A few years ago, I pulled together an online exhibition. I put out a “Call for ART” on Facebook to all the artists that I have ‘friended” . I called it Natura Viva and choose work from 39 artists who based their work on botanical themes. It helped me clarify the content and intent in my own work. I thoroughly enjoyed the process and loved seeing so much good work. I used the influx of images to select nine artists for a curatorial proposal to be shown later in the year at the International Encaustic Conference in Provincetown, Mass. I discovered that I really love curating and loved looking at online curations.

Claffey, Debra, Shift: From Form To Edge,
Joanne Mattera, the founder of the International Encaustic Conference, and a prolific blogger, has posted today an online exhibition titled An Aggregate of Forces: 60 Women Artists Over 60 Here’s a quote from her Prologue:
Being an artist over 60 (there, I said it), I decided to create a feature that focuses on my contemporaries. We are also mothers of invention. The artists I selected for 60 Women Artists Over 60 come from throughout the United States and a few from Canada, ranging in age from just-turned-60 to just-about-to-turn 90. We have been serious artists our entire adult lives. We comprise, then, the history of contemporary art. And since so many of us came of age during the Second Wave of the Women’s Movement, feminism has informed our lives and work. The title, An Aggregate of Forces, comes from painter PE Sharpe, who acknowledges the strong women in her life.
Mattera posted her call to Facebook Friends and received 148 entries. I sent in my image, having hit the 65 mile marker last year. I’m so pleased that she selected to include it with so many other wonderful works. I know many of the other women artists included, but the exhibition introduced many new artists to me. Go check it out. It’s a long post, necessarily, but so worth the time!
Now, we need a curator and a venue to make this a brick and mortar exhibition. It’d be a knockout!