if I was making sculpture, and not pots, I should change my major and study sculpture. So, I did. The forms that I was making weren’t really that much different than my pots, but then I saw Viola’s work, and everything I thought I knew flew off the table. She was making these big, round forms with objects and shapes hanging off them, fighting for space, writhing and shouting about the past, the present, and the future. It was very disturbing and wonderful and a bit scary!

MYRNA HASKELL

(It’s a real pleasure to welcome Myrna as a new board member to NAWA. She is a talented and committed publisher, devoted to insuring women everywhere can speak their minds and hearts through Sanctuary, the women’s magazine she created. She is also one of the liveliest and warmest individuals I’ve had the pleasure of knowing and working with. She is simply effervescent, so let’s raise a glass to her success! SB)

As the founding publisher and editor of Sanctuary, a magazine devoted to creative and mindful wellbeing for women, you obviously have a passionate interest in communication, a mission of sorts to reach out to others. How did this drive that you obviously possess begin? Was it from early childhood or later?
It was after decades of writing for others as a freelance journalist and columnist that I started to think about managing my own publication. I wanted to be able to drive a publication’s voice, direction, and overall content. I had taken on many volunteer leadership roles for organizations in local public schools and communities while my children were growing up. This is when I realized I could use my leadership and organizational strengths to run something of my own.

I’m a doer – I’ve always been a person who cuts through the noise and gets things done. This has really helped me to lead Sanctuary. Of course, a lot of this also has to do with Sanctuary’s team of women – creative, professional, and giving human beings whom I trust and admire.

Did your parents encourage your creative and humanitarian interests?
My mother is a prolific reader with an incredible vocabulary and insane spelling skills. She used to edit my work early on – things like book reviews and projects in elementary school. She was also a trained dancer throughout her school years, and my love of dance and Broadway was something that she inspired. My dad is a retired IBM executive – a math guy. His business acumen rubbed off on me. He taught me fiscal responsibility – a must when you’re a business owner. My parents were also donors to charities they held close to their hearts – particularly children’s charities.

Who were your muses? Was it a particular person – teacher, friend or another source that inspired you?
I have two mentors who have become lifelong friends and confidantes.

Mary (now Mare) Leonard was my AP English teacher in high school. She encouraged me to write for the school newspaper and to continue my writing pursuits in college. We’ve stayed in touch all these years – regularly getting together for lunch and sharing our journeys. She is now on the Sanctuary Team as section editor for our Poetry Corner. As an award-winning poet and lifelong educator, she was also a featured artist in Sanctuary.

Eugene (Gene) Mirabelli was my creative writing professor when I was an undergrad. He saw something in me and has continued to offer his sage advice and encouragement throughout my career. I have followed his career, too, attending several of his book signings over the years. Most recently, I had the privilege of interviewing him in the June 2020 issue of Sanctuary.

Sanctuary often focuses on the creative process – painting, writing, and other forms of the arts. How do you express that impulse in your own life and work?
I was a fine arts minor as an undergrad. My favorite mediums were charcoal and pastel. I’ve always been interested in dance as well. For years, I was a competitive gymnast who was serious about the artistic elements of the sport. I received training in modern dance and jazz and spent several years as a choreographer for high school and NCAA gymnasts. My favorite pastimes include attending live music events, Broadway shows, and art exhibitions.

As an informed reader, what did you hope to accomplish with your own publication?
There is an inordinate amount of negativity out there, and with the continued proliferation of social media and online publications and blogs, there is also an endless amount of information; ergo, a serious consumer must navigate through the muck to get to the quality stuff.

Sanctuary was conceived as a space for women to explore and discover, to grow and reinvent. The arts and humanitarian pursuits are a big focus. But we also publish a myriad of health and wellness articles, interviews with women who have interesting career journeys, travel journals and financial advice. Also in the mix is our popular GUEST ROOM, an interactive section that enables our readers to literally be part of our community. That was a big part of the founding – creating an active community, not merely a place to find information.

How did you first become involved with NAWA and its focus and support of women in the arts?
I heard about NAWA from a couple of its members and decided to contact Susan Hammond, who was executive director of the association at that time. After speaking with Susan, I decided to feature her and the work that NAWA was doing to support women artists – after all, it was a perfect fit with our missions so well aligned. I’ve since attended several of the annual member shows, the 130th Anniversary Commemorative Reception and several other events.

I heard about NAWA from a couple of its members and decided to contact Susan Hammond, who was executive director of the association at that time. After speaking with Susan, I decided to feature her and the work that NAWA was doing to support women artists – after all, it was a perfect fit with our missions so well aligned. I’ve since attended several of the annual member shows, the 130th Anniversary Commemorative Reception and several other events.

As a board member of NAWA, what do you think we need to continue to do to provide women artists a stronger footing in the world at large?
I am honored to begin work with NAWA. I think NAWA should continue to find ways to garner attention in the social media arena and digital space. I’ve noticed that the association is pursuing a stronger online presence with new virtual programs. It’s the future, and we’ve seen how important it can be when folks are unable to attend events and exhibitions in person. These ‘virtual arms’ that many businesses established or focused on for the first time during this pandemic are here to stay.
I think it’s also important to reach a young audience and to push for member artists who are just beginning their careers – they are the future of the organization.

Has the COVID-19 virus impacted your plans for Sanctuary and its focus? On your own life?
I think it has adversely impacted everyone in one form or another. Our focus and content remained the same, but the shutdowns, social distancing, and inability to attend events were detrimental. Sanctuary is part of several women’s business and community groups, and attendance at in-person events is essential for spreading the word about what we do. Our content is free, and our e-newsletter subscription is free. Our only means of income is through sponsorship, supporters, and events advertising. When businesses are just trying to keep people employed and are seeing their bottom line shrink to next to nothing, they are not considering new advertising expenses.

We’ve had to reimagine and get creative with new material. We started a new virtual interview show titled Sanctuary’s Coffee & Conversation, and we’ve been more active on our YouTube channel and with video creation. Fortunately, we’ve managed to keep going. We kept our chins up and forged forward. We’re hanging on and hanging in.

Personally, I’m a hugger. I miss physical contact with friends and family. I continue to worry about my parents and others who have had to stay almost completely isolated. But I’m hopeful that there are good times ahead now that the vaccine is being distributed.

MASSACHUSETTS

Jennifer Costello and her son in the snow.

A New Year on being even more together and stronger creatively. When we got to describing the year that had just wrapped up, my family and I were alternately joyous and maybe saddened just a bit to hear my kid’s descriptions: “A Lot Happened” seemed to be the best overall summary; “Loved Being Outside” was inspiring; and “We Missed Out” was, well, a true-to-life-bummer.

We have missed out, no doubt, and to say otherwise is being disingenuous. Yes, we haven’t been out of the state for over half a year. And because we weren’t rushing around here and there, we enjoyed more meaningful family time together this past break than, well, it seems like, ever! I truly feel like we’re beginning to see the “light at the end of the tunnel.” I can assure you, we’re not letting up on our efforts to keep everyone safe and healthy, as we continue to be a source of social connection and well-being for our colleagues.

Some of the highlights of our chapter have been continuing our members’ visibility through Hello World, An Art Affair Around the Globe (a virtual travelogue of artworks created by nearly 250 artists working in Europe, Africa, Asia, the Americas, and Australia: https://transculturalexchange.org/activities/hw/venues.htm) and our online ‘Shops’ and the power of collaboration e.g. SEBA (South End Business Alliance) to support, strengthen and unify. We continue to have sales, virtual presence, and bricks n’ mortar presence to maximize our members’ artistic talents.

Hello 2021, as we are “freshly-pressed” and smiling just like as in every other year as we continue to connect, share, and celebrate the many great things this new year can and has brought for us thus far. With that said, we are pleased to announce the ‘WOMXN’ Call for Entries. ‘WOMXN’ is an open themed juried exhibition. ‘WOMXN’ is in the mind, in the heart, and in the soul. This invitational group exhibition of 2D and 3D works explore being masculine and feminine at the same time. The willingness to endure, ‘summit’ to, or at least try. To stand up for what is right or to be able to feel the good in our hearts. This exciting exhibition opportunity is in the historic Hooper Mansion, Marblehead. MAA is in its 99th year of “bringing art to life”.

Our Chapter continues to grow with a healthy roster of 2021 and beyond exhibitions: 10 and counting, www.nawama.org/calendar , Sheltering in Place III Social, along with our Scholarship 2021 recipients to come. These bright and talented young women will each receive $1500 along with the third underwritten by Signature Consulting. We continue with scheduled demo/talks such as ‘A Few Basics of Marketing and an Introduction to Instagram’ as part of ‘Your Social Media Arsenal II&III’, along with PR coverage via sponsor Artscope Magazine, Artscope e-blast, IG, and Facebook.

Let’s end by saying ‘THANK YOU’ for being such an integral component in this shared responsibility that is being a strong creative voice.

Jennifer Jean Costello, President
MASSACHUSETTS CHAPTER

FLORIDA CHAPTER

by Roberta Milman-Ide, President

NAWAFL is busier than ever!  We are currently (March 4th – April 3^rd) exhibiting in the Miami Beach Botanical Garden Butterfly Gallery.  Perennial Power: Women, Art & Nature will begin with our Opening Reception on the 4^th and will include a Meet the Artist and a tour of the Gardens on that day, as well as a talk sometime during the month. The Gallery is open to the public Thursday-Sunday, 11am-5pm.

Miami Beach Botanical Garden Butterfly Gallery. Left to right: Anabel Rub Peicher, Leslie Maloff, Sara Zigdon, Roberta Millman-Ide, Judith Kirtley, Katherine Coakley, Beth Scher, Penny Seldin, Anika Savage, Judith Carlin

Our Annual Luncheon takes place at the Aura (outdoor patio cafe at Books & Books) on the famous South Beach Lincoln Road, just walking distance from our Reception.  This has come together due to the hard work of our Coordinator, Katherine Coakley, and with the help of many other volunteers to make it happen.

Left to right: Anabel Rub Peicher, Katherine Coakley, Roberta Millman-Ide

In June, the three NAWA Chapters are coming together again, for Some Like It Hot II; an online Exhibit.  And in August, we’re looking forward to exhibiting at the 621Gallery in Tallahassee, thanks to our Exhibition Coordinator, Ann E. Kozeliski.  And in between, and thanks to our online event coordinator, Anabel Rub Peicher, we’re continually engaging our members with online workshops, presentations and art salons.

Miami Beach Botanical Garden

On February 17th, Anika Savage, Pat Zalisko & I joined up for our online artist panel on “Making an Impact with Marketing your Art & Yourself as an Artist.”  And on March 23rd Pat will be hosting the 15-word exercise (a wonderfully kind way to critique others & your own artwork).  And, after that, we’ll be having another Spring Salon, so all members in attendance can introduce themselves and share their current works of art!

By Nancy Vineburgh

The Last Painting of Sara de Vos

By Dominic Smith

Sometimes the past enlightens us. Sometimes the past entraps us. In The Last Painting of Sara de Vos, the key protagonists are caught up in an artistic dance that enlightens and entraps them throughout their respective lives. What’s at stake is their integrity, their moral compass, their obsessions and ultimately their redemptions, each to the other.

Eleanor Shipley (aka Ellie) is an Australian grad student living in Brooklyn, New York during the 1950’s. She succumbs to creating a forgery of a painting, ‘At the Edge of a Wood’, by a Dutch, 17th century, female artist, Sara de Vos. Pigeon-holed as a still-life artist by the male-dominated Guild of St. Luke, de Vos creates the above-mentioned painting after the loss of her only child. A wealthy Dutch merchant discovers and purchases it smitten by the emotions it evokes.

“A scene so ethereal…The boy waving from the ice with the dog at his heels, his scarf nothing more than a yellow crinkle, a shaving of lemon rind. The barefoot girl with her pale hand against the birch, leaning toward the skaters…It is about the moment before nightfall, about waiting to cross over.”

Generations of the family have owned it and ultimately 300 years later, it is in the possession of family member, Marty de Groot. Stolen from his NYC penthouse and replaced with Shipley’s forgery, de Groot embarks upon a journey to find the original. The dance begins!

Shipley ends up in Sydney, Australia in 2000, a renowned art historian and curator of 17th century, Dutch female artists. As she prepares for an exhibition, Female Painters of the Dutch Golden Age, de Groot arrives from America with his reclaimed ‘At the ‘Edge of a Wood’ painting. He is seeking to redeem a past that has tormented him as the forgery has tormented Shipley. With both the forgery and the original now exposed, Shipley’s reputation and career are threatened. The resolution involves not just rescued egos, but the unveiling of other de Vos paintings that expand the scope of de Vos scholarship in the art world.

Dominic Smith, the author, acknowledges that The Last Painting of Sara de Vos surpasses his other novels in its outreach to experts. Smith collaborated with Stephen Gritt, head of conservation at the National Gallery of Canada who educated the author about lead-tin yellow. Lead-tin yellow was the main bright yellow used in the 17th century falling out of favor by 1740. Synthetic yellows emerged in the 19th century. Lead-tin yellow was difficult to make and highly poisonous, but imbued the surface with a spectacular brightness unachievable with synthetic pigments. Regarding the skater’s scarf, the original ‘At the Edge of a Wood’ possessed this illumination; the forgery did not.

I highly recommend The Last Painting of Sara de Vos for its intricate plot and adherence to many art-related topics – conservation, art history, art collectors and curatorial challenges. Add to this the human qualities around invincibility, regret, shame and redemption. These relatable emotions are further reasons for reading or rereading this literary classic.

Painting of Elizabeth Cady Stanton by Sandra Bertrand

When Vice President Jill Baratta recently contacted Elizabeth Blake, sponsor of the Elizabeth Stanton Blake Memorial Award (one of NAWA’s annual medal of honor awards) to verify her address, Elizabeth wrote back with some fascinating news. For our readers’ information, Elizabeth is 90 years old, is the daughter of Elizabeth Stanton Blake, who was famed suffragette Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s daughter. A distinguished lineage!

Elizabeth Cady Stanton was an artist as well as a past president of NAWA (1928-1930). In honor of such a family history, granddaughter Elizabeth has requested that NAWA’s future award reflect Cady in the award name.
We are delighted to include Elizabeth Blake’s letter to Jill, which we hope will provide you with a colorful history lesson about our organization. (SB)

Dear Jill,
I’m not a painter myself (I’m an emeritus professor of French) but stepping into the studio of any painter in oil, and smelling the turpentine and linseed oil, brings back childhood memories for me.

The Elizabeth Cady Stanton Blake Award was established by me, using income from the estate my mother passed on to me. My mother Betty Stanton was not only a professional portrait painter (E. C. Stanton) but a knowledgeable investor, having been trained by Mr. Barron (of “Barron’s Weekly”) himself. In the Great Depression, she saved the National Association of Painters & Sculptors (as NAWA was then known) by selling its old headquarters building & buying The Argent Galleries, on 57th St., near Carnegie Hall. That location became the center of art action in the 30s & 40s, allowing the Galleries to do well.

I look forward to receiving the Annual catalogue. That also brings back memories. I believe Eleanor Roosevelt came to the Opening Exhibition one year. I was thrilled when she shook my hand—I kept my glove (children wore gloves in those days) for years!

Wishing you much success in your own work,
Bettina Blake

Marla Brenner and Terri Beck-Engel
Firefly Coffee House
Oregon, Wisconsin
March 2 – April 30, 2021

Kathleen Zimmerman
EXPLORING
GR Art Gallery
1086 Long Ridge Road
Stamford, CT

(Kathleen Zimmerman’s serigraph, To Be or Not To Be? Forest, was juried into the International exhibition, Printmaking from the Edge! This exhibition is hosted by the award-winning Art Center in Dover, New Hampshire, from January through February 2021, both virtually, and on location. )

Denise Lorenz
Lone Star College CyFair Continuum: A Retrospective
5000 Research Forest Drive, Cypress, Texas
January 21 – February 25, 2021

Natalia Koren Kropf
President Natalia Koren Kropf had an impressive new international solo exhibit (November 14-December 19, 2020) we are delighted to bring to your attention, as well as her touching description that accompanies it.)

Time for Air, original, with monotype fragment, 12 x 12 in.

Paying the hommage to her native St.Petersburg, Natalia created a new series of work on paper Daily Eternal describing the relationship between the elements of Nature and Human activity in the Baltic Sea region and beyond.

Her work presented in the IV International Art Festival Living Gulf of Finland 2020 at the Modern Art Museum ARTMUZA raises the awareness of our daily living by putting it in a timeless perspective. It reminds us that even the air cannot be taken for granted. A sustainable lifestyle is not an option – it is a necessity. It is time to remember that we consist of the same elements as our surroundings.

DAILY ETERNAL series

The time in which we happen to live needs us.
We need clean air, drinkable water, habitable climate.
This year’s global events teach us how interrelated all the components of nature and society are.
Thus, disharmony in one element, namely the air, is affecting all aspects of life.
Air exists in time. The climate has its location.
Transformation is a property of water, while Consciousness is a human quality.

My recent series DAILY ETERNAL represents a visual contemplation about the relationship between the elements of Nature and interfering human activity. The collage TIME FOR AIR reflects how the daily vital need to breathe is tightly intertwined with the timeless but not limitless resources of the earth, water, fire, and air.

© Natalia Koren Kropf
December 2020, New York City
To see more of Natalia’s exhibition, please go to:
https://www.korenkropf.com/daily-eternal

Sandra Bertrand
Highbrow Magazine, “Philadelphia Pays Homage to Illustrator Wanda Gág”
(Some artworks are so timeless, they never go out of style. But every now and then, these creations and the creator behind them need a little push to bring them into the light again. The Philadelphia Museum of Art has done just that with its current exhibition Artist in Focus: Wanda Gág.

To have created Millions of Cats, the oldest American picture book for children still in print, is laudable enough, but Wanda Gág (1893-1946) proved herself time and again with her distinctive drawings, woodcuts, watercolors, and lithographs.)

Amy Hutto
Cover Art
Discover Fort Collins

Patricia Raible
Artworks for Next to Godliness, story by Rose Himber
North Carolina Literary Review 2021

For women have sat indoors all these millions of years, so that by this time the very walls are permeated by their creative force…which has, indeed, so overcharged the capacity of bricks and mortar that it must needs harness itself to pens and brushes and business and politics. (Virginia Woolf)

I recently discovered those prescient words on a pamphlet for NAWA’s permanent collection at the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey.  I couldn’t help thinking of how many of us have spent our daily lives indoors during the current pandemic.  In addition to daily chores, some of those hours have been spent trying to harness our creative powers, to summon our better angels to create the artwork that lies within our minds and hearts.

Now, with the promise of vaccinations on the horizon, a new day is coming.  Just as spring bursts forth with new life, filling the air with fresh expectations, we too will find new inspiration.  NAWA has a new home at the National Arts Club, with future plans for the events and exhibits that will unite us again.

We encourage you to reach out to us with your news.  This is your newsletter, and we want to fill it not only with your exhibitions but the thoughts and activities that replenish and inspire you. Please keep in touch as we continue to make NAWA the strong and supportive national organization it has proven itself to be!