THE SPACE BETWEEN
Karen M. Gutfreund, Curator 1
Copyright 2023 by Karen Gutfreund Art. The book author and each artist here retains sole copyright to their contributions to this book. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means without prior permission in writing from Karen Gutfreund Art and the individual artists. ISBN: 9798865398844 Catalog designed and edited by Karen M. Gutfreund, www.KarenGutfreund.com, @karengutfreundart Cover art and title page by Karen M. Gutfreund, We’re OK, 2023, mixed media photography, size variable.
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THE SPACE BETWEEN
The Project Gallery at Arc at Arc Gallery & Studios, San Francisco November 18—December 16, 2023
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About Karen M. Gutfreund, Curator Karen M. Gutfreund is an independent curator and artist with a focus on feminist and social justice art. She has worked in the Painting & Sculpture Department for MoMA, the Andre Emmerick Gallery, The Knoll Group, the John Berggruen Gallery and the Pacific Art League, and is an art consultant to both corporations and individuals. She served on the board of the Women’s Caucus for Art, the Pacific Art League and the Petaluma Arts Council. She was the National Exhibitions Director for the Women’s Caucus for Art, is a member of ArtTable, the Northern California Representative for The Feminist Art Project, and Curator for UniteWomen.org. To date Gutfreund has created over forty national exhibitions— recent exhibitions include: Process, Agency: Feminist Art and Power, Deadlocked and Loaded: Disarming America , Not Normal: Art in the Age of Trump, and Embedded Message, Debating the Dream: Truth, Justice and the American Way. She co-curated F213, F*ck U! In the Most Loving Way, and Man as Object: Reversing the Gaze. She has been an exhibition director for dozens of exhibitions. Karen is partner in Gutfreund Cornett Art, with curator Sherri Cornett, a curatorial partnership that creates art as activism exhibitions, with the motto “changing the world through art” with national touring exhibitions. GCA exhibitions included: Beyond Borders: Stories of im/Migration, Social Justice: It Happens to One, Happens to All , Rise: Empower, Change and Action, Vision: An Artist’s Perspective, What’s Right, What’s Left: Democracy in America, Visural: Sight, Sound and Action. Gutfreund is a consultant to artists and documents and creates art catalogs for galleries and individual artists around the country, and frequently juries exhibitions, participates in panels and gives lectures and classes. Lastly, she is an artist and has exhibited extensively around the country. She has a BFA in Photographic Design and a BA in Art History, and studies towards a MA from New York University. Gutfreund has lived in all four corners of the United States and now lives on a ranch in the Sierra Foothills.
About Arc Gallery & Studios Founded in 2011, Arc Studios & Gallery features ten artist studios, a 1,000 square foot art gallery, two smaller galleries and an art education center, along with the Kearny Street Workshop office, the San Francisco Artist Network office and Cafe Suspiro Coffee Shop. Arc is located at 1246 Folsom Street between 8th and 9th Streets in San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood. Arc supports the making of quality art in all media, provides a nurturing environment for artists to create their work, builds a community of artists to encourage exploration of art, provides resources for the professional development of visual artists, and promotes appreciation of the visual arts in the City of San Francisco. www.arc-sf.com @arcgallerysf
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THE SPACE BETWEEN Nothing is black or white. The Space Between, curated by Karen M. Gutfreund showcases artwork that records our passions, memories and dreams with images of the ephemeral, a space where the personal becomes the universal. On themes of myth, consciousness, intuition, symbols and ritual, the works express the power of the human condition. Through the lens of self-identified women and non-binary artists, in exploring one’s unconscious realities and portraits of dreams and fantasies, the exhibition is a portal for recognizing or re-knowing one’s self to understand the passages of consciousness, inner journeys, memory, and being. Portraying narratives to make the invisible visible, the works give form and substance to the individual imaginary world inside oneself that in turn impacts emotional, poetic, spiritual, and subconscious planes. Seeking transcendence by connecting inner and outer worlds, the artists celebrate the space between where creativity stems from and where it is born and then lives as a powerful talisman through the stories that we tell ourselves and to others in search of the divine.
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The Space Between Essay by Karen M. Gutfreund, Curator A thing of beauty is a joy forever; its loveliness increases; it will never pass into nothingness; but still will keep a bower of quiet for us, and asleep full of dreams, and health, and quiet breathing. ~John Keats I began contemplating this exhibition after I was invited to curate a show in the Project Gallery at Arc Gallery and Studios in San Francisco—although the theme of the “space between” has been on my mind for many years. Concurrently, the main gallery at Arc would have a juried show titled Black and White. Having a BFA in Photographic Design I immediately thought of a grey scale and all the myriad nuances between black, grey, and white; hence “the space between.” Because social justice issues always swirl around my brain, given the current state of the world, with the heartbreaking, ongoing wars, and terrible suffering from natural disasters, the divisions in our societies came to mind. I felt compelled to illuminate the “space between,” to point out that there are many sides to a story and many ways of looking at things. We as humanity need to come together, listen to each other, learn, and explore the grey areas. Nothing is black or white. We paint ourselves into a corner with rigid thinking, one cannot escape, and the ongoing world suffering will continue. Through our thoughts and actions, we set our intentions and can visualize positivity that will channel into the collective unconscious. I chose to dive in to examine, through art, the space between our creative selves and the divine. The most powerful talisman of all is the stories that we tell ourselves and others. I asked for stories that record emotions, memories, and dreams, with images of the ephemeral, works seeking transcendence by connecting inner and outer worlds.
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Focusing on myth, memories, and ritual, as well as inner journeys, intuition, and the divine, I looked for artwork that embodied these themes and would work on many levels—the subconscious, poetic, and spiritual levels. The artists responded with the true essence of creativity, exploring unconscious realities that resulted in transformative works that speak to the collective soul.
THE INFINITE Art records our emotions, desires, memories, and dreams. They are images of the ephemeral, a space where the personal becomes universal and fosters an environment for deliberate introspection to unearth the potential of the unknown. Is it a spirit animal standing guard over the house? The thin, transparent lines and deep texture of Linda Mitchell’s Apparition, 2022, pulls one into another dimension. Mitchell says she is “reflecting life’s emotional complexity and the nebulous relationship of this human journey to the world of spirit.” Gorgeous, multi-layered dreamscapes, I melt into the beauty of Penny McElroy’s works. Poppy and Cyclamen, 2023, a place she says is “in the pause between inhale and exhale, between the horizon and the infinite brings the whisp of memory—touch, tenderness, this becomes a place of magic, the space between.” The exquisite details and symbols in Sheila Metcalf Tobin’s Resurrection Wolf and Inside Out, Outside In, 2022 are masterfully rendered in her large mixed media works. “In exploring experiences both personal and universal, triumphs and terrors and the truth of our interconnections,” Metcalf Tobin states. The connection to self and the goddess within is apparent in Bryn Williams’ Believing in the Divine, 2023—a lush and tender rendered portrait. This work she says “exists as a memorandum to remind me that I am, we are—all connected and a part of all that is.” Like a portal I descended during a shamanic journey, the lush green landscape of Janna Waldinger’s Portal, 2021, is a portal for those brave enough to cross. The artist explains, “I have taken on the challenge of making art representing worlds we cannot hold on to.” The soft-focused, technicolored street shots are mysterious and exude, crackling, psychic energy. Achi Zhou, Return to 170 No.1 and No.3, 2022, is “fascinated by daydreams, blurring the lines between reality and imagination. Believe in the potential for
healing and transformation by embracing these life's inherent mysteries.” What lies beneath this mesmerizing, shimmering surface? For Elizabeth Addison Inception: From the Smith River Series, 2023, “brings to mind the continual process of beginning and becoming… and dwelling, if only momentarily, in these ephemeral, cosmic spaces.”
to travel that allows one to recall such quiet moments and cherished memories.” Sherry Karver captures reflective, melancholy moments in lives she publicly encounters with her mixed-media, text embellished photography. With Lost In Thought, 2021, she reveals “past memories and dreams, which then become more veiled and blurred with the passage of time.”
MEMORIES AND DREAMS
INTERCONNECTEDNESS
It is the artist who can express visually something that depicts a moment in time from memory or imagination. By exploring one’s own conscience and unconscious realities, portraits of dreams and fantasies are brought to life.
Art serves as a universal language that transcends cultural, linguistic, and social barriers and fosters interconnection among individuals and communities. The artist describes psychic landscapes that are universally shared experiences. It joins us, through words and expression, to the deep, intuitive power alive in every human that connects us across space and time.
I’ve dreamt of traveling to other dimensions and Niloufar Farzam, with Gleam, 2020, makes me think of cracks in the universe where one could time travel. The red entity beacons to the other side. Farzam says this work is an “exploration of memories and dreams, where the personal converges with the universal.” Dreams so often teach us lessons, and with the gorgeous, luminous painting A River Runs Through It, 2023 by Audrey Kral—said she has learned these dream lessons first hand, “The dream’s meaning was crystal clear: there runs the river of guided knowledge, intuition.” Laurel Lueders has more elusive dreams and Shift, 2020, gives a feeling of strongly felt emotions that wisp through your fingers, with only a mere fragment remaining. For Lueders this series of work references “the sensation of deja vu, the experience of just waking from a dream, or the attempt to recall a lost idea or memory not fully formed.” Memories can be fleeting or can be crystal clear, albeit the event occurred decades ago. Carla Goldberg reflects on cherished childhood memories on the Jersey Shore. This is recounted in the beautiful, mesmerizing pointalism of the gentle sea foam in Coco Plum Beach, 2022. She views her work “as a bridge between the past and my present life making the passage of time, further deepening my connection to these nostalgic memories.” Karen Mason’s dreamy and ethereal Big Blue-Whisper, 2022, looks through a delicate mist as if in a dream. Mason’s Whisper series “honors the quiet meditation found in the fog layers” and “seeks to create a welcoming space to sit or path
Cheselyn Amato’s stunning, candy-colored light sculptures documented in Lantern of Possibility: Corporeal Presentments & Cosmic Conditions, 2023 are a delight. Observing the river and seas she lays bare “indwelling presence of the divine and the expression of the interconnectedness of all.” Maria Loram’s delicate, coral-like sculpture Multiplicities, 2023 is something you would hope to encounter on the beach of an infinite, moving sea. Loram explains this work “reflects the universe's intricate levels, ranging from multiple dimensions to sublayers of consciousness. Embodying a balance between chaos and order, the work captures the interconnectedness of seemingly separate parts of the universe.” Salma Arastu’s magical, harmonious garden Flying and Free, 2023, expresses her belief in “revealing the stories of unity in diversity, hope and connection, celebration of earth and women.” In the vibrant, lush, fantasy landscape of Ba Wang: Gula (8 Kings: Gula), 2023, Angela Han “strives to create spaces, “Paradises"—where women who look like me and/or with whom I share similar life experiences are respected, honored, and celebrated.” Inner Child, 2023 by Linda Plaisted is enchanting and whimsical. She speaks to the internal connection of self and demonstrates that this “explores the idea that we carry within us at this present moment all the people we've ever been.” Point of Crossing, 2023, by Rozanne Hermelyn di Silvestro refers to fleeting 7
moments with those we encounter and pass by, infinite connections that touch our lives. “These near meetings have a transparency to them, passing points in space, seemingly insignificance. Points where future, present, and past overlap then fade. It feels important to remember these drifting connections.” The transparent, overlapping bodies give a feeling of being one but also reflect on the loneliness of existence. TRANSCENDENCE Transcendence facilitates the connection of mind, body, and spirit between the inner world of one's thoughts and emotions to the outer world of the surrounding environment and the universe. Artists muse over the separation that exists between us and the cosmos on their journey of artistic reflection. Hauntingly dream-like and amorphic, a spirit seems to be ascending into the unknown in Jennifer Onofrio Fornes’ Passage, 2010. Onofrio Fornes strives to “touch on the psychological, and spiritual spaces we occupy rather than the physical.” The focus of Michelle Mansour’s current work is “the interior space of the mind and related ontological meditations. My works explore the tensions and balance between the scientific and the spiritual.” In Search of Blue: Radial Magic, 2022 brings forth the infinite stars in the universe, joining together in harmonious patterns. Caren Helene Rudman’s, mysterious figures, real or imagined, pass through into the collective in Its Not Just Black or White, 2023. For Rudman these figures are “silhouettes to piece together my existence, intersecting with a collective whole. My work exposes that there is nothing but the connection between mind and body.” The charming building-like structures fill one with nostalgia, who lives behind those windows? What memories, like ghosts, live there? Kim Cardoso’s work with Fasten Off and Bobble 2, 2023, is about “repeated movements with paint. This process connects me to the universal everyday of work done by our hands.” The beautiful figure, filled with ennui, in Nic Hampton’s From Here I’ll Grow, 2023, expresses “learning to be still…letting go of control and giving our body the space to breathe and rest before we can rise.” 8
REFLECTING ON BEING
Reflecting on “being” is an avenue for recognizing or re-knowing oneself to understand the passages of consciousness, memory, and culture and allows individuals to access a higher or deeper level of consciousness to facilitate experiences that surpass the limits of ordinary perception or understanding. The title of Julianne Sterling’s work, I wish I used to live here, 2023, struck a chord and I recalled recurring dreams of spaces I would wish to live in and my spirit is connected to. This work for Julianne, however, is more than that and is for her the “imagined wishes of the unhoused and marginalized.” The lonely room, which holds so much history, invites us to think about the spirit of structures and spaces. Dobee Snowber with CLOSING IN, 2023, speaks of “about home and transitions, about the moment just before and the one right after and the one in between.” Pamela Flynn’s Time is Precious, 2021, is meticulously rendered with luminous seed beads—a time-intensive and meditative process to create. “This work is about the space we call time. This work is process intense allowing me to contemplate relationships, the progression of time, and in the end-loss,” Flynn shares.
The women stare into the distant clouds, imagining other worlds in this contemplative print. Gigi Salij’s Pareidolia, 2018 speaks to “the tendency, present in all humans, to take random visual arrangements and see identifiable objects or comprehensible patterns in them. What do these women see when they look at these clouds? And what do WE see when we look at these women?” The mystical, other-worldly scene enveloping us in Vida Pavesich’s, The Last Butterfly, 2023, compels the viewer to ask—is it a dream or fantasy world? “We are always in between what we thought we knew and what we may or may not be able to know.” Laura Abrams’ Under Water Drama, 2023 is fun and fantastical—the surreal figure, fish and underwater world belies a deeper meaning. “The ‘spaces between’ are the means to see truths and mysteries behind the facade of a pretty picture” Abrams states. Marian Yap’s Stillness, 2017, is filled with juicy, vibrant colors and textures. “This is the time and space that we need to solve or inform any message or idea—a
quiet time in a safe place,” Yap states. EMBRACING THE PRESENT In artistic practices, we recognize ourselves in images that often arise from unknown places as one is lost in the moments of creation. These epiphanies compel us to express the lived human experience and embrace the contentment of living in the moment. What mysteries do these tender blossom-like structures hold—so gentle and serene? Liz Bloomfield’s Memories of Your Embrace, 2022, reminisces about being “in the enveloping love felt while in the presence of someone with whom you feel authentically yourself.” The spontaneous, embroidered found photographs by Marie Cameron hold such joy and joie de vie. Rainbow Dip, 2023, and her embroidery series stemmed from the isolation of the pandemic. Creating these works is a “meditative ritual to consciously recognize and manifest more joy,” said Cameron. Living in the moment and finding beauty in ordinary things, Jade Zabrowski New Dress, 2022 relishes the simplicity of “a sunny day, women merge and together give rise to a new dress.” Laura Gurton’s Shimmer Circle No.200, 2023, explodes with detailed form and glittering colors, reminiscent of a beautiful, disco mandala. Gurton enjoys “experimentation with color, texture, and symmetry…the Austrian crystals which remind me of growing up inspired by the New York City skyline at night.”
This Is What Is Real, 2022 by Amrita Singhal has an energy that vibrates. How could one not be happy in this intimate, colorful landscape? For Singhal, this “depicts an explosive consciousness of nature through brilliant colors, brushstrokes, and spatial compression. Like nature, the painting pulses with palpable energy and glows and ebbs with the changing light during the course of a day.” LOSS and GRIEF To everything we have lost, and to what we hold onto… By taking painfully personal experiences into the transformative power of art, it moves it from separate and subjective, to shared and universal.
Expressing the personal is important, it is the glue that keeps us all together. The mixed media, transparent layers of rich color saturate Sara Cole’s Human Ecology 27, 2019. With tenacity despite ongoing health issues, she is able to produce stunning large-scale works. These works, Cole states are “a reference to the female body and my own inquiry into the delineation between sacred and profane as manifested in my body of sickness and health.” Theresa Pisani has a chronic progressive illness but strives to relish the simple, but precious things in life. She reveals in Solace, 2023, with its rich, saturated color and moody sky, “is about sadness and finding solace in something small.” I am an intuitive empath. Before I learned the meanings behind the work You're Everywhere and Nowhere, 2022 by Christine So, it filled me with deep sadness and grief for a lost loved one. So shared that her husband died last year, “Items disappearing in fog are metaphors for how none of us knows what lies ahead. try to capture how reminders of my husband’s absence were everywhere I looked and how life as I knew it was shattered.” With The Fates, 2023 Wendy Ackrell is “mourning the approaching loss of a beloved family member. Most of us wonder why we are here, now, and what we will be transmuted into after this human experience of living.” I can hear the whispers and prayers—stay, please stay—in this beautiful, text-based, abstracted piece, with drips as tears. With humor, and bright, beautifully crafted stitching, Winnie van der Rijn’s La Petite Mort 1, 2022 mixes love and death. According to van der Rijn, this work “is an expression of my synesthetic, orgasmic color experience mixed with images of my husband’s brain tumor.” Facing blindness, a tragedy for anyone, but particularly for an artist, Pipa Wilder courageously faces vision loss. The face of the figure seems to be drifting into an abyss—peacefully, accepting, and floating in the blue waters. Concerning Radiant Snow, 2023, Wilder says, “As an artist with retinitis pigmentosa, I strive to connect my experience with vision loss—the soft, quiet places of grief, and the bold, beautiful adventure ahead—with my love of the visual arts.” 9
THE OTHER SIDE
Art marks the tenuous space between the human and the divine. It can rupture the barriers that divide tangible and intangible spheres of being and propose fluid boundaries between the physical and spiritual world. I have experienced spirits since I was four years old and firmly believe in the other side and the thin veil that separates us. Christine Ilewski masterfully captures the light in her bright, yet moody landscapes—there are spirits lurking under those calm waters. Ilewski is also an activist artist and paints portraits of children killed by gun violence and gifts the works to the families. With Who Lies Beneath the Golden Surface, 2022, she professes, “My studio is filled with the spirits of these young “Faces”, many pairs of eyes quietly imploring, manifesting in the work. Where do we come from? Where do we go? I don’t have these answers but if I allow my heart to guide my brush sometimes mysteries are revealed.” Artist Mary Southall has crossed through that door, being pronounced dead, but thankfully returned to the living, and professes “As one who has crossed over to the other side and returned to tell the tale, I’m acutely aware of my subconscious discoveries of love and spirit and their mysterious connection to the vital energy that transcends this earth plane and lies in a space between life and death.” Going, 2023, is a tongue-incheek, eye-catching work that pulls you in to reveal its secrets. Beth Lakamp is a visual storyteller and prolific painter, documenting her surroundings, family, and richly detailed histories. The appearance of an owl is meant to be a messenger for the other side—bring missives from those that have crossed over. With Feathers, 2023, Lakamp tells us, “Our personal life force, thought and emotions, exists in all spaces but can be limited by our human state. Small and clever messages from our little friends, birds, can expand our awareness of the universal. These celestial creatures reveal depth and beauty about a world beyond.” So many doors to pass through and where will they lead us? With richly painted mixed media layers, Meghan Lewis MacLeod’s Ghost Doors, 2022, is a portal to the other side, perhaps past lives. This work 10
“illuminates possibilities of energies and entities playing out behind the scenes.” Marcia Santore’s Blue Window, 2006, is simultaneously cheerful yet ominous. The simple lines and deep color pulls me down the corridor to the blue mystery. In this series, Santore “explores impossible interior and exterior spaces (imagined or half-remembered), doorways and windows just beginning to reveal what might be on the other side.” Wistful, and thought-provoking, Laura Morrison’s 100 Year Wish, 2010, leaves you believing in old wives' tales and contemplating the space-time path of life and the path it traces as it proceeds forward. “As I grow older, Morrison shares, “I hear Time whistling past my ears as it flies by. The space between the present and death will come too quickly even if it is decades away.”
Now more than ever, with the division of humanity across the globe, we need art that reflects the collective human experience that cultivates empathy and understanding. By engaging with art, one can gain insights into the shared experiences of humanity, which provide a sense of solidarity. Art serves as a powerful tool for fostering unity, understanding, and empathy among individuals and societies, highlighting the interconnectedness of human experiences and aspirations for peace across the globe. I hope these works will touch you as they did me and inspire reflection and contemplation on what it means to be human. I am very grateful to the artists who have shared their art and experience with me and to Priscilla Otani, Michael Yochum, and Stephen C. Wagner of Arc Gallery and Studios for giving me the opportunity and the gallery space to fulfill my vision for this exhibition. Karen M. Gutfreund Curator
ARTISTS Laura Abrams Wendy Ackrell Elizabeth Addison Cheselyn Amato Salma Arastu Liz Bloomfield Marie Cameron Kim Cardoso Sara Cole Niloufar Farzam Pamela Flynn Carla Goldberg Laura Gurton Nic Hampton Angela Han Rozanne Hermelyn Christine Ilewski Sherry Karver Audrey Kral Beth Lakamp Meghan Lewis MacLeod Maria Loram Laurel Lueders Michelle Mansour
Karen Mason Penny McElroy Sheila Metcalf Tobin Linda Mitchell Laura Morrison Jennifer Onofrio Fornes Vida Pavesich Theresa Pisani Linda Plaisted Caren Helene Rudman Gigi Salij Marcia Santore Amrita Singhal Dobee Snowber Christine So Mary Southall Julianne Sterling Winnie van der Rijn Janna Waldinger Pipa Wilder Bryn Williams Marian Yap Jade Zabrowski Achi Zhou 11
Laura Abrams Oakland, CA laura-abrams.com @la_art_notes
A woman and her fish companion share a hasty journey. What are they swimming away from? Why are the fish swimming in the opposite direction? The prominent subjects are seen in front of a lace curtain, as if on a stage. Meanwhile, a school of goldfish swims through shadowy architecture beyond the curtain. The action takes place between columns of waterlilies seen from beneath the surface, adding intrigue to the scene. Here, the "spaces between" are the means to see truths and mysteries behind the facade of a pretty picture.
Under Water Drama, 2023, 12 inch paper quilt square with foil, paper, found images, lace, glitter, and straw, 12 x 12 inches. *online
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Wendy Ackrell San Francisco, CA wendyackrell.com @wendyackrell
I painted this piece as a visual diary, mourning the approaching loss of a beloved family member. I'm fascinated by Greek mythology and the belief that there are three sister Fates who decide when a person is born, what their destiny will be, and how and when they will die: Clotho the spinner of the thread of fate, Lachesis the measurer of the thread, and Atropos the cutter of it. Most of us wonder why we are here, now, and what we will be transmuted into after this human experience of living. The magic— the dearness of life, I think—is leaning into the uncertainty of that universal mystery.
The Three Fates, 2023, Acrylic and spray paint on canvas, 60 x 36 inches. *gallery 13
Elizabeth Addison Berkeley, CA elizabethaddison.com @eaddison329
Inception is constructed with original photography of, and printed digital imagery inspired by, my engagement with the Smith River, California’s last wild river. This dimensional collage is a meditation on subtle, liminal gateways flashing upon the Smith’s swiftly moving surface. It brings to mind the continual process of beginning and becoming… and dwelling, if only momentarily, in these ephemeral, cosmic spaces.
Inception: From the Smith River Series, 2023, Dimensional mixed media collage: original digital imagery, acrylic paint., 13 x 13 inches. *gallery
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Cheselyn Amato San Rafael, CA cheselynamato.com @cheselynamato
She, of the spaces between, the intangible and beautiful intricacies, of water and its ever-changing movement as rivers and seas, she, indwelling presence of the divine and the expression of the interconnectedness of all, she, of the birthing that gives every one of us our human moment of being, she who celebrates and sustains wonder and amazement...hope, resilience, courage, and joy!
Lantern of Possibility: Corporeal Presentments & Cosmic Conditions, 2023 Archival digitally printed photograph, 30 x 40 inches. *online
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Salma Arastu
Berkeley, CA salmaarastu.com, @salmaarastu In my studio mysteries are revealed each day and I feel awed and inspired to delve further into the unknown fearlessly and look out for new visions emerging on my canvas. My story begins with a line and the lines that I create represent the spiritual energy that emanates from my soul. Creativity is born and then lives as a powerful talisman through the stories that I tell myself and to others in search of the divine. My works are lyrical, spiritual, layered and flowing, revealing the stories of unity in diversity, hope and connection, celebration of earth and women. The common thread running through my work is that I am seeking oneness among humanity, soil and soul. Flying and Free is from Our Earth: Embracing All Communities series. This painting embraces birds community and composition is inspired from Indian and Persian miniature art.
Flying and Free, 2023, Acrylics and pen and ink on canvas, 30 x 24 inches. *gallery 16
Liz Bloomfield
San Francisco, CA lizbloomfield.com @eb_clay
I make ceramic works influenced by forms and textures found in nature, often with an anthropomorphic slant. My piece Memories Of Your Embrace allows us to reminisce in the enveloping love felt while in the presence of someone with whom you feel authentically yourself. I drew inspiration from cuddled clustered animals found in tidepools, and how they reproduce by sending “seed” into the watery shallows.
Memories of Your Embrace, 2022, Ceramic , 6 x 5 x 3 inches. *gallery 17
Marie Cameron
Los Gatos, CA mariecameronstudio.com @mariecameronstudio For me, rainbows are an ephemeral moment of transcendent beauty and joy. I obsessively embroider them onto found, vintage photographs with silk treads in a meditative ritual to consciously recognize and manifest more joy, especially on those days when I need a reminder to look for the rainbow in myself, each other and in this world!
Rainbow Dip, 2023, Silk thread on found photograph, 7 3/4 x 9 5/8, 16 x 18 inches framed . *gallery 18
Kim Cardoso Oakland, CA kimcardosoart.com @kimcardosoart
My Handiwork series arises from a pull to work rhythmically, holding the tradition of needlework and textiles in a way that is mine. In these paintings, I focus on the ritual creation of the marks, hearing the cadenced click of knitting needles or the paced pulling of thread as I make repeated movements with paint. This process connects me to the universal everyday of work done by our hands.
Bobble 2 (left) and Fasten Off (right), 2023, Encaustic and sewing pins on hand cut wood, 3.5 x 2 inches each. *gallery 19
Sara Cole
San Jose, CA saravcoleart.com, @svcstudio I began work on the Human Ecology series to embody the transitional, liminal space between the "sacred and profane" coined by Mircea Eliade, famed Romanian historian of religion. I use Eliade's theories to visually represent the interaction between ecological systems and human social systems and how that liminal space between the two visually defines the transitional, ephemeral moment—a distinction between the sacrality of nature and the mundane states of everyday existence becomes embodied, and defines an in-between state of "not knowing". This iconography is also representative of the attempt to centralize, if not capture, my own spiritual journey of "in-between-ness" as a queer femaleidentified disabled artist. The botanical forms become reference to the female body and my own inquiry into the delineation between sacred and profane as manifested in my body of sickness and health.
Human Ecology 27, 2019, Artist-cut watercolor paper and acrylic, on wood panel , 48 x 36 inches. *online 20
Niloufar Farzam Pleasanton, CA niloufarfarzam.com @nilou_farzam_art
Within the space between, my artistic series, Gradual Destruction, delves into exploration of memories and dreams, painting a vivid image of thermal expanse where the personal converges with the universal. As I venture into my unconscious realms, I encounter the tapestries of dreams and the recognition of Orion within myself. This journey through the landscape of memory is an emotional, poetic and awe-inspiring voyage, impacting my very being on the subconscious plains.
Gleam, 2020, Oil on canvas, 26 x 36 inches. *online 21
Pamela Flynn Lake Como, NJ pamelaflynnart.com @pamelaflynnart
This work is about the space we call time. In Time is Precious the buds have a gentle touch. The image is almost celebratory but in the center of the field of blue is a black circle—the ever-present element of time. This work is process intense allowing me to contemplate relationships, the progression of time and in the end-loss.
Time is Precious, 2021, Seed beads, oil on canvas, 24 x 24 inches. *online 22
Carla Goldberg Milford, CT carlagoldberg.com @goldbergstudioart
"The Space Between" within our heads is filled with memories, and within it, my Seafoam Sculptural Drawings reflect my cherished childhood memories of summers on the Jersey Shore with my dad's family and travels to exotic ports with my grandparents. These delicate seafoam creations function as a bridge between the past and my present life along the Connecticut Sound, capturing dreamy reminiscences in an ethereal veil-like interplay of light and shadow. The minuscule drawn dots also meticulously record through intense mark making the passage of time, further deepening my connection to these nostalgic memories.
Coco Plum Beach, 2022, Resin and ink on plexiglass, 20 x 20 inches. *online 23
Laura Gurton Northampton, MA lauragurton.com @lauragurton
I am a multi-media artist, enjoying experimentation with color, texture and symmetry. In my Shimmer series I emphasize the patterns that I have created with Austrian crystals which remind me of growing up inspired by the New York City skyline at night.
Shimmer Circle No.200, 2023, Digital print on canvas with Austrian crystal, 24 x 24, 26 x 26 inches framed. *gallery 24
Nic Hampton Eugene, OR @nichampton
This piece is about learning to be still when the world feels like it’s moving so fast. Letting go of control and giving our body the space to breathe and rest before we can rise.
From Here I’ll Grow, 2023, Acrylic and oil pastel on canvas, 42 x 45 inches. *online 25
Angela Han San Francisco, CA angelahanart.com @angelahanart
As a Chinese-American woman artist, I strive to create spaces—"Paradises"— where women who look like me and/or with whom I share similar life experiences are respected, honored, and celebrated. "八王 Ba Wang: Gula (8 Kings: Gula)" is from my "八王 Ba Wang" series in which I myth-make and paint legends about eight women who choose to live against society's standards and become masters of their own fates. This painting in particular is inspired by trailblazing women in medicine, including Gula (Sumerian goddess of medicine), Dae Jang Geum (Korean physician in Joseon Dynasty), Tan Yunxian (Chinese physician in Ming dynasty), Agnodice (Athenian physician), and my own mother, Dr. Limin Hu.
Ba Wang: Gula (8 Kings: Gula), 2023, Oil on canvas, 36 x 24 inches. *online 26
Rozanne Hermelyn di Silvestro
Sunnyvale, CA fineart.hermelyn.com @rhermelyndisilvestro
Every day, we experience fleeting moments between the unfamiliar, sharing a common place and time. These near meetings have a transparency to them, passing points in space, seemingly insignificance. Points where future, present, and past overlap then fade. It feels important to remember these drifting connections.
Point of Crossing, 2023, Layered monoprints, mounted to panel with UV varnish, 33.25 x 9.5 inches. *gallery 27
Christine Ilewski
Alton, IL ilewski.com, @christine_ilewski My work is the introspection of my experience as a woman, a mother, a wife, a sister, a daughter; a domestic, intimate life reflecting on a larger world. I often incorporate found fibers into my work as I feel we leave a piece of ourselves long after we’re gone on these very personal materials reflecting our inner landscape. With my series Faces Not Forgotten, a national social justice portrait project, I believe my studio is filled with the spirits of these young “Faces”, many pairs of eyes quietly imploring , manifesting in the work as a subconscious stream of mixed media abstract landscapes that bubble up from my center…a place of reflection, a still point from which everything else revolves. Where do we come from? Where do we go? I don’t have these answers but if I allow my heart to guide my brush sometimes mysteries are revealed.
Who Lies Beneath the Golden Surface, 2022, Acrylic on canvas, 24 x 18 inches. *online 28
Sherry Karver
Oakland, CA sherrykarver.com @sherrykarver
This multi-paneled work Lost In Thought begins with the woman in the top panel thinking about her past memories and dreams, which then become more veiled and blurred with the passage of time, until they are totally faded away into abstraction, or the unknown. Putting these images on separate panels depicts the different spaces between what we believe and remember consciously, and what our unconscious mind is thinking. photo credit: Chris Hardy
Lost In Thought, 2021, Photo images, oil, narrative text, resin surface on six wood panels bolted together, 25 x 26 inches. *gallery
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Audrey Kral Mill Valley, CA audreykral.com @audreykral2020
I was dreaming when I specifically heard—and it woke me up with its power—A River Runs Through It. I knew immediately that that was the name of the painting I had just finished. The dream’s meaning was crystal clear: through all of my diverse life lessons and through my dedication to self-expression and expansion, there runs the river of guided knowledge, and intuition.
A River Runs Through It, 2023, Mixed media on wood panel, 24 x 24 inches. *gallery 30
Beth Lakamp Fenton, MO bettsvando.com @bettsvando
Our personal life force, thought and emotions, exists in all spaces but can be limited by our human state. Small and clever messages from our little friends, birds, can expand our awareness of the universal. These celestial creatures reveal depth and beauty about a world beyond.
Feathers, 2023, Mixed media, watercolor, and ink on clayboard, 2 x 8 inches. *gallery 31
Meghan Lewis MacLeod Oakland, CA mlmacleodfineart.com @ meghan_lewis_macleod_art
Ghost Doors illuminates possibilities of energies and entities playing out
behind the scenes. Seeming faint silhouettes in the underpainting peer through a stained glass-like window. With a thin wash of India ink, and additional layers of oil pastel and wax pencil, the veil revealing glimpses between the worlds is created and revealed.
Ghost Doors, 2022, India ink, oil pastel, and wax pencil on yupo paper, mounted on panel, 12 x 12 inches. *online 32
Maria Loram Pasadena, CA @loram.ceramics
Layered porcelain of Multiplicities reflects the universe's intricate levels, ranging from multiple dimensions to sublayers of consciousness. Embodying a balance between chaos and order, the work captures the interconnectedness of seemingly separate parts of the universe.
Multiplicities, 2023, Ceramics, 18 x 26 x 6 inches. *online 33
Laurel Lueders New York, NY laurellueders.com @laurel_lueders
Our recollection of spaces and places, the haziness between memories and dreams, and the blurriness of our everyday moments and almost unnoticed experiences that run between the major events in life. Our spatial memory and remembrance of places our can be triggered simply through a line, grid, geometric shape, or isolated color. My abstract photographs are often hazy and blurred, referencing the sensation of deja vu, the experience of just waking from a dream, or the attempt to recall a lost idea or memory not fully formed.
Shift, 2020, Archival pigment print (edition of 3), 5 x 5 inches, 11 x 11 framed. *online 34
Michelle Mansour Oakland, CA michellemansour.com @michellemansourstudio
The focus of my work is the interior space of the mind and related ontological meditations. Intersecting strands of cells layer upon one another, pushing the relationship between micro and macro, the Petri dish and the mandala. Exponentially repetitive, cyclical, and meditative, my works explore the tensions and balance between the scientific and the spiritual. This piece is from a series of cyanotypes made between the sea, sky, and sand of the Aegean during an artist residency at Cycladic Arts in Paros, Greece.
In Search of Blue: Radial Magic, 2022, Cyanotype on fabric (framed), 20 x 20 inches. *gallery 35
Karen Mason
Berkeley, CA karenmason-artist.com @karenmasonartist
The Whisper series honor the quiet meditation found in the fog layers of
the morning-start where one longs to stretch and inhale the surroundings of yet another incredible place found between sleepy memories. With each painting I seek to create a welcoming space to sit or path to travel that allows one to recall such quiet moments and cherished memories. Fog is like a comfort blanket, enveloping and holding you in silence, yet encouraging movement forward. With it, one catches the glimpse of historical past while being drawn forward in a newly born cloud of fog playfully dancing among the eucalyptus trees of old.
Big Blue-Whisper, 2022, Ink, acrylic, resin on cradled board, 24 x 18 inches. *gallery 36
Penny McElroy Redlands, CA pennymcelroy.art @mcelroypenny
In the pause between inhale and exhale, between the horizon and the infinite – a sliver of light. When a glance becomes recognition at the hypnogogic edge of sleep; when the scent of the flower – barely discernable – floats by on the breeze and brings the whisp of memory (touch, tenderness) this becomes a place of magic, the space between.
poppy, (left) and cyclamen, (right) 2023, Digital composite on glass, 21 x 15.5 inches each. *gallery 37
Sheila Metcalf Tobin Berkeley, CA sheilametcalftobin.com @sheilametcalftobin
Creating happens in the space between the initial inspiration and actual manifestation of the work. In exploring experiences both personal and universal, I feel that I am holding the past, capturing a moment of the present and praying for a future that honors our individual and collective unfolding through time, triumphs and terrors and the truth of our interconnections.
Resurrection Wolf (left) and Inside Out, Outside In, (right), 2022 Mixed media collage on wood panel, 48 x 36 inches each. *gallery 38
Linda Mitchell
Atlanta, GA lindamitchellartist.com @lindamitchellart The current mixed media paintings and reveal intricate and surreal scenes, reflecting life’s emotional complexity and the nebulous relationship of this human journey to the world of spirit. This creative process, with all its surprises, is like diving into the psyche and seeing what comes up on a personal level, but which often expands to universal experience.
Apparition, 2022, Acrylic, fabric, graphite on stretched canvas, 30 x 24 inches. *online 39
Laura Morrison Concord, NH lauramorrisonart.com @lauramorrisonart
A creepy Old Wives Tale involves the dandelion. Superstition has it that if you blow on a white dandelion head, the number of seeds remaining indicates how many years you have left to live. As I grow older, I hear Time whistling past my ears as it flies by. The space between the present and death will come too quickly even if it is decades away. Here, I have collected Time. Hoarded it. Kept it. Saved it. I’ve preserved 100 years of dandelion seeds in tiny little vials.
100 Year Wish, 2010, Antique Mirror, watch part vials, antique tea towel, embroidery thread, dandelion seeds, 3.5 x 14.5 x 20.5 inches. *gallery
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Jennifer Onofrio Fornes
Aiken, SC jenniferonofrio.com @onofriofornes
By immersing the figure in ephemeral spaces created in the studio, and through long exposures, I try to touch on the psychological, and spiritual spaces we occupy rather than the physical. In Passage, I am exploring images that suggest both a sense of presence and absence.
Passage, 2010, Silver gelatin print, oils, 41 x 28 x 3.75 inches. *online 41
Vida Pavesich
Oakland, CA artanthropocene.com @photoartvida We live “in between” in many ways: at this point humans live in between the stability of the Holocene and the precarious Anthropocene. Climate change, rising seas, biodiversity loss—all are subject to sudden change, and we must adapt. This calls on our powers of imagination and creativity. We are always in between what we thought we knew and what we may or may not be able to know.
The Last Butterfly, 2023, Archival inkjet print, 12 x 16 inches. *online 42
Theresa Pisani
Camp Meeker, CA theresapisani.com @theresampisaniart
Solace has a personal meaning for me. I am the person in the painting but
my face isn’t visible because who I am is not important. On the surface this painting is about sadness and finding solace in something small like a bag of taffy. The trip to the taffy store is the space between happiness and solace. It is the liminal space. It’s evening on a rainy day and no one is around. The woman is lost in her thoughts and the cloudy sky symbolizes her sadness. The taffy is well lit because it represents a little bit of happiness on a sad day. But this is a personal painting in that I struggle with a chronic progressive illness that doesn’t allow me to eat a thing like taffy, so I’m not allowed this kind of solace. It is a dream for me.
Solace, 2023, Oil on panel, 22 x 18 inches. *online 43
Linda Plaisted Frederick, MD lindaplaisted.com @themanymuses
My piece Inner Child explores the idea that we carry within us at this present moment all the people we've ever been. Our younger selves are still looking out from behind our eyes; with needs yet unfulfilled, still loving what we once loved, still wishing with childlike belief for a little bit of magic at least to be real.
Inner Child, 2023, Photographic mixed media, 24 x 20 inches. *gallery 44
Caren Helene Rudman
Highland Park, IL carenhelenerudman.com @carenhelene
I deconstruct snapshots and silhouettes to piece together my existence, intersecting with a collective whole. My work exposes that there is nothing but the connection between mind and body. I paint on plexiglass to reveal the sense of transparency of fleeting moments, suspended by time and place. The space lies between self and other within the complexity of shared histories, realizing and processing the angst of the current politics. My hope is to reveal the fragility of life, the strength of body, creating both the overwhelmingness of life and a peacefulness of state of mind, as I search for meaning in the spaces between.
Its Not Just Black or White, 2023, Acrylic on plexiglass, 36 x 24 inches. *gallery 45
Gigi Salij Venice, CA gigisalij.com @gigisalij
Pareidolia is the tendency, present in all humans, to take random visual arrangements (like clouds) and see identifiable objects or comprehensible patterns in them (like bunnies or elephants or faces). What do these women see when they look at these clouds? And what do WE see when we look at these women?
Pareidolia, 2018, Screenprint, 24 x 18 inches. *gallery 46
Marcia Santore Plymouth, NH marciasantore.com @marciasantore
Blue Window was the one that started it, the first in a series that explores
impossible interior and exterior spaces (imagined or half-remembered), doorways and windows just beginning to reveal what might be on the other side.
Blue Window, 2006, Acrylic on canvas (framed), 20 x 24 inches. *online 47
Amrita Singhal Berkeley, CA amritasinghal.com @amritasinghalstudio
This Is What Is Real depicts an explosive consciousness of nature through
brilliant colors, brushstrokes and spatial compression. Like nature, the painting pulses with palpable energy and glows and ebbs with the changing light during the course of a day. This painting leads the viewer into an experience of reality which hovers in the space between.
This Is What Is Real, 2022, Oil on wood panel, 30 x 30 inches. *online 48
Dobee Snowber
Berkeley, CA dobeesnowber.com @dsnowber
My pieces are about structure and entropy, about home and transitions, about the moment just before and the one right after and the one in between. Like us, these structures hold a history, weathered by the elements but still standing.
CLOSING IN, 2023, Acrylic, tissue paper, ink, pencil on board, 30 x 40 inches. *online 49
Christine So
Oakland, CA christineso.gallery @christinesogallery I shot these dreamy images after my husband died last year. Items disappearing in fog are metaphors for how none of us knows what lies ahead. My multiple-exposure cyanotypes try to capture how reminders of my husband’s absence were everywhere I looked and how life as I knew it was shattered. My photographs are hand-printed using the 170-yearold cyanotype process exposed in natural sunlight without UV light machines. photo credit: Jonathan Botkin
You're Everywhere and Nowhere, 2022, Cyanotype on paper, 20 x 16 inches. *gallery 50
Mary Southall
San Francisco, CA marysouthall.com @marysouthall_art
As one who has crossed over to the other side and returned to tell the tale, I’m acutely aware of my subconscious discoveries of love and spirit and their mysterious connection to the vital energy that transcends this earth plane and lies in a space between life and death.
Going, 2023, Mixed media on panel, 20 x 16 inches. *online 51
Julianne Sterling Albany, CA jsterlingart.com @jwsterling
USED To Live in The Space Between the Sidewalk and The Street: Nothing is black or white. “Used” was an artist prompt I began to respond to with an artwork. I have newly started photographing buildings where I work and live in Oakland and Berkeley. In West Berkeley, so many people are living in vans on the street, unhoused and just barely making it through on our streets. This is where my artwork I Wish I Used to Live Here came from, my imagined wishes of the unhoused and marginalized.
I wish I used to live here, 2023, Graphite and oil on panel, 30 x 30 inches. *gallery 52
Winnie van der Rijn
Cambridge, MA winnievanderrijn.com @winnievanderrijn
Between love and death. La Petite Mort 1 is an expression of my synesthetic, orgasmic color experience mixed with images of my husband’s brain tumor. I have synesthesia—my senses overlap. Tumors, cancer, orgasms—deeply personal, individual, universal, commonplace. Displayed as specimens—orgasms, like butterflies, are fleeting and occasionally seismic.
La Petite Mort 1, 2022, Mixed media, 20 x 16 inches. *gallery 53
Janna Waldinger Napa, CA makeartofmyday.com @jannawaldinger
For years, my interest in making art integrating thresholds, stems from the way a threshold embodies the space between. The threshold frames the space between rooms, between inside and outside and the archetype of arriving or going somewhere. It is a space of potential that has not been fully defined, therefore has unlimited possible outcomes. A great deal of my art objectifies psychological states that are not tangible as in my series called Accessing Interior Space. I have taken on the challenge of making art representing worlds we cannot hold on to.
Portal, 2021, Photograph, 13 x 19 inches. *online 54
Pipa Wilder
San Francisco, CA @perfectly_pipa
Radiant Snow explores the space between sight and vision loss. As an
artist with retinitis pigmentosa, I strive to connect my experience with vision loss—the soft, quiet places of grief, and the bold, beautiful adventure ahead—with my love of the visual arts.
Radiant Snow, 2023, Acrylic, 24 x 24 inches. *gallery 55
Bryn Williams
Los Angeles, CA brynwilliams.crevado.com @brynwilliamsart I am the day and the night sky and the leaves on the stems that wind up from the soil on which I rest. Believing in the Divine exists as a memorandum to remind me that I am, we are—all connected and a part of all that is.
Believing in the Divine, 2023, Acrylic, transparency film and marker on canvas, 25 x 25 inches. *online 56
Marian Yap
Pacifica, CA marianyap.com @marianpressyap
STILLNESS is the time and space that we need to solve or inform any message or idea—a quiet time in a safe place.
Stillness, 2017, Acrylic on canvas, 24 x 20 inches. *online 57
Jade Zabrowski San Francisco, CA @jzjade
On a sunny day, women merge and together give rise to a New Dress. Long exposure, Holga film camera.
New Dress, 2022, Photography, 16 x 16 inches. *online 58
Achi Zhou
San Francisco, CA achiiart.com @achiiart In my art practice, I'm fascinated by daydreams which serves not only as a means of escapism but also as a sanctuary for exploration and selfdiscovery, blurring the lines between reality and imagination. At the core of my work, I firmly believe in the potential for healing and transformation by embracing these life's inherent mysteries.
Return to 170 No.1 (bottom) and No.3 (top), 2022, Inkjet print, 4.5 x 8 and 3.5 x 4.5 inches. *gallery 59
KAREN M. GUTFREUND ART FEATURING ARTISTS: Laura Abrams, Wendy Ackrell, Elizabeth Addison, Cheselyn Amato, Salma Arastu, Elizabeth Bloomfield, Marie Cameron, Kim Cardoso, Sara Cole, Niloufar Farzam, Pamela Flynn, Carla Goldberg, Laura Gurton, Nic Hampton, Angela Han, Rozanne Hermelyn di Silvestro, Christine Ilewski, Sherry Karver, Audrey Kral, Beth Lakamp, Meghan Lewis MacLeod, Maria Loram, Laurel Lueders, Michelle Mansour, Karen Mason, Penny McElroy, Sheila Metcalf Tobin, Linda Mitchell, Laura Morrison, Jennifer Onofrio Fornes, Vida Pavesich, Theresa Pisani, Linda Plaisted, Caren Helene Rudman, Gigi Salij, Marcia Santore, Amrita Singhal, Dobee Snowber, Christine So, Mary Southall, Julianne Sterling, Winnie van der Rijn, Janna Waldinger, Pipa Wilder, Bryn Williams, Marian Yap, Jade Zabrowski, and Achi Zhou.
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