SWAN Day (Support Women Artists Now Day) was created in 2008 to celebrate women artists around the world. It is celebrated at the end of March each year. We welcome this opportunity to lift up four artists, including two who are no longer with us, who are particularly inspiring and important to the RCWMS community.
Kimberley Pierce Cartwright is a fiber artist, and much more. She paints. She quilts. She sews. She writes. She’s a potter. She leads workshops for RCWMS. We are so happy to have her as our 2022 artist-in-residence. Learn more about Kimberley here. Check out her fabric pieces at the Nasher through June. They are part of the Reckoning and Resilience exhibit. And visit her etsy shop to help support her current work.
Bryant Holsenbeck makes art with “stuff” we no longer need, transforming it. Her hope is that people will begin to think more about what we throw away, where it goes and finally be inspired to use less of it. Bryant has taught internationally and has also been one of the most popular RCWMS workshop leaders during the pandemic. She wrote a book about her experience spending a year without single-use plastic. Her work is featured in Greensboro’s Greenhill Center’s current exhibition. And she creates all sorts of beautiful creatures. Learn more about Bryant and see where to purchase her art at bryantholsenbeck.com.
Meinrad Craighead (1936-2019) spent her life in art exploring the human-divine relationship, particularly in images of God as the Great Mother. In 2009, RCWMS and Minnow Media produced an hour-long documentary about her: Meinrad Craighead: Praying with Images. Amy (Dosser) Kellum, executive producer, noted that “working and traveling with Meinrad were among the most interesting and rewarding times of my life. She was a natural teacher, able to easily relate information in a most generous way.” Following Meinrad’s death in 2019 Amy began the process of compiling Meinrad’s lectures from long ago with relevant images. Several of those lectures are now available here. Learn more about Meinrad and peruse some images for sale at meinradcraighead.com.
Sue Sneddon (1953-2022) spent her life appreciating and painting the natural world. She taught classes for RCWMS for more than a decade, sharing her passion and artistry with beginners and more experienced painters with equal deftness. She was our artist in residence in 2020 and 2021. This brilliant painter and musician who taught us how to experience the light, died in January this year, way too soon.
On this SWAN Day may you take a moment to celebrate the magic of these artists, and of others in your world. Please find your own way to support a woman-identified artist!
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