Swope museum features women sculptors in new show

Mountain hikes and soap bubbles inspired Anna Lee Chalos-McAleese, an ISU alumna, in her exploration of glass and stone as an artist in the Swope Art Museum's exhibition, "Rock, Paper, Scissors: Three Contemporary Women Sculptors."

"Over several years, Swope staff had noticed particularly strong contemporary women sculptors entering, showing and winning in our annual Wabash Valley juried Exhibition; it seemed like a perfect tie into our collection and our mission: to show this traditionally undervalued underrepresented group of artists (women sculptors)," said Elizabeth Petrulis, curator of collections and exhibits at the Swope.

Chalos-McAleese is one artist out of three to contribute to the exhibition. Like Chalos-McAleese, the other artists, Ann Coddington Rast and Jesse Mathes, were also winners of the Swope's Wabash Valley Juried Exhibition.

"I was so anxious to deliver the work to the Swope and yet as it was time to leave the sculptures in Lisa Petrulis' hands, I hated to leave," Chalos-McAleese said. "They very much are children to me, each one of them special in a unique way."

"Cadiz II," a sandstone and billet glass sculpture showcased in the exhibit, was inspired by trips to Cadiz, Ohio that Chalos-McAleese took with her father.

"He worked at a huge strip mine with gorgeous striations in the stone," Chalos-McAleese said. "I've never forgotten those fun rides and the huge machinery used to excavate the coal. To some viewers it may just appear to be a nice piece of sandstone with some interesting billet glass inserted in a cut.  To me it pays homage to my father that's been gone for a long time."

Mathes's glimmer of interest in jewelry started her concentration in that and metalwork, according to her Web site, jessemathes.com. Her pieces in the exhibition work within the confines of wearable art, uncovering the significance of apparel and personal space.

"In her statement Mathes mentions feeling awkward and even violated in certain social situations," Petrulis said. "Her work is about the psychology of personal space, the ability of adornment to create feelings of protection and power."

According to the Swope Web site, the fiber artist and sculptor Rast used woven techniques to unravel the mysteries of life and the connections between the mind and the body.

"I mainly work from experiences in my life, including concepts about aging and the body, how memories are stored in the body, masculinity, femininity, the sense of foreboding and fear of what is to come," Rast said.Rast said her sculpture "Unloved" was inspired by an unloved character in a book that she felt sympathetic towards. That concept manifested itself into sculpture like "Dark Cloud," a sculpture inspired by events in Rast's life that troubled her like a "proverbial dark cloud."

"I really hope the work touches viewers on an emotive level, where they respond with a feeling, as opposed to a thought," Rast said. "I also believe that my work is quite open, with more than one way to read it. Art is a visual language, and I hope my work reaches people in that way and in a personal way."

Chalos-McAleese said the artwork exhibited in the Swope is her creation of what she refers to as a "visual diary," an attempt to record a significant or memorable moment. Each exhibited artwork has a deeper meaning; each has a separate story to tell.

"They are all reflections from my life," Chalos McAleese said.

The exhibition, which opened in February, will continue until March 15. The exhibition is timely, considering the theme for this year's Women's History Month Project is "Women's Art: Women's Vision."

"I realize now that the art world generally does not take women as seriously as men," Rast said. "Sometimes I think galleries and reviewers dismiss content that may express feminine points of view. I do think that as more women become curators, gallery directors, writers and serious artists, the tide is turning -but at a glacial pace."