Cowgirls, Color, and Strength

Because part of TABLE’s mission is to bring attention to creativity wherever and however it’s unfolding in our region, everyone at TABLE is on a constant search for chefs, artists, crafstpeople, writers, designers, photographers, and stylists working in or adjacent to Pittsburgh. I happened upon Crystal Latimer’s Instagram feed one day, and immediately felt a pang of appreciation for the purpose and playfulness the work conveys.

The photograph above shows two pieces from her Keepsake series. In the series, she calls upon references to Western cowgirls as signs of fierce female independence and strength. Starting with vintage photographs of cowboys, carrying the sort of strength “we all strive for,” she migrated toward cowgirls, and found them “so strong in their presence…so bold.” In the two paintings shown above, she delivers cowgirls in color that is fierce and unabashed, arranging them in mandalas alongside horses, cheetahs, and abundant foliage and flowers. The animals underscore a message of strength, and the flora indicates growth and abundance. Altogether, the imagery spins a web of power and charisma, all of it speaking to a paradigm of the innate power of the feminine.

It is also possible to see them through the lens of heraldry, where a concise language of color and symbol was used to describe daily heritage, power, and virtue in affirmation of patriarchal tradition. Crystal upends the patriarchy, and invites us to re-see power and charisma in a different, and more empowering, way.

The backs of these paintings contain references to the colors used and thoughts that occurred to the painter while she was working. Crystal was completing one of them when she learned of the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and the reverse of that piece holds a quotation from RBG herself, as well as thoughts from Crystal on that milestone event.

Crystal grew up in Ellwood City, PA, and holds an undergraduate degree from Slippery Rock University and two graduate degrees from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. She has taught and lectured at Penn State New Kensington, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Slippery Rock University and Carlow University.

Her work has been shown extensively in both solo and group exhibitions, including at the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, Chautauqua Institution, The Mine Factory, George Washington University, and Union Hall among others. She has shown her work in internationally in Hong Kong and London, and participated in a residency at the Joaquin Chaverri Fabrica de Carretas in Sarchi, Costa Rica. Crystal's work has been featured in Create!, Pikchur, Local Arts PGH, Art Maze, Ruminate, and Fresh Paint Magazines. Her work is included in both public and private collections including those of Indiana State University of Pennsylvania, PNC Corporate, the Benter Foundation, and Wyndham Tryp Hotel.

Crystal is currently a full-time painter and Studio Director at Radiant Hall Susquehanna.

For more about Crystal, and to find available work, please visit: crystallatimer.com