"Young Woman in a White Shirt" by Roxanne Dyer, BFA 88
Founded in 1894, the WASM was originally known as the Women’s Art Association of Canada. Their goal was to integrate women into the art world during a time when women artists weren’t taken seriously and had difficulty publicizing their work.
“It’s a place where women could go and they could exhibit their work,” says WASM President Cathy Keays, BFA 15. “The society wanted to inspire, enrich and encourage women to get into the arts, by demonstrating their work and their passion for art — not just visual arts, also filmmaking, dance and music.”
Keays joined the WASM after completing her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in art education at Concordia. Though judges choose the artists for this annual exhibit, Keays says this is the first time the organization used live judging. The artists used to send photos of their work to be judged by a panel.
“This year is the very first year that we have the artworks being judged live,” Keays says. “That means that the artists brought their artworks to be judged in-person.”
In total, there are 37 artists in the exhibition, 14 of them Concordia alumni, including: Roxanne Dyer, BFA 88; Josette Wecsu, BA 03; Cathy Keays, BFA 2015; Annette Wolfstein-Joseph, BFA 71; Elaine Bacal, BSc 72; Heather Dubreuil BFA 74; Jackie Rae Wloski, BA 71; Diane Cannuli, BSc 79; Jeanette Sharma, BA 74, BSc 64; Patricia Belmar, BFA 14; Judy Lazarus BA 70; Veneranda Kriepans-McGrath, MA 81; and Celestine Segers, Cert 94, BA 72; Cheryl Braganza and Lisa Kimberly Glickman.