­1.     “Roe V Wade,” 2022, encaustic with silk flowers, encaustic sculptures and crystals, 60”x 80”

This painting celebrates the decision by the Supreme Court in 1973 that said that a pregnant woman was free to choose an abortion. This ruling was overturned in 2022.­­

2.     “Storming the Capitol,” 60″x60,” encaustic with crystals, lights, apoxie modeling compound, panels and plexiglass, 2021

On January 6, 2021, a mob of supporters of failed presidential candidate Donald Trump stormed the Capital Building in Washington Dc. They caused the deaths of five persons and injured 168 .  Rioters vandalized and looted the office of Nancy Pelosi. Other rioters cried out ‘Nancy” as they walk through the capital building.

This painting depicts the National Statuary Hall. The rioters, depicted as sharks, enter the building. The congress women leave with gas masks on their faces.

3.“Nancy Pelosi: Know Your Power,” 2021, encaustic with lights crystals and paper, 60”x 80”
Nancy Pelosi is a Democrat, a Representative from California, and the first and only woman Speaker of the House.
In this painting Speaker Pelosi stands in front of the Capitol Building. Fireworks go off behind her to celebrate her many accomplishments. Her dog, Hugo, stands at her side.
This painting looks at the many aspects of her life. On the left, we see her as the mother of five. On the right, we see her as master legislator.

4.“Suffrage Cat,” 2020, encaustic with lights crystals and plexiglass, 60”x 80”

See a video about the work here.. https://www.gallerydz.com/2021/03/11/suffrage-cat/

In 1916, in order to publicize the movement to give women the vote, Nell Richardson and Alice Burke drove across the US in a two-seater car nicknamed the Golden Flyer.  According to the press, the car looked like “a little yellow ant scuttling off through the crowds of limousines and auto trucks which lined the streets.”

Stopping to speak in states from Maryland to California, the women were accompanied only by Saxon, a black kitten that they adopted on route.  Named for the manufacturer of their car, Saxon would hide in the shade while the women spoke in the sun in support of suffrage.

5.     “Sandy Hook,”2019, encaustic with crystals, lights, plexiglass and plastic beads,60”x60”

See a video about this work here…https://www.gallerydz.com/video/

On December 14, 2012, at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, a gunman shot and killed 26 people, including 20 children between six and seven years old.  This was only the fourth deadliest mass shooting in US history.

This painting depicts Victoria Leigh Soto, who died that day.  Witnesses describe her as throwing herself between the shooter and her students.  She was posthumously granted the Presidential Citizens Medal for her courage.

6.Women’s March 2017″, 2017, encaustic with crystals and lights, 60″x96”

See a video about this work here.. https://www.gallerydz.com/video/

On January 21, 2017, the day after the inauguration of President Donald Trump, between three and five million people joined the Women’s March protests across the United States, the largest protest in American history.  That day, between 1 and 1.6 percent of all Americans joined the protests.

This painting depicts several of the speakers at the Washington march, the heart of the protest.  At the center, a singing Alicia Keys punches a KKK nightrider and a Nazi motorcyclist.  At her sides are veteran activist Gloria Steinem and six-year-old illegal immigrant Sophie Cruz, the youngest of the speakers at the Washington rally.

7.      “Election 2016″, 2017, encaustic with crystals, lights, jewelry and encaustic printed paper, 60″x60”

See a video about the work here…https://www.gallerydz.com/video/

In 2016, Donald Trump ran against Hillary Clinton for the US Presidency.  In spite of Trump’s openly racist campaign, and in spite of video of Trump bragging about committing sexual assault, Trump defeated Clinton.

This painting shows Trump, backed by the KKK, standing on a platform of his racist and other offensive statements.  Opposed to him, Clinton is shown against the backdrop of her inspiring speeches while the Statue of Liberty weeps in the background.

8.“Me Too,” 2016, encaustic with  crystals, flowers and lights,60”x60”

In late 2017, the Me Too movement began with the publication of articles describing sexual assaults committed by Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.  Soon stories about other major figures in the entertainment and other industries appeared as women spoke out about their experiences of harassment and assault.

The painting depicts a victim in a sea surrounded by sharks and other creatures.  But there is hope: other women, depicted as angels and surrounded by flowers and lights, bring help as they offer the victim a life preserver.

9.“Ida B Wells”, 2016, encaustic with crystals, encaustic printed paper and lights, 60”x60”

See a video about this work here…https://www.gallerydz.com/video/

In this painting, a woman pulls off a Ku Klux Klan robe to reveal the monster underneath.  She defeats the creature by shining light on it, stopping it as it prepares to lynch a young boy.  Lights accentuate the outside of the robe and also shine under the three paper effigies at the bottom of the piece.

The woman is Ida B. Wells, who was a Suffragist, civil rights activist, journalist, and newspaper editor.  She researched cases of lynching in the South and found racism to be the motivating cause.  Wells risked her life to give speeches and write articles to call attention to these horrible crimes.

10.“Suffragist and Zombies”, 2012, encaustic with crystals, 60”x60”

See a video about this work here…https://www.gallerydz.com/video/

Long ago, the Workhouse Center for the Arts was known as the Occoquan Prison. This prison held Suffragists, arrested by the police officially for “blocking the sidewalk” when standing quietly with signs in front of the White House.

Occoquan prison officials were angry and tired of these irritating women who marched, picketed, and went on hunger strikes. They planned in advance to create such an unpleasant experience in jail that the Suffragists would just plain quit.

When the Suffragists arrived here, back in 1917, the plan went into effect. Prison guards dragged these new prisoners off their feet, threw them down, forced them to eat rancid food, and kept them awake at night. But first, the women were required to strip, walk across a long room, and take an enforced shower. The humiliation those women felt was severe, as it was a time when women’s bodies were almost always covered.  .

The painting to your left depicts a Suffragist taking her enforced shower. A stern prison Matron watches, and another prisoner hold the woman’s clothes. The Suffragist holds a bucket with two feet and a bar of soap. The image of the feet in the bucket represents the disease-ridden conditions of this enforced shower.