On Friday 16 March 2018, Ikastikos Kiklos Sianti will officially present to the public the ‘Women Bridging Worlds’ exhibition of works by Mina Papatheodorou-Valyraki and B΄ Beth Weldon, during which two women from different countries will meet in an artistic and cultural crossroad, bridging art with friendship.

Two accomplished visual artists of distinguished artistic identity – both members of the Art Committee Board for the United States Sports Academy – follow a different route, only to meet in that binding instance which entangles their inner worlds and artistic paths in a moment transcending visual reality.

How could such an approach be possible and on what grounds could such different artistic language and inner processing be bridged?

It is a bonding founded on the very beginning of artistic creation, on the initial idea both artists wish to express, each in her own unique style. Mina and B’ Beth begin from a common idea, transferring it on the canvas without imitating one another – each relaying on her own expressive power in order to convey her personal perception, touching the viewer’s inner world.

Mina’s works express her passionate personality and consuming devotion to the theme’s deeper meaning, revealing the absolute likeness of microcosmic details to the whole. As art critic Giuliano Serafini quite accurately describes it: “Detail reveals a gesture, a ‘memory’ of your actions, actions which epitomize the necessary time and space of the creative act. Each painting engulfs many other paintings which could be acknowledged as separate and completed artistic works.”

B’ Beth’s works linger between abstract and figurative art, bringing out the theme’s true nature through the use of an abstract, yet personal visual style. As art critic Dora Iliopoulou-Rogan writes: “All Weldon’s works share an instinctive inner pulse, regardless her artistic phase. It is a pulse bringing life to the composition from within, creating an idiomatic rhythm which excludes any decorative elements.”