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March 14 - April 4, 2005
In the Smith Boardroom:
 Constance
Pierce:
Lamentations of
War
and Other Works
on Paper
Artist's Statement
 I
am compelled by sacred narrative expressed in a contemporary idiom. I often
work with images of pilgrimage, lamentation, absolution and transcendence. Such
archetypal images flesh out parable and reveal to me ancient stories once again
reborn in our world of dissonance and division
 I
hope to express the betrayed, the imprisoned and the afflicted; yet also the
presence of divinity in ministering spirits alive upon the earth. The sacred
stories, in their mythic and consuming drama, are ever played out in our private
inward journey. The Psalms are recreated within each of us as we call out to
divinity in despair or from the sweet joy of redemptive moments. Both darkness
and light bear witness to the divine dance and to the drama of sacred intention.
 I
have a passion for gesture. I often immerse myself in creating sketchbooks and
albums of studies. I love the intimacy of these books. I like opening and
holding them. Jesus, the compassionate Savior, and Guanyin, the merciful
Bodhisattva of Buddha, have taught us to attend to the soul of the world.
Perhaps, in a small way, my sketches and prints may become an “Opus Cordis,” a
work of the heart.
The various series in the exhibition
chronicle images that I especially wish to bear witness to in my life. I hope
to embrace and express these images in their darkness and light. To me, this
work of my hands is also the petition of my soul.
Constance Pierce
for more work by Constance Pierce, please
visit her website
http://www.constancepierce.com
Curator's Statement
 Constance
Pierce is a printmaker who originally came to Wesley Theological Seminary as an
Artist-in-Residence, and served for a time as Curator of the Dadian Gallery. Now
Assistant Professor in the Visual and Performing Arts at St. Bonaventure
University in southwestern New York State, Pierce has continued to produce and
exhibit the striking monoprints, artist’s books, and works in other media that
were so visible in the studio during her time with us. After following her
journey from afar for over ten years, we are delighted to exhibit her
Lamentations of War and Other Works on Paper as an extended meditation on
questions of faith.
 Constance
Pierce has an undergraduate degree from The Cleveland Institute of Art, in Ohio,
and received her MFA from the Hoffberger School of Painting of the Maryland
Institute, College of Art in Baltimore, Maryland, where she received a
Hoffberger Fellowship. Her monoprints, sketchbooks, and journals have been
exhibited widely, and her work is included in the permanent collections of The
National Museum of Women in the Arts, the Archives of American Art of the
Smithsonian Institution, the National Gallery of Art Rare Book and Sketchbook
Collection, and the Georgetown University Special Collections, all in
Washington, DC; as well as the Yale Center for British Art Sketchbook Archives
in New Haven, Connecticut; the International Marian Research Institute in
Dayton, Ohio; and other places.
Deborah Sokolove
Curator, Dadian Gallery
send comments or questions about the gallery to
the curator at:
dsokolove@wesleysem.edu
the copyright of individual works of art belongs to the
relevant artist
please do not copy or distribute
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