1. Drawing Series: Will You Be There
Giclee print series of original drawings  2010
CONSTANCE PIERCE
Original series exhibited in 4th ART ON PAPER 2010, Museum of Art, Toyota City, Aichi, Japan
The series was also featured in the following:
Ecce Cor Meum, Solo exhibition, Harlan Gallery, Seton Hill University (PA)
Lacrymae Rerum, Solo Exhibition, Clara Fritzsche Gallery, Notre Dame College (OH)
Kyrie: World Cry, Solo Exhibition, Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts, Saint Bonaventure University (NY)
Series featured in the artist's 2011 conference presentation at the International Society of Phenomenology
Fine Arts and Aesthetics 16th Annual Conference "Passions of the Skies," Harvard campus, Boston, MA
This drawing series is allegorical. The images are informed and inspired by the spoken epilogue
of a musical composition (of the same title) by the late artist and composer, Michael Jackson. The
prescient lyrics of “Will You Be There” call to mind the essence of Old Testament Psalms, as they
depict the soul crying out to the Divine for intercession. The lamentations express longing for
relief from the tribulation of inner doubts and fears, as well as rescue from the dissonance of a
world savaged by war, poverty and other atrocities. An angel, or witnessing emissary, is placed
within each of the sufferings expressed in the drawings. The images are archetypal and not meant
as realistic depictions. The musical production (in the extended recorded version) commences
with a classical prelude by the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus performing a portion of Beethoven's
Symphony No. 9 followed by the Andrae Crouch gospel choir backing up Jackson's dramatic
vocals. I wanted my drawings to embody the emotional tenor of this artist's extraordinary piece.
1. In my trials and in my tribulations
2. Through my fear and my confessions
3. In my violence In my turbulence
4. In our darkest hour In my deepest despair

2. In my trials and in my tribulations

3. Through my fear and my confessions

4. In my violence In my turbulence

5. In our darkest hour
In my deepest despair

6. Bio of the Artist
Constance Pierce served as associate professor of fine art with St. Bonaventure University (NY). She is a
graduate of Hoffberger School of Painting, Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore and has
exhibited regionally, nationally, and in Europe and Japan. She also specializes in offering courses and
seminars of her original material titled, “Image Journaling: Creative Renewal and the Journey Inward.”
Her sketchbooks were featured in two exhibitions at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in
Washington D.C. Her monotypes and sketchbooks are in the permanent collection of this museum, and
the Archives of American Art of the Smithsonian Institution (DC), the rare books collection of the
National Gallery of Art Library (DC), the Georgetown University Special Collections (DC), the
International Marion Research Institute of Dayton University (OH), the Yale Center for British Art Prints
and Drawings sketchbook archives and their Rare Books and Manuscripts collection, as well as the Yale
Art of the Book Collection (CT), the Henry Luce III Center for the Arts and Religion of Wesley Theological
Seminary (DC) as well as other venues and numerous private collections.
Over the past decades her art has been featured in articles, photographs, and critical reviews in the
Washington Post, Chicago’s New Art Examiner, the Sunday New York Times, the New Haven Register, Journal
of the Print Word, the Yale Bulletin, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the literary journal IMAGE: Art, Faith and
Mystery, and exhibition catalog texts of the National Museum of Women in the Arts (DC) and the Dadian
Gallery of the Luce Center for the Arts and Religion (DC) among others.
A conference paper Pierce authored, “Opus Cordis: Reflections of a Contemporary Artist Embracing the
Drama of Religious Imagery,” is included in Art Inspiring Transmutations of Life of the Analecta
Husserliana series edited by Patricia Trutty-Coohill and published in 2010. Another article by Pierce titled
"Ruach Hakodesh" is forthcoming in 2015 in this publisher's series.
Over the years, Pierce has presented at conferences such as the Arts and Aesthetics Conference of the
International Society of Phenomenology on the campus of Harvard University in Boston, the Association
for Integrative Studies conference at Emory University in Atlanta, the Society for Arts and Healthcare
conference in Washington, DC, the American Art Therapy Association conference in Washington, DC, the
Theological Aesthetics International conference at St. Bonaventure University, NY, the Association of Core
Texts and Courses conference in Atlanta, the Southern Graphics Council conferences in Baltimore and
Washington, DC, and the Whole Schools Initiative conference for art educators in Jackson, among others.