Past Exhibition: MARY, MARY: Contemporary Artists and Poets Consider Mary

A Group Exhibition in the Parish Hall and Online

St. Michael’s Episcopal Church, Arlington, VA

November 17, 2021 – January 12, 2022

Participating Artists: Carolyn M. Abrams, Trine Bumiller, Kathy Daywalt, Manal Deeb, Dana Ellyn, Lisa Harkins, Cheryl Ryan Harshman, James Janknegt, Janet McKenzie, Margaret Adams Parker, Aisha Renee, Elise Ritter, Kathleen Stark, Lauren Tilden, Randall David Tipton, Jeanie Tomanek, Ann Tracy, Hans Versteeg a.k.a. Hansa, Diane Walker, Susan M. Webb, Kreg Yingst

Participating Poets: Kristin Berkey-Abbott, Jenne Andrews, Evelyn Bence, Jericho Brown, Leila Chatti, Jill Crammond, Maureen E. Doallas, Jeannine Hall Gailey, Luisa A. Igloria, Julie Kane, Collin Kelley, Laurie Klein, Marjorie Maddox, Marissa McNamara, Audrey Mlakar, Michelle Ortega, Anne M. Doe Overstreet, JC Reilly, Tania Runyan, Claudia Serea, Diane Walker

Images of all the artworks in the exhibition are available in their respective section. A small selection of the visual art, created by local artists, hangs in St. Michael’s Parish Hall and may be viewed in person.

Four poets performed readings of their poems. These recordings are only available online. They can be found in the section labeled Exhibition Poems.

See the Exhibit Organization page for each discrete section of the show.

PLEASE BE PREPARED TO OBSERVE ANY COVID-19 RESTRICTIONS THAT MAY BE IN PLACE WHILE VIEWING THE ARTWORKS IN THE PARISH HALL.

VISITING HOURS, DIRECTIONS, OR OTHER INFORMATION: Please telephone Parish Office, St. Michael’s Episcopal Church, 1132 N. Ivanhoe St., Arlington, VA 22205; (703) 241-2474.

MARY, MARY: Exhibit Organization

Information accompanying this exhibition can be found in the following sections, each of which corresponds to one of the sidebars to viewers’ right. The individual sections noted below and their corresponding sidebars are hyperlinked for ease of access. Each of the exhibit’s sections also is accessible from the exhibit’s Main Page.

Curatorial Statement

Artists’ Statemen…

I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. May your word to me be fulfilled. ~ Luke 1:38

Behold, your mother. ~ John 19:27

An inspiration to countless artists over many centuries, Mary has been painted or depicted in other media in many different versions and roles — as woman, daughter, cousin, mother, wife, refugee, comforter, intercessory to Jesus, the Madonna, the Virgin…

Carolyn M. Abrams

“Liminality”

I created “Liminality” during the time of a spiritual journey, where I questioned what I believed because I believed it, not because someone in my youth told me to. The Blessed Mother Mary was an ever-present being at this threshold. She was and is the stable voice and guidance in my life and, in contemporary terms, “my go-to girl”! I see …

Images of the work of all the visual artists who accepted an invitation to participate in the group exhibition are provided below. The images appear in alphabetical order by artists’ last names.

No distinction is made in this section between artists whose work appears only online and artists whose work is in the Parish Hall gallery space at St. Michael’s. An image of every e…

All poems are in this pdf: Mary, Mary Poetry

As you view the numerous contemporary images of Mary and read the poems, give thought to the following questions:

* What does Mary, the subject of this wide-ranging exhibition, mean to you as a person of faith?

* What preconceived notions of Mary are communicated through iconographic or traditional depictions of Mary?

* Which of the artworks on the gallery walls and online discomfor…

Carolyn M. Abrams

Carolyn M. Abrams is a mixed media artist from upstate New York, an area well known for its rolling hills and amazing light and sunsets. Her work explores the wisdom of art that she finds as a passionate artist who is always guided by intuition in her investigation of the spiritual and physical worlds.

An enthusiastic learner, Abrams’s new techniques and uni…

Kristin Berkey-Abbott

Kristin Berkey-Abbott, Ph.D., of Hollywood, Florida, is a poet, scholar, educator, author, and artist. Her most recent poetry collection is the chapbook Life in the Holocene Extinction (Finishing Line Press, 2016). More than 200 of her individual creative works have been published in such periodicals and journals as The Beloit Poetry Journal, Mid-American P…

Viewers interested in purchasing any of the artworks available for sale are asked to contact the artists directly through their Websites or by email (see the Artists’ Biographies section for links).

A purchased artwork that is in the gallery space must remain there through the duration of the exhibition and promptly picked up at St. Michael’s after the exhibition’s clos…