LEGACY WALL

Sandra Mueller

Sandra Mueller is an interdisciplinary artist, writer and arts facilitator, who has been on a lifelong journey of social concern and creative expression. She spent much of the 1990s working on the cutting edge of interactive media before returning to create visual art and launch the BeARTrageous Creativity and Leadership Workshops for Women. She served on the national board of the Women’s Caucus for Art national board and the advisory board for A Window Between Worlds for many years. She is a past president of the Southern California chapter and a board member of Keepers of the Waters. Her colorful abstract paintings and eco-feminist prints have been shown broadly through the Pacific Rim region.

She engages the dynamics of emergence—embrace mystery, choose possibility and invite divergence in both her creative and leadership practices. Her shadow often merges with the natural environment on the horizontal plane of the earth—yet, meets the viewer at eye level. The resultant imagery evokes the inner resolve, strength and compassion to envision new relationships to our dear planet and its most precious resource, water.

Dellis Frank

The Greening of Fine Art – The foundational embodiment of my approach to creativity and environmental stewardship.

 

I joined the Women’s Caucus for Art organization and the Southern California chapter in March of 2018. I promptly became a chapter representative because I totally supported the mission of being a support to women artists. When you believe in something that strongly, you put your all into it. I held many positions on the national and chapter boards. Some of the roles I had were Chapter Representative, Regional VP, exhibition committee, membership committee, Think Tank, and conference planning committee. These were extremely rewarding roles and I appreciate having been a part of such an amazing organization.

Bio

Much of Dellis’ work centers around social justice issues that are impacting the nation in these times. Her passion for speaking about the disparities she sees in communities of color is evident in her work. She does so with an environmental slant. Repurposing items that were headed for the landfill is the foundation of her practice. She has coined the phrase The Greening of Fine Art to capture the essence of her practice.

She has been on the board of several arts organizations which include Women’s Caucus for Art (WCA), Southern California Women’s Caucus for Art (SCWCA), SoLA Contemporary Gallery in Los Angeles (SoLA), Friends of Redondo Beach Arts (FRBA), and Palos Verdes Art Center (PVAC) Third Dimension. Dellis works with numerous community organizations that focus their attention on the arts. These organizations include LA Commons, International Eye Los Angeles, the Empowerment Congress of the second congressional district of Los Angeles, Arts for LA, Textile Arts LA, Fiber Art Now and the Cultural Arts Department of Los Angeles, specifically the advisory committee of the Cultural Equity and Inclusion Initiative.
Mrs. Frank has had numerous group and solo gallery showings in the US and internationally.

Dellis is a wife, mother of three and grandmother of two. She resides in Lomita, California.

Laura Morrison

I owe my life as an artist to the Women’s Caucus for Art. If it hadn’t been for the New Hampshire Chapter newsletter I found pinned to a bulletin board decades ago, I might never have discovered this community of inspiring women artists. WCA opened my eyes to a vibrant world filled with supportive women who celebrate each other’s successes and offer help every step of the way. Over the years, I’ve learned so much through my involvement—serving on the NH Chapter and National boards, and ultimately as National President (2020-2022). My life has been infinitely richer and more beautiful because of the women I have met and worked with through WCA.

Laura Morrison is primarily a mixed-media fiber artist whose work combines traditional techniques—felting, embroidery, weaving, crochet, and knitting—to create sculptures, assemblages, installations, and wall art. Occasionally, her practice also includes mixed media printmaking, painting, and bookmaking. 

Inspired by the natural world on both macro and micro scales, Morrison finds equal fascination in sweeping landscape views, intricate forms of dividing cells, or tiny lichen on a rock. Her feminist work celebrates feminine strength and power. 

Originally from suburban Chicago, Morrison studied graphic design at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and worked as a designer in Chicago before relocating to New Hampshire in 1997 to focus on her fine art. She exhibits her work throughout the United States and has completed public art commissions for the NH State Council on the Arts Percent for Art Program. 

For many years, Morrison served as Gallery Director for Twiggs Gallery in Boscawen, NH, where she curated over 50 exhibitions, organized numerous art classes, and coordinated free community art events and programs. 

A member of the Women’s Caucus for Art since 1998, Morrison served as the National President from 2020 to 2022. She currently volunteers her time as the WCA Programming Chair and as the Gallery Coordinator for Red River Theatre’s Community Gallery in Concord, NH.

Barbara A. Wolanin

WCA has been a big part of my life for almost half a century. I have been constantly awed by the talented and activist women I have enjoyed getting to know and to work with supporting our mission, both locally and nationally. I have seen in person so many significant artists, art historians, and visual arts leaders who have been selected for Lifetime Achievement Awards. I have enjoyed encouraging artists through art shares and exhibitions. I have learned a lot from programs and conferences and from viewing and discussing art together.

I missed the 1972 College Art Association meeting where WCA was born, as my own first son has just been born. I joined WCA in 1978 when I was teaching art history to women students at Trinity College in Washington, D. C., where I mounted an exhibition as part of the1979 conference. I was a co-curator for the National Exhibition in D. C. in 1991 and joined WCA/DC. I served as chapter president from 1998-2002. I was program or membership chair for decades, and I am still active in the chapter. On the National Board l, after representing the chapter at the annual conference many times, I served from 2003-2012 as Southeast VP and then VP for Chapter Relations. I brought Marilyn Hayes into WCA and supported her presidency. I organized the panel on Legacy for Women Artists for the 2013 CAA meeting, still viewable on our website. I co-organized the 2016 exhibition Impact! highlighting the Lifetime Achievement Awards and created a slide show of all of the honorees. The catalog includes my timeline of WCA history. My summary histories of WCA were published in the 40th and 50th anniversary Honor Awards catalogs. I co-wrote the history of the Washington Women’s Art Center for the 2018 exhibition at American University Museum. The 1979 first LTA honor awards and conference grew out of the Center, and the exhibition included a number of women who joined WCA.

Dr. Barbara A. Wolanin is an expert on Arthur B. Carles, the Philadelphia modernist and colorist who was the subject of her dissertation. Her publications include the two major exhibition catalogs about Carles as well as a number about the lives and paintings of his women students.

She researched and wrote the curatorial essay for Group ’55 and Midcentury Abstraction in Philadelphia, 2020. She was the curator for The Radiance of Color: The Paintings of Sam Feinstein in 2024.

As Curator for the Architect of the United States Capitol for 30 years, she managed the conservation of murals and sculpture and oversaw publications, research, and exhibitions as well as archives and photography. She wrote Constantino Brumidi: Artist of the Capitol for the U. S. Congress and managed and contributed to other publications.

She previously taught art history at Trinity College and James Madison University. Dr. Wolanin received her Ph. D. in art history from the University of Wisconsin and master’s degrees from Oberlin College and Harvard University. She has served on the boards of the Women’s Caucus for Art and the James Renwick Alliance for Craft.

Watch the WCA Leadership Interview with Barbara Wolanin, hosted by Patti Jordan in 2021.

The Women’s Caucus for Art panel presented at the 2013 College Art Conference in New York explores ways women artists, art historians, and leaders of art organizations are working to ensure that the art and the records of the lives and accomplishments of women artists are preserved and made known to present and future generations.
Chair: Dr. Barbara Wolanin