This catalog chronicles the seventh annual Shot Portrait Project: Portraits of Victims of Gun Violence exhibition, with portraits representing just a small fraction of those affected by gun violence in the Philadelphia area.

Too often, discussion of the impact of gun violence is centered around statistics, or around the violent nature of a victim's death. Souls Shot Portrait Project’s mission is to bring attention to and memorialize the lives lost and tragically altered due to gun violence, and to focus on victims’ lives rather than their deaths.

Souls Shot Portrait Project pairs participating artists with the families and friends of loved ones taken by gun violence. The artists are tasked with illuminating the lives of those who were lost. Their varied approaches and mediums are a fitting testament to the unique qualities of each of the souls portrayed.

This catalog represents the commitment of all who are involved in Souls Shot Portrait Project. We will continue to bring to the public intimate glimpses into the lives cut short by gun violence; to raise awareness of the terrible cost to our communities; to touch hearts and minds; to move people to take action.

On behalf of all of those who participated in creating this exhibition, we hope you will be moved by the images and that you will get to know the depth of these unique human beings.

Laura Madeleine, Executive Director and Curator

SCHEDULE OF HOST VENUES

For information on location, times & dates for our in-person exhibitions, please see our Events page by CLICKING HERE.

You can also view more details on our prospective calendar for this exhibition by clicking HERE

THE PORTRAITS

our 2023-2024 volume 7 exhibition catalog

The Artists

Elisa Abeloff

Elisa Abeloff earned a bachelor’s degree of fine Arts at Washington University in St. Louis, graduating in 1991 with a

major in printmaking and a minor in art history. During that time, she studied at the Santa Reparata printmaking studio

in Florence, Italy, and later at the Vermont Studio Center. Elisa has taught painting and drawing as an adjunct professor

at Webster University in St. Louis, has had solo shows in Chicago and St. Louis, and has been included in multiple

group shows and collections. Elisa now works in her studio in Narberth, Pennsylvania. Her most recent work can be

seen at elisaabeloff.com

Lauren Arno

Lauren Arno is an artist living in southern New Jersey who specializes in watercolor portraits of people and pets as well

as florals and live painting.

Liz Blahd

Liz Blahd is a contemporary craft artist based in New York City. Her work is in the permanent collection of the

American Folk Art Museum. She has been the recipient of many awards in her former careers as illustrator and

illustrated map designer. She and Souls Shot Portrait Project founder Laura Madeleine were colleagues at National

Geographic Society in the cartographic department.

Brianna Carroll

Brianna Carroll is a multimedia artist that merges creativity and therapeutic expression into impactful works of art.

Armed with a bachelor’s degree in studio art and a master’s in art therapy and counseling, she navigates the realm of

artistic exploration with both skill and introspection. For Brianna, art is more than just a form of creative expression, it’s

a tool for understanding herself and the world around her. Her art serves as a mirror that reflects her current state of

being and her evolving perception of the world. Volunteering with Souls Shot Portrait Project enabled Brianna to

expand her role as an art therapist to encompass a social activism perspective.

Cathleen Cohen

Cathleen Cohen was the 2019 Poet Laureate of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. A poet, painter and teacher, she

created the We the Poets program for children (theartwell.org.) Her poems have appeared in several literary journals and

in three collections: Camera Obscura (Moonstone Press), Etching the Ghost (Atmosphere Press) and Sparks and Disperses

(Cornerstone Press). Her artwork is on view at Cerulean Arts Gallery (ceruleanarts.com) and cathleencohenart.com.

Cathleen blogs about ekphrasis, the link between poetry and painting for Mad Poets Society at madpoetssociety.com/

blog.

Meghan Ealanora

Meghan Ealanora is a Canadian-American artist who lives in Philadelphia. She graduated from Tyler School of Art and

Architecture with a BFA in painting in the fall of 2021. Her art explores ideas of technology and modernity through

subject matter, perspective, and materiality. She finds inspiration in her everyday surroundings and where she lives, as

well as her interest in history, psychology, literature, and film. Through her work she looks to foster open discussions

regarding matters such as: modern development, personal and cultural relationships with art, the human experience,

and the role of memory in association with imagery and history. Her experiences gathered through living and traveling

throughout large parts of the United States and Canada are shown in her focus upon architecture, geography and

regional imagery in her paintings and drawings. Her work has a heavy focus upon landscapes, architecture and

regionality, while also exploring figural work, inspired by her love of film, literature, theater, photography, and music.

Meghan’s primary artistic method involves the use of diluted acrylic and oil paints to create finite detail. Her works also

utilize gouache, ink washes, and watercolor to create layers of color and depth. Using color, symbols, and imagery her

work plays to the associations that are formed through individual, and social perceptions. These subjects create

intriguing and unique images that blend old and new, and present an awareness of the modern implications of

technology, industry, and human interaction.

MeghanEalanora.com | IG @meghanealanora

Alysse Einbender

Alysse’s love of sculpture started early in her childhood and persisted throughout high school. From college years and

beyond she became involved in various artistic disciplines before turning her focus to a career in landscape architecture.

In 2004, her new career was upended by a spinal stroke that resulted in permanent paraplegia. Alysse credits much of

her emotional healing to her immersion in ceramic sculpture. In the short time that Alysse has been showing her work,

she has been accepted into many international juried exhibitions and was awarded a first and two second-place prizes

for her entries. Her list of collectors is continuously growing as are commission requests. Alysse resides in the

Philadelphia area near her four sisters and two sons.

einbendersculpture.com | IG @einbendersculpture

Mia Fabrizio

Mia Fabrizio was born and raised in the greater Philadelphia area. She received her BFA from Tyler School of Art in 2002

and her MEd from Arcadia University in 2006. She taught art in K-12 classrooms for a dozen years before graduating

with her MFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University in 2020. Fabrizio explores ideas of home

and layered identity through her mixed media paintings, sculptures, and installations. She served as sculpture faculty at

SMFA at Tufts University and at Maine College of Art & Design. Fabrizio lives and works in Chester County,

Pennsylvania.

IG @mia.fabrizio | FB @mia.fabrizio

Laura Frazure

Laura Frazure is an assistant professor and Coordinator of Sculpture at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia.

Laura’s primary interest as an artist and teacher is anatomy. She has developed an anatomy system that she has taught

to students in New York and Philadelphia and to educators internationally in China at the Central Academy of Fine Art

and the Tianjin Academy of Fine Art, and was most recently invited to the Xi’an Academy of Art. Laura graduated from

the Philadelphia College of Art, now the University of the Arts, in 1986 where she studied sculpture. She received her

MFA in sculpture from the University of Pennsylvania. Believing in classical ideas about form sense and its

communicative potential, Laura models figures that are theatrical and contemporary. In her works over the past decade,

she has emphasized “direct modeling,” highlighting form and form development with no subsequent mediatory

processes.

laurafrazure.com

Carol Gooberman

My name is Carol Gooberman. I live in Haddonfield, New Jersey with my husband. I have four married children, and

seven grandchildren. Two days per week, I instruct adults in drawing, painting and pastels. The other days, I enjoy

spending time with friends, my kids, my grandchildren, exercising, reading, and doing my art work.

Colleen Hammond

Colleen Hammond was born in the month of March, 1957 and raised in a small New Jersey town. After high school,

between 1975 - 1979 she attended and graduated from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts where she began her

artistic journey following the principles of classical style; centered on notions of elegance, harmony and proportion

based on the human body. She also went on to receive a BFA with a major in art history from the University of

Pennsylvania. In recent years her oil paintings have moved toward abstract realism where mood is the underlying key

element. In addition to working in her studio, Colleen was welcomed into the collective art group, Artessa Alliance, an

award-winning Philadelphia area association of women visual artists. Adding collage to her artistic practice has taken

her on a journey of healing and experimentation and has forged new communities and connections. She joined

Philadelphia CollageWorks in 2019, a group of artists that practices and promotes the art of collage through education,

exhibition and community outreach. Her paintings and collages have been included in many exhibitions, and she has

won awards for her work that include the Caroline Gibbons Granger Award and the Berthe M. Goldberg Award of

Excellence. Colleen currently resides in South Philadelphia with her supportive husband and Max, the cat. Her son

Noah lives nearby and carries on the family tradition of embracing the inherent creative spirit.

Bryce Johnson

I was born in Spain but raised in a small town in northern Utah. I graduated with a degree in Russian from William &

Mary and a Ph.D. in linguistics from Duke University and am currently an associate professor of English & humanities

at Neumann University in Aston, Pennsylvania. Now, this formal educational background doesn’t exactly scream

“artist,” but my mostly informal art education began way back in the summer of 1974. My mother was tending to my

newborn sister and to keep her two-year old son busy, she placed a pile of crayons and paper in front of me. I haven’t

really stopped since. Over the past few years, I have found myself gravitating more towards watercolor. I cannot fully

identify all the reasons why, particularly since the relative unpredictability of watercolor is quite contradictory to my

obsession with detail in my art. However, watercolor has taught me a lot about “letting things just happen” in my work.

My subjects are quite diverse: my pet portraits adorn the homes of people who want to remember a favorite companion

and my golf course paintings hang in the clubhouses and homes of members of some of the most exclusive private golf

courses in the country. Regardless of the subject, my purpose is to find beauty in both the natural and human world and

“let things just happen.”

brycemjohnson.com

Terrill S. Johnson

Philadelphia-born artist Terrill Kevyn Johnson, a creative force nurtured by his jazz musician father, began his artistic

journey at Hussian School of Art college, mastering illustration and design. He later graduated from Bloomsburg

University with a degree in fine arts and printmaking, solidifying his place as an art educator under masters like Cal

Massey. Terrill, an abstract expressionist, fuses patterns, textures, and colors to depict the human condition emotively.

Known for his mural arts program contributions and captivating portraits of Wilt Chamberlain, Cal Massey, and Emma

Chappell, he’s celebrated in the Philadelphia legacies community awards winner gallery. Beyond art, Terrill entertains

with singing and comedy, and has been showcased in the Universoul Circus nationwide. His philosophy is embracing

life with love and passion, using art as a conversation with the canvas, like jazz improvisation, aiming to provoke

thought and excitement. In his words, “art is my love, my passion, and my purpose.” Terrill Kevyn Johnson’s art

testifies to a life lived passionately through creativity.

Stephen Kennedy

Steve Kennedy is a painter and printmaker from Fort Washington, Pennsylvania. He was an apprentice to Danni

Dawson and to Nelson Shanks, and studied printmaking with Merle Spandorfer. He has taught oil painting for over

thirty years and currently teaches at Cheltenham Center for the Arts. Public collections include the Upper House of

Parliament, Bermuda; the Athenaeum of Philadelphia; the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia; the Philadelphia

Club; and Germantown Academy, Fort Washington, Pennsylvania.

Rob Mooij

Rob Mooij was a physicist before his recent retirement and focus on painting. He’s drawn to portraiture and oil but has

recently also embraced landscapes both abstract and representational. Rob has exhibited in numerous group shows

including the Cerulean Arts Gallery, the Burrison Gallery, and the Anne Bryan Gallery of the Pennsylvania Academy of

Fine Arts. His ambition is to combine abstract and figurative painting in larger formats.

Laura Orfanelli

Laura Orfanelli is a self taught artist from Chester County, Pennsylvania. This is her fifth year participating in the Souls

Shot Portrait Project.

IG @LauraOrfanelliDesign | FB @LauraOrfanelliDesign

Mary Pax

Mary Pax is a mixed media artist who likes to paint, draw, and make things inspired by people and places around her.

She is proud to be a public school art teacher in grades K-6 and mother of two sons.

Catherine Peluso

I paint in acrylic on watercolor paper or board. My paintings are generally realistic. City, country, flowers, portraits (pet

and human) etc. I love the way the light hits something and will generally include that in my work.

catherinepelusoart.com

Sondra Rosenberg

Sondra Rosenberg is an artist and art therapist based in the Mt. Airy neighborhood of Philadelphia. She studied visual

art at Oberlin College and earned her MA in art therapy at New York University. Working in a range of media and

subject matter, she creates art for both personal expression, private commissions, and in support of organizations that

promote social justice, community development, and animal rights. Her art practice has been informed by her work as

an art therapist for women with eating disorders and related mental health struggles. She is interested in the fixed visual

expression of shifting mental and emotional states and the ways in which interiors are revealed through surfaces.

Lisa Wilde

Lisa Wilde is a teacher and artist. She has taught at J.V.L. Wildcat Academy, a second-chance public high school in New

York City, for over 25 years. Her graphic book, “Yo, Miss: A Graphic Look at High School” (Microcosm Publishing,

2015) was called “riveting” by Alison Bechdel. Her work has been shown in galleries from Portugal to Texas and has

been featured in print and on the web.

Stacy Kent Wyckoff

A graduate of the Philadelphia College of Art, now University of the Arts, Stacy has been a design professional in the

Philadelphia area for forty years. From 1991 to the present Stacy has held the role of Principal of Kent Design, a small

consultancy specializing in environmental graphic design serving institutional clients throughout the mid-Atlantic

region. In 2018 she took her first foray into painting through classes at the Woodmere Art Museum. With oils as

medium, she gravitates towards portraiture and abstract landscapes. This project marries her love of painting with her

concern for community and social justice. This is her third year working with the Souls Shot Portrait Project.