Gale Fulton Ross: Divine Love at Art Center Sarasota

Gale Fulton Ross

Gale Fulton Ross' "Divine Love" exhibit at Art Center Sarasota almost didn't come to fruition. The original intent of the California-based artist had been to have large-scale silkscreens of her collages created at a studio here in Sarasota. Then the hurricanes came, and the studio was destroyed. "Okay," she thought. "I'll have them done in California and shipped. It's less convenient, but it'll work." Then the wildfires descended upon Los Angeles, and the studio there burned. Still, Fulton Ross didn't give up. She ended up having smaller mock ups of the works digitally reproduced here, took over a studio at the Art Center, and painted over the reproductions to create the unique works. Where there's a will there's a way. 

Fulton Ross has always had artistic instincts. As a child, she drew the faces of the people she saw on the pages of Jet and other magazines in her home. Her father set her course when he introduced her to friends as his "baby artist." She liked the sound of that title, but what did it actually mean? 

Grandmother Madonna (2025)

She visited a museum to see what was what. Of course she saw many beautiful and inspiring works. But the discrepancy between the images she was creating and what she saw on the museum walls was striking. Where were the paintings of people who looked like her? Fulton Ross decided then and there that it was her responsibility to create work that could fill that space. She became what she calls "a freedom fighter at the easel." Her commitment has borne results. Fulton Ross' resume features participation in group shows in multiple museums, a solo show at the Ringling Museum, and work in numerous galleries and collections.  

Fulton Ross' began work on her "Divine Love" series in 2019 after her mother passed away. The sympathy cards she received with their messages about her mother having been "ideal" made her think. Yes, her mom was special and wonderful, but ideal? To Fulton Ross, the Virgin Mary was an ideal mother, but she's kind of in a class all her own. Instead, Fulton Ross thinks of her mother and the other women in her life more as icons. In this series, she celebrates the strength and compassion and beauty of those women not only by memorializing them but by situating them in stained glass windows. Perhaps they are saints of a sort. 

"Woeful Madonna" (2025)

While the series includes a painting of the artist herself as a teenage mother, her "Woeful Madonna" struck a deeper chord with me. Here we have a young woman overwhelmed by the amount of energy it takes to raise a child. Then there are the questions she asks herself when she lies awake at night. What would my life have been like if I hadn't gotten pregnant? Can I do this? Fulton Ross would be the first to say that it takes a village, and she was fortunate to have women in her life who not only raised her, but helped her raise her son. Those women included her grandmother, who is honored in the painting above. 

Fulton Ross' exhibits typically include some sculpture, and "Divine Love" is no exception. She created the works just a couple of weeks before the show opened from found objects. The sculptures are more recognizable representations of the Virgin Mary and her child. They are lovely. Fulton Ross shared that the wire halos represent the energy of both the individuals and the universe. Each of the sculptures is dedicated to Elizabeth Catlett and Samella Lewis. 

Catlett is an artist whose work I've seen, but I didn't know her story. I wasn't aware, for instance, that she had been exiled from the United States during the McCarthy era as "an undesirable alien." All one had to do was take a look at her work and see that she was trouble. Wow. Catlett's story is fascinating, but somewhat beyond the scope of this post. To learn more about her art and activism, click here and here.

Samella Lewis was a name new to me, and she is definitely a woman worthy of homage. Lewis is known as the Godmother of African American Art. Her mentor just happened to be Elizabeth Catlett. While Lewis was an artist in her own right, her contributions extend well beyond the canvas. She founded the Museum of African American Art in Los Angeles in 1976. That same year, she established the International Review of African American Art (colloquially known as the Black Art Journal). She also received a Fulbright scholarship to study Chinese language and art history in Taiwan, was the first African American woman to receive a doctorate in fine art and art history, became a significant collector of African American art and co-founded the first African American publishing house. What a powerhouse. What a shame that this is the first time I've learned about her contributions to the art world and beyond. It seems almost an aside, but her art is terrific as well. For more on Lewis, click here and here. 

Thanks to Fulton Ross not only for an interesting and thought-provoking exhibit but for highlighting the contributions of these women in whose footsteps she travels. Thanks as well to Art Center Sarasota for providing a venue for Fulton Ross to share her art and her story. "Divine Love" is on display through April 19. For more on Fulton Ross, click here.