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As part of an ongoing program of showcasing area artists, ArtSouth and the Village of Palmetto Bay will host an exhibition of paintings by Mary Ellen Scherl on Saturday, Mar. 18.
The title of the exhibition is “Defending Democracy – Portraits of U.S. Military Women.”
Taking place at Perrine Community House from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., the exhibition will feature nine paintings by Scherl as part of a series “honoring the sacrifices and contributions of women who volunteer to serve and to defend our democratic values.”
Her medium for the series is oil paint. Her paintings have stories attached to them, about the women’s lives, their motivations for joining the military and the challenges they faced.
“I’m doing a series of paintings of women in the armed forces, all services, all ranks, all kinds of jobs and interesting histories,” Scherl said. “One woman for example was an admiral. She’s retired now. Another woman went in with special operations forces into Afghanistan, and another one was a woman who came to the United States looking for a future, joined the National Guard and she was from Panama. Now she’s an intelligence officer. I have a World War II nurse and a stunningly beautiful black woman who is getting her PhD in physical therapy from the Army, so that talks to the legacy of women serving in a medical capacity.”
In addition to the paintings, when she went to meet with the women she had a videographer with her and in the process of learning their stories and their first-hand narrative of history she began compiling material to create a documentary on the subject.
Not a member of the military herself, she began the project during the isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I was seeing my country fall apart and I wanted to refocus my fellow Americans to remind them that our democracy and freedom and the rule of law and the constitution are so overriding in importance,” Scherl said.
“I’m trying to sort of recenter the conversation to soften the antipathy between opposing points of view and remind people that there’s nothing more valuable than this free land and democratic republic. These women are willing to risk their lives to protect it.”
Though all are similar in theme, each painting required it’s own special approach.
“The woman who went with special operations forces into Afghanistan, she was fourth generation Army, third generation Airborne and her father and her grandfather are in the background of the painting. Each painting kind of demands its own treatment and as an artist you can work with a limited number of elements for an infinite amount of solutions.”
She said that the project can be used to give women a voice and give both women and the military command a way to change things for the better.
Scherl, a native Miamian and resident of Coral Gables, has a studio at the Bakehouse Art Complex in Wynwood. For information about the project visit https://usmilitarywomen.org/.
Perrine Community House is located at 900 Perrine Ave. in Palmetto Bay.
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