Saturday, April 26, 2025
An exclusive Women’s History Month art exhibit is on display in the Elmont Memorial Library‘s art gallery, which features the paintings of two female artists through the month of March.
The acrylic paintings of Janine Lisette McCray-Booker and oil paintings of Theresa Fowler line the walls of the library’s first floor gallery, honoring their artistic expressions as women and creators.
Lee Gorray, an adult reference librarian who curated the exhibit, said it was important for her to include both McCray-Booker and Fowler in the gallery because they each represented unique views on women’s history and arts.
McCray-Booker, 67, who currently resides in West Hempstead, said she often features bald women and flower motifs in her paintings, which is a representation of her daughter Shannan’s battle with ovarian cancer.
However, she said, the bright colors, shapes and flowers symbolize her vibrant character, even in the face of an incurable illness.
“She’s my inspiration,” she said of her daughter. “I want healing through art. I want people to know that it does heal, and it does help.”
McCray-Booker described the deep internal strife she suffered after her daughter died at the age of 45 in 2022 after battling the illness for three years.
But, she said, with her newfound artistic expression, she felt she could continue Shannan’s story. With her renewed connection to her daughter, McCray-Booker found her voice again.
“I just had to do something with all my grief,” she said. “Art was it.”
Her daughter’s bold, courageous spirit could not be broken, McCray-Booker said, and her daughter’s legacy is not in her illness but instead in her resilience. “My daughter lost all her hair,” she said. “She was absolutely beautiful.”
The extensive body of work, named “The Multifarious Collection,” is an amalgamation of the love, memories and laughter shared between McCray-Booker and her daughter, she explained.
And, she hoped, it would help bring awareness to ovarian cancer and the ways in which it impacts women. Many people don’t know that teal is the color for ovarian cancer awareness, she said, which is celebrated in September just before breast cancer awareness month.
“I want to make people aware by doing art,” she said. “Let’s talk about it. Let’s not hide it.”
As for Fowler’s side of the exhibit, the oil paintings illustrate a spiritual view of women’s presence in the world, depicting famous and religious female figures such as the Virgin Mary and Joan of Arc.
Her inspiration, she said, is rooted in psychic visions.
“Sometimes I will get little messages,” she said of her creative process. “My images kind of reflect on what I feel at the moment and what I’m going through in my life.”
Fowler, who resides in Far Rockaway, considers her art career to have begun at the age of five. She has always let her artistic spirit flow through her brushstrokes onto the canvas, often channeling the figures she draws, such as the angel Gabriel. Fowler allows them to communicate to her how they’d like to be depicted.
“I’m able to move the colors the way I want to move them,” she said of the oil paints she uses. “I’m in my own world, because once I have music in my ears, nobody can distract me.”
As she tells stories through her art, she continued, Fowler elevates the spirit of motherhood and allows it to guide many of her paintings.
As for her depiction of the Virgin Mary, she said, Fowler could feel the holy mother’s desire not to be portrayed in the light of admiration, but instead as a humble woman. Fowler considers the Virgin Mary to be the mother of all creation, and her humility is a result of her maternal nature.
Fowler said she is currently working on a painting of a mother and a child, which she wishes could have been completed for her art display at the library this month. The painting, she said, depicts how the purity of a mother inspires the purity of a child.
The connection between mothers and creation, she said, is a theme she feels strongly drawn to. “Without us, there’s really nothing in the world,” she laughed.
That is why, she continued, it is important for women to acknowledge each other and lift each other up in their roles as creators.
This is exactly what Gorray said Women’s History Month is about — being conscious of women’s accomplishments and envisioning a future that supports the next generation of women.
“We should look back on other women and how they’ve survived, and hope that we can do even better,” Gorray said.
