Two young women sipped warm tea at Zeke’s cafe in downtown Norfolk recently, seated beneath a gallery of paintings featuring women’s faces, abstract collages and landscapes incorporating famous poetry.
“These are all based off unknown women in history, actually,” said one of the women, Savannah Kerrick, gesturing toward the wall.
The art will be on sale Saturday during 'Womxn's Fest,' the latest event produced by the Womxn's Connective, an organization started by Kerrick and her friend and business partner, Alyssa McGuire.
The festival will be held at The Plot and Zeke’s on Granby Street. It will feature a number of local female-identifying artists and vendors.
“We make a joke that we just did this to make friends,” said McGuire about starting the organization.
“It worked.”
McGuire and Kerrick met at the Fiber Art Society in Norfolk. Following the 2024 presidential election, the two felt people were becoming more divided, and they hungered for a place in the 757 for women to escape what they felt was an increasing cultural hostility.
They created the Womxn’s Connective as “a space that is catered towards women, so that we could feel safe and comfortable,” Kerrick said.
Over the last year, the Womxn’s Connective has hosted markets, craft nights, discussions and art shows at the bookstore Eleanor’s Norfolk, where featured artists displayed and sold work during the monthly community meet-ups.
The shows aren’t about finding artists that will sell out.
“It's based off whether or not you want to be part of this community,” Kerrick said.
Saturday's event “really is like a culmination of everyone we've met. It's been a crazy year,” she said.
There will be acrobats, improv shows, resource tables, poets, potters, live painters and more. The gallery at Zeke’s, “Unsung,” includes original work and will be on display through the event.
There will also be a chalk-painting contest at The Plot and a community mural attendees can participate in.
McGuire and Kerrick get asked a lot about the spelling of the name of the organization. The "x" represents the inclusion of the trans community, Black women and other marginalized groups that have historically been left out of feminist movements.
“We use that as a signal to those people and to our community that we want to include them and that we are a safe space for everyone,” McGuire said.
The group has attracted artists, people who identify with the organization’s mission, and curious passersby of all ages and genders.
The festival is free, like most of their events. A few people have given the founders flak for not charging the artists or the public more. But they’ve pushed back, saying that profit isn’t the point.
“We want to make money, but we want to make money so we can continue these events,” McGuire said.
Art is the point, and they believe it is a vessel for change, and the point is also the group of people they’ve cultivated.
“Sometimes it's hard to find community,” Kerrick said. But this organization “goes beyond just, 'I'm an artist, you're an artist, let's talk about art.' Like it really goes beyond that into really actual meaningful connections and relationships.”
In order to have a village, they say, you need to be a villager.
“So yeah, support your local businesses. This is the heartbeat of Norfolk,” Kerrick said.
“You want to be involved. You want to make your city better. Come out to this event. You'll have a time.”
The Womxn’s Fest is from 3 to 7 p.m. Sat., March 30 at The Plot, 776 Granby St., which is next to Zeke’s. Visit thewomxnsconnective.com for more information.
