Connections: Within & Without

​Join us for an exciting art exhibition featuring original works by South Jersey mixed media artist, Maria Morales and her talented daughter, Cassandra, an artist and tattoo artist! The exhibition will kick off with an art reception on Sunday, December 1st, from 12:30–2:30 pm, complete with live music and refreshments. As always, this event is free and open to the public. Come support local artists and your community art gallery in Voorhees, NJ! About the Artists

Cassandra- Cassandra is a ER nurse and full time tattoo artist in Philadelphia, focusing on delicate and fine-line work that blends geometry, nature, and animals. Her designs includes layers of detail and subtle elegance, often incorporating the symmetry of geometric shapes with the fluidity of natural forms. Using illustrative lines and minimalistic shading, she creates pieces that feel light and ethereal, yet connected to the earth’s rhythms. Through tattooing, her designs go beyond paper and offer clients a timeless, wearable piece of art and expression. 

Maria Morales-

I was born in Portugal and came to the U.S. as a small child. My culture and family instilled a sense of place

in the world that’s taken many years to recognize and somewhat break from. As a woman, the push and

ingrained mindset was to not cause friction, be pleasing and nice, get married, and have a home and family.

This was the path women were supposed to take and the correct thing to do.

I had a wonderful family that was always there for me. But as immigrants who did not speak the language,

there was no attitude of venturing out, experiencing the world, and forging your own path. That was not

encouraged or frankly recognized as an alternative. Quite often I butted heads with my parents. I was the

outspoken rebellious one, not really what they were equipped to deal with.

I was the first in my family to go to college, and an art school in New York City at that. Talk about an

adventure! I loved every minute of it. I attended Parson’s School of Design and received a BFA in Illustration.

Those years in the early eighties were a wonderful time for me, even though New York City itself was going

through some tumultuous changes. I was immersed in art making, surrounded by other artists from all

backgrounds, and having conversations about how what we were doing was important and how we would

change the world (or so we thought).

I got married after graduation to a fellow Illustration major. We have four wonderful children and a recent

grandchild. I ended up in the corporate world in a variety of tech and graphic artist positions. Not exactly

creative, but within the periphery of creativity. Throughout this time, I always painted. Sometimes I had more

time, and other times less, but the desire was always there.

Of course, my “supposed to” mindset meant that I painted realistically and the correct, professional medium

to use was oil paints. This is what a “real” artist did. I painted realistically for 30+ years before abstraction

started to slowly make its way into my work. It started in the background and slowly crept its way in, a little

bit more and more each time.

After many years of working in a realistic style, in oil I transitioned to abstract painting using acrylic paint,

collage, and various mark-making tools. The pandemic changed much of our thinking, and during that

period I decided to go for it. Creating abstract work allows more freedom and opportunity to showcase

feelings, intuition, ideas, and individual expression.

Transitioning from representational artwork to abstract has been challenging and exciting. My latest pieces

have been transformational for me. Some still incorporate realism and others are totally abstract. I want

to further explore making my art a mixture of both. I’m excited by the rich history in the work, the marks I’m

making, and the happier, joyous “me” that is starting to appear. I am feeling the joy of expressing what I like

and letting the colors and shapes run free.

In the last few years I have been getting more involved in the local art community by engaging with fellow

artists, being an instructor in an art alliance, being interviewed and having my work in a few publications,

entering my work in exhibits and receiving First Place and Best of Show awards, and my artwork has also

been collected internationally.

My hope going forward is that I continue to have the time to create, to apply to various Artist Residencies,

and to submit my artwork to Art Fairs. I want to continue to appreciate the wonder and beauty all around

us and to hopefully translate that into my artwork and impart to the viewers the emotions and individual

expression we all have.