Front Desk of gallery with Amanda Moyer’s The Antithesis of Masculinity & Femininity, 2010 mixed media sculptural installation.
Opportunity for Community Art and Action
Happy Year of the Dragon
A year for action evidently and we appreciate your receptivity and enthusiasm for a community project.
To that end, our Michigan WCA will conduct a series of art workshops for girls at the Juvenile Detention Center here in Ann Arbor. WCA member Carol Morris will submit a proposal to the Center this month, prior to meeting with administrators.
Now is the time for members to indicate whether they are interested in this project. Artists in all media are needed (appreciated.) As well as creating art, the project could show films, and have educational presentations and experiments.
Carol’s goal is to create a more versatile in the curriculum than the one she’s been leading in the county Jail for women. The hope is that they won’t be so restrictive with art materials. She is proposing a project geared to a broader set of possibilities for exposing incarcerated women to the joy of art in all its forms.
Generally our materials will be limited to paper, safety scissors, glue, colored pencils, watercolors, non-permanent felt pens and magazine page size images. The population will be small and transient.
Any members interested please e-mail Carol silkrhino@aol.com by Jan 15th. So she can submit a proposal by Jan 15th.
Please include the following:
Artist Name Medium Time available for volunteering? (Daytimes? Weekends? Etc.)
Carol will be writing a grant proposal for this as soon as I get the parameters.
The Mind boggles with Possibilities
Naked Men Everywhere: New Exhibit Reverses the Gaze by Thomas Gladysz
There were naked men, and penises a plenty, men without their clothes — plain and simple, and strapping young bucks ready to go. The occasion was not a gathering in the Castro, but a feminist-themed exhibit, “Man as Object: Reversing the Gaze,” which is currently on display at the SOMArts Cultural Center in San Francisco (through November 30th).”Man as Object: Reversing the Gaze” is filled with men stripped naked — both literally and figuratively; collectively, this body of work exposes women’s sometimes cheeky (no pun not intended), provocative and striking commentaries on the opposite sex. Take a tour of the exhibit, and you’ll see pieces which are serious, silly, funny, critical, erotic and banal.Even in this day and age, “Man as Object: Reversing the Gaze” can be seen as a provocative exhibit. However, the nature of its provocation is really more of a reflection of where we stand as a society. “Man as Object: Reversing the Gaze” is intended to turn the tables, so to speak, and re-envision issues around gender, society and the “politics of exposure.”In Man as Table, for example, Della Calfee has turned men into objects by photographing two crouching naked men embracing each other while supporting a glass tabletop. Let go of the literal image and the implicit image suggests a world of meaning.
The scope of this exhibit encompasses various ways in which women view man-as-object, and in doing so, it reverses the traditional approach of male artists objectifying women. Sometimes, those re-envisioned issues are aesthetic or cultural, and sometimes they are social or political.
The exhibit includes a lenticular postcard that juxtaposes Gustave Courbet’s famous Origin of the World (1866) with ORLAN’s recent Origin of War — turn the postcard one way and it depicts a woman’s pubic region, turn it the other way it depicts a man’s.
San Francisco State University Assistant Professor Tanya Augsburg selected 117 pieces from 900 submissions for the exhibit. Featured artists include Guerrilla Girls on Tour!, Lynn Hershmann, Carolee Schneemann, Annie Sprinkle, Juana Alicia, Nancy Buchanan, Jill O’Bryan, Sylvia Sleigh, Elizabeth Stephens, May Wilson, and Melissa Wolf.
The diverse perspectives on masculinity found in “Man as Object: Reversing the Gaze” come from straight, transsexual, transgender, lesbian and multi-cultural artists in various media, from paintings to sculpture, as well as installations, performance, video and that newest hybrid form of creative expression, social media.
The majority of artists in “Man as Object: Reversing the Gaze” are from California, though there is also a notable contingent of artists from elsewhere around the United States, including Michigan. Among them is Carol Morris, who lives in Ann Arbor. Her collage scrapbook of images from gay men’s magazines serves as a sly critique of the rules of attraction and the nature of desire.
“Man as Object: Reversing the Gaze” is sponsored by Women’s Caucus for Art and made possible through grants and assistance from SOMArts Cultural Center, the San Francisco Arts Commission and the San Francisco Foundation. The exhibit is accompanied by a full color catalog by curators Tanya Augsburg and Karen Gutfreund, and includes essays by Lynn Hershman Leeson, Annie Sprinkle and others. Check out this age-restricted video on the exhibit here.
On Wednesday, November 30th there will be a closing reception, screening & panel discussion which serves as a perfect opportunity to visit the show if you haven’t already done so. At 6:15 & 6:30 p.m., a landmark film by Carolee Schneemann, Fuses (1965), will be screened in the SOMArts theater. “It is different from any pornographic work that you’ve ever seen — that’s why people are still looking at it!” the noted artist / filmmaker has remarked. And at 7:00 p.m., a panel discussion with Schneemann, Sprinkle and Augsburg will take place on the topic of “Looking at Men: Then & Now.”
Thomas Gladysz is a San Francisco arts journalist. A syndicated critic, his articles on the visual arts have appeared in most Bay Area newspapers. Gladysz has also been a columnist and contributor to regional publications including “ArtTalk” and “PhotoMetro.” In 2010, his interview with Allen Ginsberg on the subject of photography was included in “Beat Memories: The Photographs of Allen Ginsberg” (National Gallery of Art).
ArtWalk2011 WCA artists on display
Women’s Caucus for Art Michigan Chapter News
Michigan Chapter News
Brenda Oelbaum founding president of the Michigan Chapter is running for president of WCA National She is encouraging all members through out the states at large or in established chapters to vote. Please see the two candidates’ letters in this issue of Artlines. A vote for Brenda Oelbaum is a vote for Bold leadership and Outstanding commitment to the Women’s Caucus of Art.
Three members of the Michigan Chapter attended the Art and Social Justice Conference in St. Louis, MO, several chapter members had work in the Themis Exhibition at St. Louis University Museum of Art was very impressive.
Our local membership have all been very active in showing their work in both local and national exhibitions. This summerY WCA member Stephanie Trevino took over for Shaqe Kalaj representing the WCA-MI chapter at Camp Rainbear, a camp for inner city families that have been affected by the AIDS virus providing Support, Positive Connections, Respite in a non-judgemental enjoyable camp experience. Trevino drove her Make and Do Art Bus, to the camp to teach arts and crafts to the families. Sadly two hours outside of the camp Trevino’s bus was overturned and totaled, making it impossible to continue as planned. Trevino escaped without serious injury and happily she was able to get back on her wheels again, taking her Make and Do ‘New’ Bus to ArtPrize in Grand Rapids this fall to do art projects in the various parks around the City.
Are Feminism and Gender Based Art Groups Relevant in The 21st Century?
Sofonisba Anguissola, Lavinia Fontana, Barbara Longhi, Fede Galizia, and Artemisia Gentileschi, in a different world these names would be as familiar to us as Rembrandt, Rubens, Titian, El Greco, or Caravaggio. These women artists were contemporaries of the the male masters we know so well. Social mores of the times limited a woman’s access to the resources and supports available to their male peers. How much have times changed? Do we still need gender based art groups to assist in advancing the careers of women artists?
Thursday, May 16, 2011 eight of us gathered at Brenda Oelbaum’s studio to discuss these issues. Young women artists don’t experience sexual inequalities the same way older artists have. Today women are gallery owners, art collectors and museum curators. Are women artists equally represented in prestigious galleries and museums? Corinne shared a New York Times article “Where are all the Women?” written in by Jerry Salz. He discusses how few women artists are on display in places like MoMA. In the fall of 2006, of 399 objects on view, 19 were by women. More recently Kyle Bachan wrote “Where are the Women in the Google’s Art Project?” in the MS. Magazine blog. Her own review of the 17 museums included as of February 2011, she counted only three women artists.
We talked about defining “feminism.” stereotypes still exist that “feminists” are all lesbians or man haters. A broader definition was discussed defining feminism as a movement to encourage equal political, economic and social rights and opportunities for all people.
Margaret brought up the need for gender based groups to have a coherent business plan to slot women in with men on an equal basis. Part of this plan would require us to define an audience for our artwork. Much like what Oprah and Martha Stewart have done. We need to wake people up to the art women are doing. Our WCA group might want to consider future presentations by women art collectors who specifically collect women’s art.
Before completing this post I found short review of new documentary recently released called “Women Art Revolution: Enhancing the image of feminist art.” Lynn Hershman Leeson wrote and directed this film in which women artists talk about how their work was condescended to or ignored. They have also established a website RAW/WAR to archive the artwork of women.
This discussion was just a beginning we hope to continue this dialogue at future meetings. Your comments here are encouraged.
A few of us will be in St. Louis in July for the WCA board meeting and an Art & Social Justice Conference. Our next meeting in Michigan will be August 18th. We plan to meet at Kathleen’s studio. Look for emails with details closer to the date.
Michigan Women’s Caucus for Art shares Visual Thinking Strategies
Nine of us gathered Thursday evening, May 19th to share our artwork and ideas. We continued our exploration utilizing Visual Thinking Strategies to discover new ideas about the art we are creating. Beginning with three simple questions we were able to generate a whole list of concepts and themes that enriched both the artist that created the piece of artwork, and the group learning to see without judgement.
In the next week we will be emailing a survey to our members, potential members, and anyone interested in becoming more involved with WCA. We will be inviting you to share your thoughts to help shape our future. To get us started in response to a suggestion by one of our members Kathleen Letts, we will begin a discussion on the topic of gender and art.
We will meet Thursday, June 16th, 7-9:00pm at BrendaOArt Studio 1342 North Main St., Suite 7, Ann Arbor, MI 48104 (contact Brenda for directions boelbaum@yahoo.com).
The following are some questions to consider:
What is the function of a gender based arts group?
Have gender identity and/or gender roles changed in our 21st century culture?
Are the gender perceptions from the 1960’s and 1970’s feminist movement still valid today?
How do we define “feminist art”?
“I’ve always sought to express a tension in form and meaning in order to achieve a veracity. I have come to the conclusion that the art world has to join us, women artists, not we join it. When women are in leadership roles and gain rewards and recognition, then perhaps ‘we’ (women and men) can all work together in art world actions.” Nancy Spero
Inspiring Michigan Women’s Caucus for Art Workshop
We had a wonderfully inspiring workshop April 28, 1-3:30pm at BrendaOArt Studio lead by Christy Kelly-Bentgen. A great group of women gathered. We began utilizing Visual Thinking Strategies helped to identify some of the unifying ideas and motifs contained in Beverly Buchanan’s piece “Richard’s Home.” We then moved into a “free write” and collage around the themes of identity and place.
Through sharing we were each able to generate new ideas by listening to each other. Some of our discussion explored the ways we use the word “place” in ordinary conversation; a place on the map, a place in society, in place, out-of-place. There are also symbolic values assigned to a place that can be connected to psychic or emotional responses. As we sought to distill our ideas we were asked to choose one or more of the places on our list and consider key identifying features of the place: colors, shapes, and textures. Then we started condensing the elements to their simplest forms. Translating concepts into concrete building blocks. We did similar exercises with identity.
Hope you will join us at our next Meeting of Minds, May 19, 7-9:00pm at BrendaOArt Studio 1342 North Main St., Suite 7, Ann Arbor, MI 48104. Bring art to share, either related to the Beverly Buchanan Tribute or something you’re working on and would like to share. We will discuss not critique, exploring what we see, which may assist you in further distilling concepts and themes.
Nationally Recognized Artist Beverly Buchanan livens up Local WCA-MI Gathering
On March 17, 2011 a group of about 30 women were energized by the vibrant artist Beverly Buchanan. Buchanan was a recently honored by National Women’s Caucus for Art’s with a Lifetime Achievement Award. In an essay written for the event Lucy Lippard describes Beverly’s work as; “precarious, wackily off-kilter, and oddly cheerful shacks,” created in “two and three dimensions,” as “stand-ins for the artist herself.” The group was delighted by stories about her early life, and the of sharing insight about her work and it’s symbolism.
Casey Janowski, a Buchanan devotee and art teacher from North Carolina demonstrated how she was inspired by the elder artist’s work. Using a power-point presentation she illustrated the power of Buchanan’s art to reach a group of gifted and exceptional high school students. Utilizing found materials and clay they were able to visually interpret issues relevant to their lives.
This year the WCA-MI group has decided to invite their membership and other regional artists to create works inspired by Buchanan’s.
As a precursor to creating art inspired by Beverly Buchanan’s there will be two workshops held to lead us through the creative process;
1) Identity and Place: A workshop inspired by the life and work of Beverly Buchanan, April 28, 1-3:30pm at BrendaOArt Studio 1342 North Main St., Suite 7, Ann Arbor, MI 48104
2) Exploring Visual Thinking: At our Meeting of Minds, May 19, 7-9:00pm at BrendaOArt Studio 1342 North Main St., Suite 7, Ann Arbor, MI 48104 (contact Brenda for directions boelbaum@yahoo.com)
The group has also decided to submit an application for Beverly Buchanan to the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame in Lansing.
A Little Reminder….
Happy Holidays!
Hope to see you there!
WCAMI 