The Feminine divine
Yana Beylinson, Kristy Gordon , Erin E. Kono, Brianna Lance, MaryKate Maher, Katie Southworth, Sasha Yosselani, Bokani, Michelle Hinebrook, Deidre Sullivan Beeman, Diana Kurz, Gabriella Mazza
On view through July 25
The FORMah is pleased to announce the opening of a group exhibition entitled The Feminine Divine, curated by the founder of The Artist Advisory, Marina Press Granger. It is a deeply rooted spiritual belief, across many cultures, that everyone embraces aspects of both the feminine and the masculine divine. While the masculine divine has to do with structure and the physical world, the feminine divine embraces more intuitive qualities. The exhibition includes over a dozen artworks exploring aspects of the feminine divine; Creativity, Intuition, Collaboration, Nurturing, Receptiveness, Empathy, and Connection with the natural world. Each artwork in the exhibition can be viewed as a talisman of good luck or fortune.
Diana kurz
Diana Kurz’s Study for Durga (1977) is the only watercolor study not in an institution of Kurz’s painting of Durga, which is permanently displayed in Rowan University as part of the Sister Chapel. The Sister Chapel is a collaboration realized in 1974 between nine painters, including Sylvia Sleigh, Martha Edelheit, Alice Neel, and others, each depicting a feminine deity. Durga is a Hindu deity that is a symbol of strength, fierceness, motherhood, protection, and war.
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“‘Plucked Till Time’ delves into the spiritual force that binds and nurtures the Earth”. - Deirdre Sullivan-Beeman
Deirdre Sullivan-Beeman’s Plucked Till Time (2022) delves into the spiritual force that binds and nurtures the Earth. Our heroine, in quiet harmony with her daemon—the divine Blue Jay— cradles time gently in his bill. The sacred Corvidae family, to which the Blue Jay belongs, holds many strengths: intuition, nurturing, creativity, and emotional intelligence. This feathered guide bestows upon her ancient wisdom, nearly lost to the ages, entwined with fertility and femininity, echoing the lunar phases. The moon's cycle, a sacred time for rest and renewal, embodies this wisdom. Grandmother Time calls us to remember the cycles of creation and nurturing; her whispers in the night guide us back to the divine feminine.
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“‘Planetary’ explores mysticism and the esoteric traditions, conjuring the magic that has been expunged from the rationalist, technocratic logic of our lived reality”. - Kristy Gordon
Kristy Gordon’s Planetary (2024) is a monumental triptych, evoking a modern take on Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights, leading viewers from darkness to light across its large triptych format. On the left, a peculiar demonic flower consumes her, with a pixelated structure in the background hinting at technology. The center panel displays a web of interconnected life with a feminine animal spirit overseeing it. The right panel unveils a luminous realm, presenting a vision of hope and transcendence. Each panel is compositionally independent but contributes to the overall narrative of this massive 7-foot-tall by 11-foot-wide oil painting, which hangs unstretched like a tapestry. "Planetary" delves into mysticism and esoteric traditions, evoking the magic lost to the rationalist, technocratic logic of our reality.
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"Rachel" is a transcription of a fragment of Rachel Ruysch’s Still Life with Flowers on a Marble Tabletop (1716). I'm fascinated by 17th-century Dutch flower paintings and am particularly drawn to the history of the few female painters of that era”. -Yana Beylinson
Yana Beylinson’s Rachel (After Rachel Ruysch) (2021) is a transcription of a fragment from Rachel Ruysch’s Still Life with Flowers on a Marble Tabletop (1716). Beylinson is fascinated by 17th-century Dutch flower paintings and is particularly drawn to the history of the few female painters of that era. This painting is an homage to these women and is a starting point for exploring composition, light, and freedom of expression. In a way, Beylinson channeled Rusych during her process. She employs Chinese brush painting techniques combined with extreme object simplification in this work which allows her to paint without overthinking, with full mindfulness, allowing her to channel Rusych.
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"I began painting Amabies for friends and family during the lockdown of 2020. The creature quickly morphed with the mystic beings from Irish fairy tales that I’d heard as a child. This painting includes other apotropaic qualities and symbols such as pinecones, emblematic of human enlightenment, resurrection, eternal life, and regeneration”. - Erin E. Kono
According to legend, the Amabie figure in Amabie Torque (2021) by EE Kono is an auspicious yokai first sighted in the Higo Province of Japan in 1846. After a mysterious light was seen rising from the sea, a town official witnessed a beaked, long-haired, three-finned creature emerge from the water. She prophesied a pandemic and instructed the officials to draw her image to ward off the disease. Reintroduced during the Coronavirus pandemic, Kono began painting Amabies for friends and family in 2020. Amabie Torque blends the Amabie with mystic beings from Irish fairy tales. The painting features symbols like pinecones, representing enlightenment, resurrection, and the Fibonacci sequence, linked to the pineal gland, considered the biological Third Eye and the "Seat of the Soul." Eyes, symbolizing the “evil eye,” are also prominent and believed to ward off bad luck.
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Michelle Hinebrook
Garden Guts (2024) by Michelle Hinebrook draws inspiration from the Homeric poem "Hymn to Demeter." It captures the moments after Persephone, Demeter’s child, was kidnapped by Hades while gathering flowers in the Vale of Nysa. Accompanied by Ocean Nymphs, she plucks a beautiful narcissus, a trap set by Gaia. The ground opens, and Persephone is taken into the underworld. In the painting, Persephone opens her chest, revealing her inner darkness and spilling out pain, loss, death, and deception, while nature stands still, witnessing everything. This scene parallels Hinebrook's own healing through nature after the devastation of divorce.
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"Atatakami is a Japanese word roughly meaning the warmth and comfort of being surrounded by loved ones, or acceptance by others. In 2023 I made a choice to both live and work alone. I moved into a new apartment and into my first non-shared studio, which were both closer to family and within a new art community. Although I've never been more independent, the Atatakami has been palpable, and I am anything but lonely”. - Katie Southworth
Atatakami (2023) by Katie Southworth takes its name from a Japanese word meaning the warmth and comfort of being surrounded by loved ones or acceptance by others. In 2023, Southworth chose to live and work alone, moving into a new apartment and her first non- shared studio closer to family and within a new art community. Despite her newfound independence, the sense of Atatakami has been strong, making her feel anything but lonely. These moments of deep acceptance and connection, whether with lifelong friends or new acquaintances, lift the heart and connect one to humanity within independence. This connection is crucial for artistic development, personal growth, and self-love.
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Brianna Lance
Other works in this exhibition include Brianna Lance’s The Feminine Aspect (2024), which was made specifically for this exhibition, Sasha Yosselani’s Transfiguration (2023) and Transfiguration 2 (2023), Bokani’s The Nine Spheres of Heaven (2024), Mary Kate Maher’s Vessel and Reliquery Figure 3 (2023), and Gabriella Mazza’s Regina Caeli (2023).
The Artist Advisory is a consulting company for visual artists, founded in 2018 by Marina Press Granger, that fuses practical business guidance with the mystical. The curator, Marina Press Granger holds an MA in Art History from The City University of New York (CUNY) and a BA in Art History from Pace University (New York, NY). In addition to these degrees, she is also a Reiki Master and certified in Classical Chinese Feng Shui (Xuan Kong). Her work has been featured in publications such as Forbes, Time Out New York, Hyperallergic, The Art Gorgeous, and Create! Magazine.
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