excerpt from: At Cheryl Pelavin, Art with Delicate Strength December 2000 By Jeanne C Wilkinson The Images of both Susan Wanklyn and Shari Mendelson has a girlish feel to it. the term "feminine" also comes to mind, but that word is often taken to mean a coy withholding of power that is not at all descriptive of this work. "Girlish," in this context, does not mean immature but instead connotes a tensile strength and elasticity. The work indicates emergent intellects playing within chosen perimeters, coming to conclusions with a certain logical force. And all done up in pastel colors. ...Shari Mendelson’s sculptures are linear assemblages made of thin wire and painted in soft pastels. They rise on the floor and small wall shelves like apparitions. As with all linear sculture of this kind, the shadows that fall around and behind them are important extensions of the work, adding a kinectic energy and dimension. Some of the pieces, like kalm 718 and 9630376(2000), are simply pieces of wire formed into interlocking chains of squares or triangles, presented in clustered massses. From a distance they are almost invisible, like a cloud made of line upon line. ... ...There is something refreshing, even visually cleansing about this exhibition—the light, clear colors are like a dip in a sunny pool. Far from being heavy or cloying, the work of Mendelson and Wanklyn is probing, meditative and intense in a way that is both lightheared and stimulating.