This exhibit focuses on a ten-year period, between 1985 and 1995, of Maria Cusumano’s artmaking when the human form became a central subject of her art. The large pastels on view were allegories expressing the artist’s philosophies, politics, and psyche; in these works, Maria used herself as the primary figure model for her pastels, paintings, and drawings. The Goddess Graphics prints were created as expressions synthesizing her interests in spirituality and feminism.
Maria passed during 2019, yet her artwork, particularly her figurative works, contains the passion, politics, sensualism, theologies, and innocent purity she pursued and lived for decades. Over the decades of her teaching career, thousands of students were encouraged to pursue their creative aspirations while exploring their personal and collective unconscious.
