Barbara Twardzik

BARBARA TWARDZIK

Our wonderful friend and great volunteer, Barb Twardzik died on Sunday, April 13, 2008 in a car accident after leaving WMG's Benefit Auction where she had worked hard all evening to make sure that all went well. The WMG board, staff and volunteers are in deep sorrow, and we extend our most heartfelt condolences to Barb's family and large circle of friends.

Barb loved Woman Made and always felt at home here. She never called herself an artist, but she was extremely creative, and everything she touched turned into something special and beautiful. Her projects for Woman Made became one of a kind artworks, and one never knew what visual surprises she would present next time. The image depicted here is of one of the many storage boxes that Barb painted for our 2006 Benefit Auction. She wanted to make sure that whatever was stored under the silent auction tables was as interesting as what was displayed on the tables. Barb started to make jewelry and participated with her necklaces and bracelets in our 2007 Holiday Bazaar. She was always generous with her time and whatever else she could give. In 2007 she donated all the beads that we needed for a jewelry workshop project at The Women's Treatment Center in Chicago.

Barb was a very beautiful, creative, energetic and spirited human being. She was a joy to have around. All of us at Woman Made Gallery will forever miss Barb in our lives.

Woman Made Gallery thanks Herb Lande from Imperial Construction Associates, Inc. from Joliet, Illinois, for their donation in memory of Barbara Twardzik. We thank the Twardzik families, Stan, Mary, Wes, Wanda, John and Ed, for donating in honor of their sister Barb.

Erena Rae

ERENA RAE

Erena Rae, dear friend, fabulous artist and WMG supporter, died on Friday, May 19th, 2006 at her home in Highland Park, New Jersey.

Rena earned her BFA degree in drawing and printmaking from the University of Kansas and pursued a 30-year career in graphic design and commercial illustration while following her husband, Gus Friedrich to Purdue University, the University of Nebraska, and the University of Oklahoma. She retired from commercial art and returned to her drawing and printmaking roots in 1998 when her husband accepted his current position at Rutgers University. Her award-winning prints and mixed-media works focusing on feminism and social issues have appeared in publications and juried exhibitions throughout the United States, as well as in China, Russia, and India. A mixed-media print which Rena created in response to the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, was selected for inclusion in the book, The Best of Printmaking: An International Collection, and three of her works were included in Milton Glaser’s 2005 publication, The Design of Dissent: Socially and Politically Driven Graphics.

Over the years, Rena served as a volunteer for numerous organizations: in her home churches in the Midwest; as an editor and graphic designer for various Plowshares activists, and for state and local chapters of the National Organization for Women; as a tutor for Laubauch Literacy International; and in New Jersey as a board member and exhibitions chair of the Printmaking Council of New Jersey, advisory council member for the Rutgers Center for Innovative Print and Paper, and program committee member for Friends of the Rutgers University Libraries.

We extend our most heartfelt sympathy to Gus Friedrich and son, Bruce Friedrich and the entire family. Memorial contributions may be sent to Woman Made Gallery or the National Museum of Women in the Arts (www.nmwa.org.)

At Home in the u.s.a. (#1 from the "Sweet Dreams" suite, in progress) 2005
Archival digital pigment print of scanned and computer-drawn images and typography on Hahnemühle cotton rag • 25.5 x 19.5" - Printer: Silicon Gallery Fine Arts, Philadelphia • Edition: 5 - Embroidery (flowers): Ellen Marie Margaret Meyer Friedrich (artist’s mother-in-law); photography: Erena Rae

Rena's statement for 'At Home in the u.s.a.' - "When I happened to walk past someone’s “bed” on a bitterly cold day in the capital city of our rich nation, I was moved to take a photograph. My own family lived modestly, but we always had a warm and comfortable place to lay our heads at night — a cozy spot made even more so by the beautiful needlework of our foremothers. I used one of these pillowcases as a backdrop (like a photo album page) for the sad streetscape picture, and included (for added irony) the words that countless mothers have whispered as their children drifted off to sleep: Sweet Dreams. And, to further point out the rift between the Haves and the Have-Nots, guidelines for the use of “at-home” cards are included, as well as (in the form of litter on the fence) an at-home card for the biggest Have that we have in the USA (and whose image is subtly superimposed three times on the vertical right-most column where he can look down on the results of his compassionate conservatism. It is of immense interest to me that the rich and the poor live side-by-side in this country and yet they inhabit completely different worlds. How can there ever be empathy? And without empathy, how can there be change?"

Erin Joslin

ERIN JOSLIN

We are so sorry to hear that artist, Erin Joslin died on Monday, August 23, 2004. Our most sincere condolences and empathy to Erin's entire family and all who knew and loved her.

Erin Joslin graduated from the School of the Art Institute in Chicago in 1998 with a BFA. Her previous trip to Ireland inspired her to work with raw sheep's fleece. Erin exhibited two of her carefully crafted and very beautiful three-dimensional artworks in the 'Animal Stories' exhibition which was on display from September 11 to October 9, 1998 at Woman Made Gallery. We have included one of those works here.

"Erin was an artist all of her life. She began drawing and painting before she could write. Often her schoolwork included sketches in the margins. An artist from SAIC came to her high school in Wichita and she was determined to attend that college. She did attend the early college program in Chicago between her junior and senior years in high school, and applied only to SAIC. She was accepted. Between her junior and senior years in college, she went to Allihies, in the Beara Peninsula of County Cork, Ireland, to study art. Her last college course was taken there as well, and when SAIC awarded her a fellowship to travel, she used it to stay in Ireland. It was in Ireland that she was inspired to create her "beasts" and that was the focus of her work during her last year in college and upon her return to Ireland.

The 2001 hoof and mouth disease outbreak in Ireland inspired an installation that was displayed at the opening of a new hotel in Galway. Erin was working on another project that she was planning with another artist the year before she became so ill. It involved a park in Galway, children and recyclables. At her funeral service a large unfinished piece was displayed. She died too soon." -Carolyn Anderson

Woman Made Gallery thanks all individuals who have made donations to the organization in memory of Erin Joslin: Carolyn Anderson, Laura Black, Margot Breckbill, Juli Burke, Donna Daly, Mary Ann Ernzen, Sue Guenthner, Vicky Howard, Mary Koehn, Jeri Melin, Marleen Patty, Karen Wohlwend.

(right) 'Beast (Box)', raw fleece, cotton rope, wool and silk yarn by Erin Joslin.

Nancy Maguire

NANCY MAGUIRE

We are very sad to announce the death of artist Nancy Maguire, past president of CWCA and a loyal friend and member of Woman Made Gallery. Nancy's photography was accepted into the 'Honoring the Crone' exhibition in Fall 2001 at WMG and she offered her photographic services to members of WMG. We will all miss her dearly. Nancy was laid to rest at Calvary Cemetery on Tuesday, May 28, 2002. Memorials may be made to your favorite charity.

Annalee Hultgren

ANNALEE HULTGREN

Annalee Hultgren passed away on July 6, 2001. Annalee had a MFA from the School of the Art Institute and taught in the art department of City Colleges for twenty-four years, until her retirement in 1993. She was also adjunct lecturer at the Art Institute since 1972.

Annalee Hultgren was a member of Woman Made Gallery for many years and participated in several of our exhibitions, including the Seventh Annual Member's Show in 2000.

(left) 'Mediterranean Descendant', mixed media on masonite by Annalee Hultgren.

Hollis Sigler

HOLLIS SIGLER

Hollis Sigler, a prominent Chicago-area artist lost her courageous battle with breast cancer on Thursday, March 29, 2001.

Our connection with Hollis goes back to 1994 when she shared her thoughts about her art and her struggles with her illness at a memorable lecture at Woman Made Gallery. Already admired for her naïve autobiographical paintings, she became best known for her series in "Breast Cancer Journal: Walking with the Ghosts of My Grandmothers," which she exhibited in 1993 at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington and at Rockford College and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago.

Just recently Hollis Sigler received a lifetime achievement award from the College Art Association. It joined a similar honor by the Illinois Arts Alliance and an honorary doctorate from Moore College. She also received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Illinois Arts Council and was one of the honorees at the Women's Caucus of Art in March, 2001.

A memorial service took place on April 21, 2001 at 2 pm at the Dance Center at Columbia College, 1306 South Michigan in Chicago.

Breast Cancer Journal

Here is a review of "The Breast Cancer Journal" by Lynn Kable, Founding Board Member and Former President, Society for the Arts in Healthcare from New York City:

Hollis Sigler has created a visual language, easily learned and powerfully understood, using images of a woman's everyday life to portray wildly varying emotions of a woman diagnosed with re-occurring cancer. "Hollis Sigler's Breast Cancer Journal" show's Hollis' own incredible strength in living and painting life to the fullest while concurrently fighting serious illness. Her drawings and paintings reflect the experiences of women living with breast cancer and those who care for them, while providing a means of immediate, almost organic emotional understanding to their families, neighbors, and friends. Hollis is brave, powerful, and very much attached to life. Her struggles are all of ours: through her art we learn to better understand ourselves.

From 1994-1997 The Society for the Arts in Healthcare (SAH) sponsored with the National Museum of Women in the Arts a national tour to 24 hospitals of replicas, donated by Polaroid Corporation, of 14 Hollis Sigler drawings and painting about living with breast cancer, all of which now appear in "Hollis Sigler's Breast Cancer Journal." Hollis' powerful images provided a vehicle for patients and families, doctors and nurses, visitors, medical students and non-professional staff to consider breast cancer from a visually articulate patient's point of view. Kathy Miller of the Cancer Wellness Center in Northbrook, IL wrote at the time about the art and Hollis Sigler: "The art is thought-provoking for people of all ages and in all stages of health....Women have a lot in common -- her work says it all." Hollis Sigler's work is important, a series of visual statements with the same emotional validity as the writings of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross or the choreography of Bill T. Jones. I have shown some of Hollis' images which appear in this book during arts-in-healthcare talks to medical students in Ohio, patients in New York, and healthcare professionals in Japan. The images have always met with visual and emotional appreciation and immediate understanding from the audience. From the standpoint of this particular reader and member of the Arts in Healthcare movement, Hollis Sigler's Breast Cancer Journal is a Must Read! -

Sara Marie Risk

SARA MARIE RISK

Sara Marie Risk died November 6th, 1998. She moved from Chicago to New Britain, Connecticut with her husband Sean Gallagher, where she taught and created her moving portraits inspired by Italian Renaissance art. Both she and her husband were members of Woman Made Gallery from the early beginnings and both have exhibited together in WMG's annual Member's Show.

René A. Townsend

RENE A. TOWNSEND

René A. Townsend who died October 10th, 1998 was a prolific artist and educator. She participated at Woman Made Gallery as both an exhibitor and juror. She was the first black woman to graduate from the Rinehart School of Sculpture and was a Ford Foundation Fellow. René was an active member of Sapphire and Chrystals and taught at the School of the Art Institute.