By Kelli Henderson/entertainment editor
The yearly Women in New Roles art show brings women together and shows perseverance can help people through life’s ups and downs.
The art show on display at the Carillon Gallery on South Campus until March 1 features past and present students from South, SE and NE campuses. The theme this year, Back to Basics: Surviving the Jungle of Life, explores the trials and tribulations of those in the WINR program through different art media.
Lynda Effertz, one of the featured artists and the creator of the nonjuried art show, said she wanted a place for women to come and appreciate their creativity.
“So many times people think they can’t do anything, they aren’t creative,” she said. “What we found over the years is they can. It gives themselves permission, so this is like letting them burst forth.”
Current South, SE and WINR student Diana Williams entered multiple pieces including poetry and photography. She’s returned to college after being away for almost 30 years. She said she was scared to death and had no idea what she was going to do. Then a counselor suggested the WINR program.
Williams said having such great support from her peers in her classes gave her the ego boost to enter her work. For some, having the artwork up shows a dream they can cross off their bucket list, like Williams, who said it’s special to her to be in the gallery.
“When I was little, I wanted to be a photojournalist for National Geographic but obviously that didn’t happen, nor will that ever happen,” she said. “But it’s very exciting to me because I love these types of things, like going out and seeing art shows … Even though this is at school, I’m all excited thinking, ‘Oh I’m in the art show. I’m in an art gallery!’”
For some, like Nina Willacy, the artwork shows a lifetime of work. Willacy was in the WINR program in 2008. Now that she is retired, she said she wants to revive her art career. Although this is her third time in the art show, the watercolor class she took last fall was what brought her to enter this year.
Her favorite piece is a watercolor painting of a photo she took while she was vacationing in Belize. She said the photo symbolizes trying to fulfill every motherly and wifely duty while still finding time for a creative side. Though it has been a struggle, Willacy said she’s enjoying the art.
“After I retired, I gave myself a trip to Belize by myself,” she said. “I went down with my husband’s sister, and we just traveled all around, saw everything. I left the children and husband, and after 28 and a half years at the phone company, I said, ‘Ahhhhh.’”
Current South students in the WINR program Kathy Hunt and Kathy Wilemon both enjoyed the portrayals of the art and the themes of never giving up and always facing the obstacles that pop up in life.
“These are great expressions of the artists, and I think it takes a lot of courage to put them up,” Wilemon said. “I really appreciate that they did. It really inspired me.”
The WINR program helps dig deep into emotions and feelings that one has cast away for quite some time, Hunt said. It opens students up to re-analyze the situation and have a better understanding of themselves. Hunt said that was reflected in the art pieces in the show.
“They display emotions that cannot be described with words but are felt with inside of your heart,” she said.
The theme of struggling through the jungle of life is a universal challenge nearly everyone can relate to.
“I think it goes beyond surviving all the way to thriving. I think that’s what we are trying to do, is teach women to be confident in themselves and to learn to play the game of life. Because it is a game,” Effertz said. “But it’s what gives life contrast. Without it, it would be flat, and that’s also what art points up.”
