| Women
Artists
Rising
is the lovechild of Kym Dolcimascolo, owner of Planet
Visions, Inc. The idea of
uniting women artists has been floating in her head for
years but has evolved in a short time after being made
fresh by the events of September 11, 2001. Prior
to that devastating date it was just a nice idea with
the goal of connecting women artists. Over the months
that followed Kym was hit by the absolute
necessity to do something. She had a need to make
a difference in a way she had never felt before.
She knew that other women around the world were feeling
that same need for a creative force to alter the path of
the world as we see it now. Suddenly, while
searching for a community project for a Landmark
Education Corporation class (Self Expression and
Leadership Program) pieces began to fall into place .. it occurred
that what better group of women to transform the planet
than women artists - true visionaries, true
creators. And the other piece of the puzzle popped
in ... we needed not only to create to
heal the world but we needed to make sure that every
woman who wanted to create could ... increase the
numbers of creators to combat the number of destroyers.
 Kym graduated from USF
in 1975 with a degree in Fine Arts/Filmmaking and yet
never had the guts to pursue her art because she told
herself tons of stories about her obstacles to
creating. All she was covering up was her
absolute fear and lack of perceived worthiness. Because
of that she lost years of contributing art to the world
and a life vitalized by self-expression and
freedom. She now has created the possibility for
herself and the world that any woman who wants to create
can have that freedom. Women
Artists
Rising
is her way of initiating that possibility. Kym just wants to take action and she wants her artist
sisters to play along.
Maria Bates of St. Petersburg joined Kym as co-leader of
the group in November 2001. Maria is a business
consultant and emerging dancer. She has many clients who
are artists establishing themselves in the Tampa Bay
area. Click here for
more on Maria
You can email Maria: maria@womenartistsrising.com.
You can email Kym: kym@womenartistsrising.com.
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From
Maria ...
For the past 7 years, I
have been nurturing a love affair with Latin American
culture. Having spent a month in Bolivia working with
teenagers and children in an orphanage and women's
shelter, I returned to the US with a new sense of my
place in the world, and a deeper passion for spicing up
life. Thus, I began my search into Latin American
culture, of which dance and music play a huge role. A
little at a time, I learned dance steps and began making
the moves my own. I took a few group classes, but mostly
learned through trial and error at home while getting
ready in the mornings or in the clubs. Now, you can find
me dancing anywhere- in Borders, in the car, down the
street, and sometimes just to the music in my mind. At
some point in the past couple of years I realized that
dancing allowed me to let go of my inhibitions, fears,
and thoughts and be totally in the moment. And even
though I realized this, short of quietly mentioning to
people that I wanted a dance partner and spending a
couple of nights a month out dancing, I took no further
action to creating my life as a dancer.
Meanwhile, I continued on in my career as a business
consultant, where I help others develop an awareness of
their passion and create action around making that
passion sustain them financially. I thought that my
focus would be with small companies, but a few months
ago a couple of my artists friends decided that they
wanted to work towards creating their career as artists.
I realized then that I wanted to make a difference with
artists who did not have the financial means to afford
my services, but needed the assistance. Shortly
thereafter, I met Kym Dolcimascolo who had recently
begun an organization for women artists. Our ideas
streamed together and thus began our journey. At the
time I full expected my role in WAR to be as a business
coach and consultant for the organization. However, it
became quite clear that I myself was a shadow artist,
and that I was one of the women that I was trying to
help. So, thus begins my real journey as a dancer.
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