June – October 4th, 2022
SOUL AWARENESS
Kay Kiria | Lynda Sauls | Marlene Hammel
Location
Dorothy Mangurian Comprehensive Women’s Center
1000 NE 56th St, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33334
Holy Cross Health in partnership with ArtServe, an award-winning non-profit arts incubator, presents Soul Awareness, an exhibition dedicated to the inspiration and empowerment of women in the arts.
Reflected in this exhibition is the creative collaboration between Kay Kiria, Lynda Sauls, and Marlene Hammel, three South Florida female artists whose exceptional works comprise soul-conscious visions where the natural and ethereal merge into realizations of truth.
Manifestations of resilience create the compassion, inspiration, and possibilities found in these heartfelt paintings, where the strength of feminine intuition, the irrepressible beauty of nature, and spirited honesty and imagination come together, leading to hope and realization.
Artists
KAY KIRIA
A native of Miami, Florida, lifelong artist, and poet Kay Kiria has been on the South Florida cultural scene appearing consistently in the press throughout her career as an artist and teacher since 1997. Kiria is an award-winning artist for local and international online juried exhibitions and her sacred themed works reside in private collections internationally.
“Art and poetry have a way of comforting those who are broken by life and awakens uplifting insights moving a soul toward something new. Through dark struggles I have always been drawn towards the light, to capture what connects humanity through the inner life, heart, and spirit. Coming from a background of domestic abuse, the arts and time with Jesus Christ were healing for me. Intrinsically, the spiritual has been ever-present with the natural influencing my creativity. All the brokenness transforms into a purpose for good as a restored beauty of wholeness arises. Imagination, closeness, honesty, and hope draws to the surface. Canvas, wood panel and paper are the sacred grounds for these intimate narrative reflections; an open diary, if you will, of my heart pilgrimage, life experiences, and observations. Through these creative practices, I aspire to stir the inner soul in others to be encouraged, inspired, imagine, and believe.
Oil, cold wax, acrylic, gels, and grounding primers alongside penned poems in journals are my favored mediums. I paint on substrates of differing shapes and sizes to convey contemplations of closeness. My poems are kindled from my personal walk and derive from creative undertakings adding vision to selected painting collections. Music, sounds of nature, and silence are part of my inspired methods in the studio.”
LYNDA SAULS
Lynda is a self-taught award-winning artist and has juried in local and national exhibits. She has participated in over 80 group exhibits. She has curated many exhibits, including her three solo exhibits, 2022 “Florals” – 2019’s “Heaven Declares” 2017’s “Prerogative of Creating”. Lynda is currently the President of the Weston Art Guild. Her work resides in residential and business locations in South Florida and Tennessee.
“F lorida is a perfect setting to water the wonder and awe for nature that was planted in my heart. The forms, fragrances, diversities, and shades of these voiceless beauties not only inspire my paintings, but the meanings associated with them and the meaning of their colors all have messages just waiting to be revealed to me. I treasure the lessons that are planted before me and endeavor to bring awareness to them by painting flowers and plants in oils using rich bold colors and sizable to jar the viewer’s attention. I intend to inspire others to focus on the details and be drawn into a place of stillness to appreciate these wonderful, generous, gracious gifts.
This body of work displayed here at Holy Cross is part of my “Heavens Declared” and “Celestial Creations” I chose to display in this exhibit called “Soul Awareness” because I feel it draws the viewer into the awareness that the simplicity of the flower and the vastness of the universe are all connected revealing the wonder of Creation in all its depths, simplicity and expansion.”
MARLENE HAMMEL
Marlene Hammel is privileged to be an award-winning artist and has been juried into local South Florida exhibits. Her work is in private collections nationally. She is on the board of directors as Corresponding Secretary for Gold Coast Watercolor Society and National League of American Pen Women-Ft Lauderdale branch as well as an active member of Weston Art Guild, all South Florida affiliations.
“It all began with the Etch A Sketch – a toy that opened a world of art to me as a young child. My life followed a creative trail in high-end luxury fashion and make-up artistry, teaching my clients how to enhance their facial features with color contouring and coordinating all aspects of their visual fashion aesthetics. When retirement reopened the door to unlimited choices, I once again picked up a paintbrush and reconnected with my passion. I’ve continued to expand my craft by taking various workshops offered by recognized national artists.
My creative process is experimenting with paint, ink, mixed media, mark-making tools, wild colors, and layers of texture. I never know where a painting will take me. The backgrounds and moods emerge and change as my work progresses, and to my delight ethereal women and figures intuitively appear on my canvas. My style and techniques are ever-changing as I make my first mark on the blank canvas, and in my studio up on a shelf sits a red Etch A Sketch – a reminder of where my creative trail all began.”
Artworks
