WCA Connections 2014

During the month of September, thanks to WCA member Pamela Flynn, we held an exhibition at Holy Family University called Connections. The show, featuring seven WCA Philadelphia chapter members- Rosalind Bloom, Claire Giblin, Jude Lang, Kristin Osgood Lamelas, Virginia Maksymowicz, Simone Spicer and Laura Petrovich-Cheney, went extraordinarily well.  As we were setting up the show, we placed a figure sculpture next to two figure paintings. Little did we know the connections that would soon be made.  During the opening reception and artist talk, it was really touching to hear Claire Giblin talk about the relationship between her paintings and Simone Spicer's sculpture of a homeless man, which was constructed out of discarded corrugated cardboard. Claire said she felt like she was standing there, surrounded by her family. The one painting she made was about her nephew who was an addict. The other was about her mother, called Modonna de la Roccia, painted after an experience of feeling so close to her mother spiritually, upon viewing so many madonnas in Italian churches. She then looked down at Simone's sculpture and shared the little known fact that her own father was indeed homeless. He used to come home with a bar of soap and a razor in his back pocket. Eventually he stopped coming home and died on the street. Her story was so powerful and brought many people to tears. It was truly a magical evening. We never really know how our art will personally affect the viewer. During the same time as the HFU show, we had a connecting show at Plaza Artist Supply that featured the work of Simone Spicer. The catalog of the Connections exhibition is here: http://issuu.com/presphilawca/docs/wcaholyfamilyshowcatalog2014. Special thanks to Virginia Maksymowicz for her compelling essay, to Jude Lang for the fabulous design and to Kristin Osgood Lamelas for coordinating everything. From Left to Right: Artists Claire Giblin, Jude Lang, Rosalind Bloom, Simone Spicer,  Laura Petrovich-Cheney, Kristin Osgood Lamelas, (Virginia Maksymowicz is not pictured  here, but was also a part of this memorable group exhibition)