Leah Broyde Abrahams

“The illiterate of the future will be the person ignorant of the use of the camera as well as the pen.” László Moholy-Nagy

This quote resonates for Leah Broyde Abrahams of Chestnut Hill, MA, a newly inducted member of NAWA. She spent the last 20 years working on her visual art skills, primarily as a photographer, at the same time that she was a ghost for her clients. A ghost? Yes, a ghost writer, editor, and book packager for individuals who wanted their legacy to their family expressed as a memoir. While some of these memoirs were videos, Leah primarily wrote or edited books for individuals, families, authors of children’s books, and authors of short stories. The photo below shows some of her books, several of which won prizes for independent publishing.

Leah’s academic background includes a Master’s in medical sociology (University of Wisconsin-Madison) and a Bachelor’s in Psychology (Northwestern University). After marriage and moving to Green Bay, WI, she found work directly related to her training: evaluation of publicly funded programs and market research. Later, she branched out into Personal History. She studied photography in workshops with Joel Meyerowitz, Arno Rafael Minkkinen, Karen Davis, Meg Birnbaum and others. While raising her children, she co-founded a co-op gallery/studio. Ten years ago, she and her partner, Jim, moved to Boston.

“My art reflects what I care about,” Leah said. “I regret the focus of our culture that glamorizes youth and has trouble with the whole concept of aging.” To express her views, Leah has created a series called “Aging Gracefully,” using wrinkled and moldy food items to show the beauty of aging. (See images below.) After being a Personal Historian for 20 years, she thought about the relationship between how we see ourselves and how others see us. Cubism is a means for her to express these interests. “When I studied with Joel, he labelled me ‘quirky.’ Arno decided I’m an ‘eclectic’ rather than a single-minded fanatic, and capable of finding the beauty in the world, as well as the humor.”

Aging Gracefully, Photograph

Leah was honored last year to have her first photobook project juried into the 13th Annual Photobook Exhibition. The book was printed half upside down (known as dos-à-dos binding) and incorporated two series: “The Colors of Jazz,” which showed experimentation with long exposures and “Aliens Landed and Left Messages.”

Aging Gracefully, Photograph

Leah shared a close-up photograph, looking inside the boxes that store lobster nets. She also described her most recently completed project—as a first-time curator, gathering digitals of artwork from artists working in a variety of mediums in Haifa and Boston and presenting them on a video via the concept of a “Telephone Game.”

Carol Boram-Hays

Whoosh; steel and duct tape; 114 in. X 80 in. X 48 in. 2017

I am a sculptor and installation artist who is based in Columbus, OH. As a child, my family would travel up the Ohio River to visit my grandparents, in East Liverpool, OH, where my grandfather worked in a steel mill. Passing the enormous factories along the river, I developed a lifelong interest in the impacts of industrialization on both humans and the environment. It is a topic I have been exploring through my work for more than 30 years.

Recently, I have become especially interested in the way nature is adapting to all of the changes brought about by humans with life forms that fuse the natural and the human made. Mollusks incorporating plastics into their shells, organisms adapting to tolerate former poisons, and animals that use refuse to create their homes are just some of the modifications nature is devising.

I work with materials associated with industrialization – cement, objects reclaimed from factories and cast plastics. The concrete and reclaimed materials reference how humanity has manipulated natural materials; and, according to geologists Colin Neil Waters and Jan Zalasiewicz, concrete is the most abundant human-created material on earth and is an important marker of the Anthropocene age. The uncanny forms in my work are intended to suggest an animated fusion of the organic and the industrial. The colors are meant to evoke the natural changes that are happening to these materials.

Tip Toe; cast concrete, reclaimed and pigments; 17 in. X 14 in. X 5 in.2022

I recently completed an installation in the project space at Columbus College of Art and Design that was a vision of the oceans in the future, featuring 25 elements that mixed glow-in-the-dark elements and industrial materials. The space was lit in black light. A video bathed the floor and lower walls with images of rippling water, and there were speakers in some pieces that emitted remixed fish noises. Adding to the futuristic effects, the project statement was accessed by QR code and played a text read by an AI version of Werner Herzog. The reactions to the installation ranged from wonder to joy to discomfort, with viewers immediately understanding the message. The success of this work has encouraged me to become more deeply involved in creating multisensory experiences.

Bristle; cast concrete, reclaimed and pigments; 22 in. X 20 in. X 13 in. (sculpture only); 2024

Into the Uncanny Abyss; mixed media installation; 20 ft. X 40ft. X 20 ft. 2025

Jacqueline Lorieo, NAWA President

I am a retired pediatric Occupational Therapist, and my husband is a retired general surgeon. Medical practice has informed my life and my work. When I studied sculpture with Greg Wyatt, Martine Vaugel, Ron Mineo and Mike Keropian, my anatomical studies and scientific knowledge greatly influenced my work. I applied the principles of proportion and human function to my art, whether in a large figurative form or a small hand-held piece.

I am well known for my medals. A medal is a small handheld sculpture. It can be made from multiple materials. The themes range from personal to universal, to honoring an individual or organization. The medals shown below represent this variety of ideas.

The Organ Donation Box

The first medal is called the Organ Donation Box (Figure 1). It is a tribute to doctors who transplant lifesaving organs from donors – lungs, heart, bone, liver, kidneys. This is the ultimate recycling to save lives. The idea for the box stems from the donation boxes that are seen in Catholic churches.

The Organ Donation Box was created from fine-gauge silver pieces and soldered together. The negative images on the front (obverse) were hand-sawed and removed, including the title. The piece measures 4.5”x 3.5”x 1”. The donated organs were cut out and rendered in repoussé (hammered over a form) to create the shapes. The lungs, heart, kidney, and liver were made of copper, and the bone was silver. The organs range in size from 2” to 3”.

The pieces can be dropped through the rectangular opening at the top (Figure 2). The front panel slides up to remove the organs. The back (reverse) contains an engraved donation form that appears on driver licenses (Figure 3).

Figure 1: “Organ Donation Box” with all pieces shown.
Figure 2: “Organ Donation Box” with the heart piece inside

Figure 3. “Organ Donation Box” Back (Reverse).

REMEMBRANCE; THE 9/11 SERIES

This grouping of three medals called “Remembrance” commemorates the events of September 11, 2001. I felt compelled to create artworks to help make sense of what made no sense on that fateful day. This is my small installation and contribution.

9/11/01 – 15 MINUTES BEFORE
The first piece of the series is named “9/11/01 – 15 Minutes Before” (Figures 4-6). It was a beautiful clear sunny day. This piece is a triangle of high polished silver. On one side (obverse) are the Twin Towers and on the other side (reverse) is an X.
The pieces, including the hinges, were soldered on fine gauge silver. The triangle measures 2”x 2”x 2” closed, and 2”x 5.75” open. There is a pin on top which can be pulled, and then the piece opens flat showing the tarnished silver, like the destroyed buildings. When silver is exposed to the air, it starts turning color. It can be cleaned, and a protective coating applied to protect it.

Figure 4. “9/11/01 – 15 Minutes Before” obverse.

Figure 5. “9/11/01 – 15 Minutes Before” reverse.

Figure 6. “9/11/01 – 15 Minutes Before” Open.

9/11/01 – The Day After

The second piece in the series is named “9/11/01 – The Day After” (Figures 7-9). The image reflects one of the pictures shown in a newspaper of one partial wall standing with some arches still intact. The piece is formed of distressed copper, is free-standing and can be opened. It measures 5”x 1.5” x 1.5” closed, and 4” x 5” x 1.5” when open. Pieces were hand-sawed and soldered together. The lines on the back were acid etched. When the acid solution is applied to the copper, it eats into the medal.

The text inside was engraved and reads: 9/11 Heroes: NYPD, FDNY, EMS, metal workers, NYC citizens, mayor, soldiers. Democracy/Freedom of: thought, education, movement, music. Freedom for: women and men. Freedom from: tyranny.

Figure 7. “9/11/01 – The Day After” Front, Closed.

Figure 8. “9/11/01 – The Day After” Back, Closed.

Figure 9. “9/11/01 – The Day After” Open.

9/11/01 – STILL UNITED

The third piece in the series is named “9/11/01 – Still United” (Figure 10). It is based on images of a flag that survived and on which people wrote messages. The piece was made of copper, silver rings and paint, and measures 4” x 6”. The copper was cut into triangles to represent how a flag is folded. The triangulation is supposed to symbolize a colonial tricorn hat. The flag is draped over a black box resembling a coffin. Some of the messages painted on the flag are “our innocence, our missing, our funerals, our heroes, gratitude, determination, optimism.”
Even 20 years later, this piece can raise tears and heartfelt emotion. That is the worth and reason for creating art and these small gems of expression.

Figure 10. “9/11/01 – Still United.

My work has been included in public and private collections, including the British Museum, The American Numismatic Society, Helen Hayes Hospital, NY, and Gaylord Hospital CT. My work has won awards, including the gold medal for sculpture from NAWA.

My professional memberships include the American Artist Professional League, the American Medallic Sculpture Association, Hudson Valley Art Association, Mamaroneck Artist Guild, NAWA, the New England Sculpture Association, and the New York Society of Women Artists. I have served as an officer and on the board of several organizations, and currently serve as President of NAWA.

Lola Sandino Stanton

Even though I never studied art in college, I always knew I wanted to be an artist. I studied in the United States on scholarship at liberal arts colleges with very small art departments. After graduating with a degree in studio art, I worked many different jobs and in my ‘50s I was able to get a job teaching art in high school. I taught the students whatever I knew, including Papier Maché and photography.

After retirement, I took a three-month class with Cornelia Foss in figure painting at The Art Students League of New York. I concentrated on the faces and really enjoyed it. After that class, I kept painting on my own and improving. Before joining the League, I had taken a portrait seminar with Phillipe Halsman. That sharpened my eye and made faces very interesting to me. I am sure that both experiences are the reason I do portraits today.

Trevor (Latino Kids with a blackbird)

My first portrait series was an essay on the students I got to know while teaching. It was a series of 15 portraits of young people with a blackbird. The blackbird, a very wise animal, served as a spiritual guide. I had a solo exhibition in 2017 and, thankfully, the series was shown at The Overlook Medical Center in Summit, NJ in October-November 2024.

Dagmar

While searching for an idea for a new series, I realized that it was right in front of me. My son, Trevor, is gay, and I decided that portraits of members of the LGBTQ community would be my next endeavor. I had barely begun when the COVID-19 pandemic hit us. Because I work from photographs, I had to stop painting portraits for more than a year. I am almost done and now looking for a gallery for my second solo exhibition. I am so thankful that all the people I asked to pose for me gave me a yes!

Eric

I’ll never forget that while painting my first series I was having so much trouble darkening the color red that I reached out to an artist friend. He said, add its complementary color!! I have learned how to mix certain colors from books, but I am sure that if I had gone to an art school I would have learned that early. Recently, I had a one-on-one lesson with a master painter, Sharon Spiak, and she gave me some amazing tools to work with values. I will be forever thankful. I think my last painting already benefitted from her insights.