Fleeting images: Cultural Center hosts women artists for “Nothing Permanent” exhibition

Lisa Goren’s art mostly revolves around ice, a fitting subject for an exhibition titled “Nothing Permanent.”

“Ice is always moving,” Goren said. “ I came back from Iceland in March and we flew over Greenland and you see these huge mountains of ice and they look so permanent.”

But they’re not, of course, as the name of the exhibition suggests. 

Goren’s abstract paintings of ice are now on display at the Dartmouth Cultural Center for its exhibition featuring artists from the National Association of Women Artists’ Massachusetts chapter. 

The organization was founded in New York City in 1889 “to counteract the male domination in the art world,” according to Jill Law, gallery director of the Cultural Center. 

Law has two pieces in the exhibit herself, both of which are abstract representations. 

“When someone paints abstractly, it has to come from their brain, it’s intuitive and then it has to be refined,” Law said.

Law is a member of NAWA and “was so excited when she heard that this could happen,” said Cultural Center President Pauline Santos. 

“It’s just so different,” Santos said, as opposed to some exhibitions that feature one artist or one style. “Every single piece is different and it’s wonderful.”

Still, the artists all offered their interpretation of the exhibition’s theme. 

Jaye Alison Moscariello’s connection to “Nothing Permanent,” for instance, is on the somber side, as some of her scenic landscapes contain plumes of smoke wafting over the trees or mountains, recalling the wildfires that rage across her former home state of California. One of her paintings was actually made using burnt irrigation tubing.

Madeleine Lord’s two artworks were created around 20 years apart, but both connect to war and the impermanence of life. The first is a cutout of a steel door that depicts civilian casualties in the Middle East during the presidency of George W. Bush. 

“What if what was in the newspaper every morning was on your doorstep?” Lord said, speaking about the inspiration behind the door.

Her other piece is similarly themed, but focuses on modern atrocities in Ukraine. The sculpture depicts an angel made of steel scraps, with a yellow head and blue body, the colors of the Ukrainian flag. 

Dorothy Amore Pilla reflected on the impermanence of buildings in her piece, which uses a photo of a house that was being torn down in Duxbury, where she lives. Because she alters the photos significantly in Photoshop and adds additional elements, Amore Pilla said she’s “not a photographer,” and instead considers herself a digital artist.

Kirstin Ilse’s two pieces are from a series called Moonlight Through the Trees, for which she got some unlikely inspiration: a blood clot coughed up by a COVID-19 patient during the pandemic. Ilse then tied that idea and image to “the solace that people got walking through the woods” during the time. 

Ilse’s art also shines in the light, an effect she achieved by layering painted silk over holographic vinyl placed on wood. She wanted the work to feel like a “living memory” when viewers see the flashes of colors and light. 

The artists’ work will be on display until August 26. 

“I hope [visitors] see the variety of excellence that’s in the National Association of Women Artists,” Goren said. “The mission of NAWA is to get women more visibility in more museums.”

The gallery is open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday through Saturday.