Our international group show “Transformation” is on view at Gallery MC.

What is transformation? We’re publishing the essay written by Maureen Burns-Bowie, Director, United Nations Program of Women’s Caucus for Art;  an artist and art juror.

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TRANSFORMATION: Shedding an old self for a new self

Every day we wake we don’t know if this is the day

If this is the day that ICE knocks on the door and takes away our father

If this is the day we discover we are cancer free

If this is the day the world goes too far down the nuclear path

If this is the day a family who has lived in Syria for thousands of years says we must leave this place now and begin a long trek across Europe to who knows where

If this is the day we discover we are going to be parents – at long last

If this is the day the world embraces the dignity of women, the health of the planet, basic human rights.

If this is the day ……..

A glorious or a horrifying future is in the viewfinder

People all over the world are acutely aware that we are on the precipice of something new and different, but right now we don’t know what

And while many artists are agonizing on which shade of crimson would best suit their enormous painting which says nothing, the artists in this exhibition are digging deep, finding expression, looking for answers.

Which is the real task of the artist.

Certainly we can decorate or entertain. But when we are at our best we are asking the hardest questions, seeking the most complicated solutions, and hungering to share our discoveries with others. Maybe what I say will touch a chord, open a gate, change a life.

So — tonight we stand among explorers who are taking the difficult road, not the easy road. Who have harnessed their skills to communicate with and hopefully benefit others. They are setting an example that many in the art world need to see. They are working at living their lives. They are truth tellers.

We have great fortune in this country to be able to consider, then speak our minds. Great ideas, full of clarity, are courageous and redemptive. They help establish new pathways of thought. They help find connections. They help us commit to each other and to our world.

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Thanks to the artists in this show for their diligence and care

Thanks to our insightful curators, Natalie and Hadieh, for knowing that content is everything.

And thanks to all of you for being here to support and celebrate important ideas.           

TO CONNECT. TO TRANSFORM 

– Maureen Burns-Bowie

*Key to the artworks in the first photo (above): Leslie Tucker, Andrew Feiler, Lisa Cirenza, Camille Van de Velde

** Artworks partially captured in the images below: Kay Kane, Kyung-jin Kim, Carol Scavotto, Jamie Siragusa, Poshya Ahmed, Ellen Rosenberg

***Photo credit: Yu Chuan Chang

****To participate in the Second Annual Show “Tranformation” please visit the contest page. Deadline: JULY 31, 2018.

Maureen Burns-Bowie