Women artists come together for picture perfect display of talent

While many of the Dartmouth Cultural Center’s monthly art exhibits feature one or two artists, the current show features the work of 15 women artists.

Opening on Friday, July 10, the exhibit, titled “Accidental Metamorphosis,” features the work of women who are a part of the National Association of Women Artists, a women’s-only fine art organization.

“For the most part what NAWA does is try to encourage all artists, no matter what their style is, to participate and to promote them, and they’ve been doing that since 1889,” said Gallery Director Jill Law.

Throughout the year NAWA organizes exhibitions artists can apply to be a part of, which Law said creates “a lot of competition for shows.”

“I’m happy that there’s 15 artists that are here, and the work is so good,” Law said.

For four years, artists across the country have participated in the Dartmouth Cultural Center’s NAWA exhibit, including one woman who lives in Maine and another who has created much of her artwork while traveling in countries such as Iceland and Greenland.

“We try to get as many of the artists who submit into the show, even though it’s a juried show,” Law said.

In a juried show, a judge reviews the submitted work and selects the strongest pieces to include in the exhibit.

This year around 35 pieces entered the show and 24 were chosen, with every artist who submitted a piece getting in. Artwork on display includes paintings, sculptures, photographs and more.

Law, who has been a member of NAWA for around six years, came up with the idea of holding a NAWA exhibit four years ago when she thought, “wouldn’t it be wonderful to give that representation to NAWA in Dartmouth and in the South Coast.”

She noted that while the Massachusetts chapter has shows on Cape Cod and in Boston, there weren’t any that were closer to Dartmouth and Rhode Island.

“I thought it was a great reach for the organization and for the Dartmouth Cultural Center to bring something of notoriety,” she said.

Of the 15 artists, eight are from the local area, including Mary Hurwitz and Dot Bergen, who both attended the opening reception on Friday, July 10.

Law noted that when she first invited NAWA to the Cultural Center, the number of local artists participating was “much smaller.”

“I couldn’t count on multiple hands how many local women artists have joined NAWA just because of the exposure,” she said.

Hurwitz, who lives in Dartmouth, has two abstract paintings on display, one which she titled “Transformation of Grief” and the other “Squawk.”

“The show is ‘Accidental Metamorphosis,’ but as a painter, especially abstract, there are so many paintings that came before that painting,” Hurwitz said of “Transformation of Grief,” which she painted shortly after her uncle and two of her cats died.

“That’s where it led me to, but it was so different going on the way, because I was going through my process,” she said.

Bergen, who lives in Little Compton, has on display a piece called “Sacred Space 2,” which she made with two of the oldest paper techniques “known to man,” which are encaustic painting and fresco.

“I think it’s nice to have something that you can show to other people, yet there’s a part of it that’s really intimate and protected, and that’s what I think that piece shows to viewers,” Bergen said.

Bergen has been a NAWA member for five years and participates in as many exhibits as she can.

“I think it’s a really important organization to give women voices in art,” she said, “And I love that a lot of times the themes are really relevant and topical to what’s going on in the world today, and so that makes our work relevant.”

Law said that she hopes the local community “comes out and supports the group,” noting that they wouldn’t just be supporting the Dartmouth Cultural Center, but NAWA as well.

As a member of NAWA, Law said, “I want to see it have a stronghold in the area.”

This is the first year Hurwitz is displaying work in the NAWA exhibit, though she has shown pieces before.

“It’s important to show your work because it’s no good at home sitting in a closet,” she said. “It’s important to show whether or not you sell it because it speaks to people.”