From the foreword to the catalog, The Souls, Volume 5, by Laura Madeleine, Director & Curator:
This exhibition chronicles the Fifth Annual Souls Shot: Portraits of Victims of Gun Violence. These exhibitions represent only a small fraction of those affected by the epidemic of gun violence in the Philadelphia area and, this year, participants from New Jersey and several other states. The portraits whose images appear in this catalog will be seen in person in two separate exhibitions: one traveling in Pennsylvania and one in New Jersey.* As the Souls Shot Portrait Project has expanded over the last pandemic challenged months, we have accepted participants from across our country. The New Jersey chapter has graciously included all who wish to be a part of this action to bring attention to the cost of this other epidemic, the epidemic of gun violence
To create these portraits the artists participating in this project were randomly paired with the families and friends of victims, or, in some cases, artists already had personal connections with the victims. The artists set out to illuminate the lives of these victims. The varied approaches and mediums used by the artists are a fitting testament to the unique qualities of each of the souls portrayed.
Families of the victims constantly face questions and comments about their loved ones, mostly about the circumstances of the gun violence. We seek to focus on the lives that were lived before that split-second, unacceptable decision was made by the shooter. These people did not deserve the consequences of that devastating choice. These people were - and are - more than numbers.
This exhibition and catalog represents the commitment of all who are involved in the Souls Shot Portrait Project. We will continue to bring to the public intimate glimpses into the lives cut short by gun violence; to raise awareness of the terrible cost to our communities; to touch hearts and minds; to move people to take action.
On behalf of all those who participated in creating this exhibition, we hope you will be moved by the images and that you will get to know the depth of these unique human beings; our fellow souls.
Laura Madeleine - Executive Director & Curator of the Souls Shot Portrait Project
For the full commentaries from the artists, families & friends of the victims of gun violence on all the artworks, please view our virtual exhibition on this page.
SCHEDULE OF HOST VENUES
For information on location, times & dates for our in-person exhibitions, please see our Events page by CLICKING HERE.
You can also view more details on our prospective calendar for this exhibition by clicking HERE
VIEW OUR VIRTUAL SOULS SHOT PORTRAIT PROJECT 5th annual exhibition
OR CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE FULL SCREEN
THE VIRTUAL EXHIBIT FEATURE FULL COMMENTARIES FROM THE ARTISTS, FAMILIES & FRIENDS OF THE VICTIMS OF GUN VIOLENCE ON THE ARTWORKS.
THE PORTRAITS
our 2021-2022 volume 5 exhibition catalog
These full color catalogs contain images of the portraits from the 2021-2022 exhibition along with commentary from the artists and the families and friends of the victims. They represent a small fraction of the souls lost every day to the epidemic of gun violence. We are grateful to be able to tell their stories and to move people to take action.
To view or purchase this beautiful catalog, please click the button below. Or you can view our full Shop Page here.
The Artists
Elisa Abeloff
Elisa Abeloff lives and works in Narberth, Pennsylvania. She pursued art from a young age and attended The Baltimore School for the Arts High School in Baltimore, Maryland. She went on to earn a Bachelor's Degree in Fine Arts at Washington University in St. Louis, graduating in 1991 with a major in Printmaking and a minor in Art History. During that time Elisa also studied at the Santa Reparata Printmaking studio in Florence, Italy, and later at the Vermont Studio Center. She has shown at multiple venues, including solo shows at Elliot Smith Contemporary Art in St. Louis, Fontbonne University and The Contemporary Art Workshop in Chicago. She taught as an adjunct professor of painting and drawing at Webster University in St. Louis.
Website: www.elisawork.com | IG - @elisaabeloff.art
Bea Barker
Mary Begnardi
Mary Begnardi is a mixed media artist and she draws, paints and makes things inspired by the people and places around her. She reverse draws and paints using permanent marker, acrylic, and spray paint on clear acrylic surfaces. Sometimes these pieces also incorporate collage elements. She explores themes of destruction, abandonment, survival, growth, belief, hope, and renewal. Her work has a narrative quality, but she welcomes the viewer's interpretation.
Maryanne Buschini
The urge to draw and paint images and ideas has been a constant throughout her life, Maryanne Buschini creates figurative paintings primarily in oil and gouache, also explores printmaking and collage. The artwork explores a sense of belonging, in terms of culture, history, emotion and image. Her expressive figurative oil paintings span a range of subject matter: personal history, historical and current views of immigration and labor and place in culture, images of women that express relationship to time, and the influence of fine art and photography on self image. The paintings invite viewers to explore the relationships between obvious and more hidden personal narrative within the artwork. She draws on many of her life experiences—as an artist, teacher, military spouse and mother, her life has been enriched by environments and opportunities to get to know many kinds of people throughout her life.
Her paintings have been collected across the United States, and featured and won awards in juried shows around the Philadelphia area, including Art of the State (Pennsylvania), Fellowship of Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia/TriState Artists Equity, University of the Arts. In 2019, Maryanne won first place in spring juried Artists Equity Show, and exhibited a solo show. She earned a BFA from Kansas State University, and a masters degree from University of the Arts, continuing graduate art studies at Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Barnes Foundation, Penland School of Craft, as well as workshops around the United States. Over her career, she has had the opportunity to teach art in many different settings: higher education, K-12, community centers and private lessons.
Maryanne maintains a studio in Malvern PA. In addition to artmaking, she enjoys spending time with her family, gardening, cooking, practicing yoga, hiking in surrounding parks, as well as exploring local art in museums. She lives with her husband John, and has 2 adult sons. She is originally from Valhalla, New York.
Website: www.maryannebuschini.com
Elena Cipolla
Elena Cipolla is a self-taught artist who has been creating portraits for almost thirty years. She has been an art educator since 1993, when she created her Art Workshop program for students ages 10 through high school. Originally a pastel artist, her Young at Art class developed for adults, as well as her Art Workshop program kept her delving into new media. Primarily a portrait artist, I was honored to be a part of this project and challenged to portray Ryan as completely as possible. It is my hope that viewers can glimpse the young man that was Ryan and learn a little about him; also to create a work that his family will treasure.
Website: https://elenacipolla.com/
Susan Dukow
Nearly fifty-years swept by when Susan Dukow's original passion to create art found its way back into her life again in 2018. In the 1960’s at the Philadelphia High School for Girls she had the opportunity to study and create art as part of the school’s four-year curriculum. After a brief time at the Philadelphia College of Art, Susan left Philly—first to Northern California where her art fell to the wayside and where she gave in to the impulsive nature of her youth and the crazy times of the early 1970’s. In 1974 she made her way to Los Angeles and fell into the world of film production, where she worked on box office successes and award-winning movies. Upon retiring from thirty-six years in the motion picture industry based out of Los Angeles, Susan did what she always dreamed she would do—return to what she always loved the most—create art.
www.susandukowart.com | IG @susandukow
Laura Frazure
Laura Frazure is an assistant professor and Coordinator of Sculpture at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. Laura’s primary interest as an artist and teacher is anatomy. She has developed an anatomy system that she has taught to students in New York and Philadelphia and to educators internationally in China at the Central Academy of Fine Art, the Tianjin Academy of Fine Art and was most recently invited to the Xi’an Academy of Art. Laura graduated from the Philadelphia College of Art now the University of the Arts in 1986 where she studied sculpture. She received her MFA in Sculpture from the University of Pennsylvania. Believing in classical ideas about form sense and its communicative potential, Laura models figures that are theatrical and contemporary. In her works over the past decade, she has emphasized “direct modeling”, highlighting form and form development with no subsequent mediatory processes.
Terry Freemark
My watercolors are inspired by ordinary and everyday moments. In life’s subtleties I see a landscape of gesture and emotion. And a painting. I strive to capture a fresh glimpse into a scene or a person’s character, and allow a story or feeling to emerge. Art is language, and it is most satisfying to me when someone tells me my painting has spoken to them.
www.terryfreemarkwatercolors.com | IG @terryfreemark
Linnie Greenberg
Late in life, Linnie stumbled upon mixed media at a local art workshop. She found her passion. Mainly self-taught, she considers herself a “naïve” or “outsider” artist. In 2017 she received a grant from the Philadelphia Cultural Alliance to give 20 free art workshops to community groups, library patrons, children and the elderly. She finds it particularly rewarding to work with participants who are in some way disabled and continues giving free collage classes. Recently, she was honored to teach autistic children how to make stickers at the Please Touch Museum.
www.linniegreenberg.net | IG @linnie.greenberg
Corinne Dreyfuss Hackman
Corinne Dreyfuss Hackman works with mixed media, including charcoal, acrylic and collage. Her landscapes and portraiture express joy in nature and a reverence for beauty in the simplicity of everyday pleasures.
Ann Price Hartzell
I began my career with a degree in fine and applied arts - which focused mostly on vocal music. Later I returned to school for a degree in Fashion Design. My designs won many awards including the opportunity to show my collection at 7th on Sixth the New York Fashion Week Runway Shows. Operating my own apparel business, "designAnn", for 25+ years, I create Art to Wear, one-of-a-kind women’s accessories and wraps. As a freelancer, I designed women’s shoes, Christmas and holiday decor, custom wedding gowns, and outerwear. In 2017, I became involved with Souls Shot Portraits Portrait Project having never done a portrait outside of art school. The experience of getting to know these families has changed my life. Lately, I spend my free time sharing art projects with children at the CHARLES Foundation. It was founded by Movita Johnson Harrell whom I met doing a portrait of her cousin. Then in 2018 I did her youngest son Charles’ portrait. I am now considered part of the family. The anguishing stories of the promising young men to gun violence became personal and heartbreaking when she lost her second son Donté to gun violence in March. I have no words. Please, no thoughts and prayers.
Website: www.designann.etsy.com | IG @designann
Warren Keyser
Warren Keyser studied with Joseph Pavone at Radcliffe Art Gallery in Bristol, Pennsylvania and Bucks County Community College. He is a 1992 graduate of Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and 1995 BFA graduate of the University of Pennsylvania. In 2014, he started a small business, WK Fine Arts, which specialized in portrait painting and private drawing and painting lessons in Bucks County and Lambertville, New Jersey. Warren has exhibited his work consistently for over 10 years at Sidetracks Gallery, Wayne Art Center, PAFA FAME Gallery, and the Burrison Gallery at the University of Pennsylvania His work can be found in private collections on the East Coast. Warren has participated in the Souls Shot Portrait Project since 2018.
Facebook @CloudImpressions and @PortraitsByWarrenKeyser | IG @warrenkeyser
Guy Kiernan
I've been an artist and creating for as long as I can remember. I love creating and making things; it's a passion that drives me, and brings out something inside of me that takes me to a place of peace and tranquility. I can get lost in myself and lose all track of time whether I'm drawing, painting, building, or imagining what to create. I've been working professionally as a graphic artist, illustrator, and multimedia developer for over twenty years. I love spending my free time with more traditional mediums like pen & ink, pencil, and paint. Art to me has always been a form of meditation: it brings out an inner peace in me that I cannot stop exploring, wondering, and playing with. I'm fascinated with drawing and painting people, and imagining who they are, what they are, and how they are in this world. I hope my artwork makes people wonder as well.
Website: www.guykiernan.com | IG - @guykiernan
Stephen Megargee
Portraits are at the center of Stephen Megargee’s artistic life. He has worked in a variety of media—traditional and digital—and in a variety of subjects, groups and projects. Among other things in his fine art and design work, Steve has painted the portrait of the President of Springside Chestnut Hill Academy and designed graphics for Swatch Watch, Michael Jackson, Bob Dylan, Pink Floyd, and hundreds of pop music stars. And more.
Website: www.Stephenmegargeeart.squarespace.com | IG - @stephenmegargee
Nancy Bea Miller
Nancy Bea Miller is an artist, teacher and writer living in Philadelphia. She has degrees from Penn and PAFA and also studied at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. Ms. Miller writes freelance for Fine Art Connoisseur Magazine and other publications, and is the author of a popular Art History blog: Women in the Act of Painting. She has been adjunct faculty at local colleges and teaches adults at the Main Line Art Center in Haverford, PA. She has led workshops at various venues, including the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Ms. Miller is currently represented by Watson Gallery in Stonington, Maine, F.A.N. Gallery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Gallery 222 in Malvern, PA.
The richness of the world is almost overwhelming, crowding in at us from all sides and using every sense organ to make itself known. In my art I process this sensory overload by simplifying and focusing. I gather up and present the stories people and objects tell as they relate to each other visually in space and time. I believe all the passions and problems of the living world can be read in the gestures of family members, in the tender or aggressive play of young children, in the glance of a dog at her owner’s hand, in a passing cloud reflecting in a pond, and even in the way humble still-life objects cast shadows on a tablecloth.
Website: www.nancybeamiller.com | IG - @nancybeamiller_artwork
Nathalie Miller
Nathalie Miller is an artist, living in Mt. Airy, Philadelphia. Utilizing any media necessary, she works to make art that focuses on current affairs and individuals' relationship to the world.
Laura Orfanelli
Laura Orfanelli is a self-taught artist based out of Chester County. She works with acrylics and enjoys using bright, powerful color.
Martha Rich
Martha Rich is a commercial and fine artist based in Philadelphia. She teaches at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. Rich graduated with honors from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena and got her MFA in Painting from the University of Pennsylvania. Her commercial clients include Blue Q, Fringe Studio, Mincing Mockingbird, Chronicle Books, Green Thumb Industries, Penn Gazette, Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, Penguin UK,
McSweeney’s, Portland Mercury, Village Voice, Bon Appetit, San Francisco Chronicle, Henry Holt Publishers, and Country Music TV, to name just a few. Her work is featured in the Beck video “Girl” and a book about her sketchbooks, Sketchbook Expressionism, was published by Murphy Design. In 2019, Chronicle Books published her book, The Furious Notebook, Release Your Rage, Use Your Anger for Good and Chill the Heck Out. She has also completed murals and installations throughout Philadelphia and in California. Rich’s artwork has been shown in galleries throughout the U.S. and internationally.
Website: www.martharich.com
Karen Ruggles
Karen Ruggles is an associate professor of computer science, specializing in digital art and 3D animation at DeSales University. She has been involved with Souls Shot Portrait Project since the first iteration in 2017—David Paul Williams II is her 5th portrait with the project. Karen uses Photoshop and digital paint brushes to create the portrait then sends the file to be printed on canvas for display.
Celeste Schor
I've been an artist all my life. Started drawing on the walls with a dime. Didn't get in trouble either. Though my kindergarten teacher yelled at me for coloring the wrong block. Anyway, I went to Tyler School of Art where I met a couple professors who are my heroes even now. I've done some shows —three solo and several group shows (Woodmere Art Museum juried show and National Arts Program juried shows). These days, I paint commissioned portraits and do some work for causes and people I care about.
Website | IG - @celesteschor
Gary Sieling
Gary Sieling is a software engineer and printmaker in the Philadelphia suburbs with a commitment to social justice. I am interested in portraying the dignity of all people, and working with people who aim to repair racial inequities in Southeastern PA.
Website: www.garysieling.com/blog/pandemic-prints | IG @garysieling
B. Douglas Smith
Painter Bry is a modern artist and Army veteran living and working in South Philadelphia. For the past 18 years he has exhibited abstract expressionist, pop, and urban art influenced paintings in his home city, NYC, NJ, and parts of Germany and Italy. He loves sharing and interpreting art, having put hundreds of paintings and sculptures into private collections. Highlights include three sculptures accepted into the Philadelphia Sculptors Juried Exhibition: Pinned, an abstract video projected at the MOMA for Abstract Currents, and most recently touring his paintings in the annual "Souls Shot: Portraits Of Victims Of Gun Violence" throughout the Philadelphia area.
Aside from creating art, He has also curated over 100 group art shows and helped develop the Washington Boro Artwalk in northern NJ. His passion for art is born from a love of color and a need to connect with our human family deeper than on the surface of life. Art is love in action and his work is intended to foster conversation, inspire unity, spark personal reflection, and invite criticism of techniques and beliefs . His process is very meditative, usually focused on the moment and enjoying the act of painting. This allows him to be free to explore a fleeting creative space and experiment with multiple techniques in mixed media.
He enjoys creating custom work for homes and businesses as well as designing for bands. Please feel free to reach out to him to discuss commissions, to visit his studio, or purchase a Painter Bry original.
Website: www.Bryansmithphilly.wixsite.com/painterbry | Facebook.com/painterbry | IG - therealbigbadbry
Stephanie Smith
Stephanie Smith grew up in the outskirts of Philadelphia now residing in Maryland, with most of her recent work in portraiture.
Website: www.stephaniesmith1.crevado.com
Caroline Stoughton
Caroline Stoughton is a Philadelphia-based painter. The subjects of her paintings are drawn from childhood experiences that continue to bring her happiness today, as well as her global travels and studies. The colors that Stoughton utilizes in her paintings are inspired by the flowers she would pick with her grandmother which is something she forever holds dear in her heart. Stoughton translates the colors of those flowers into the colors of all of her subjects, in a way that makes sense to her, as a constant reminder of the vibrancy of life. Stoughton is a graduate of Tyler School of Art and Architecture as well as the most recent recipient of the Richard Cramer Color Award. Her work is exhibited in private collections throughout North America and Europe.
Website: www.carolinestoughton.com.
Juliette Watts
Juliette Watts is a painter and illustrator living outside of Philadelphia. Her career includes a number of years as medical illustrator for the VA Medical Center as well as scientific illustrator for the US Forest Service. She has illustrated three children’s books. Currently she is focusing on watercolor landscapes as well as drawing and painting the figure. She monitors and participates in life drawing workshops at the Plastic Club, one of the oldest art clubs in Philadelphia.
Website: juliettewatts.com | IG @juliettewattsillustration
Keisha Whatley
Raised in West Philadelphia, Keisha Whatley graduated from the High School for the Creative and Performing Arts. She excelled at the drawing and painting discipline and went on to study in top schools in New York and Philadelphia. She established Custom Arts Studio, a full-service fine art & design company, in 2014. Her work aims to create something aesthetically beautiful while challenging viewers to question beliefs, inherent biases and the need for compassion in everyday life. Her work can be seen locally at The Black Writers Museum and The Colored Girls Museum, in northwest Philadelphia. Her work has also been exhibited at The Please Touch Museum, The Barnes Foundation and spotlighted on QVC & The Home Shopping Network.
Website: https://www.customartsstudio.com/
Stacey Kent Wyckoff
A graduate of the Philadelphia College of Art, now University of the Arts, Stacy has been a design professional in the Philadelphia area for forty years. From 1991 to the present Stacy has held the role of Principal of Kent Design, a small consultancy specializing in Environmental Graphic Design serving institutional clients throughout the mid-Atlantic region. In 2018 she took her first foray into painting through classes at the Woodmere Art Museum. With oils as medium, she gravitates towards portraiture and abstract landscapes. This project marries her love of painting with her concern for community and social justice.
Website: www.kentdesign-gc.com/
Valerie Yoder
Valerie Yoder is a graphic designer from South Philly’s East Passyunk neighborhood. She moved to Philadelphia from Pennsylvania Dutch Country in the mid 80s to pursue an art career. She studied graphic design and illustration at the Art Institute of Philadelphia, and subsequently attended fine art classes at Fleisher Art Memorial in Bella Vista. The pandemic had a significant effect on her graphic design business ValYoderDesign.com, so Val used her newly-found spare time to hone her fine art and illustration skills in portraiture and figurative work. She also focused her energies on learning some new technologies and techniques in the art world, including digital fine art. She enjoys the flexibility and broad applications that the programs provide, while still using her foundations of anatomy and color to create her work. Val is a member of Philadelphia’s historic Plastic Club and Fleisher Art Memorial. She currently has a piece in a show at the Cherry Street Pier on the Delaware River waterfront as a part of a Fleisher special exhibition. She can’t wait to get back to traveling with her partner, as well as cheering on the Nittany Lions and the Phillies with her two sons.