This has been a popular poster for sometime now

Even from the 1980’s it is still around and well known in the art world. I keep finding this when I would search for articles and videos to post, so I figured it was about time to put it up. This is another poster made by the Guerrilla Girls, and this one is very similar to the article in our text Women: Images and Realities by Kesselman, McNair and Schniedewind. The list in the article “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” found in our text by Peggy McIntosh lists similar things to this post. This list is significantly more sarcastic in tone compared to the McIntosh article. From 1988, “The Advantages of being a Woman Artist” has only listed a few advantages, but these are powerful by themselves and have a lot to say about women regardless of being an artist. Take for instance “Having the opportunity to choose between career and motherhood” this one is felt by many women, as well as “Seeing your ideas live on in the work of others” can be felt by other women too. “Working without the pressure of success” is the one that bothers me the most, like she’s just painting for the fun of it. If it is “good” then that’s just by accident and its nice benefit, but it wasn’t expected. I feel that these can be applied even outside of the art world.

Here is the link for the poster.
Enjoy!

Pinaree Sanpitak

Pinaree Sanpitak, a sculptural artist from Thailand, has focused her energy into her recent installment which includes breast stupas, vessels and what she deems as “temporary insanity.” Her main focus is on the female body which encompasses themes of desire, sensuality, sensitivity, and the breast which has been the focus of taboos throughout history (like in the case of breastfeeding today). The “breast stupas” is an interesting title she uses for her fabric breast shaped sculptures. I had to look up the word “stupa” and found out that it is literally means a mound or “dome-shaped monument, used to hold Buddhist relics” or used as a place of worship. The stupas are similar in shape to Pinaree Sanpitak’s breasts; if you check them out at answers.com link it becomes apparent. The pull between the two terms “stupa” and “breast” is an interesting contrast. I found a video which presents the breast stupas as molds for French cuisine from the artist. It’s neat that the chef used these as a theme for his menu. It’s kind of long, but near the end he ties up each meal with an idea about women’s breasts which is pretty note worthy and the molds are just neat to look at. Also the background music is Tom Jones’ “It’s Not Unusual” which should appeal to some.

Click here to check out the article on Pinaree Sanpitak and her work.
To see the answers.com entry on "stupa" click here.
Lastly, the link for the youtube video on the molds.

"The Furious Gaze"

With a title like The Furious Gaze, this exhibit really did sound exciting. It is a combination of many different artists from around the globe, and includes women from Ireland, Australia, Japan, Afghanistan, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Sweden, the UK and the USA, all culminating together in Spain. Issues of gender, sexuality and questioning the relationships between women and men are some prevalent issues examined in their work. What I like best about this exhibit is that they take it another step further, not only including artists of different backgrounds and races, but on a global level which crosses the borders of nationality and language. I also like the title of the exhibit it’s self. It is a play on the concept of “the male gaze,” which is a term used in feminist theory to critique films, and it describes how audiences are forced to view a film from the male’s perspective. The male gaze focuses on women, and places them in the position of objects. The Furious Gaze turns this around and gives women the right of gazer and lets them focus on things which upset them in their realizations of the glass ceiling found in the world of art. Clearly there is something still wrong in the world of art, as women still need to make exhibits which focuses on the experiences of women which aren’t being incorporated into the mainstream art world.

Click here to view the site exhibit.
Click here to view one of the exhibit's artists Lida Abdul's work on youtube.

Icon as art, Barbara Kruger

Of all of the information I found on Barbara Kruger, this was the best source I could find even though it is not a professional site. Still, it is a site dedicated to the artist and I have the artists own website as back up. When you look at her artwork one of the first things you notice is the colors and text which pop out. She typically uses the stark contrast found in the colors of black, red and white. She also uses a layering effect in her art using found pieces to create a collage type look. Her art can be found on billboards, posters and in ads. Her main subjects include power and relations between men and women, violence, feminism and consumerism. Attached is a popular icon of hers, which was actually a billboard if I am not mistaken. Clearly this is questioning relations between males and females, and stating that we’re in a time in history where women can take care of themselves and don’t need men. Check that image out here.

To check out some more of her art click here.

Faith Ringgold, quilting as art

As someone who’s grown up with quilts and has been working on one for a couple of years, but can’t get around to working on it, I was excited to read about Faith Ringgold. As an African-American artist she uses “rich textiles, gorgeous colors and complex designs-a transgressive hybrid if there ever was one-to make mordant points about the politics of race and gender.” Ringgold is a prominent woman in Contemporary art, and through her work with quilts she made “women’s work” a valid form of art. One quilt which caught my attention was the quilt entitled “We Came to America” from 1997, click here. It shows a burning ship in the background of the quilt, and surrounding are slaves are trying to stay afloat and swimming desperately. In the foreground is the Statue of Liberty, holding a child. What is interesting is that the torch that Lady Liberty is holding is creating a cloud of smoke which drifts over towards the flaming ship. The images of the drowning slaves and the expressions on their faces are haunting, as they were forced from their homeland to come here.

The quote above is from the book Bad Girls by Marcia Tucker which was an exhibit at The New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York.

You can check out the rest of her work here.
I thought this was interesting. I also found a video of Faith Ringgold talking about her children's coloring book which is about attempting to be color blind entitled, How the People Became Colorblind.

Women Only! In Their Studios, an exhibit

“Women Only! In Their Studios” was an exhibit which included fifty different types of art from sculpture to photographs to quilts. Each of the women artists included had a great effect on modern art today. What makes this grouping of artists special is the fact it is made up of a diverse group. The following entries I will after this will be two women artists I found from this exhibit. The fact that these women artists are hardly know to the greater public is a sad reality. One thing that I like about this exhibit is the inclusion of different materials the artists used in the work, Eleanor Flomenhaft states that “works were created with fabric, wallpaper, sequins, beading, and anything that referred to their lives without apologies and without stint” (from the wall panel text from the exhibition). I also like this little wall panel because it gives a brief history of what women in the art industry felt.

Here is the link for the exhibit.

An interesting combination, an artist and feminist therapist

This is a little outside of my topic area, but still kind of still inside the boundaries. Mary Kay Neumann who is a master of watercolors, one of the most difficult mediums to use (at least I think so), creates beautiful watercolors of flowers, nature and water. I felt that Neumann was noteworthy because of her work as a psychotherapist and founder of Women’s Psychotherapy Centre of Wisconsin. While helping not only women, but also men and other family members, those at WPCW seek to help trauma victims deal with a diverse list of struggles, from combating depression to confronting various forms of violence. As a feminist therapist, Neumann challenges the viewpoint of "the norm" and embraces the differences among us. She understands the differences of perspectives and that everyone has a “unique life story that is intertwined with the larger social, cultural and political world.” Through her work, these questions and exploration bring about change in the lives of clients. In her art, Neumann is inspired by her patients and the bravery they display through her work with them. This is a kind of the idea of art at work.

Check out her website here.
And check out WPCW here.

Peace cranes and war

Shannon Benine is a photographer whose main purpose for art is to help create a dialogue based on her work. Her photos and subject matters are politically charged and based around our current energy crisis. Past subjects included our nation’s necessity for foreign oil and the hardships faced by families caught in war. Her current project entitled 03.19.03, created in 2008, is made of “unfolded photograms of peace cranes” used to represent the number of causalities of the war in Iraq. What initially caught my attention to this instillation is the fact that she is using unfolded cranes to create the piece. I did a project in high school on folding cranes and as there is a tale that states that whoever folds 1,000 cranes would be granted a wish from a crane. In representing the casualties of war, the unfolded cranes were an appropriate choice as they are objects that can be used for peace and that could grant happiness. The fact that the cranes are unfolded is also interesting as they provoke images of “bullet holes” and “Islamic screens” as discussed in Benine’s synopsis of the piece. 03.19.03 stands as a memorial for those lost soldiers and as an outcry to our relaxed reception of this war.

You can see photos of her exhibit and the little synopsis of the piece by going to the website and clicking on “WORK” at the top left of your screen and then clicking on “2008” at the top. The seven small boxes at the top are links to the photos of the piece.

Not a ball of yarn, but a ball of bras?

In recent news from a few years ago, we have a project called the BraBall by Emily Duffy. It is part art and part time-capsule, you can see the artist's statement here. Finished in 2001, it is a ball made from interlocking bras with items in the center of the ball. The outside if filled with colorful bras while the inside is made out of plain colored bras. All bras used to create the piece were donations. Donations came from many sources including victims’ families, survivors of cancer, those who wanted to be a part of a woman focused project and from those who were outraged by the projects beginnings (Duffy originally collaborated with another artist, Nicolino, who was giving up his collection of bras and who eventually wanted to run off with her idea.. well that’s what Duffy said). I’m not sure who to believe. Anyway, the BraBall does bring up some interesting discussions on women’s clothing, is a bra’s main purpose for support? While it does support, it also constricts. Or is it for beauty? And for whose notion of beauty? Duffy describes the BraBall as “a physical manifestation of the way women support each other.” I can see that too. I like that it was made by women for women, using used women’s “unmentionable” garments. In a way she is addressing cultural taboos of dress and women’s sexuality.

To see the herstory of the BraBall click here.
Also, here is the BraBall's main website.

Depicting desolation through photography, Melody Golding

Photography is another kind of medium in the art world. One way it is used, is to illustrate our world as it is and to document history. One example of this is the book and exhibition “Katrina: Mississippi Women Remember: Photographs by Melody Golding.” Melody Golding’s book/exhibition depicts the vast amount of devastation created by hurricane Katrina. Along with photographs of participants, Golding also includes stories from the victims, some of who just happen to be artists themselves. The book includes 68 photographs along with 50 accounts from Mississippi women. The book and exhibit give a real sense to the destruction and the experiences of a diverse group of women. This is a way of preserving the history of the hurricane as well as that of women’s voices. The exhibition will continue to move throughout Mississippi and Louisiana on through 2009.

Click here to view the article. The website includes a slide show of her work as well as some background music, the song “Song for Katrina” by Lucia Lynn. To see more of her slideshows click here. Enjoy!

Sofonisba Anguissola, painter

One artist of the artists discussed in Meryl Zwanger’s article was Sofonisba Anguissola. She was an Italian painter, who worked with and even critiqued some of Michelangelo’s work; one could say she was pretty good at painting. She is best known for her portrait paintings, and eventually became a court painter. You can see some of her work here as well as a biography and analysis of her work. Looking at some of her self portraits, critics account for her “governess” like attire to portray her virtuous side as well as chastity. I wonder if critics would go so far as to say that this makes her sexless? It is interesting that in every portrait she’s wearing black, and critics account this to her virtuous and modest side. All of these are attributes to how women should behave, I’m not sure if it’s that easy to tell just by looking at an outfit. Clearly she was an amazing painter, and much of her work is still can still be found today.

“Women and Art in the Renaissance”

Check out this article.
Then read the following.

Switching from discussion on contemporary issues, I thought this article by Meryl Zwanger was interesting as it discusses women artists who created around the time of the Italian Renaissance. It asks the question, “Did women have a Renaissance?” Zwanger first notes that women artists were around, however very few, mostly because the vocation of artist was primarily a man’s. Most women artists during the Renaissance were daughters of noblemen or artists. While their talent was apparent and their work was praised for, they were described as “exceptions to their gender” or “miracles of nature.” She also noted that most women who did create art, stuck mostly to portraits or scenes depicting women’s work. That makes sense though, paint what you know. Zwanger also noted that most women artists eventually had to give up their work once they married to care for children and the home. The article also describes various images of women, like that of the Virgin Mary and Eve which depicts the virgin/slut dichotomy. In her conclusion, Zwanger states that women in the Italian Renaissance were under so much pressure that conforming to the prevalent social roles was necessary to survive, but that some women could do so if they had the means to rise against these pressures.

***Zwanger's article is posted via Columbia University through their feminist magazine Sister.