MANSFIELD — Jo Westfall’s newest portrait series aims to show a number of local women how influential they are.
“I can’t even count the number of women who have inspired me, empowered or even intimidated me,” she said. “Some women don’t realize that just by existing, you’re influencing me and the community.”
The series is called “Radiators: Women of Mansfield in their Lighthouses,” named for how the women portrayed brighten the community.
The idea for the series came to Westfall while she was practicing figure drawing.
“Felicia Kay Pierces from Diamond in the Rough tattoo was posing for me and she looked super cool and like such a boss,” she said. “When I was done, that made me think I wanted to do more like that.”
Westfall thought of multiple women to paint, limiting it to people she personally met who lived or worked in Mansfield. She asked each woman who was interested in the project to bring some artifacts from their work or passions to a photoshoot in their workspace.
“I asked to take photos in the place where you feel like a boss,” Westfall said. “I wanted to see them where they felt confident and proud — whether that was in an office, on a farm or wherever.”
Westfall also wrote a poetry couplet with each portrait about the featured women’s motivations and missions.
Carmone MacFarlane, director of social engagement for the Phoenix Brewing Company, is one of the 18 featured women of Westfall’s series. MacFarlane volunteered the brewery’s space to display the gallery.
Westfall hasn’t shown the portraits to the featured women yet. She will unveil the paintings at The Phoenix on Friday at 6 p.m. and the gallery will be on display through July 30.
The portraits will be gifted to the featured women and prints are also available.
“I could probably do this series 50 times over with all the women who have influenced me — it’s not an exhaustive list,” Westfall said.
“I’m really grateful that we have this great community of women business owners and just generally inspiring people.”
The 18 women featured in the “Radiators” series are:
- Amanda Stanfield
- Brittnie Pifer
- Carmone MacFarlane
- Suzy Saprano
- Judy Francl
- Deanna West-Torrence
- Amber Osborne
- Diana Brown
- Tara Beaire
- Susan Vander Maas
- Tracy Sothen
- Desra Wells
- Sally Nesta
- Annamarie Fernyak
- Jan Kuhn
- Sarah Russell
- Heidi Helser
- Mindy Duncan
