A Woman’s Touch: From WOMAN19 at Beth K. Stocker Gallery

“Each time a woman stands up for herself, without knowing it,
possibly without claiming it, she stands up for all women.”
Maya Angelou

At From WOMAN19, exhibiting at The Beth K. Stocker Art Gallery, the energies of the divine feminine are radiant and loud, as the artists pour their heart and soul into the pieces surrounding us. The exhibition gathers art “created by women, about women, and for women”, transforming the gallery into a place of reflection, resistance, and celebration. Curated by Mary Urbas, From WOMAN19, enters its nineteenth year as part of her larger regional curation of the work of women artists across Northeast Ohio, offering a soapbox for their voices. There is something undeniable and powerful about a room filled with the cadence of women. During Women’s History Month, the gallery understands something that is needed not just in Northeast Ohio, but throughout the globe, that women need to be heard more than ever. Rather than presenting a single definition of womanhood, the exhibition houses vulnerability and defiance through stitched fabrics, fractured figures, and surfaces that echo the lived experiences of women. It is messy, powerful, and unapologetically human, and a reminder that the act of creating can itself be a form of rebellion.

This year, From WOMAN unfolds across four galleries: the John J McDonough Museum of Art at Youngstown State University, the BK Smith Gallery at Lake Erie College, the Beth K. Stocker Art Gallery at Lorain County Community College, and UNDERSTORY Gallery at 78th Street Studios.  The exhibition at the Beth K. Stocker Art Gallery, on view from February 19th through March 15th, hones attention to figures that reflect identity, the body, and lived experience through an amalgamation of media. Artists who have works on view there are: Leslye Discont Arian, Sandra Aska, Hadley K Conner, Jen Frisco, Higo Gabarron, Karen Jewell-Kett, Tricia Kaman, Judi Krew, Kate Morgan, Whitney Anderson Rooney, Sarah Wiseley, and Denise Ziganti.

Their works represent themes of the female experience, and some pieces confront political realities, while others interpret the emotional and psychological senses of womanhood. Together, they depict the ways in which body, memory, and personal history stand as powerful representations within contemporary feminist art, and call attention to the trials and tribulations of being a woman.

Sandra Aska’s Gagged is a haunting and fragmented female ceramic bust that has a sense of a quiet tension. The figure, eroded and fractured, alludes to the impression of a woman worn down through time and pressure as society has left her to fall apart. The delicate pastel tones, soft blues, creams, and muted pinks, contrast with the rough and distressed surface of the ceramic. The figure’s posture and expression suggest restraint, hence gagged, as if her voice and agency has been suppressed, reinforcing the piece’s title. The seams and chippings of the medium unveil the artist’s hand, creating meaning in the process of construction and breakage itself. Gagged can be understood as a powerful metaphor for the historical silencing of women’s voices in art, culture, and society. Yet the sculpture of the woman–her presence in the gallery–resists that silence, transforming her into a symbol of endurance.

Kate Morgan’s Matalano V.2, offers a serene and enigmatic female figure standing beneath a golden glowing moon, and painting a composition that feels mystical and sparks contemplation. The elongated woman is in a calm state, with an almost detached expression, her pale face softly illuminated against a deep, star-filled sky. Delicate fragments of paper filled in faint writing and drawings appear embedded within the woman’s veiled hair and dress, suggesting the memories kept within her mind. The gold leaf moon imbues a sacred and celestial atmosphere for the woman, recalling traditional depictions of halos and light in art, and the mythological representations of women in classical paintings and the divine feminine. The woman, in stillness and introspection, is suspended in a moment of contemplation, and is a meditation on the world of women, presented through a dreamlike narration.

Sarah Wiseley’s Serenity is an art historian’s dream of a reflection on the historical and intimate relationship of women’s bodies in art. Mounted upon a deep mahogany frame and accompanied by delicate sprigs of dried lavender rising above her head, the ceramic form appears grounded, her rounded body rendered in soft curves that annunciate the fullness of her breasts, stomach, and hips. The sculpture immediately recalls the ancient fertility figure of the Venus of Willendorf, whose exaggerated forms celebrated the female body in prehistoric cultures. As the iconic figure, Wiseley’s woman is not defined by facial features or by her identity, but instead her own symbol of womanhood. Aside from the mysterious and burdened anonymity of prehistoric fertility icons, Wisely’s figure feels peaceful and stands as a resolution. The warmness of the bronze and the woman’s posture create a sense that she has arrived, finally, at a moment of calmness. The lavender placed behind her head situated almost as an aura or crown, reinforcing the title’s suggestion of tranquility through rest, although the lavender could represent a smile to the lesbian community and their time of unease and a sense of peace. The long history of women’s bodies being sites of expectation, from fertility symbolism to societal pressures surrounding beauty ideals, motherhood and identity, the figure stands in stillness, as if she has reached the state of serenity after centuries of burdens.

From WOMAN19 is more than a mere exhibition, but is a refusal to be quiet, in a time and culture, that often tries to silence women, even though the fight that has gotten us where we are at this moment. The artists at Beth K. Stocker Art gallery are contributing to an immense discussion about autonomy and the realities of existing in a body that has historically been objectified, controlled, and misunderstood. Rather than moments that feel depressing, the exhibition is a sense of solidarity, as these artists are not preaching alone, but are speaking with and through one another. In a time where debates about women’s rights, bodies, and autonomy remain political, the art in From WOMAN19 feels urgent and necessary, as are women to be heard and seen. It is a reminder that art is a form of resistance, reflection, and connection all at once. As women, artists are reclaiming their right to be here, as they have been all along, and contributing to the evidence that their voices have always been here, and are waiting to be heard.

Our fight isn’t over just yet, ladies!

Liv Began is a student in the art program at Cleveland State University, and a fellow in CAN Journal’s Broadening the Conversation program for young writers. Her interview with Susie Underwood as the new executive director of Ingenuity Cleveland appears in the Spring 2026 issue of CAN Journal.