Women Artists Showcased in Vital Signs Exhibit at Lawrence Street Gallery in Ferndale
(Crystal A. Proxmire, March 12, 2025)
Ferndale, MI – “My favorite color is glitter.”
This quote from Suzanne Allen’s granddaughter Lauren is immortalized in a paining that currently hangs in Lawrence Street Gallery in Downtown Ferndale as part of the Vital Signs exhibit, running through March 28. The exhibit combines work from gallery members and from Women’s Caucus for Art in Michigan.
Allen, who lives in Ferndale, is a member of Lawrence Street Gallery and has a solo exhibition coming up in May. For the Vital Signs show she entered two pieces that were part of a series of abstracts she’d done, each inspired by a woman in her life.
The whimsical joy of her granddaughter’s quote hung across the aisle from “Si, Si, Si,” another bright and chaotic piece with an even more complex back story.
When Allen was an English professor, she was friends dear friends with a fellow professor who, Allen said, was “always very expressive,” and “an activist and a feminist.”
This dear friends had a stroke, and her vocal vocabulary was suddenly reduced to just one word, “Si.”
“So she would just say si, si, si. She was just as expressive as ever. She’d say si si, si and we could almost understand her.”
Another stand-out piece in the Vital Signs show is a towering sculpture of fabrics and baby doll heads called “Gestation.”
The creator, Christina Marie Sears of Ypsilanti, was inspired by the most intimate of creations – her three children and the process of bringing them into the world.
In addition to being an artists, Sears is also the proprietor of Maple Street Studios which shares the love of yoga and dance with the community. And she’s the current, but out-going, President of the Women’s Caucus for Art in Michigan Board, serving since 2021.
Part of her practice centers on somatic therapy, which is exploring how emotions, pain, and trauma manifest physiologically in the body. Giving birth is one of those experiences that is a mix of pain, joy, and wonder. “It’s the most intense physical experience. It is metaphysical, and sacred, but in hospitals it is also cold and highly medicalized.”
Her artwork inspires others to look at the more emotional side of experiences, and how our experiences connect with the world around us.
And her work on the Board is driven by a desire to help other women express themselves. “The Caucus was formed in the 70s by college professors who wanted more representation in their profession,” she said. That has changed a little bit, but there is still more to do. I wanted to see us grow and advance our mission to help women artists by providing support and encouragement, and improving the presence of women artists.”
Also leading the way to helping fellow artists is Laura Host of Ferndale, who has been with Lawrence Street Gallery since it began in Pontiac in 1987. In addition to creating art in a variety of styles, Host gives presentations on the business of being an artist.
“There’s a lot of things they don’t teach you in art school,” she said. “We all sort of figure things out on our own and learn from each other. But here we can share our wisdom.”
She explained that while people may be good at art, it may take some practice getting good at selling it. Tings like pricing, presentation, pitching, and photographing one’s work can all be challenging.
“Some people think their work is worth way more than people are willing to pay for it,” Host said. “Other artists may not know how much to charge, or feel confident enough to charge enough.”
Host recommends that artists look at pricing like a math problem, and to come up with a price based on square inch rather than on time it took to create something.
While the business of art is important, art continues to be about expression and creativity. Host shared pieces that had been painted while on a trip to the Arches National Park in Utah. “It was really fun painting out in the desert,” she said.
Many of the artworks in the Vital Signs Show are celebrations of women and femininity. Among the pieces are Betsy Beckermann’s “Balinese Dancer”, Carol Morris’s” Yes Yes Yes,” and Nancy Wanchik’s “Patriarchy’s Perfect Woman.”
Phased by the Moon is a beautiful sculpture by Barbara Melnk Carson, and Sue Cutler’s Verbindungen III shows the beauty of friendship. And the large collage that had many people pausing in admiration was Kim Bleinhardt’s “Homage to Innocence.”
Over two dozen artists, with a variety of styles and mediums, are featured in the show, which is on display through March 28. Lawrence Street Gallery is located at 22620 Woodward Ave Suite A.
March is Women’s History Month. It is also Art March Month in Downtown Ferndale, with many events taking place to celebrate art in the community.
Learn more:
Women’s Caucus for Art in Michigan
