In Brooklyn, SALLY was presented in three distinctly different exhibition spaces that serve a variety of communities, ensuring that the exhibition reached both art and non–art audiences. Each exhibition was reflective of the place that it was presented in.

Artpoetica is a project space in Brooklyn, NY exhibiting experimental and hybrid works of high quality that focus on the intersection of language and visual representation, performance, and installation. The loft–style setting of Artpoetica combines a streamlined exhibition space with a live/work environment. Its intimate design supports work that goes deeper into the emotional and psychological underpinnings of SALLY.

Artpoetica was founded by JoAnne McFarland in 2017 as an outgrowth of her studio practice. The project space showcases work that honors artistic engagement as the essential tool for breaking down barriers between groups. Artpoetica is a haven for makers historically pushed to the margins of artistic discourse—women, artists of color, older artists, and those who reject commercial success as a catalyst for invention.

Exhibiting Artists: Ann Shostrom, Philemona Williamson, Robin Holder, Jee Hwang, Marisa Williamson, Paula Lalala, Hong Zhang, Carole Kunstadt, Jennifer Mack–Watkins, Nancy Lunsford, Fabiola Jean–Louis, Lauren Frances Adams, Meredith Bergmann, Elizabeth Moran, Deborah Castillo, Shanti Grumbine, Sasha, Chavchavadze, JoAnne McFarland

Women whose lives served as inspiration (see Histories page for biographies): Hannah More, Angelina Grimke, Hippolyta, Sally Hemings

SALLY Brooklyn Exhibition Brochure

In Brooklyn, SALLY was presented in three distinctly different exhibition spaces that serve a variety of communities, ensuring that the exhibition reached both art and non–art audiences. Each exhibition was reflective of the place that it was presented in.

An active boathouse and community space with a collection of red canoes, Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club offers the community waterfront access and educational programs. SALLY was exhibited on its 18–foot high, raw concrete block walls. Selected works evoked shipwrecks, like the one that ended Margaret Fuller’s life in 1850, and other untimely ends women have succumbed to in their quest for independence.

Exhibiting artists: Amanda Needham, Marisa Williamson, Maureen Conner, Lauren Frances Adams, JoAnne McFarland, Tatiana Istomina, Sasha Chavchavadze.

Women whose lives served as inspiration (see Histories page for biographical information): Sally Hemings, Mileva Maric, Dian Fossey, Margaret Fuller, Helene Rytman.

SALLY Brooklyn Exhibition Brochure

In Brooklyn, SALLY was presented in three distinctly different exhibition spaces that serve a variety of communities, ensuring that the exhibition reached both art and non–art audiences. Each exhibition was reflective of the place that it was presented in.

The Old Stone House & Washington Park is both an historic museum of the Revolutionary Battle of Brooklyn, and a vibrant community center, offering interdisciplinary and educational programming to adults and children. SALLY was exhibited in its multi–purpose “Great Room,” and focused primarily on artists responding to historical women.

Exhibiting Artists: Jee Hwang, Marisa Williamson, Carole Kunstadt, Nancy Lunsford, Fabiola Jean–Louis, Meredith Bergmann, Tatiana Istomina, Katya Grokhovsky, Sasha Chavchavadze, JoAnne McFarland

Historical women whose lives served as inspiration (see Histories page for biographies): Nancy Weston Grimke, Angelina Grimke, Angelina Emily Grimke, Sarah Grimke, Sally Hemings, Mary Wollstonecraft, Sarah Margaret Fuller, Nella Larson, Harriet Bailey, Milev Maric.

SALLY Brooklyn Exhibition Brochure

SALLY Wellfleet took place at four community-based venues in Wellfleet, MA in Summer 2021: Wellfleet Historical Society & Museum, FARM Project Space, When Studio, and Wellfleet Public Library. SALLY exhibitions began in June and extend throughout the summer, culminating in four simultaneous exhibitions from August 7 - 17.

SALLY reached out to twenty-four artists to exhibit work in the SALLY Wellfleet exhibitions, with a focus on indigenous and other minority communities.

SALLY Cape Cod included a lecture at the Provincetown Art Association and Museum (PAAM) on August 10th, and article in the 2021 issue of Provincetown Arts magazine.

In 2020 SALLY initiated community outreach to activate the Cape Cod public memory around women, like Sally Hemings, whose lives have been erased or forgotten. Sheryl Jaffe and David Wright of the Wellfleet Historical Society & Museum offered the biographies of several Cape Cod women, three of whom were highlighted in a summer-long exhibition at WHS&M (June 30 - October) focused on Delilah Gibbs, known as “the last Indian in Wellfleet.” Using artifacts in the WHS&M collection, the exhibition pieced together fact from fiction about Delilah Gibbs and her contemporaries.

Women whose lives served as inspiration for SALLY Cape Cod:

Dorothy May Bradford, Camille Claudel, Margaret Fuller, Delilah Gibbs, Patience Gibbs, Angelina Weld Grimké, Sally Hemings, Drusilla Cole Laha, Nancy MacDonald, Hannah More, Ann Wells Munger, Helen Purcell, Shanawdithit, Weetumuw.

SALLY Cape Cod artists include:

Sasha Chavchavadze, Joe Diggs, Phyllis Ewen, Traci Harmon-Hay, Jee Hwang, Fabiola Jean-Louis, Aylette Jenness, Terry Gips, Sheryl Jaffe, Kelly Knight, Carole Kunstadt, Elise Kaufman, Nancy Lunsford, Julia Marden, JoAnne McFarland, Sana Musasama, Susie Nielsen, Anita Peters Mother Bear, Karen Revis, Sarah Riley, Connie Saems, Christina Schlesinger, Amani Willett, Marisa Williamson.

SALLY Wellfleet Virtual Exhibition

SALLY Wellfleet Press Release

SALLY Wellfleet Brochure

SALLY SUNY Adirondack took place at the SUNY Visual Arts Gallery from November 4, 2021 - January 28th, 2022. The artwork selected for the exhibition was rich with texts related to loss, the struggle for intimacy, and the quest to have one’s life matter. Three decks are central to the exhibition: one that details the growing SALLY archive of rediscovered women (BIO Cards Deck), a second that alludes to the continuing challenges women face in choosing and maintaining dominion over their own bodies and fates (The Battleground Deck), and a third that focuses on the life of Margaret Fuller—journalist, editor, critic, translator, and women’s rights advocate associated with the American Transcendentalist movement, who wrote the first American book on women’s rights in 1840.

SALLY Adirondack artists:
Lauren Frances Adams, Jee Hwang, Nancy Lunsford, Jennifer Mack-Watkins, Ann Shostrom, Marisa Williamson, Sasha Chavchavadze, JoAnne McFarland.

SALLY Adirondack Brochure:

From October 2020 – May 2021, SALLY was presented at East Stroudsburg University in Pennsylvania. The project includes a virtual exhibition at the university’s Madelon Powers Gallery, a public presentation, and collaborations with the university’s Inclusion and Diversity Program. Students and faculty were asked to contribute to the project by identifying local and national women whose lives have been erased or forgotten. A virtual SALLY exhibition offered work by 31 artists at different stages of their life and career, whose work approaches the theme from different stylistic viewpoints. The project included a public conversation with project curators JoAnne McFarland and Sasha Chavchavadze and members of the ESU community, and an interview on Pennsylvania Public Radio.

Exhibiting Artists:

Lauren Frances Adams, Deborah Castillo, Elizabeth Moran, Hon Chun Zhang, Tatiana Istomina, Joe Diggs, Julia Marden, Ransome, Robin Holder, Traci Harmon-Hay, Larry Weekes, Philemona Willianson, Maureen Conner, Meredith Bergmann, Christina Schlesinger, Phyllis Ewen, Fabiola Jean-Louis, Karen Revis, Kaya Grokhovsky, Kelly Knight, Nancy Lunsford, Jennifer Mack-Watkins, Anne-Marie McIntyre, Sana Musasama, Amanda Needham, JoAnne McFarland, Paula Lalala, Sarah Riley, Ann Shostrom, Marisa Williamson, Sasha Chavchavadze

Women whose lives served as inspiration (see biographies page for more details):

Sally Hemings, Hyppolyta, Camille Claudel, Nella Larsen, Dian Fossey, The Grimke Family, Mary Wollstonecraft, Bessie Coleman, Weetumuw, Mileva Maric, Sarah Margaret Fuller, Shanawdithit, Agnes Fisher, Mitsuye Endo.

East Stroudsburg University/ Madalon Powers Gallery Brochure

SALLY was presented at the Brickbottom Gallery in Somerville, MA from September 8 - October 15, 2022. In the main gallery sixteen artists from diverse backgrounds with various aesthetic concerns responded to this complex contemporary moment. In the smaller gallery, Sasha Chavchavadze, one of SALLY’s curators, presented a multimedia installation centered on the life and work of Margaret Fuller (1810 - 1850), journalist, editor and critic, who wrote the first American book on women’s rights. Presented for the first time near Fuller’s place of birth and early life, the installation reactivated Fuller’s radical voice which speaks volumes to the present.

About The Brickbottom Artists Association and The Brickbottom Gallery: The Brickbottom Artists Association is one of the oldest living and working artists communities in the United States. Founded in 1987 by residents of the Brickbottom Artists Building, the BAA today welcomes both resi- dent and non-resident artists and supporting members. The Brickbottom Gallery, established in 1989, presents exhibitions as Somerville’s premiere not-for-profit contemporary art gallery, showcasing both established and emerging artists.

Exhibiting Artists:
Desmond Beach, Sasha Chavchavadze, Phyllis Ewen, Kathryn Geismar, Jee Hwang, Elise Kaufman, Kelly Knight, Carole Kunstadt, JoAnne McFarland, Susie Nielsen, Debra Olin, James Patterson, Ellen Shattuck Pierce, Janice Redman, Sarah Riley, Susan Schmidt, Amani Willett.

Women whose lives serve as inspiration (see biographies page for more details):
Margaret Fuller, Hannah More, Camille Claudel, Rosa Parks, Catherine Fay Ewing, Glikl of Hamlen. (list incomplete)

For more information contact:The Brickbottom Gallery: gallery@brickbottom.org Sasha Chavchavadze: sashachav@gmail.com

SALLY Brickbottom Brochure

SALLY Brickbottom Press Release