Three Journeys exhibit opens May 10 in Chicago (05/11/97)

Three Journeys exhibit opens May 10 in Chicago

by Oksana Zakydalsky

TORONTO - An art exhibit focusing on three women artists - Sophia Lada (Toronto), Halyna Cisaruk (Troy, Mich.) and Halyna Mordowanec-Regenbogen (Windsor, Ont.) - opens at the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art in Chicago on May 10.

The title of the exhibit, "Three Journeys," refers to the artists' personal quests for spiritual connection and relates them to contemporary issues of self-discovery, identity and empowerment.

Ms. Lada is motivated by the desire for self-knowledge through the investigation of her ancestral roots. Her works are visual commentaries, exploring images of the female form, rooted in the goddesses of Old Europe and interwoven with the demands for conformity imposed by our image conscious culture.

In her paintings, Ms. Cisaruk explores the archetype of the mandala. Her work takes us on a contemplative journey within as well as an exploration on the nature of the infinite.

Ms. Mordowanec-Regenbogen creates symbolic masks, structures and screens associated with rituals grounded in women's spiritual strength. The images are concerned with ancestral, archaic, mysterious connections and psychic resonances particular to women from the ancient to the present time.

Although the artists created independently, collectively their works have a common bond. They share the same heritage of the rich mythology of Ukraine and the unifying theme of the exhibit is an exploration of archeological, mythological and historical sources on the role of women and spirituality in both ancient and modern cultures.

Ms. Lada is a graduate of the Pennsylvania Academy of fine Arts (1965) and has had eight solo exhibits; the latest was "Reflections" at the St. Vladimir Institute Gallery in Toronto in 1993. She has taken part in over 20 group exhibits both in Canada and the U.S., and in the 1991 Biennale in Lviv. Her works are found in numerous private collections as well as in institutions such as the Canadian Museum of Civilization, Manor Junior College and Harvard University.

Ms. Lada's recent works are directly related to the myth of the goddess. In "An Essay on the Recent Work of Lada" by Linda Abrahams and Penelope Stewart, both of the Women's Art Resource Center in Toronto, the authors quote archeologist Marija Gimbutas, the popularizer, through books such as "The Goddesses and Gods of Eastern Europe", of the goddess myth.

The existence of thousands of female images unearthed at archeological excavations in southeastern Europe led Gimbutas to conclude that women were worshipped in prehistoric times and that the primary diety, which appeared in numerous forms, was a goddess. The sexes then lived in peaceful coexistence, which was shattered by patriarchal invaders who worshipped war-like gods.

The goddess myth is a beginning point for Ms. Lada, who juxtaposes matrifocal values that honor the passage of time with her personal experience of growing older. She challenges ruling value systems and shows how self image is influenced by one's cultural environment. Ms. Lada's works trace her own ancestral roots to create an identification with the matrifocal goddess of prehistory.

In the essay referred to above, the authors give the following description of Ms. Lada's series of works named "Conformity" (which will be part of the exhibit):

"Ms. Lada's female figures have an uncanny Orwellian feel and are foregrounded throughout this series. Often doubled, these figures reinforce not only their stylized form and manufactured conformity, but also they become an insidious signifier of subjugation and control. With their back to one another and their arms tightly folded, their relationship is revealed to their counterpart and to the viewer. This coldness is further enhanced by a penetrating gaze which looks through and beyond the viewer. Though faces may often be obscured or fragmented, they are charged with a militance. This combative quality appears also in the clothing worn; helmets of steel screwed to their heads accompanied by bracelets that bind and arm bands bolted to their forearms. These adornments articulate the entrapment suffered by the figures. Identity and power seem lost; a manufactured encasement is prescribed. A new goddess has been created to serve within the monotheism of patriarchal values...

"This body of work is an indictment of the obfuscation of women, particularly the Crone, the wise one. Lada's images identify the cultural fixation with youth and the denigration of aging. Fecundity is understood only as it relates to the physical and the power and wisdom of the old is sublimated and made invisible. This is the theme that has been explored within this series".

Ms. Cisaruk is a graduate of Wayne State University in both fine arts (1976) and art education (1979) and took study trips to Europe in the 1980s: to Italy, Spain and Greece. She has had several solo exhibits, the most recent in 1993 at the Chaika Gallery in Warren, Mich., and has taken part in numerous group exhibits, mostly in Michigan. Both Ms. Cisaruk and Sophia Lada were part of a trio of artists (the third was Svitlana Muchin) whose exhibit, "Full Circle," was held at the Multicultural Center, Central Michigan University, in September 1995.

Ms. Cisaruk's works explore the symbolism of the mandala, a Sanskrit word meaning circle or center. "It is often a spiral that takes us on a contemplative journey within as well as an exploration on the nature of the infinite. The mandala is also a web where all components interweave, each part supporting and affecting the others. The Earth and all of its living things is a great Mandala; although it has a defined structure, it is constantly in a stage of transformation," writes the artist.

She describes a personal moment, in 1991, when she went back to her ancestral village in Volyn, "after 45 years, I came back and stood there, rooted to the ground. I felt as if I had lead in my shoes. For a moment, I could not move and all the seasons of my life spiraled inward toward this point in time. Truly I recognized the meaning of coming full circle and how the circle extends beyond its own closing into the beginning of a new spiral of the journey."

Ms. Mordowanec-Regenbogen works with sculpture and installations. She received a B.A. at the University of Windsor (1967) and an M.F.A. at Wayne State University (1971) and is a teacher both of art and the Ukrainian language. She has had several solo exhibits and taken part in close to 20 group exhibits, mostly in southern Ontario, but also in New York and San Francisco. Her works can be found at the Canada Council Art Bank and in private collections in Canada and the U.S.

The exhibit will feature 10 of her masks, as well as sculptures and screens. The masks function as cyclical-seasonal images of the many aspects of the goddess image. The masks are made of wood, tin, aluminum screening, sculptural glue and various plant materials - flowers, seeds, spices, grasses and twigs. The series of sculptures are mask altar pieces in the round. The screens - silk, silk fabric paints and various threads - function as meditational depictions of the goddess image, as in the masks but without the cyclical connotations.

The artist writes: "My art comes from a fascination with the prehistoric and the mythic. I find intriguing the concept that objects or acts acquire a value because they participate in a reality that transcends them. In my art, whether it is the building of enclosures or the combining of materials into objects, the interest lies in the produced image acquiring a mythical force."

The exhibit "Three Journeys" will run at the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art in Chicago through June 29.

| Home Page |