A Brush With Africa

By Kirsten Beitler

Showing now through January 13, 2023 at the Sears Art Museum in St. George, Utah, A Brush With Africa, featuring artists Ruth Hewlett Pope, Sage Gallagher, and Birgit Wudenka McMullin.

This visually rich and informative show curated by Kathy Cieslewicz, springs from three artists' different perspectives on their personal connections with Africa.

During the two years that Ruth lived in Africa she felt compelled to tell her experience with paint. The majority of her large, color saturated figurative works were painted on site.

Several years ago, Sage became involved in a neighborhood charity supporting women in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo and connected with those involved in the charity through her vivid and movement-filled portraits.

After a visit to Africa that changed her life, Birgit joined the Peace Corps and moved to Malawi to live in a small, rural village for 32 months. As the language was a challenge, Birgit began taking a sketchbook with her and soon found that art was a powerful way to break down barriers and open doors to trust and friendship. Her mixed media work, heavily driven by line and color, is a living journal of her time alongside the people of Malawi. Her work is also accompanied by a written narrative that explains the day to day workings of life in the village.

All three artists express that their time in Africa and working with the African people has changed how they see the world forever, and this is evidenced in their work, as the viewer sees the evolution of the artistic expressions of the love for the people and their cultures. (The exhibition continues through January 13, 2023.)