Medium: framed and matted Giclée print

Artist Statement: Trauma bonds often take the form of chasing painful outcomes in friends and partners. It's human nature to be drawn to the kind of love we received by our parents as children. Unfortunately, it takes a conscious effort on the part of the individual to break these generational cycles of destructive love.

Piece Details:

Medium: framed and matted watercolor

Artist Statement: Lila Bartel has been painting and drawing for 25 years. Her favorite subjects are children and men, and she tries catching tender moments with both. She calls her work "Living Expressions" and illustrated a book by Duane Johnson with that title.

Piece Details:

Medium: acrylic on wood

Artist Statement: You can keep moving forward no matter what. I can.

Piece Details:

Medium: framed and matted acrylic

Artist Statement: Fauvism, which means color and form. I chose fauvism as a form of empowerment.

Piece Details:

Medium: mixed media on wood

Artist Statement: I set out to paint an angel for all survivors.

I thought about women who were taken too soon due to violence and racism. I thought of women who are let down or forgotten by institutions or individuals that are supposed to protect them.

I thought about murders of trans women almost doubling in the last 4 years. I thought about violence against women increasing to record levels during COVID lockdowns.

In this piece, I painted a woman to represent the energy that brings about healing; a non denominational, all inclusive angel. I thought of her as the first woman to watch over and empower other women.

I imagined, maybe, the angel was Mitochondrial Eve, an East African woman who walked the Earth an estimated 200,000 years ago. It is believed that all of humanity traces back to her. Perhaps the original mother is also the original angel.

I painted wings on her head like a seraph or a Valkyrie. She is the universal power of transcendence and a badass warrior.
She represents organizations like the YWCA Center for Safety & Empowerment. She represents the love and support given by donors, workers, volunteers.

She is hope. And tonight, at Concealed Revealed, she is all around you! Honor her with your bids!!!

Piece Details:

Medium: oil on framed canvas

Artist Statement: This piece was painted in the studio from referemce photos I took in Venice, Italy in October 2007. The light was incredible! This painting was accepted into the prestigious Salon International 2008 Juried Exhibition in San Antonio, Texas.

Piece Details:

Medium: fiber

Artist Statement: I am a multidisciplinary artist who seeks to make connection to others, self, mind and body through creation. My work is inspired by being a cisgendered, Black woman in America, as well as the beauty that can be found when we hold ourselves and other in absolute positive regard. It is my hope to inspire others to have introspective opportunities and embody their power and love through artistic creation.

Piece Details:

Medium: acrylic on 30" x 40" canvas

Artist Statement: This piece was created by 7 survivors who came together with their advocates and created this piece over the span of four half day service days at the YWCA Center for Safety and Empowerment's Drop-In Human Trafficking Day Center. The style is for each person to have their hands-on the canvas. The stroke, tap of finger, and overall movement of the body tells a story. The quicker the motion could mean frustration and anger. The slow, more defined lines could be calm and at peace finally. The thought was for this to be an abstract piece that lets the motions and movement speak through the layers of the paint and mixing of the colors.

This piece is important to the artists for a multitude of reasons. Many of those reasons had to do with a feeling of belonging; of being a part of "their" Day Center. They expressed this as a very relaxing project and a way to get their emotions out. They beamed at the thought of contributing something to a place that provides life-saving, life-affirming, care and attention. The following are some comments we collected from the survivors who created this piece:
"This is a great way to express my emotions"
"I loved doing this"
" We should do this more often. I needed this today"
"I LIKE the way it feels when I paint on this canvas! I feel like...like smooth, like the paint!"
"I love that we can make something together that will make some money for this place! I don't know what I would do if I couldn't come here!"

Medium: glass

Artist Statement: This piece was originally created for a psychiatry professor at the University of Kansas 25 years ago to represent life.

Piece Details: 63.50" x 25.50"

Medium: framed spray paint stencil on paper

Artist Statement: The Ad Astra sculpture atop the Capitol sends a plea for help during the Brownback administration.

Piece Details:

Medium: seed beads and sterling silver clasp

Artist Statement: Our hearts and minds need a fresh start sometimes.

Piece Details:

Medium: framed digital illustration

Artist Statement: Becoming a parent has forced me to let go, to hang on, to think and rethink. To move and be still, to forge and to wade, to believe and to distrust, to perseverate, to constantly question, to trust my gut and be gentle, to feel time slipping, to hit a stride and then have the cart upset again, over and over.

All those moments, all that energy, and then we all disappear, and what is left? What do we leave behind? I want my energy to be boundless. I want a perpetual reminder to grow the good, to honor the humanness of the experience, to live amidst the failures, sadness, emptiness, uncertainty and stress, but to not get caught up in it and rather spread the wonder, wholeness, joy, peace and pure delights. To relax into it, remain curious and enjoy. To cultivate inwardly so that I can be better, do better. To connect to the part of me that is hopeful and serene, and accept that I will not always be able to, and that is more realistic.

Becoming a mother has essentially meant growing an extension of my being, forever connected to that extension of me, who is their own person, even though they have that very same squinty smile that has been passed down generations.

Where do I end? Where do I begin?

Piece Details:

Medium: acrylic on framed canvas

Artist Statement: Becky Drager is a local Topeka artist that paints with acrylics to capture colorful Kansas scenes.

Piece Details:

Medium: mixed media - colored pencil

Artist Statement: Brown vs. Board of Education was one of the most important Supreme Court decisions of the 20th century, and we can never forget the courage of those that made it possible.

Piece Details:

Medium:

Artist Statement: Gen Goering is a Kansas City based artist. After years spent as the head scenic artist at the Lyric Opera of Kansas City painting large backdrops, she has returned to her home studio to focus on her own work creating a sense of space but on a more intimate scale.

Goering's landscapes are greatly influenced by her time creating for the stage, inviting the viewer into a space where the story is told only by composition and color.

Piece Details:

Mahapajapati Gotami (Mother of All)

Medium: framed linoleum block print, speedball ink, stencil, and spray paint

Artist Statement: Paul Punzo is originally from Topeka and now lives in Lawrence, Kansas. He works with linoleum blocks, India inks, spray paint and stencils to produce authentic reproduced block prints. For this year's YWCA benefit, he has created a piece about Buddist nun, Mahapajapati. She was a woman that raised the Buddha, Siddhartha Guatama. She was his maternal aunt and ended up also becoming the first ever female Buddhist monk (now called nun), and is a feminist icon in much of Asia. She reminds the artist of his own mother that raised five kids on her own with unconditional faith and love in all people.

Piece Details: