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A Virtual Three-Dimensional 360° Exhibition

January 29 - March 31, 2021

Photo credit: Diane Sheridan

Exhibition artists​: Linda Clave, Joanne Desmond, April Jakubec Duggal, Sara Gately, Brooke
Jones, Maia Monteagudo**, Nilou Moochhala**, Diane Sheridan*, Mary Vannucci, Andrea
Zampitella ​ * UVA Board of Directors ** UVA Sustaining Member

Exhibition Curator​: Paige Moreau

 Ruth Rieffanaugh, President, Unbound Visual Arts
John Quatrale, Executive Director, Unbound Visual Arts
Unbound Visual Arts, Inc.
320 Washington Street, Suite 200, Brighton, MA 02135
617.657.4278
info@UnboundVisualArts.org

UVA is a local non-profit 501(c)(3) art organization, based in Allston-Brighton, that enriches the
community with educational and inspiring exhibitions and programs.

Board of Directors and Council of Advisors

Louise Bonar*, Clerk
Anthony Carmoega
Tsun Ming Chmielinski
Francis Gardino
Bob Greene
Marcie Laden
Madeline Lee
Jeanne Lin
Susan Loomis-Wing*, Treasurer
Brenda Gael McSweeney*, Ph.D.
Andrea Newman
Ira-Iliana Papadopoulou, Ph.D.
Ruth Rieffanaugh*, President
Diane Sheridan
John Quatrale*, Executive Director
Karen Smigliani*
Christine Winship*

*​Founding Member, October 3, 2012

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 Curatorial Statement
“As long as women are using class or race power to dominate other women, feminist sisterhood
cannot be fully realized” -bell hooks

"Stronger Sisterhood: Representing Intersectional Identity," is a virtual exhibition in a virtual gallery

that explores the multidimensional and intersectional identities of women.
The history of feminism has often been described in “waves”. The first wave is defined by the fight
for women’s suffrage from the late 19th to early 20th century. The second wave, in the mid 20th
century, focused on gender equality in the workplace, the home, and in civil liberties. Both of these
movements, while making great strides for women, failed to address deeper compounded layers of
oppression and marginalization faced by many women. First and second wave feminism were largely
white middle class women’s movements and were often exclusionary of women of color, the
LGBTQ+ community, working class women, women with disabilities and so on. The movements
kept a narrow scope by focusing on a one-dimensional vision of what it means to be a woman
assuming common experiences and levels of marginalization based on gender identity. In reality,
oppressions experienced by way of gender do not exist in a vacuum but instead intersect with
multiple facets of identity.

In 1989, lawyer, civil rights activist, and critical race theorist, Kimberlė Crenshaw coined the term
“intersectionality” to describe how gender, race, class, and other individual characteristics intersect
and augment oppressions. At present, the recognition of intersectionality’s importance in women’s
rights has grown into a third wave of feminism that strives to recognize all the forms of oppression
that female identifying people face.

Art created by a diverse range of female identifying artists is a key into visualizing and representing
intersectional experiences. “Stronger Sisterhood: Representing Intersectional Identity” showcases that
women’s experiences are not one but many, and only through diversity in representation can we
begin to grasp a three-dimensional view of all women. How do our experiences as women differ due
to other facets of our identity? How are we made stronger by recognizing and honoring these
differences? How has the recognition of intersectional feminism grown and where is there more work
to be done?

The 1​st​ and 2​nd​ Wave: The Fundamentals

The metaphor of the wave when thinking about the history of feminism has its pitfalls. It can be
reductive, instigate intergenerational disagreement and even suggest that women's rights fall in and
out of fashion. However, as a historical construct, it has shaped the way we think about the timeline
of women's rights and had a deep cultural impact that shows through even into contemporary art.
This first grouping of artwork taps into ideas that have been stereotypically considered pertinent to
first and second wave feminism. While first and second wave feminism are largely considered unique

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movements at separate moments in history their basic principles of recognizing inequalities between
the sexes and fighting for that equality create a link.

The 3​rd​ Wave: A Tide Shift

Where first and second wave feminism can be nudged into neat time frames third wave feminism is
harder to pin to a confined set of dates. However, a sizable shift occurred in the early 1990s
originating from thinkers, such as Kimberlé Crenshaw and Judith Butler, that redirected focus under
the large umbrella of feminism toward women's intersectional identities. Crenshaw described how
different forms of oppression intersect and Butler argued that gender and sex exist separate from one
another and that gender is not innate but a learned set of performative characteristics. These strides in
our understanding of identity changed the "tide" of feminism to be more inclusive and consider how
race, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability status and inform oppression and change the fight
for equality.

Today: Women in 2020

2020 was a collective year of reckoning politically, socially and economically and women were often
disproportionately impacted, losing more jobs than men, facing heightened inequality at home
through unpaid care, and making up 77% of the healthcare workforce. Although women have faced
the worst of the pandemic, racial injustices, and income inequality and they have managed to affect
enormous change in the past year. Tremendous strides have been made by women, especially women
of color, in the form of championing the Black Lives Matter movement, registering record numbers
of black voters in Georgia, and rising to the Vice Presidency of the United States. Artists turned to
their crafts to make sense of the tumultuous year. Here, artists chose to explore what it means to be a
woman in a global pandemic, how a woman's right to choose is still being called into question and
how tapping into an over-the-top femininity can be both comforting and empowering.

-Paige Moreau, Exhibition Curator

Curator’s Interpretation Related to Individual Works of Art

Andrea Zampitella's video installations

Andrea Zampitella's video installations tap into the core of second wave feminism, a movement that
grew out of women's dissatisfaction with life relegated to the domestic sphere. Zampitella's work
explicitly touches on key points of women's work, motherhood, and feelings of banality, isolation and
panic in seemingly pleasant feminine environments. Her videos summarize issues uncovered by Betty
Friedan's ​The Feminine Mystique (​ 1963) which is largely thought to be the catalyst to second wave
feminism.

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Sara Gately’s paintings
Interests in goddesses as sources of feminine power and bounty have long had a place in feminism.
During the first wave of feminism, thinkers such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Matilda Joslyn Gage
published writings describing female deities. Finding resurgence in the 1970s, the Goddess
Movement signaled an interest in the divine feminine and an alternative to largely male dominated
organized religion. Goddesses have also continually inspired artists, prominently Judy Chicago and
her celebrated work ​The Dinner Party, ​a token example of second wave west coast feminist art. Sara
Gately picks up on this long standing interest in the divine feminine as a source of power and makes
it a point to defy the objectification of women by casting her goddesses in a sharply rendered
fearsome style meant to be respected for their strength, not their beauty.

Joanne Desmond’s ​Reversal of Fortune

The birdcage functions as a symbol of oppression in Desmond's ​Reversal of Fortune​. The birdcage
metaphor, popularized by Marilyn Frye in the 1980s, suggests that oppression, especially that faced
by women, can be difficult to see especially when considered as isolated subjugations. A single form
of oppression may not have the power to marginalize a person the same way a single wire does not
ensnare a bird. However, when you take a macroscopic view of oppressions faced by women a
network of marginalization appears, similar to zooming out from a single wire to view an entire
birdcage; it becomes clear why the bird does not simply fly around the wire. These wires of
oppression become even more compounded and harder to see from the outside when considering
intersectional identity and the different forms of marginalization that come with being a woman,
person of color, disabled, and so on.

Maia Monteagudo's paintings

Language and the duality of identity heavily inform Maia Monteagudo's work. Monteagudo explores
the intersectional relationship between her role as a woman and her identity as a descendant of
Guatemalan immigrants by exploring the way language and the breakdown of language can help or
hinder the expression of identity. Monteagudo overtly wrestles with definitions both in text and in the
establishment of a personal identity. Where language seems inadequate Monteagudo states "I quickly
found my unique perspective transcended English or Spanish" and that turning to formal influences
from her Guatemalan roots and Mayan ancestry allows for richer expression.

Nilou Moochhala’s ​Singular Multiplexity

Moochhala created ​Singular Multiplexity​ after interviewing over 20 women. Moochhala asked them
qualitative questions such as: How do you define your feminist space in the context of your everyday
life? How can you cultivate a sense of equality and liberation in the next generation? What steps do
you take to be an everyday "activist?" She then quantified their responses into pie charts to create a
data driven work of art. The graphs encircle an idealized quasi-Vitruvian woman set in a
technicolored landscape with symbolism that recalls everything from the hard sciences, Hindu
chakras, and 19th century cameos. Moochhala explains that "gender stereotypes placed on women

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today, and how we try to neatly package the “other” into simplified definitions - when really each one
of us has a unique and limitless story/potential."

Nilou Moochhala's ​The Virus Series

Nilou Moochhala's ​The Virus Series ​is a direct response to COVID-19 global pandemic and how she
sees the events of 2020 impacting women and how women have been affecting change. Moochhala
states that throughout this past year women have been "beacons of individual hope, bridges to our
community, symbols of social justice, and containers of family space." A statement that rings
powerfully true this year in particular.

April Jakubec Duggal's ​Blue Smirk

Jakubec Duggal's self portrait ​Blue Smirk i​ s part of a portrait series that considers the intersections of
feminine identity and struggles with mental health. Rather than isolating the figure's mental health
issues Jakubec Duggal looks to create "a more holistic view of those living with mental health
struggles" by positing mental illness as a single facet of a complex identity. Although painted in
overwhelming blue tones Jakubec Duggal opts for a bright palette that stands in contrast to what she
considers "traditionally dark...images of mental illness". The struggle with mental health, represented
by the bouquet shrouding the figure's eyes, while at once clouds the figure's vision does not erase her
beauty and spirit represented by the punk rock deep blue smirk.

Mary Vannucci’s paintings

Mary Vannucci turns to intergenerational relationships between women both in their presence and
their absence. Vannucci states that the most fundamental feminine attribute is the potential for
reproduction and that a woman's most basic right should be the choice to use it or not. Vannucci
equally reveres women for their choice to have children or their choice to abort a pregnancy. She
cites that although it is difficult for any woman who cannot or chooses not to have a child the choice
is entirely her own. In the bottom third of the Altar of Abortion a Marian figure seems to be holding a
small bundle like a child creating a pieta vignette. An equal suggestion of the sorrow of a lost life and
the sanctity of women's rights.

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 Artist Biographies & Statements
Linda Clave, Joanne Desmond, April Jakubec Duggal, Sara Gately, Brooke Jones, Maia
Monteagudo, Nilou Moochhala, Diane Sheridan, Mary Vannucci, Andrea Zampitella

Linda Clave

Artist Statement​ ​for this exhibit ​- ​My creative process of inner

examination led me to ancient artifacts and cultures rich in myth
and symbolism. Primal expressions of Life, the feminine images
in earth goddesses have a presence. They are an intersection
between patriarchal male heroics and the eternal expression of
Being, circular and nonlinear, both opening and closing the
creation womb of existence, Nature herself.

I had the unique experience of participating in the unearthing at an

archaeological site of a red paint burial of a woman. More than a
thousand years earlier the wet sand tinted with red ocher covered
the body. After excavation the remains were still wet and full of chi, the wonder of life
undercover enduring. Previously I had been working with sand mixtures in my paint to create
rhythms. Now the intersection of inner and outer unveil the mystery. Feeling oneness with
shakti of women unites us and balances all the surface gyrations for fame, power and
recognition.

Biography​ - Linda Clave has been an artist from her first drawing of feathers on a chalkboard
at two. Her passion was accelerated with the skills that she developed during her BFA and
MFA at BU CFA. But what can be called the chi or the innate spiritual essence in ancient
artifacts gave her the inspiration that set her on her path ever since in her Life and in her Art.
Her current series of paintings "Sound in Paint" celebrates the union of the two mighty forces
of awakening sound and color.

Joanne Desmond

Artist Statement for this exhibit ​ - I find myself continually

curious about the relationship between memory and emotion as
connected with the sensitivities of time, place, and familial
attachment. The notion of hiding, covering-up, obscuring the
truth – the reality of who we really are at any given moment in
time – has always intrigued me. Discovering what lies beneath
the surface of someone or something is what I pursue. My

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 current work straddles the thresholds of identity, experience, and memory as they connect to
ancestry, relationships, and the fear of loss of connection. It is an exploration of the
relationship between the visible and invisible, the gaze, the subject, and the other.
Biography​ - Joanne F. Desmond received a BA in Art from University of MA/Boston with a
concentration in printmaking and photography; M. Ed. in Arts & Learning from Endicott
College; MFA from Mass College of Art & Design. Desmond’s work has shifted from the
traditional use of media (i.e. photography and printmaking) into an exploration and
combination of materials. Her work is now primarily mixed media, which has often taken on a
more sculptural form. Joanne Desmond’s studio, Red Horse Studio, is in Berwick, ME. She is
a member of Boston Printmakers, Monoprint Guild of New England, Zea Mays Printmaking.
Her personal artist website is​ ​http://joannefdesmond.com

April Jakubec Duggal

Artist Statement for this exhibit ​ - ​April Jakubec Duggal is a mental health artist-advocate,
who began painting as a way of coping with her own mental
health symptoms. Jakubec Duggal creates acrylic, mixed-media
portraits of a diverse group of women living with mental health
struggles, exploring the intersectional identities of gender and
mental disability. The eyes are covered, capturing the
hidden/unseen nature of mental health issues. The sparkling
blooms symbolize the strength and resilience that can stem from
living and coping with these struggles.

'Blue Smirk' is a self-portrait of the artist, created in January 2019, which has become the very
first of the artist's "mental health portraits." This piece has led the way to Jakubec Duggal's
current art practice, where she seeks out real women to share their experiences of mental
health issues in an informal interview to help guide the collaboratively design process for
their portrait.

As a response to the traditionally dark and gloomy images of mental illness, Jakubec Duggal
creates bright and positive portraits, providing a more holistic view of those living with
mental health struggles. Through these images, she celebrates vulnerability and aims to
humanize mental health issues.

Biography ​- Jakubec Duggal is a self-taught artist, who has recently served as the Artist in
Residence for the New Bedford Whaling Historical National Park Services (Jan-Mar 2020);
had work featured in the US Human Rights Network's 2020 Annual Report; and completed a
mural on racial equity for the Punto Urban Arts Museum (PUAM) in Salem, MA (Oct 2020).

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Sara Gately
Artist Statement for this exhibit - ​Sara Gately is a Boston
based artist and Elementary Visual Arts Educator. Gately has
exhibited throughout the New England area displaying both
realistic and abstract works. Most recently Gately has been
creating a series of Goddess portraits to provide visual and
spiritual protection for herself and her small family. Gately's
Goddess portraits are portrayals of female strength and sacred
guardianship in the form of iconic objects meant to ward off evil.
Gately is an artist who firmly believes in the idea that women are
powerful beings made of magic, natural leaders and practicing
warriors. As a woman, Gately believes it is the duty of all people
to revere and honor women. Women are powerful and sacred
entities who are intended to wield power. These portraits are the visual representation of that
power. The Goddess portraits are depicted in a manner that defies physical objectification.
The Goddesses do not fulfill stereotypical attractiveness paradigms, designed to strip women
of their power. In fact many viewers of Gately's artwork believe the Goddesses to be male
because of preconceived notions of gender and strength. It is Gately's vision to create artwork
in which women are portrayed as fierce forces to be respected and feared.
Biography​ - ​Sara T. Gately, based in Hyde Park, received her M.ED in Art Education from
Lesley University in Cambridge MA. She is a Licensed Art Educator. She also received her
B.A in Comparative Religion and Visual Art from Hampshire College, Amherst, MA where
she majored in theater with a minor in creative writing. She is currently an art teacher at the
Holy Name Parish School in West Roxbury. She has exhibited widely in solo and group
shows and has been published as well. See the complete list at the bottom of this page.

Brooke Jones

Artist Statement for this exhibit - ​My work is based on the idea
of embracing femininity in an over-the-top manner. All too often,
objects and ideas that are associated with young women are
thought of as silly and shallow, but I want to embrace these
things (such as the color pink, sparkle/shine, flowers, decorative
objects like frames) wholeheartedly. Growing up as a dancer, I
have always felt a strong connection to performance and much of
the artificiality that comes with it. I love embracing artificial,
seemingly plastic or shallow objects and presenting them with
care but also a sense of self awareness. This series is inspired by
materiality and beauty with a touch of early 2000's aesthetics.
While my work aims to celebrate femininity, it is by no means

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 exclusive to women, hence the male lion represented in "Pretty Boy". Overall, I want these
works to embrace the real beauty in "shallow" objects and ideas, which is an idea that is
inclusive of all gender identities.

Biography​ - ​I grew up in the suburbs outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I left to go to

college at Boston University to earn my BFA in painting and am in my senior year now. I am
also earning a minor in art history and arts leadership. I have been a dancer almost my whole
life and trained at a recreational school until high school and then in college joined the Boston
University dance team. I believe that since dance was such a big part of my life, dance and
performance in general are heavy influences in my work. I love exploring the idea of a
painting being a performance.

Maia Monteagudo

Artist Statement​ ​for this exhibit ​- ​Creativity is how I

communicate. Being raised the child of two worlds, Guatemala
and the United States, language and expression quickly became
ever present in my identity formation and art making process. I
quickly found my unique perspective through the arts
transcended English or Spanish, driving my fervor for acrylics,
ink, pen and multimedia. My work has evolved to explore the
multiple layers of identity, perspective and expression through
the use of text, shapes, colors, lines with strong cultural
influences from my Guatemalan roots and Mayan ancestry​.

Biography​ - ​My name is Maia Monteagudo and I was born and raised in Boston, MA with
two incredibly progressive and supportive immigrant parents from Guatemala. I had been
brought up to explore the arts and creativity in a wide array of modalities including: visual
arts, music, dancing, and acting. Throughout elementary and high school I explored my own
artistic styles through school art programming as well as extracurricular classes in fashion
design. While pursuing my B.A. in Psychology at Connecticut College, I ventured into
graphic design to further expand my skill set and creative platforms. Between my B.A. and
M.A. I dedicated myself to fully developing my artistic voice through retail visual
merchandising to better understand composition and form as well as self-guided exploration
of acrylics and inks. During this time I would continue to hone my craft by commissioned art
and illustration along with tattoo design consultation. In 2017, I graduated from Lesley
University Graduate School with a M. A. in Mental Health Counseling with a concentration in
Expressive Arts Therapies. Currently, creative exploration not only drives the foundation of
my therapeutic practice but also serves as my own exploration of who I am as I continue to
evolve.

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Nilou Moochhala

Artist Statement for this exhibit - ​The first piece submitted

titled 'Singular Multiplexity' has been created after interviewing
20+ women. In answer to 8 questions asked, I created this
data-driven artwork. Some of the questions included: How do
you define your feminist space in the context of your everyday
life? As a parent/mother/aunt, how would you cultivate a sense of
equality and liberation in the next generation? In your daily
routine, what are the steps you take to be an everyday "activist"?
Each of these pie’s encircles the (DaVinci-like) female
interpretation of the “perfect” woman, - that at once trap her -
and yet she tries to break through. The labels stress the gender
stereotypes placed on women today, and how we try to neatly package the “other” into
simplified definitions - when really each one of us has a unique and limitless story/potential.
The other 3 submissions are part of 'The Virus Series' I have been creating. Since the March
2020 lockdown, I have visually documented this unparalleled moment in time through a daily
journaling project. These daily 10-15 minute sketches have evolved into The Virus Series.
The impact on women as beacons of individual hope, bridges to our community, symbols of
social justice, and containers of family space needs to be witnessed and archives for future
generations. These images attempt to capture the effects of the Covid-19 virus on myself, my
family, my community, my city, my state, and finally, my adopted country.

Biography - ​Nilou Moochhala has exhibited in numerous gallery spaces such as Beacon
Gallery, Mosesian Center for the Arts, Cambridge Art Association, among others. In contrast,
her public art project “Storefront Stories,” was based on interviews with local storefront
owners that evolved into larger-than-life wheat paste murals as well as a tabloid zine. Her
installation “Rhetoric of Opposites'' on the Minuteman Bikeway (that connects Cambridge to
Bedford) used street typography to juxtapose 25 pairs of opposing words that highlighted the
divisive political narrative that exists today. Her Virus Series is being archived as part of
pandemic cataloginging research projects at Brown University, Cornell University, and the
National Women’s History Museum.

She has been an award recipient of numerous grants including the Massachusetts Cultural
Council and New England Foundation for the Arts, among others. Her work has appeared in
publications such as the Boston Globe, Print, Arlington Advocate, and Big, Red & Shiny.

The artist personal website is​ ​niloumakes.com ​ The artist Social Media is @niloumooch

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Diane Sheridan

Artist Statement for this exhibit - ​ I will combine my artist statement

between Three in the Subway and Reflecting on the Evening Commute.
The uniting factor is contrast. The past is represented by Mona Lisa and
from all accounts, we don’t know what she is thinking. The present has a
woman seemingly content playing her violin while another woman gazes
out a train window looking tired and maybe questioning what is happening
in her life. The future is plastered with an ad of a model and a
preconceived notion of what a woman is and at the same time, there is a young african
american child reflection in a train window - only concerned with the lights flashing by
unaware of the future and where it will lead.

Biography​ - ​Diane Sheridan has been a resident of Brighton since 1985 and graduated from
Framingham State University with a degree in Fine Art. She has been involved with art and
photography in the community since high school and has been taking photographs for as long
as she can remember. She took a picture of her family, which may be her first photograph,
around the age of 5. She's worked at many of Boston's great institutions including Boston
University Photo Services and the Museum of Fine Arts. She is now in early retirement and
is thrilled to be part of the Unbound Visual Arts community.

Mary Vannucci

Artist Statement for this exhibit​ ​-​ ​My work shows pain and
conflict about what has become a political issue. Two
paintings..Blessing the Unknown...and Altar of Abortion...show
the point of view that is so very difficult for any women who
cannot have a child ...the Reasoning is ALL HER OWN...no one
should have the right to dominate a women's right....I chose these
paintings...primarily because the own basic, physical common
characteristics of all women is reproduction...to be used or not it
is her right......i AM NOT A RELIGIOUS PERSON ..I AM A MORAL PERSON....because I
know that children from unwanted births are endangered in this country..they are
abused...neglected..and treated as unwanted..burdens..
I have shown in the paintings..Grandson and Grandmother ..the bond and creator of
family...Her love and strength will be multiplied again and again..

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 The painting of Three Generations shows a Grandmother, Daughter and her young
Daughter....this is a common theme I show..in my work..This shows the continuance of
womanhood and shows well this continuous flow of womanhood...and LIFE.

Biography​ - Mary has been painting since the age of 14. She graduated from Boston
University’s School of Fine Arts, Southern CT College, Yale’s Summer Program, and the
Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD. She has worked as a preK-12 teacher of
art and special education in Bridgeport, CT and Baltimore, MD. She has also been a City
Spirit Artist for the City of New Haven, CT. Her past exhibitions include New Haven Open
Studios, New Haven, CT, Kaleidoscope Gallery, Erector Square Open Studios, Baltimore,
MD. She was a past member of Artist Housing Inc. Gallery 48 in Baltimore.

During the past three years, she has explored the symbols and simplicity inherent in the
drawings of children, and has appropriated them into her paintings. Her paintings are gestural
and figurative but also at times abstract. She uses direct a la prima technique, applying paint
quickly and intuitively.

Her most recent paintings are portraiture. Self-portraits are usually different in likeliness to
each other, and display a variety of human feelings. She chooses colors specifically and
chromatically to tessellate in special areas between the foreground and the background, in
order to render form without shadow and light. This technique is done by matching colors
together according to how they relate and appear optically. She then tries to incorporate
simple figuration into the context.

Andrea Zampitella

Artist Statement for this exhibit - ​Andrea Zampitella’s

workplaces us between the banality of domesticity and the
singular intimacy and vulnerability of becoming a mother. It is a
role that, because of its many demands, can deter an artist.
Zampitella finds that her life has become a balancing act, full of
moments of chaos and calm, and that elements in her art are
bound, fused, contorted and existentially consuming while she
attempts to harmonize them. Her work speaks to imperfection,
perseverance and patience; creating and birthing a new human
life has challenged Zampitella to transform her artistic life in a hopeful new beginning.

Everything Is Fine and Dandy

Everything is Fine and Dandy ​explores the relationship between beauty and discord. Dainty
attire paired with old fashioned television nods back to the 1950s, when women felt the
pressure to marry and live a life bound to the home to become servants to their husbands. The

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dominant theme promoted in the media was that women should aspire to a domestic life and
not to advance their own careers. The slogan the “happy homemaker” was idealized in the
media, and pressure to stay home and provide for the family added a tremendous amount of
stress for women who didn’t follow the trend. ​Everything is Fine and Dandy​ creates tension
between attraction and repulsion, domestic comfort and abject fear, constraint and liberation,
defeat and triumph. In this piece I explore our notion of happiness and the absurdity of our
ideals.

Happy Homemaker

Happy Homemaker explores the perception of women in American society. Our attire, and
visual aesthetic nods back to the 1950s, when women felt the pressure to marry and live a life
bound to the home to become servants to their husbands. The dominant theme promoted in
the media was that women should aspire to a domestic life and not to advance their own
careers. The slogan the “happy homemaker” was idealized in the media, and societal
pressures kept women at home to provide for the family. Happy Homemaker creates tension
between attraction and repulsion, domestic comfort and abject fear, constraint and liberation,
defeat and triumph. In this piece we explore our notion of success and the absurdity of our
ideals. The piece allows us to reflect upon how much has changed since the 1950s, and how
much baggage we still hold.

Suzie Homemaker

Andrea Zampitella’s work places us between the banality of domesticity and the singular
intimacy and vulnerability of becoming a mother. It is a role that, because of its many
demands, can deter an artist. Zampitella finds that her life has become a balancing act, full of
moments of chaos and calm. Her work speaks to imperfection, perseverance and patience;
creating and birthing a new human life has challenged Zampitella to transform her artistic life
in a hopeful new beginning.

Fine China

By comparing ideas and materials, ​Fine China​, explores the composition of improbable
materials in ways that contradict their function. The piece pushes our notion about the
connotation of certain materials, in this case,porcelain, and how we associate it with fragility
and weakness. In ​Fine China,​ I pull together the industrial and domestic as well as the
relationship of strong and delicate. I challenge the viewer to question the dichotomy of
feminine and masculine, strong and weak, possible and impossible. This “balancing act”
forces us to reexamine our relationships with objects and ideas physically and metaphorical

Biography​ - Zampitella attended the Massachusetts College of Art where she earned an MFA
in Interdisciplinary Studies, a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Art Education and Studio for

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Interrelated Media (SIM), and a minor in Small Metals. Zampitella’s creative reach touches
upon sculpture, performance and video.
She has exhibited in galleries and public spaces around Boston including the Decordova
Museum and Sculpture Park, The Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy, The Boston
Children’s Museum,Axiom Gallery, Mobius Gallery and the Griffin Museum of Photography.
Currently, she is aLibrary/Media Specialist at Winchester High School. Zampitella has been
mentored by multimedia artists Megan and Murray McMillan, Mary Mattingly and Ellen
Wetmore. She has received grants from Massachusetts College of Art, The Boston Children’s
Museum, The Winchester Cultural Council and The Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy.

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This exhibition and programs are supported in part by a grant from Boston Cultural Council, a local
agency which is funded by the Massachusetts Cultural Council and the City of Boston, administered
by the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture.

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