The Cora McCorvey Health and Wellness Center (CMHWC) kicked off its largest art exhibition, “Roots and Roofs: A Visual Exploration of Home” this past weekend. This exhibit features more than 100 original artworks by 30 artists over the age of 50, including three MPHA residents. With the CMHWC serving older adults, the artists featured reflect the individuals using the center’s services.
From textiles to photography, abstract to figurative, the variety of mediums and styles on display shows a range of emotions, stories, and inspiration. This current exhibition is centered around the idea of home, in one way or another.
Here are some of the featured artists on display at the CMHWC now through early June:
C. Wilson is an oil and acrylic painter with several different paintings of “home” on display. A rural farm scene, an Italian coastline, a war-torn street, and a 2020 world are depicted in her pieces.
“Anything that moves me in the moment is what I paint,” said C. Wilson. “I usually take a picture and work based on that image.”
Artist Cheryl Duke is a previous MPHA resident who is currently focusing on digital art. Her four pieces depict black men being strong fathers, pushing back on the stereotypes that negatively portray black father figures. Three of the four images are of her son and his kids. For Cheryl, art has been a healing tool for her amidst a cancer battle and the grief of losing her father.
“I see fathers as the root of the family,” said Cheryl Duke. “These are images of men being fathers.”
Carol Hancuh’s quilted pieces on display are part of a project of making quilted textile art based on poems, called Poetic Images Materialized. There are two quilts on display at the center, the other 12 in the collection are in a travelling exhibition on the East Coast.
“These pieces are a part of a 14-piece collection called Poetic Images Materialized,” said Carol Hancuh. “They are inspired by poetry.”
Photographer and writer George Slade’s photography on display depicts various shots of his parents’ home. One shot is a close-up of his late father’s tattoo, another of a window shadow cast on a bed, another of a handwritten note and two of his parents.
“The series is called Home, Where the Heart Is,” said George Slade. “A lot of these photos were taken during quarantine.”
David Riewe started taking photos about seven years ago, capturing waterfalls and landscapes and sharing them on social media. As he was reaffirmed of his art online, he slowly upgraded his digital camera equipment and know covers a whole host of different subject. His photos on display in the exhibition depict Minnesota cabin life.
“I choose these photos for this exhibition because they say ‘you can be comfortable and safe here. You can stay as long as you want’ and that’s what I associate with the idea of home,” said David Riewe.
Diane Marie has been making art her whole life. According to her father’s stories, she tried to teach herself to draw at only one year old. Diane’s paintings on display reflect scenes from her partner’s family farm in Iowa. While at the farmhouse, she was struck by all the artifacts and scenes of hard work that made up the family’s life, generation after generation.
“I didn’t grow up on a farm, but they always fascinated me. My mom grew up on a farm and I heard stories of life on the farm,” said Diane Marie.
View the “Roots and Roofs: A Visual Exploration of Home” art exhibit now through early June Monday-Friday, 8am-4:30pm at Cora McCorvey Health and Wellness Center (1015 N 4th Ave, Minneapolis, MN 55405).
