Poe Park Visitor Center: Women's History Month Exhibition

The Poe Park Visitor Center proudly presents works from 11 emerging and established artists for Women's History Month. Each artist gives their interpretation of the meaning of Women's history through their imagery and art. Visit our Women's History page to learn about parks that honor women and to check out our upcoming virtual and outdoors Women's History Month events.

About Poe Park Visitor Center

Poe Park Visitor Center is a community hub at Poe Park in the Bronx that offers art, literature, fitness, and community events. Due to the pandemic, the center is closed until further notice and the gallery has temporarily moved online.

Elaine Langer

“Those who dwell among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life.” - Rachel Carson

Artist Statement: When I first thought of submitting art for women’s history month, I wanted to hear from other women. What did women’s history mean to you, was it your career, your hobbies, your politics? I thought women’s history could only mean great strides, voting, science, and making history. But then, for me on a smaller scale, it means my ability to be everything I want to be. Because of the women before me, I am the woman of today. I can share my knowledge of science because going to college was never a question for me. My life has become deeply intertwined with nature, my family as well as my work and my art.

In my chosen pieces, all located in the Bronx, I wanted to show my snippet of life, of enjoying what is present. I used my knowledge of science, art, and nature to enjoy the world around us. My children were deeply moved by our daily walks in the Bronx River Park and it was deeply part of our resilience during this difficult time. We quickly learned nature is refreshing and made us feel stronger. As a woman, I am a worker, a mother, a wife, and an artist. I can be everything I want to be, and am grateful for it.

Kids use binoculars to look out to sky from a meadow along a path in the park

A Walk in the Park

4.5 x 6, pastel on sanded paper, 2020

This piece was created at the beginning of the pandemic when everything started to bloom and the Bronx River Park was left to grow. We bird watched every day, and shared the binoculars. These are times we never would have had before.

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a turtle hangs out on a rock in the water

The train passes under an overpass while it makes its way on tracks flanked by trees

a tiny waterfall among the aquatic plants and red and white flowers

An adult and kid pull a sled through the snow covered park

Anna Francisco

Artist statement: These pieces are about recovery, about growing life from injury.

a convulsion that breathes both despair and hope permeates my skin
[as i strive to achieve the paradoxical effect of making myself trivial].
but the wounds are fresh, propagating.
insatiable.
and did she tell you that when i bleed only seeds are to be seen?
plant me, cover me with the dead putrid leaves we hide under the conscious and the tangible.
tie me with the red thread with the pretty shine with the right light.
and i shall become flowers. flowers that are wounds that are flowers.
flowers nonetheless.

Black and white photo of a woman's face covered in a netting fabric

Wounds. Seed-Bearing Organisms I

2942 x 4368, photography, 2020

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A woman with a flower in her hair closes her yes while under a veil-like netting fabric

a woman with a flower in her hair and body beneath a veil-like fabric bows her head

black and white photo of a woman with a white flower hanging from her forehead, her eyes closed, the flower covers most of her face

dried flowers are taped to a woman's back

COVID Eyes, Ernesto Camacho

Artist statement: When COVID-19 began looming over our native soil back in the month of March 2020, no one could have imagined what we were in for. Nor could anything have prepared us for the loss and pain we were about to suffer. I have many friends who are First Responders; all who have dealt with images and sounds that will haunt them for years to come. Sights that have left many with a thousand-yard stare. What they experience on a daily basis has instilled in me a newfound love and appreciation for them. And then you have those who keep us safe at night; and others who battle the blazes of destruction on our behalf. And if their jobs weren’t difficult enough, they now have to struggle to prevent themselves from being infected. I’m dedicating a series of paintings to all First Responders, especially Women, for being kind to our loved ones when circumstances will not allow us to be by their side; Eyes that have stories in which can warm and break our hearts; Eyes that are always there because they want to; Garbed with gear that makes them appear like knights in shining armor.

painting of a woman wearing a mask, a hair net, and goggles on her head

COVID EYES ER ANGEL

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painting of a woman wearing a mask, a hair net, and goggles on her face

painting of a policewoman wearing a mask

painting of a female fire fighter wearing a mask

Silvia Blumenfeld

Artist Statement: Inspired by faces of youthful resistance, especially young women of color.

a protestor holds up a sign that reads Students march for their education, disabilities, equality, diversity, lgbtq, women's rights, peace, immigrants, love, hashtag why we march

Why We March

11 x 14, photography

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a protestor holds up a sign that reads my body my rules

a protestor holds up a sign that reads I will not go silently

A protestor holds up a sign that reads Keep your tiny hands off, it's not my licker room talk, it's sexism, we're making history here, my body, my rights, love 'Trumps' hate, equality for all my rights

Tracy Lynn Hayes

Artist Statement: These works on paper executed in oil, acrylic, and charcoal vibrate with the anxieties of the times in which they were produced. There are glimpses of what lies within, though entry is barred. These works seek to make sense of a world just outside of reach, beckoning yet elusive.

painting of patches and strokes of yellow, white, green, black, teal

distracted pause

12 x 17, oil on charcoal on paper, 2019

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a painting with strokes of green, blue, pink, coral, tan, white

this painting has more blotches of black and deep purple between the green, blue, and orange strokes

a painting with more orange strokes among blue and pink strokes with intense black markings scratched around the edges

Sika Foyer

My work is a non-traditional form of visual arts that uses the materiality of wrapping, both the container and the content – what anthropologists called “encapsulating objects” and encapsulated objects,” respectively - to expose the racial conditioning of Black people in the United States.

The need for wrapping is innate to humans. Human experience begins with the act of wrapping in gestation and unwrapping from the placenta through birthing, which is immediately followed by the practice of rewrapping or swaddling. In many cultures, that first act of swaddling babies introduces them to society. From then on, from infancy to old age, we find various ways to wrap ourselves as if trying to preserve the experience in the womb. Even in death, many of us get wrapped in several layers of cloth, wood, and earth.

Based on my African ancestry and rituals, I mine personal effects and history to unravel 400 years of trauma caused by the belief of Black inferiority. My practice is a personal journey to explore the ethnography of wrapping cultures, paying attention to the composition of the container (the vessel) and the content, to re-imagine a “Second Skin” where every wrapping loop is an examination of the human conditioning that boxes people according to race, socio-economic status, and religion. I wrap metaphorically and literally to heal what is wounded and to stand strong in the face of social injustice.

Densely packed mixed-media sculptures, created with fabrics, yarns, and discarded household furnishings, transform into entities with magical skins - “The Second Skin” - that vibrate to tell their own stories.

Ek Chuah

67 x 18 x 15, sculpture, 2019

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a layering of fabric form a figure that is painted on in red, orange, gray, and black colors

Jill Slosburg-Ackerman

1-4 Blossfeldt-Rietveld/Slosburg-Ackerman, (An Illustration. Imminent Collapse and Ascent.)
Overall view of the installation and details
Discarded Arts and Crafts desk, pine, studio scraps, paint, felt, 2019

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in the studio there is sculpture made of wood on a desk and another work covered in fabric on the floor

a look at a sculpture made of intricate wood pieces is presented on a desk

view of the woodwork from behind the desk

Artist Statement:This work is a meditation on the precariousness of life, worked on over six years, during my husband’s mortal illness and after. It is a work about mourning, precariousness, and an autobiographical study of my search for equilibrium.

5. Of the Studio: K. Blossfeldt Urformen Der Kunst and details

60 x 27 x 19, studio scraps (various woods), felt, graphite, photophosphorescent paint, my very worn copy of Urformen Der Kunst, pine, fir, 2021

This piece is composed of the scraps and experiments from making work in my studio—THE ROOM OF MY OWN!—including a book of Karl Blossfeldt’s pictures, a precious source of inspiration. An autobiography of life in my studio.

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Dolo Art LLC

Artist Statement: In mythology, the Muses were nine goddesses who symbolized the arts and sciences. Today, a muse is a person who serves as an artist's inspiration. Often filmmakers talk about a certain actor being a muse — meaning the actor inspired a movie. Writers, painters, musicians, and other artists have muses. Muse can also refer to thinking deeply. If you muse about something, you're giving it serious thought. You can't muse in five seconds. People muse on certain ideas for years.

painting of a nude figure of a woman with locks looking out to her left, her body is becoming covered in a galaxy-like scene

Dolo’s Muses (5 of 6)

20 x 24, oil paint, 2015

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painting of a woman in nude smoking among a galaxy-like smoky scene

earth meets the galaxy as a woman embraces a lion and a lioness

Josipa Kecman

ELDER

12 x 16, acrylic on Canvas, 2016

Artist Statement: ELDER is a person older in age who has earned experience, respect and wisdom which gives them authority.

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painting of Milja Marin Toroman in uniform

a princess wearing an ornate headdress looks off to the side with tears in her eyes

Lisa Gathright

Artist Statement: I reside in the Bronx. I began painting five years ago after vacationing at my sister's home in Mallorca, Spain. I was inspired by the beauty of the island.

a girl walks in a field where only a lone home exists

The Finca

36 x 48, acrylic, 2020

Inspiration: The Island Of Mallorca Spain! Where my Sister Lives

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portrait of a woman with an afro wearing a traditional necklace

women of various shades of brown wearing hijabs

portrait of a woman with piercing eyes wearing a headwrap

portrait of a boy with piercing eyes wearing a traditional necklace

Kimberly Bauer

Artist Statement: The focus of my recent work has been to test the limits of both the technical and conceptual possibilities created by marrying traditional painting in oil and watercolor with printmaking. The balance of uncontrolled and controlled technical approaches creates a tension that attempts to utilize in the works. I look for scenes and motifs that invoke feelings that may be ambivalent or conflicting personal themes. Using color to convey emotions and moods that I wish to convey. I am hopeful the viewers are reminded of the small things experienced in life that are sometimes forgotten or passed over too quickly to be savored and often in hindsight are valued too late.

I am currently working in white line and woodcuts, monotypes and watercolors. Both the unknown and often uncontrollable aspects of using watercolors and print matrixes provide frustration and joy in the image-making process. The diversification of work caused by my processes allows me freedom to explore how each personal issue becomes entwined with another.

painting of a nature scene and it's reflection in the water

Serene Reflections

4 x 6, watercolor, 2021

Serene Reflections was created as I work in smaller sizes as I feel the contraction of my world due to covid. I am drawing on memory and old photos to create the world that I miss.

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