What's Happening

April 8, 2022, Adrian, Michigan – As organizations throughout the world are starting to open as the COVID-19 pandemic seemingly fades, a special exhibit that explores life during the pandemic through the artwork of eight Adrian Dominican Sisters, Associates, and friends is opening at INAI: A Space Apart's art gallery.
 
Art in the Time of COVID opens on Sunday, May 1, 2022, and remains on exhibit through Sunday, August 28, 2022. An artists’ reception is from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Sunday, May 1, 2022. The public is invited to both the exhibit and the reception.
 
All guests will be screened for COVID-19 symptoms at an outdoor tent before entering the INAI Gallery. Masks and social distancing are required. 
 
The exhibit features the artwork of Sisters Barbara Cervenka, OP, Mary J. Hickey, OP, Aneesah McNamee, OP, Suzanne Schreiber, OP, and Nancyann Turner, OP; Adrian Dominican Associate Judith Engel; and friends Debra Henning and Mame Jackson.
 
During the early months of the pandemic, Sister Barbara called together this group of friends to respond to the unique time through their art. They gathered monthly on Zoom to share their work and gave expression to their thoughts, feelings, and observations through a variety of media, including drawing, painting, collage, journaling, quilting, graphic arts, photography, and video production. “We wanted to recognize the singularity of [the pandemic], how unusual and how difficult this time is,” Sister Barbara said.
 
Art in the Time of COVID is dedicated to the memory of 14 Adrian Dominican Sisters who died of COVID-19 in the winter of 2021. Their names will be posted in the exhibit. Visitors are invited to write the names of loved ones whom they lost to the pandemic so that they can be remembered as well.
 
INAI (in-EYE), a Japanese word meaning within, is a place for quiet reflection and art and is open to the public. The INAI Gallery is adjacent to the north entrance of Weber Retreat and Conference Center on the Adrian Dominican Sisters’ Motherhouse Campus. Enter the Eastern-most driveway to the complex and follow the signs to Weber Center.
 
Gallery hours are from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and by appointment by calling 313-608-9181. 

April 7, 2022, New York, New York – The equality of women and the threat of global climate change are two vital issues confronting the world today. These issues were taken up together March 14-26, 2022, during the during the United Nations’ 66th Commission on the Status of Women (CSW66). 

This year’s CSW was “especially timely” with the theme, “Achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls in the context of climate change, environmental and disaster risk reduction policies and programs,” said Adrian Dominican Sister Durstyne Farnan, OP, the Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) representative of Dominicans in120 countries around the world.

In an article published in the National Catholic Reporter’s Global Sisters Report, Sister Durstyne writes of her experience of participating in CSW66 and the unique opportunity of witnessing the final two hours of deliberations by representatives of the member states on session outcomes. 

“In spite of being an important part of the priority theme, climate change received little coverage,” Sister Durstyne writes. Still, she adds, she is pleased with the number of items that were included in the session outcomes and feels a strong commitment to work toward those outcomes. 

“We women and nongovernmental organizations working at the U.N. will continue to push to advance the outcomes and implementations of the agreed conclusions,” Sister Durstyne concludes. “Women’s lives depend on the fulfillment of the agreed conclusions.”