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Cinnamon Mask by Ola Zaitoun

It is our great pleasure to present to you HER STORY - The ArtisTTable's 29th exhibition and our fourth show featuring women artists. Throughout the annals of art history, there have always been female artists but for one reason or another they have almost never gotten their just rewards. Artists like Mary Cassatt, Alice Neel, Frida Kahlo, Georgia O'Keeffe, Yayoi Kusama, Louise Bourgeois, Cindy Sherman, Berthe Morisot to name only a very few of the truly influential artists that happen to be women continue to be an inspiration to all of us. They did their amazing work very often despite unfair obstacles placed in their way.

We would like to think that things have changed through the years. Her Story and its amusing play on words came about in a discussion during a visit to Erica Hyatt's studio in the Netherlands. You may recall that Erica was the juror of our Landscape 2018 show. I mention it only because it continues to be a source of immense satisfaction when we come to unexpectedly wonderful results when we have clear conversation and consider equally what everyone has to bring to the table.

This exhibition is once more a great example of the expansive amount of creativity and talent that there is out there in all four corners of the globe. While this show is a very small sampling of women artists from around the world, we think you will find that there is a lot going on out there and these artists are definitely finding some interesting solutions to the challenge of making art and communicating something poignant with it.

As you go through the work in the show you will notice there are more video entries than before and not only that, but this is the first one of our shows that the the First Place Award has gone to a video submission.

Speaking of the globe, it is very exciting to have submissions to this show from far and wide. We are happy to welcome work from artists from, India, Ukraine, Poland, Italy, Switzerland, Canada, Denmark, Israel, the United States. Many of the artists from these places have immigrated from other places and these experiences have in some cases heavily informed the art that you will see in this exhibition.

We want to thank our juror Ilana Weiler for the work that she has done by making the selections that she has for this show. We always appreciate this service as it is not an easy thing to make certain decisions after reviewing all the submissions to such a show.

Ilana is an EFT Expert, practicing in Israel, and conducts research and workshops on the subject in many places around the world. She also is a photographer and enjoys painting her experience.

Juror's Notes:

I enjoyed very much the opportunity that I have had to be a part of this project as the juror of Her Story.

I learned a lot from the experience, about myself and my personal preferences, and of course it was fun after all, and I was able to become familiar with some amazing artists.

After choosing the first three places my selection of the Honorable Mentions we choices were ones that caught my eye, touched my heart and gave recognition to the different media that were submitted to this show.

Thank you so much to the ArtisTTable, Tali and Royce for inviting me to play this important roll.

First Place: Souls - Adva Drori

This work impresses me deeply. It is obvious that the artist has developed a very personal language that is expressed in a rich variety of artistic media.

The child-like music box creates an illusion of an innocent atmosphere, yet the issue is so complex and tragic.

It took me on a surprising journey. Bravo Adva!

Second Place: Three Sisters - Haya White

Is a beautiful painting, the light handed movements, the optimistic water colors that create airy characters give me a feeling of a simple natural intimacy that is present among the sisters.

The expressions on their faces seems childish and mature at the same time, and this leaves me with a question, are these three sisters? A mother with two daughters? In any rate it evokes a deep feeling of connection in me.

Third Place: We Lost You - Shir Leyzer

Is a beautiful print. Using the bra as a cultural symbol that together with the title are a statement with multiple meanings and interpretations.

Did we loose the bra, or femininity? Or did we, as women, gain freedom from loosing the bra?

There are probably are many more interpretations.

I appreciate the simplicity of this art work, the lightness of it, and how it represents this complex issue.

Before we turn you loose to go see the exhibition, we want to tell you that we were so impressed by the work that came to us as submissions. In every show there are some award worth pieces of art that for whatever reason are not given that attention. We certainly felt that here. So, aside from the usual Tali's Choice and Royce's Choice Awards, we added a few more awards just so that we could recognize more of the excellence we see in this selection of artwork.

ArtisTTable TT Award: Elsa Langer

This new award is given to an artist that has overcome the obstacles in life and continues to make art that processes their experience for themselves, and in turn explains to us the viewer in a way that we can begin to understand.

In the case of Elsa's work it is fascinating to see how her work is consistently visceral and moving emotionally, even though subject matter changes as she has moved from one chapter of life to another. We suggest that as well as looking at her art, that you read her statement to get the first hand account of her life and see where what she creates has come from.

Staff Pick Award: Self Observer - Mariana Peirano

This award is chosen for its excellence by all those that have worked with us in putting this show together.

This painting by Mariana is a beautiful piece that presents us with a young woman's face that could be anyone of us as a viewer. The look of contemplation in her expression in some asks each of us to just slow down and be. The blossoms that float up and seem to almost turn into butterflies also denote not only experiences from the past but there should be more hope for the future.

Portfolio Award: Dorothy McGuiness

This award is designed to recognize an artist whose work that is submitted to our show is cohesive, perfectly executed, and that is so well thought out that it creates a new individual body of work with a meaningful visual statement.

Dorothy McGuiness's series of woven hedrons are as fascinating to look in their science and precision as they are beautiful. As a basket weaver Dorothy understands the finer nuances that make basketry the art form that it truly is. Her interest in math and geometric shapes allow her to have explored this endeavor to what seems to be the nth degree.

ArtisTTable Studio Award: Orly Ben Basat

This award is for those artists have have what we consider to be unusual studio practices. That usually would mean that the artist works in his or her studio in a manner that would be considered well outside of the norm. If you use your imagination you can see that the possibilities for criteria might be endless.

In Orly Ben Basat's case it is her use of an unexpected method of making portraiture. Every once in a while you see something that you have never seen before, that in and of itself is not mutually exclusive with that something being great. But in this case Orly's crocheted portraits are absolutely stunning as they unbelievable. Her likenesses are uncanny as they are gestural. We love that she has taken a way of working that has forever been relegated to the world of afghans and toilet tissue covers and made something completely new and wonderful.

Tali's Choice Award: Vitruvian Research - Iryna Zahladko

Chosen for how brave it seemed to be to take on what might be the original and most exhaustive examination of the proportions of the human ideal, Vitruvian Man by Leonardo di Vinci. It is most interesting to watch Iryna explore in a most organic way the proportions of her own female form in this video performance piece. With the simplest of materials, six sheets of paper taped to the wall, a stick of charcoal her own body we watch and begin to see how her brain is working as she figures out her next move. In some ways this drawing is much more honest than Leonardo's as it not trying to be the Vitruvian Man, but to draw parallels to what is real compared to the "ideal."

Royce's Choice Award: Bedhead - Sheila Grabarsky

In Sheila's statement she mentions how happy she is to be able to express herself in this way, and while she is anything but a child, she claims to still be that child inside. This happiness and satisfaction is so apparent in this work. Her paintings are bold, free and expressive. Bedhead, as to her other paintings in the show give us space to wander around and wonder. We might wonder if they are a place or if those organic shapes are plant matter or are they colors from her personal dreamland. Where ever they come from or what they are, they are just pure and unadulterated fun and a joy to experience.

Her Story People's Choice Award: Earth Woman - Laila Kujala

Thanks to the voters for participating by clicking the vote button and choosing Earth Woman as the People's Choice winner. Congratulations Laila!

The artwork chosen to represent this year's women's exhibition is Coffee Mask by Ola Zaitoun. This powerful painting offers up many questions and challenges us to consider in personal ways what it means to be a woman in this day and age.

If you read this far, thank you very much, we appreciate your interest and engagement in the arts and in particular the work that has taken to put this show together. And more importantly all the work by these artists in the show that have followed their dreams, and are continuing to do so by carving out their creative process day after day. Thanks to each and every artist in the exhibition and all those that support them in all the many ways there are to support.

Now please Click Here and go enjoy Her Story now.

Her Story Exhibition Artists: