On February 3rd, 2004, the 10 artists participating in this groundbreaking show convened in order to speak to our intrepid interviewer. After many bottles of fine Merlot, this is what transpired:

Inferno: OK - we'll try to do this as sanely as possible. First question - what the fuck is Eudamonia?

Betsy: Is this taped? Are you taping this?

Inferno: The tape is running. OK - I have the definition - but what is your definition of Eudamonia? Come on Terri - you're the one that came up with it.

Betsy: The way it was explained to me, when I first was invited, was, women working with a soulful spirit.

Jo-ann: Considering your question, my answer is "fuck if you know".

Group: That was Jo-Ann!

Patty: From what I experienced, Eudamonia is women creating their own soulful experience, whatever that might be. Their own happiness, their own life, their own existence. And standing strong within it.

Inferno: Rachel?

Rachel: I think women have a long and strong tradition of finding creative ways to make themselves happy, to fulfill their spirits, their souls. I think we want to celebrate that in March.

Inferno: Anyway, the definition I have is: Eudamonia: 1.) A state of happiness and well-being and 2.) An Aristotelian philosophy, happiness in a life of activity governed by reason.

Terri: We're not reasonable.

Inferno: It says nothing about reasonable, it says reason…

Terri: No, we're not governed by reason.

Inferno: OK then. Here we go. We have 10 women; we have 10 varying styles. What is the underlying current for the show? What is the one cohesive element, if any?

Denise: We're women.

Patty: We're diverse.

Reta: Diversity is good.

Jill: It's strength in numbers, in the number of us.

Rachel: We're 10, 10's a perfect number, and we're in South Jersey.

Group: We're a perfect 10!

Reta: We support each other in what we do. We have diversity but we support each other in what we do.

Terri: Everybody in this room functions from that same degree of strength from that purpose, too. Do you know what I mean?

Rachel: I think what we share, and what we haven't really verbalized, I think what it seems like, is a celebration of our art and the feminist nature within our art, as subtle as it can be or as overt, as in my work, as it can be.

Group: Well said.

Inferno: Well, Rachel answered my next question, which was, 10 women. Is this exhibit a feminist statement?

Rachel: I don't think it's central to the group's work. But, eventually, we all come to the subject, but not as the basis as our oeuvre.

Betsy: We have universal themes.

Terri: It's intrinsic to who we are, so you can't get around it.

Jill: I don't paint because I'm a woman; I paint because I'm an artist.

Inferno: Are you feminists?

Group: No.

Patty: As opposed to being feminist, it's more a celebration of being feminine.

Inferno: Being a woman.

Patty: Being a woman.

Reta: I think it's a celebration of being an artist. And just happening to be a woman.

Terri: But I think sometimes, women are more supportive.

Betsy: We're more open. I mean, I have a lot of male art friends, but I think women tend to be more open in their discussions. A little deeper, philosophically, than the guys.

Liz: I just want you ladies to know that there's already a buzz on High Street (in Millville). That the male artists are already…

Inferno: Emasculated?

Liz: No, they want to have their own show, and they're going to call it You-Da-Man-ia.

Group: I love it!

Betsey: I'm not going to read my whole statement, but artists often call upon their environment and the relationships with people around them as themes for their works of art, and I think that probably, the work for this show pretty much falls into that category.

Liz: I would say so.

Betsy: And I don't know that it's just women that do that. I just think artists a lot of times do that. Artists in general. There were a lot of artists who were criticized heavily for the work that they did, but they were just recording what they saw, and what they lived. Wars are like that. All that kind of stuff. So, we're recording what we're going through in our lives.

Inferno: OK - what artist, living, dead, known, unknown, famous, not famous, whatever, do you think has influenced your art at this point in your life, right now, if any? Just one - let's make this tough.

Group: As a group?

Inferno: No - as an individual artist. What artist has the most influence, not that you're copying or trying to emulate, but has the most influence over what you're doing, what you're trying to purvey?

Terri: I think Chagall would be it for me.

Inferno: I love Chagall.

Terri: Well, that's just what came to mind.

Inferno: He has fantastic images of people floating, and no sense of horizon…

Terri: It's just that sense of joy.

Inferno: Of eudemonia! Denise, you've been quiet.

Denise: I'm always quiet.

Inferno: Oh, she flipped me the bird. She's into symbolic gestures. How about you, Penny?

Penny: The artist that inspired me for this series was Umberto Bodalesci. He's an Italian illustrator from the 1850's. Very erotic.

Patty: As an art teacher, I have so many favorites, and so many heroes that it's unbelievable. But thinking of the series that I've been working on, not that any of mine reallylook like this, but the pieces that come to my mind, that bring joyful women experiences are the works of John Singer Sargent. - Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose, beautiful interactions between two women talking together, the expression of his brushwork, you know it's unbelievable. I think that's where I would go. Seeing a retrospective of his work a few years ago, thinking about artists who I love. That's whom I would say.

Betsy: I'm going to say two collage artists - one is Jennifer Berringer and the other is Florence Putterman. She's not so much collage, she's doing a lot of overlaying in her monotypes. But, I'm a papermaker, and I'm working with laminated papers that I make myself. I tear and I manipulate… I add a lot of depth to the work, and texture. Both of those artists have really exciting work to look at that way. They're contemporary.

Rachel: I have the same people that I go back to, the same artists, because I like the artists, not only for the product, but for their philosophy. Kandinsky, he's so intuitive, and spiritual in art, dealing with archetypes. I love dealing with archetypes, although my work sometimes goes toward the feminist, it's not really. It's really just dealing with archetypes that I relate to. Kandinsky, Joan Mitchell, the way she lays on and composes an area. You can apply those principles to 3D just as well.

Jill: There's something about Kandinsky that so pure, so raw, so instantaneous that I love. That I like to look at, and maybe learn from. It's so intuitive, and that's how I like to work. Just by the soul.

Jo-Ann: I really tend to go way back to cave paintings, just because they're just so basic and raw. Cave paintings and cave architecture, just placement - I'm really into the stones, very ancient setting of stones, just the basic original architecture.

Reta: I think up to this point, I think I really like to do the kinds of things that Mary Cassatt did, with mothers and babies and kids. Stuff with pastels. Now I'm doing this with oils, and I don't know who it is, I don't have a clue!

Denise: The artist who has inspired me in the last couple of years is Mary Todd Beam. She's a multi-media artist and she has just kind of inspired me to push the limits, not do what's safe, just totally go beyond what I would normally do, which resulted in a change of media. So that would be my choice for the most inspirational person I've seen. I'm working in acrylics now, but I'm really a watercolorist. It's very hard, but I like it to be difficult. If it's easy I'm not getting anything out of it.

Liz: Actually it's two - I know Rachel knows who one of them is - she knows what I'm going to say. Cy Twombly, and Jasper Johns. I love the layering, the images, the words, and the color - the whole conglomeration. I love it. I love the pencils and the sketching, the wild lines all over the work. I love it.

Inferno: I have one more question - where do you plan to be 10 years from now?

Group: Oh my god!

Liz: I hope alive.

Betsy: In my studio. I just want to keep working.

Terri: I like surprises.

Patty: Painting plein air in Europe, not specifically Italy. Somewhere.

Reta: I'm going to be this woman who has earned the right to do anything I want.

Inferno: You can't do that now?

Reta: I can, but I'm going to have more power to do it then

Rachel: I'll be receiving phone calls from all of you to come and paint with me in Italy.

Inferno: What do you want to get out of this show?

Penny: Fame.

Reta: Fortune.

Terri: Financial freedom.

Reta: Seriously, I really am enjoying being a part of a group of women who are supporting each other in what they do, what they like to do, and what they do best.

Terri: It's the 4 F's: fame, fortune, financial freedom, and friendship.

Jo-Ann: And what the fuck Eudamonia is.

Inferno: That's right! The 5 F's!

Betsy: It'll be fun watching everyone's growth. Where you go from here.

Liz: What's going to be fun is to watch will be people's reactions when they come in and see the work.

Patty: Once we put it all together and see it all together, I'm anticipating my own growth visually. It's going to be an intense undertaking.