Taking Flight
St. Kate's strives to transform students toward their best selves, that they may be challenged and take flight as innovative leaders. The works displayed here follow the theme of flight, as a learning process and admirable action.
The exhibit includes work by three strong, influential women: Clara Mairs, Gemma Rossini Cullen, and Nancy Randall; a biography of each artist is included.
The act of taking flight begins with observation and contemplation. One might feel humble, and vocalize content to stay low or out of sight. Part of the process of learning to fly involves watching others from a safe distance, first.
Sometimes, flight is a scary thing. We might have ideas for what it means to fly, and these ideas may take the form of dreams... or nightmares. Dreaming enables us to soar.
Taking flight may mean launching from an unlikely place.
Flying may require a leap of faith. It may be jumbled, chaotic and messy. It might also be thoughtful, taking the form of words or subtle action.
Gemma Rossini Cullen (1937-2004) was born in Saint Paul, MN. She received a B.A. from the College of St. Catherine (now St. Catherine University) in 1960 and an B.F.A. from Minneapolis College of Art and Design in 1969. She became a member of the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Carondelet in 1955 and exited in 1967. Gemma’s work includes large-format paintings and drawings. It routinely depicts women, nature, architectural elements, and abstract forms, at times with an emphasis on repetitive morphing or mutating imagery, and an incorporation of negative space. Like many women were emerging from the Catholic religious community in the 1960s, Gemma was questioning the ways in which the church had marginalized the role of women within its community in the past and, as an ex-sister, exploring new versions of what it meant to be a woman in the present and going forward. In Gemma’s case, this meant exploring creating art for women. Gemma was influenced in her exploration by the writings of Carl Jung and his exploration of “global cultural histories and archetypal realities.”1 The archetype [and transformation thereof] Gemma was most interested in was that of the Goddess, and she explored this subject in many of her works. As she continued to evolve as an artist, her interest in metamorphosis grew, and she would eventually create a number of successful drawings depicting this concept. In 1992 Rossini Cullen founded her own company, Business Graphics Network. She worked there until 2004 in graphic design, sales, and production. She was a founding member of the Women's Art Registry of Minnesota (WARM) Gallery from 1976 to 1987. Rossini Cullen’s domestic exhibitions included venues at the College of St. Catherine, North Hennepin Community College, and Minneapolis Community College, the WARM Gallery in Minneapolis, and the McCrae Gallery at Western New Mexico University in Silver City, New Mexico. Her work is part of collections throughout the United States, and she also “produced a major suite of drawings for two books.
Artist biography courtesy the Catherine G. Murphy Gallery.
In the end, leaping and soaring is beautiful, formed from presence of mind, strength, and spirit.
Clara Mairs, a Minnesota artist born in Hastings, MN in 1878 and a resident of St. Paul, MN at the time of her death in 1963, studied art at the Saint Paul Institute. She also studied abroad in Paris and at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia. While in Paris, she studied at the Academie Julian, the Academie Colarossi with E. A. Bourdelle, and at the Academie Montparnasse with Andre Lhote. Mairs, best known for her etchings, created an extensive body of work including prints, paintings, ceramics, and textiles. Her work routinely depicts women, children, animals, circus performers, and stories from the Old Testament, frequently with a hint of humor or satire. Mairs, an award winning print artist, has been exhibited in the United States and in Europe. Work Cited-Clara: Etchings by Clara Mairs. St. Paul: Minnesota Museum of Art, 1976.
Artist biography courtesy the Catherine G. Murphy Gallery.
Nancy Randall was born in Rochester, MN in 1928. She received her B.A. in art in 1950, and at the age of 40, an M.F.A from the University of Minnesota. Her heritage is Norwegian and she received a Jerome Foundation grant to travel to Norway to develop her artwork. Her exhibition from this expedition was called Voyager (2001). She has also done a one person show for the Walker Art Center (1982) centered on Cicadas which she had chosen when has traveled to the American Southwest.
Artist biography courtesy the Catherine G. Murphy Gallery.