Revealing our frailty may be our greatest strength
- Jennifer Gillia Cutshall
- 9 hours ago
- 8 min read
FIERCE & FRAIL III artists share their inspiration and a little bit about the hutzpah, moxie, and vulnerability required in the path and heart of an artist...
BOB CONGE
"My work is often inspired by my concern for what I see as deplorable human behavior such as my anger over the unfair practices of Banks or as in this case the outright lies offered by governments to support their positions as being the "GOOD GUYS” defending our superior way of life in any given war. War in truth is never justifiable.
I am not interested in creating pleasing pictures, I want to make visual statements that punch the viewer in the face and wake them up to see this compassionless existence we are living. My work is my only voice in this wilderness of noise.”
Bob Conge
DENISE MONAGHAN
Harbinger
"I read somewhere that thousands of crows were recently flocking together and leaving Tel Aviv. People there said it was a harbinger, a bad omen. Crows have always been associated with death because of their enjoyment of carrion. Their black feathers cloak them in mystery. Crows have a legendary connection to witches and seers. The crows in Tel Aviv were sensing something that many Israelis weren't until the moment the birds decided to leave. Many said it was a bad omen, a "harbinger of doom".
Looking at all the footage of the rubble in Palestine was unlike anything I have witnessed before. Gaza is roughly the size of Philadelphia and was bombed with the intensity of 6 Hiroshima's. Hundreds of thousands of civilians were killed, The environmental destruction the land sustained will take generations to heal.
As an artist, I feel grief and sorrow for what I have seen on my screen. I am an eyewitness to a terrible crime. I don't want to carry that all by myself. I want to let it percolate and send it back into the world. So here it is, the harbinger He carries a message, can you hear it? Can you be present to the thorny future he carries?"
Denise Monaghan
JOHN DIEPHOUSE
"Walking in nature is a daily meditative experience for me.It is a process of being in that exact moment, focusing on not just viewing the worlds around me, but a focus on the delicate world of details normally unseen Truly seeing the easily overlooked details of small blossoms, twigs, insects that go about their existence with no concern for the issues that cause humans distress, grounds me in a way that nothing else can."
John Diephouse
IVETA BUTLER
"My piece Drifting Away is part of the series Floral Echoes where I’m shifting my focus between moments of Bliss and moments of Inner Monologue. My intention wasn’t to portray these two as opposites, or good versus bad, but more like something in between. The ever-lasting balance between vulnerability and protection, hope and fear, between longing for freedom and the need for stability. Moments of pure joy suddenly accompanied by quiet melancholy.
While I was standing in my garden one misty morning and looking at the camellias, I was thinking about these nuances of our beings. That sparked the idea for this series. What side does our scale lean towards? I know mine is never permanent, always shifting, looking for new ways to exist."
Iveta Butler
DREW BURLEIGH
"I love exploring macabre themes in my art. There is such beauty in what remains after death, including the intricate contours of bones, as well as the renewal and sustenance born from decay. I let that beauty guide me through a variety of artistic avenues. Soft, grotesque, realistic, fantastical - all of these tones inspire me to venture further."
Drew Burleigh
MARK FLAKE
"I was drawn to the theme of this show. I often deal with both narrative and illustrative subject matter- the beings, beasts, and seeds found in myths, songs, and folklore, subjects grounded in our collective memories. I try to move those things around in time, casting modern popular culture into the stylistic milieu of the distant past, and recasting myths of the past as advertising imagery and graphic design- the mythology of modernity. I feel like the theme of this show is an opportunity to explore those ideas."
Mark Flake
KEVIN JACOBS
"My series of drawings is deliberately stark and deadpan; it offers a deeper reflection on the addiction and loneliness of modern-day life.
The simple, identifiable rectangle shape of a mobile phone is unmistakable; my drawing technique is direct and uncomplicated, giving the overall feeling of doom and isolation.
The imagery is the shape of a single sperm scrolling at the bottom, which represents life and death. Technology has overthrown our humanity. Constant interruptions have hollowed us out for good."
Kevin Jacobs
ELLEN ZIMMERMAN
"I am drawn to the unexplainable. To mystery. To presences unseen - or perhaps barely seen and simply felt. Like a frisson. A shiver. A whisper. In this fantasy landscape of “Night Migration,” I feel the power of the darkness. Of secrets hiding within."
Ellen Zimmerman
STEVE KANKUS
"Decades ago, when vacationing in the Adirondacks, I happened upon a book called "The End of Nature" by Bill McKibben. In it he argued that there remains no place on our planet independent of human activity, that even the most natural appearing places conceal evidence of human influence. I was unable to shake this notion and rightly so since much of what he warned of in is his book has come to pass."
Stephen Kankus
“We are no longer able to think of ourselves as a species tossed about by larger forces – now we are those larger forces. Hurricanes and thunderstorms and tornadoes become not acts of God but acts of man. That was what I meant by the “end of nature."
Bill McKibben (a quote shared by Stephen Kankus
KARL HAUSER
"Personage with red hat" started as a drawing and developed into a sculpture. I modeled it digitally, but the form—how it leans, holds itself, and carries the surface—was worked out before printing. The expression reads as a bit comic, but I’m more interested in the tension it holds."
Karl Hauser
DENISE CLEMEN
"I appreciate the juxtaposition of the known and the unknown. Using images from classic art in my work invites the viewer into familiar territory, but a second look reveals something new. Classics endure for a reason. They keep speaking to us. But they don't have to keep saying the same thing. I like to change the conversation."
Denise Clemen
MARISSA MADONNA
"Duende is one of my illustrations from the first volume of the concert production “Tales of Halloween” performed by Hartford Symphony Orchestra in 2022. This became a yearly collaboration with composer John Jesensky, where the character illustrations would be shown on-screen behind the orchestra playing the accompanying movement of music for each. “Duende” depicts tiny creatures (spirits or elves originating from folklore) that were known to cause mischief in the unlucky finder’s home.
A big source of inspiration for me was my oldest son, who was almost two years old at the time. Upon first hearing the character description from John, I joked “That sounds a bit like toddlers!” So my son served as the model for each of the Duende characters in this illustration.
The other source of inspiration came from my illustration mentor from art school, Dennis Nolan. I was really close to Dennis, and he helped guide me in beginning my art career and in my life. One of the things Dennis was best known for was his great love of illustrating creatures - especially little elves and fairies - and I thought of him as I worked on this piece and drew each little pointed Duende ear.
When I saw the Verum theme, “Fierce and Frail III,” I immediately thought of my mentor and felt really inspired to be a part of it.
Photo shown is Dennis Nolan’s illustration from the book “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
Marissa Madonna
MORGAN CURTIS
"The painting I submitted reflects a side of my work that tends toward sentiment and quiet beauty. I meant it sincerely.
But participating in a show like this has been its own kind of mirror. The themes of fierceness and frailty ask something direct and honest — and I think that’s what has always drawn me to painting in the first place. I’m still learning what that looks like in my work.
You make the work you’re capable of, until you’re capable of something truer."
Morgan Curtis
PATI HAYS
"Fierce and frail, tough and delicate, yin and yang - seeming opposites that cannot exist without the other. The natural world is full of paradox and mystery filling one with a sense of wonder. Embracing this, in my art I explore the various aspects of Nature, sometimes as realistic representations of what I see, sometimes with my own fantasy driven interpretations. As a tender seedling pushes up with purpose and strength through the earth to grow into a plant that will produce new seeds to continue the cycle of life, so the creative process allows me to explore, discover and grow."
Pati Hays
SUMIN JOO
"I love painting and drawing environments because I think environments are very powerful. The spaces around people shape who they are, how they grow up, and even the kinds of people they meet throughout their lives. Environments quietly dictate so much of our lifestyles, emotions, and memories, which makes them deeply interesting to me.
In my work, I try to paint environments that feel believable, but where something feels slightly unfamiliar or “off.” I daydream a lot and often imagine unknown spaces because the universe feels endlessly large and mysterious to me. There are so many places, histories, and worlds I want to experience and understand. I think that sense of curiosity naturally appears in my paintings.
I’m also drawn to the idea of fierceness and fragility because I see them as two sides of the same thing. Every person has contradictions within them, and everyone experiences strength and vulnerability differently. It feels very subjective and human.
As a visual development artist, storytelling is also very important in my work. My painting “Harpy in the Desert” represents the final story beat of a much larger narrative and world. The piece shows a harpy after defeating the corrupted god of its world. Even in a single image, I want environments and atmosphere to carry emotional history and suggest a larger unseen story.
I’m very drawn to fantasy and artistic worlds that feel different, unfamiliar, and unique. A lot of my motivation comes from the things I experience in daily life—through interacting with others, but also from spending time alone thinking and observing my own emotions. I believe that when you have emotion, you also have the ability to create.
I’ve always been inspired by Greek mythology, comics, and fantasy literature. Through that, I became especially interested in harpies. I found them to be elegant and powerful creatures but often portrayed in very limited ways. That made me want to reimagine them differently.
In my work, I like exploring the idea of taking something traditionally seen as mythical or monstrous and reinterpreting it into something emotional and meaningful. For example, I want to tell a story where a harpy becomes a hero who saves the world—something that feels rare in Greek mythology and similar narratives. I’m interested in expanding those worlds and asking: what if these characters had different destinies, emotions, or perspectives?
Ultimately, I think I’m drawn to storytelling because it allows me to turn emotion and imagination into entire worlds, and environments become the stage where those stories quietly exist."
Sumin Joo
