A community-based art project that seeks to connect communities through pulling up a chair and sharing stories of positivity about Strong Women of Toledo.

Artwork by Kathy Lippert

Story from Kendra Dempster-Walsh

A young woman who plays with Thee Toledo Reign, Toledo’s professional women’s football team, tells the story I am interpreting. She shared her experience with the team starting with becoming an honorary member when she was a child who had been forced off of a football team because she was female, and ending with joining the team in her teens. Although the physical toughness of the sport of football does require strength, the storyteller thought of the team members as strong women because of the support and encouragement they showed for each other and that she had been shown as a child.

One of the great things about this project is learning new things about the town I have lived in my whole life. I didn’t know that we had a women’s football team. When I visited their website, I saw many pictures of the team on the field holding hands. I found this to be a great visual representation of the support and encouragement that the storyteller spoke of, so my image includes a group of players holding hands. I also included a young girl in the image who is wearing a number one jersey and is excited and triumphant. I wanted to show that the team sets a great example and encourages young girls in general, but I also wanted to show the joy that I could hear in the storyteller’s voice when she spoke of being on the field in her number one jersey as an honorary member of the team.

- Kathy Lippert, Artist

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