Molly Ivins

2008 mixed media

It's hard to argue against cynics -- they always sound smarter than optimists because they have so much evidence on their side.

- Molly Ivins (1944-2007)

Cynics...

Optimists...

Which category do we belong to?

Are we in a category of our own?

Christine de Pizan

2008 mixed media

Just as women’s bodies are softer than men’s, so their understanding is sharper.

- Christine de Pizan (1363 - 1434)

Women are different than men, yet we are equals.

Why not celebrate our differences?

Ingrid Bergman

2008 mixed media

I have no regrets. I wouldn't have lived my life the way I did if I was going to worry about what people were going to say.

- Ingrid Bergman (1915-1982)

Do you have regrets?

Do you really care what people say?

Who are these people anyway?

Family?

Friends?

Neighbors?

Are these people so important you would risk living a life with regrets?

Life is too short for regrets...

Eva Hesse

2008 mixed media
I try my hand at the most absurd and extreme contrasts. That has always been more interesting for me than something normal with the right height and proportions.

- Eva Hesse (1936-1970)

I adore contrasts, they make life more interesting.

What is “normal” anyhow?

Who decides what “normal” means?

Anne Finch, Countess of Winchilsea

2008 mixed media

Alas! a woman that attempts the pen,
Such an intruder on the rights of men,
Such a presumptuous Creature, is esteem'd,
The fault, can by no virtue be redeem'd.

- Anne Finch, Countess of Winchilsea (1661-1720)

Woman, what do you attempt?

Woman, what do you create?

Woman, what are your virtues?

Selma Lagerlof

2008 mixed media

Strange, when you ask anyone's advice you see yourself what is right.

- Selma Lagerlof (1858-1940)

Whose advice do we seek?

To whom do we give advice?

Paula Gunn Allen

2008 mixed media

Snowflakes, leaves, humans, plants, raindrops, stars, molecules, microscopic entities all come in communities. The singular cannot in reality exist.

- Paula Gunn Allen (1939-2008)

Who is in your community?

Marian Anderson

2008 mixed media

Every one has a gift for something, even if it is the gift of being a good friend.

- Marian Anderson (1902-1993)

What is your gift?

How often do you give your gift away?

Mary McLeod Bethune

2008 mixed media

Invest in the human soul.
Who knows, it might be a diamond in the rough.

- Mary McLeod Bethune (1875-1955)

How do we invest in our human souls?

Amelia Jenks Bloomer

2008 mixed media

When you find a burden in belief or apparel, cast it off.

- Amelia Jenks Bloomer (1818 - 1894)

What burdens must we cast off?

Wilma Rudolph

2008 mixed media

My doctors told me I would never walk again. My mother told me I would. I believed my mother.

Never underestimate the power of dreams and the influence of the human spirit. We are all the same in this notion. The potential for greatness lives within each of us.

- Wilma Rudolph (1940-1994)

Who do we believe?

What are our dreams?

Jean Ingelow

2008 mixed media

The moon looks upon many night flowers; the night flowers see but one moon.

- Jean Ingelow (1820-1897)

When was the last time we looked upon the moon?

When was the last time we looked upon night flowers?

Pearl S. Buck

2008 mixed media


I love people. I love my family, my children . . . but inside myself is a place where I live all alone and that's where you renew your springs that never dry up.

- Pearl S. Buck
(1892-1973)



I need time alone.
It is not that I am anti-social.
It is just that seeing too many people too often just drains me.

I renew my springs by sitting in silence.
I renew my springs by sculpting, writing and painting.

I love time alone.
I love time with My Self.

Audré Lorde

2008 mixed media
When I dare to be powerful -- to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.

- Audré Lorde (1934-1992)

Do you dare to be powerful?

Why? Why not?

What is your strength?

What is your vision?

Lydia Maria Child

2008 mixed media

You find yourself refreshed by the presence of cheerful people. Why not make an honest effort to confer that pleasure on others? Half the battle is gained if you never allow yourself to say anything gloomy.

- Lydia Maria Child (1802-1880)

Are you a cheerful person?

Ann Richards

2008 mixed media

There is a lot more to life than just struggling to make money.

- Ann Richards (1933-2006)

What do we struggle with in life?

What is our relationship to money?

What do we want out of this lifetime?

Casimira Sacasa Sacasa de Debayle

2008 mixed media of my Great-Great-Grand-Mother

Casimira Sacasa Sacasa de Debayle
(19th century - timeless)

Daughter of a President.

Sister of a President.

Wife of a Genius.

Mother of a Muse.

Mother-in-Law of a President.

Grand-Mother of Presidents.

Grand-Mother of Muses.

Grand-Mother of Poets.

Grand Matriarch of Multitudes.

Great-Great-Grand-Mother of Mine...

Happy Birthday Casimira

Happy Mother’s Day Nicaragua

Ida Tarbell

2008 mixed media

Imagination is the only key to the future.
Without it none exists -- with it all things are possible.

- Ida Tarbell (1857-1944)

Imagination – a gift every child has and which too many adults sadly misplace along the way.

Elizabeth Ann Seton

2008 mixed media

Live simply, so that all may simply live.

- Elizabeth Ann Seton (1774-1821)

How do we live?

How may we live simply?

How may we simply live?

Yesterday, as I walked the labyrinth, I looked up and noticed the exploding colors coming from the cathedral’s stained glass windows.

It is LIGHT that brings color to our life.

It is LIGHT that brings beauty to our lives.

It is LIGHT that illuminates the windows of our souls.

Salvadora Debayle Sacasa de Somoza

2008 mixed media of my beloved Great Grand Mother

A woman must always have a bank account of her own.

- Salvadora Debayle Sacasa de Somoza
(19th/20th century - timeless)

What do you save?


What do you have that is your own and nobody else’s?

Happy Birthday Yoyita

Rosa Luxemburg

2008 mixed media

We will be victorious
if we have not forgotten how to learn.

- Rosa Luxemburg (1870 – 1919)

What do we want or need to learn?

Patience...?

Compassion...?

Humility...?

Silence...?

Joy...?

Helen Rowland

2008 mixed media

The chief excitement in a woman's life is spotting women who are fatter than she is.

- Helen Rowland (1875-1950)

What a boring, superficial, confidence-lacking life such a woman must lead.

Natalie Wood

2008 mixed media

The only time a woman really succeeds in changing a man is when he's a baby.

- Natalie Wood (1938-1981)

What changes do we wish to make in others?

What changes do we wish to make in ourselves?

Edith Stein

2008 mixed media

My longing for truth was a single prayer.

- Edith Stein (1891-1942)

What do you long for?

What do you pray for?

Clara Barton

2008 mixed media

The surest test of discipline is its absence.

- Clara Barton (1821-1912)

Where is discipline absent in our lives?

Gilda Radner

2008 mixed media
Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next.

- Gilda Radner (1946-1989)

not knowing

having to change

making the best of the moment

it’s a challenge, but one with the capacity of delivering miracles...

Katherine Mansfield

2008 mixed media

Risk! Risk anything!

Care no more for the opinions of others, for those voices.

Do the hardest thing on earth for you.

Act for yourself.

Face the truth.

- Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923)

I may stencil this quote on my wall...

I may tattoo this quote on my body...

Powerful words of wisdom...

Powerful reminders of why we are alive!

Katharine Hepburn

2008 mixed media


If you obey all the rules,
you miss all the fun.

- Katharine Hepburn (1907-2003)


Rules, who makes the rules we follow?
Fun, when do we have fun?

Hannah Höch

2008 mixed media

I should like to erase the fixed boundaries that we self-assured humans like to draw around anything we can achieve.

- Hannah Höch (1889-1978)

What do we wish to achieve in this lifetime?

What limiting boundaries have we placed upon ourselves?

How can we begin to stretch these boundaries, eventually erasing them?

Mary McCarthy

2008 mixed media

In violence, we forget who we are.

- Mary McCarthy (1912-1989)

Violence can be found in
a word
a gesture
a thought
a joke

Let us be more aware and not forget who we are...

Tillie Olsen

2008 mixed media

She would never exchange her solitude for anything.
Never again to be forced to move to the rhythms of others.

- Tillie Olsen (1912-2007)

Growing up, I often moved to the rhythms of others.

Today, I sing my own song and dance to the beat of my own drum.

I follow my inner rhythm...I must...

Antoinette Brown Blackwell

2008 mixed media

Work, alternated with needful rest, is the salvation of man or woman.

- Antoinette Brown Blackwell (1825-1921)

Salvation...what has been your salvation?

Alice Meynell

2008 mixed media

Happiness is not a matter of events; it depends upon the tides of the mind.

- Alice Meynell (1847–1922)

the tidal forces of our moons and suns

affect our oceans

what are our moons?

what are our suns?

what are our oceans?

Meditation and prayer bring balance to my mind and peace to my heart.

On this 5th anniversary of re-birth, I honor beloved Grand Mother.

I smile remembering her.
I smile listening to her constant guidance.
I smile feeling her love and light surround me.

She is in every spring bloom.
She is in sunshine and raindrops.
She lives in me...

Babe Didrikson Zaharias

2008 mixed media

Winning has always meant much to me, but winning friends has meant the most.

- Babe Didrikson Zaharias
(1911-1956)

How far will we go to win?

Elsa Maxwell

2008 mixed media

Serve the dinner backward, do anything - but for goodness sake, do something weird.

- Elsa Maxwell (1883-1963)

strange

odd

bizarre

peculiar

wacky

fantastic

unusual

extraordinary

atypical

eccentric

unconventional

...all of these have been adjectives used to describe my work, my sculpture. I graciously accept all of these compliments with gratitude.

What is weird to you?

What do you do that is weird?

Mary Cassatt

2008 mixed media

There's only one thing in life for a woman; it's to be a mother.... A woman artist must be ... capable of making primary sacrifices.

- Mary Cassatt (1844-1926)

A mother exists in every woman.

A mother is one who is loving and compassionate towards another.

A mother is the one who loves unconditionally.

A mother forgives.

A mother survives.

A mother nourishes.

A mother heals.

A mother need not give birth in order to be a mother.

Can we be mothers to ourselves? I believe so...

Happy Mother's Day

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

2008 mixed media

Nature never repeats herself, and the possibilities of one human soul will never be found in another.

- Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902)

What possibilities does your human soul hold?

Ella Fitzgerald

2008 mixed media

Just don't give up trying to do what you really want to do. Where there is love and inspiration, I don't think you can go wrong.

- Ella Fitzgerald (1917-1996)

What do you REALLY WANT...?

Do not give up...

LOVE and INSPIRATION are with you...

DO NOT GIVE UP...

Edith Ewing Bouvier Beale

2008 mixed media

I am not ashamed of anything.

- Edith Ewing Bouvier Beale
(1895-1977)

Shame, when does it enter our lives?

How does it enter our lives?

How do we release ourselves from it?

Fannie Lou Hamer

2008 mixed media

Nobody's free until everybody's free.

- Fannie Lou Hamer
(1917-1977)

How do we define FREEDOM?

Where do we lack freedom in our lives today?

How do we liberate ourselves?

How do we liberate others?

Willa Cather

2008 mixed media

Where there is great love there are always miracles.

- Willa Cather (1873-1947)

I believe in great love.

I believe in miracles.

Do you?

Coretta Scott King

2008 mixed media

Women, if the soul of the nation is to be saved, I believe that you must become its soul.

- Coretta Scott King (1927-2006)

How do we become the soul of a nation?

Perhaps we must begin by becoming the soul of our homes...

...the soul of our families...

...the soul of our beings...

Édith Piaf

2008 mixed media

Don't care what people say. Don't give a damn about their laws.

- Édith Piaf (1915-1963)

People talk and talk, often not aware of what they are saying.
People talk and talk, trying to fill in the blanks of their lives.

People talk in order to avoid feeling.
People talk in an attempt to escape silence.

People talk about other people all of the time.

People talk about me...
People talk about you...

Let them talk their heads off...

Lillian Somoza Debayle de Sevilla-Sacasa

2008 mixed media of my beloved Queen, my Grand Mother

Well, it was not easy...but I'd do it all over again.

- Lillian Somoza Debayle de Sevilla-Sacasa
(20th century - timeless)

Would you do it all over again?

Happy Birthday Mimi

Hannah Arendt

2008 mixed media

Forgiveness is the key to action and freedom.

- Hannah Arendt (1906-1975)

I believe this with all that I am.

Forgiveness heals not only our spirits, but also our bodies.

So, how do we forgive others?

How do we forgive the past?

How do we forgive ourselves?

Dame Margot Fonteyn

2008 mixed media

Take your work seriously, but never yourself.

- Dame Margot Fonteyn
(1919-1991)

Having a sense of humor is key to having a good life.

With every year that passes, I feel myself becoming younger...and lighter.

My artwork - my work - has a sense of humor as well.

It is liberating to laugh at oneself...