Celebrate Women’s History Month at AVA Gallery and Art Center with Letters to LulaBelle: A Collaborative Conversation on Women’s Stories and Lives, on view in the Gallery 3 @ AVA

Organized by photographer and speaker Lyn Swett Miller, this show includes work from 8 artists with studios at AVA and reveals women’s stories and lives through altered books, oil paintings and photographs, nature-inspired jewelry, and various vintage dresses. The name LulaBelle comes directly from a vintage mannequin who has been at AVA since it’s founding over forty years ago and who presides over the entire exhibition. To learn more about her, you’ll just have to come to the opening.

The title, Letters to LulaBelle, offers an invitation to all who come to write a letter to, or create a picture for, this person who could be your grandmother, sister, a mannequin, an imaginary friend or the unknown women who wore your wedding  dress before you. LulaBelle is all of us and none of us. When you sit in the space (there is a comfortable armchair if you care to hang out for a while) you can almost hear the pieces talking amongst themselves and asking questions about feminism, adornment, lineages, and expectations. This is an experimental show that invites reflection and active participation. A small writing table with paper and colored pencils and pens offers anyone who comes a chance to write their own letter to LulaBelle and to then post it on the ‘laundry line’ on the wall. AVA Gallery and Art Center celebrates the creation of community and the making of meaning through art of all kinds.

Participating artists: Anne Wilson, Helen Shulman, Julie Püttgen, Lisa Sobert-Sheldon, Lyn Swett Miller, Maggie mayfly Kundtz Joseph, Paulette Werger, Rachel Jordan