A new painting: Shameless Survivor

Yesterday I had the acute pleasure of spending four and a half uninterrupted hours in the studio working on a new commission.  I need to have it finished in time for the opening of Not Barbie: A Celebration of Real Women (Sept 16th at 6 at Crossroads Art Center, with Artist Talk at 5:30).  After a couple of weeks of caring for my 19-year-old son who just had surgery for scoliosis, I could really feel the luxury of the pleasure of being inside my own head, inside my own studio, painting, drawing, doing whatever spoke to me, not worried about his surgery or the outcome of it.  He is healing remarkably well and is making huge strides towards independence already.  He's amazing.

This painting feels like a very important one to be doing.  The subject of the portrait was in a marriage which went awry in the worst way.  Her husband's solution was to shoot her and himself. Thankfully she survived.  And has become a powerful advocate for women living in abusive situations.  This portrait is a celebration and commemoration of her survival and all that means for the world that she is still in it.  It inspires me to paint her.  I painted her scars yesterday and couldn't help but think why she has them and the courage it must take to let the world see them also.  She is wearing her husband's Brooks Brother shirt because when they dressed up and they went out together, things were good between them.  It was the time with him when she felt safe.

I feel honored to be painting this woman, the powerful, empowered, empowering woman who has survived a horror and is using her experience to help others.  Bravo, Shameless Survivor!  Thank you!

If you want to hear more about her story, she will be one of the participants in Beyond Barbie's evening Thursday, October 13 called Through the Fire: Reclaiming Lost Power After Trauma and Abuse.  For more information, you can visit my website where I have information about all the evenings for Beyond Barbie.

The Blues: Liberation, Empowerment and Joy!

The Blues: Liberation, Empowerment and Joy! is the third in the series of seven evening performances in conjunction with Susan Singer’s exhibition of female nudes, Not Barbie: A Celebration of Real Women.  The series, Beyond Barbie: Piecing Together Today’s Woman, showcases and highlights the joys as well as the hardships that women face today.

The Blues: Liberation, Empowerment, and Joy! is an evening celebrating the life-changing power of music. Opening the evening with song will be Ana Rivera-Poland followed by a headlining performance from GayeAdegbalola, singer, composer, storyteller and activist.  Gaye has toured nationally and internationally, and has won numerous awards including the prestigious Blues Music Award (formerly the W.C. Handy Award – the Grammy of the blues industry). As of February 2009, Adegbalola has 13 CDs in national distribution, including 3 on her own label, Hot Toddy Music. Gaye composes, sings and plays acoustic guitar, slide guitar, and harmonica. By maintaining the blues legacy, Gaye sees herself as a contemporary griot - keeping the history alive, delivering messages of empowerment, ministering to the heartbroken, and finding joy in the mundane.  

The evening will go beyond the frequently heard sadness the Blues offers, to find the true joy and empowerment that comes from liberating one’s self.  As Gaye mentions in her hit song Big Ovaries Baby, “Assertive or aggressive/Name it what you will/Brazen or bodacious I got/Ovaries of steel.”

The Blues: Liberation, Empowerment and Joy! will take place October 6^th from 7-9 PM at Crossroads Art Center at 2016 Staples Mill Rd, RVA 23230.  For more information or to purchase tickets, please go to www.crossroadsartcenter.com or www.susansinger.com or call Crossroads at 804-278-8950. 

Strength in Motion: Dancing our Sacred Bodies, Sept 22 at Crossroads Art Center

STRENGTH IN MOTION:  DANCING OUR SACRED BODIES

A bellydancer playing a violin?

A 92-year-old woman strutting her stuff?

Passion, anger, hurt, anguish, joy, bliss, love, hope, longing…

Spoken word, hooping, improv, combat style dancing….




Strength in Motion:  Dancing Our Sacred Bodies is an inspiring evening of dance presented by nine talented local women, ranging in age from 23 to 92. From the ancient arts of bellydance and circle dance, to modern hoop dance, Balla Guerra, and improvisation, these real women explore a wide variety of ways women dance their sacred bodies. 

Dance diva Frances Wessells, 92, offers her unique approach to improv, and everyone will want to get up and MOVE!  Photographer Heather Addley’s fusion bellydance tells the story of overcoming stage fright caused by a speech impediment.  Hoopers Natalie Gianninoto and Rachel Braford spin into their bliss in a piece that represents the struggle between darkness and light. Spoken word and dance are combined in writer Dawn Flores’ powerful piece. Professional bellydance performer and instructor Khalima is poetry in motion as she presents “World Priestess.”  Social services professional Tina Batya plays the violin while performing Balla Guera in a dance that helped her heal from tumor surgery. Young mother Lelya Nissa shares the intense emotions of her life through dance. And grandmother Peggy O’Neill brings us all together in a circle to follow in the ancient steps of our ancestors. 


Strength in Motion:  Dancing Our Sacred Bodies is the first of the series of seven evening performances in conjunction with Susan Singer’s exhibition of female nudes, Not Barbie: A Celebration of Real Women which opens at Crossroads at 6 PM Friday, Sept 16.  The series, Beyond Barbie: Piecing Together Today’s Woman, showcases and highlights the joys as well as the hardships that real women face today.

It will take place Thursday, September 22 from 7-9 PM at Crossroads Art Center at 2016 Staples Mill Rd, RVA 23230.  For more information or to purchase tickets, please go to www.crossroadsartcenter.com or www.susansinger.com or call Crossroads at 804-278-8950.  For more information about the evening program, contact oneill.peggy4@gmail.com.