At the tail end of Women’s History month, we celebrated textiles largely created and loved by women with a kickoff event for our Treasured Textiles gallery show. After church service on Sunday, March 24, East Shore members brought their special textiles to share with the rest of the congregation in Spring Hall. In case you missed the event, many of these items and related stories will be on display in the Sanctuary gallery during the month of April.
The Campus Aesthetics team (CAT) emerged as an outgrowth of the pre-Covid Gallery Committee. Since Rev. Maria Cristina arrived as our minister, we have hosted several exhibitions. In 2022, Eastside Fine Arts Association held a show in the foyer, “Mindfulness in Plein Air Painting”. East Shore member and painter, Barbara Van Dyke Shuman, had a solo show of her beautiful NW and SW landscapes. We also displayed the work of Afghan artist, Abdul Habibi, who sought asylum in this country. Although his visa to the US was denied, we are happy to report that he has rece tly been accepted by the German government’s Federal Humanitarian Admission program. He and his family will be moving there shortly, insha’allah.
Along with members of the Indigenous Connections team, we arranged for the mural created during the 2021 Lummi Totem Pole journey to hang in our sanctuary on a temporary (thankfully extended) basis.
In 2023, our “Invisible No More: Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women and People” show highlighted the issue by featuring faceless felt dolls created by the Women’s Perspective in a workshop here led by Carolyn DeFord, a Puyallup tribal member. This exhibition was subsequently displayed at Mercer Island, Kirkland and Issaquah libraries.
We subsequently showed the work of ceramicist and East Shore member, Warren Maruhashi. This was a fitting tribute to honor his devotion to art and whimsical spirit. Many of you undoubtedly treasure some of the pieces you came away with from that exhibition.
Just last month, on March 24, we held a kickoff event for this month’s GALLERY SHOW: textiles created, inherited, designed, or purchased by our congregation’s members. Textiles reveal elements of our lives and values that we are prepared to share with the world. We hope you will enjoy these textiles now or soon to be on display in the Sanctuary building throughout April.
We also hope you will be inspired to consider ways your team might show East Shore members and visitors the love you have and the work you do. All teams are invited to think about how you might want to display your work or the themes important to you: Sacred Stitches, climate action, indigenous connections, grounds, Women’s Perspective, men’s groups, our youth group, children, families—everyone is welcome to share your ideas and together we can work out future displays. Please share your ideas with us!
Contact any of us: Barbara Van Dyke Shuman ([email protected]); Marilyn Mayers ([email protected]); Kathie Moritis ([email protected]); or Doug Strombom ([email protected])