Surprise in Delaware!

This summer has been filled with adventure and art. As it should be.

Just a few things about summer adventures relating to women in the arts.

I had the opportunity to cap off the summer with a trip to the Delaware Art Museum in Wilmington, DE. We were in town for a college friend's wedding. The museum was delightful. It had a lot of work of illustrators from the 1900s; the collection was centered around turn of the century illustrator Howard Pyle.

But what was particularly impressive was the presence of female artists throughout the museum. Almost every gallery had at least one piece by a woman. While yes, this does not mean the distribution was 50/50 but I can recall only one other time that I noticed the inclusion of women artists that wasn't a specific show for women. For instance, in the Pre-Raphaelite section, there was a painting of Dante's Beatrice by Marie Spartali Stillman. Another gallery of illustrators had a wonderful piece of two girls and a squirrel by Katherine Richardson Wireman. The abstract/contemporary art gallery had a work about Eleanore of Aquitaine by Grace Hartigan. It was pretty awesome. They did have a gallery dedicated to contemporary local female artists, which was cool. But here was a museum that had tried to be more inclusive of female artists. There's room for improvement but it's a step in the right direction.

To leave you all with another nugget, here's an article by the Guardian about non-English female writers are translated less than their male compatriots.

That's all for now.

Upcoming Events

A few wonderful things going on in Chicago in the next few weeks.

Raks Geek, founded by  Dawn Xiana Moon, has a show this Friday at 8pm at the Uptown Underground. The theme is "Monsters + Marvels." Their website notes about the show: 

"Join bellydancing Wookiees, firespinning superheroes, and hooping Borg for an unforgettable night of nerdiness and dancing! Raks Geek presents a brand-new show inspired by the X-Men, Star Wars, Silent Hill, Star Trek, Avengers, and more. Join in the geekery as we light things on fire!" For more information: http://raksgeek.com/#upcoming

Visual artist and make up artist Zsófia Ötvös is having a show at the Elephant Room Gallery on Sunday at 3pm. She is going "to introduce the Irma May series as never before..." 

Check out more information at https://www.facebook.com/events/980284312082390/

Edra Soto's piece "GRAFT" is on display at the Arts Club of Chicago as part of the Centennial Open House. For more information, check out: http://www.artsclubchicago.org/the-arts-club-of-chicago-at-100-open-house/

That's all for now!

Upcoming Art Events!

Lots of exciting events coming up!

Gabriella Boros will have several pieces up in several shows in Chicagoland and Milwaukee. Her piece “Crowding Out the Gift Horse” is in a show at Nixie Gallery in Skokie, 7925 Lincoln (just south of Oakton Street). The show opened on the 23rd and will end on February 12th. Check out the gallery website for more information: http://www.nixiegallery.com

Gabriella Boros has work in another show at the Union Street Gallery in Chicago Heights, 1527 Otto Boulevard as part of the Chicago Printmakers Collaborative Show. The opening is Friday the 29th from 6 to 9. Check out more information here: http://www.unionstreetgallery.org/

She has three prints from “Going Viral” in the show “Intimate Systems” at 100state, 30 West Mifflin, 6th floor, Madison, Wisconsin. The show opens on February 6th from 1-5. For more information, check out: http://100state.com/

Tomeka Reid, cellist extraordinaire, will be performing on February 17th at 7pm at the Mary & Leigh Block Museum of Arts in Evanston as part of A Feast of Astonishments, an exhibition about Charlotte Moorman, “a groundbreaking, rule-bending artist, musician, and advocate for the experimental art of her time.” It should be an amazing performance and exhibition. Check out more information: http://www.blockmuseum.northwestern.edu/muse/Participate/2016/charlotte-moorman-opening.html

Hull House Museum still has “Into Body Into Wall” exhibit up featuring The 96 Acres Project with Maria Gaspar. It’s up until February 29th. The project “uses the wall of Cook County Jail to look at architectures of power and incarceration. The project investigates the wall as a social, political, psychological and physical frame, imagines and reflects on new alternatives, and grapples with personal stories from both sides of the wall.” Check out more information here: http://www.hullhousemuseum.org/intobody/

Honey Pot Performance with Meida Teresa McNeal  will be presented /Shift/: First Annual Benefit Gala to support future performances of HPP on February 27th. The event will take place at Stony Island Arts Bank at 6:30pm. Check out the website: http://honeypotperformance.virb.com/

Conversation with Mairin Hartt

Since I’ve been working on this project for over a year and a half with over 50 interviews, I think now is a good time to return to the very first interview with visual artist and educator Mairin Hartt. Below is a little taste of our conversation.

I asked her about her interest in the random or disorder and she explained about entropy:

“Ok, it’s not necessarily referred to as the theory of entropy but one of the ideas of entropy that I learned in classes in college was… the second law of thermodynamics, I believe, that everything uses the least amount of energy for the most amount of output... The other law of entropy is that everything slowly moves towards entropy. Everything eventually loses energy. One of my professors was saying basically if you look at these two laws, life shouldn’t exist because it doesn’t make sense if it requires energy to be life. So that idea kinda caught on me. So anytime I see entropy I see as this weird balance between entropy and not entropy, or existence and nonexistence. So I guess a crack in a sidewalk doesn’t look like disorder if you think of it as just water slowly breaking rock over time. It’s an interesting thought to me.”

We continued on with this theme of disorder and the sublime when we talked about her ink and glass MFA Project:

“That came about because I was having lots of talks about the sublime. For those who don’t know, the sublime is an idea… of the Romanticists that nature was this awesome, frightening, empowering thing all at the same time. A lot of the literature that talks about sublime references skies and oceans, things that bigger than the human being or bigger than the viewer. And so a lot of my professors would go sublime has to be big, sublime; [it] has to be big. And I would go ‘No no, it doesn’t necessarily have to be big.’

“A large part of my MFA was making works that I could prove that the sublime could be small. The ink pieces came out from me  just playing around with ink and glass slides that I found from American Science and Surplus, which is always fun. And then I built the boxes, which took a long time, viewing boxes that were backlit just sort of to encompass the viewer’s peripheral vision so there was no sense of size or scale. So the little miniature thing, which before didn’t see all that interesting or..intimidating, but when you take away sign of size, it could be anything. It could be microscopic or macroscopic. So I wanted to show that something small could be sublime if you put it in the right context or depending on what it is. There is a small snippet of one text talking about the infinite micro being sublime, because it’s so small, you can’t see it…

“[It] was basically India ink on drafting film, which It’s hard to explain. It’s basically sheets of plastic that can absorb ink to a certain extent... I liked translucent aspect of it that light could fall through; [it] made a  glowing effect. I think someone mentioned it reminded them of stained glass, which is something I didn’t think about. I guess in that way, it does emphasize the traditional sublime. When you put it together, it’s bigger than you.

“And it’s also blue. Every example that I did research on I’ve read about, all these examples, everything was pretty much blue. And I couldn’t figure it out why until I realized that all the authors and Romanticists usually referred to the sky and ocean, which are blue. It kinda makes sense that blue would be the color people chose. But that's mostly creating sort of playing around an amorphous thing.

“It was interesting cause I asked people’s reactions to it. I was trying to make something a little intimidating. I was asking if people would describe this as sublime. It turns out that a lot of people have a lot of very different feelings on what would be sublime. Some people said ‘Oh I should be more frightened.’ Some people say it should be more comforting. It should be darker or it should be lighter. It was very interesting. Because sublime wasn’t this just one thing. It was sort of a more messy grouping of horror and joy. All these things put together. Some people wanted to have more a joyful experience; people wanted to be frightened by it. One guy said it scared him and he didn’t want to get too close to it. I got a variety of reactions. It was interesting. I did it just to see what would happen.”

That’s just a small part of a wondrous interview.

Check out Mairin Hartt’s work at http://mairinhartt.com/home.html

Upcoming Art Events

October is going to be an exciting month. So many artists will be opening their work. Here are two of many events featuring artists who have participated in the project.

First, Yoko Noge and Jazz Me Blues will play a free concert at International House, University of Chicago, 1414 E. 59th Street at 5:30 on Friday 2nd. The event is co-sponsored by International House Global Voices Program.

For more information, check out: http://ihouse.uchicago.edu

Second, Carron Little and Judie Anderson will both be presenting work at the Beverly Art Walk on October 3rd. Judie Anderson will be holding Open Studio so check out her amazing work. Carron Little will debut her Neighborhood Magic.  More information about her piece here: http://www.beverlyarts.org/events/neighborhood-magic-carron-little-featured-artist-beverly-art-walk-2015/

Check out more information about the Art Walk here: http://www.beverlyarts.org/

There's a lot going on in the next few weeks. These are just two of many awesome art events you should check out!

A Beautiful Summer Day Talk with Zsofia Otvos

I recently completed the 25th interview with Zsofia Otvos in mid-June. Zsofia Otvos is a painter and makeup artist extraordinaire, who has worked on movies like Divergent, TV shows like Sirens, and as the resident makeup artist for Chicago theater Trap Door Theatre.

I asked how she would define herself as an artist. She explained: “I call myself a character maker. What I’m most interested in both makeup and painting is creating characters, bringing something from nothing, and making it happen. In terms of makeup, that might be part of the storytelling, maybe there’s an arch in the story when the character becomes super happy, then gets very depressed, so on. Maybe I can alter his foundation, maybe his eyebrows I can manipulate. I like to do those subtle differences that will read slightly differently on camera.”

“In my visual art, in my paintings, my process and ideas are different because obviously they’re coming from my own inspirations. Lately, they are spur of the moment experiences. So that might be: I saw someone at the airport, or a coffee shop, wherever I may have seen them, I often sketch them right away. That may or may not become an actual painting. Once they do, I start recreating some of the characteristics in forms of sketches: Maybe the body position was very particular that I need capture or maybe their hairstyle, something that is very characteristic. The features are absolutely not important to me. The features are the result of something else. And it’s really the spirit of the experience that I am interested in capturing. That’s how I create character. I’m just a character maker.”

Later we talked about her work at the Trap Door Theater. She explained, “These tiny things can really be a big impact...I feel I don’t actually design the makeup. I just put on what’s missing. Because the [actors] are so expressive in their movement, I don’t feel like I do it; I’m just putting on what is 'already there' thru their expression. The [actors] are not visual artists, so they don’t see what is not there…..“How can you not see it?” (I wonder)…we just have different tools. They use their body and voice… for the same end I use colors and shapes. I’m not doing much at all... I feel like a bit of a cheater.  So, it is a lovely moment for me, when, for example, actor Marzena Bukowska said, ‘I got my character now.’ How are you telling me that? Your character is already so finished, so complete.

“But that’s a very good experience and reminder that my job is to help the actors arrive to who they need to be, whatever that is. It’s not so such about the makeup, their facial expression and body movement will always be more expressive than my work. But sometimes when the actor looks in a mirror, it is my work that may help them get to that point. An ignition key.”

You’ll have to stay tuned for the rest of this wonderful interview.

Check out her fine art: www.zsofiaotvos.com,

Check out her work in makeup: www.madeupfaces.com

Julia Haw: Her Philosophy and Chicago

Last week, we talked to Julia Haw about the proposed closure of the Illinois Art Museums. What a troubling time. This week, we are going to take a little peek at the interview that we had in December.

Back in December, I asked her about her work philosophy. She explained: “A lot of people are looking for a simple solution and a quick fix, or how to get from A to B very quickly. But it’s really about working (a lot) and it’s about steadiness. It’s about longevity. And what I’m really interested in, in being an artist, is the idea of longevity. I don’t want to be a flash pan artist or someone that just created a really great body of work and then was forgotten for many years. I’m interested in creating good works that are timeless and that will last in a historical context. So that’s number one.

“I’m also extremely supportive of the community. I love having these conversations. I get a lot out of it. So, yeah, I’m into supporting community. Back in the day of This is not the Studio (run by Claire Molek, Erin Babbin and Nick Jirasek on Marshfield Ave), we saw that in action, right?  It was just one of the coolest places in Chicago bringing together artists from all periods in their careers, working in all different media. There were conversations, dinners, fantastic provoking shows and so much fun. I think there are more spaces like that now - at that time, perhaps I just wasn’t as familiar with the artistic landscape, but the studio was really, really cool. It was kind of like what you’re doing, bridging all these different artistic modes of expression.”

I asked her more specifically about how Chicago has shaped her as artist. Julia told me: “A huge part of my work is activating conversation and bringing the public forum back. Artists in the 1920s and shit, they’d go to a bar in New York and brawl with each other and yell. Robert Rauschenberg was swinging a punch and it was just like: ‘Oh God, like that’s so spirited.’ I feel that energy in Chicago. Yeah, so I think that that’s definitely shaped at least the spirit of my work. It’s caused me not to be afraid, to really put something out there and just be like: ‘Fuck it, I’m going to do this whether you like it or not.’”

Julia Haw added an update about her exhibition at the IL State Museum in Lockport:

She told me: "Since the museum is still technically open (with no insurances to protect the works), there will be a one night only party and brand new painting reveal in response to Rauner's proposed budget cuts, July 30th, IL State Museum Lockport,6-10PM (music and drinks provided)  LONG LIVE CULTURE!!"

So check out the event on July 30th!

Check out her work here: http://www.juliahaw.com/

And if you haven't already, please consider signing the petition to save the Illinois Art Museums:  http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/governor-rauner-dont

Julia Haw: Art and Politics

Back in December, I interviewed Julia Haw, painter extraordinaire. She is one of many artists who are impacted by Governor Rauner’s plan to close the Illinois Art Museums as of July 1st. She showed her incredible series The Western Veil at the Chicago branch of the Illinois Art Museum and currently showing the series at the Lockport branch.

I asked her about how she will be impacted with this threatened closure of the Illinois Art Museums.

How has the threat of the closure of all the Illinois State Museums affected you? What will happen to your exhibition in Lockport?

Julia: The state of Illinois will not be covering the insurances to protect the artwork, starting July 1st. I am unsure at this time if this decision is temporary or the museums will have to find private protection. (Confusing since I found this on Reboot: “The Department will begin the process to suspend operations and close the five state museums to visitors. The state will continue to maintain and secure the museums to protect the artifacts and exhibits.” I don’t know how the museum plans to protect the artifacts without proper insurances, but for this particular reason all thirty works of mine currently hanging will be re-delivered to me the week of June 22nd. My show, a traveling exhibition titled The Western Veil was slated to be in the Lockport Illinois State Museum until mid August, with a party and book release July 31st. The book, to be published by Perch Press, is now on hold as well, as the museum had a private resource who was going to fund it, whom will not give funds until things are settled. I don’t know if the museums are going to close or remain open, but there is definitely a petition to sign!

As for why..... “House Speaker Mike Madigan, Senate President John Cullerton and their caucuses passed a budget for the 2016 fiscal year beginning July 1 that is nearly $4 billion in the hole,” said the governor’s office. (Chicago Sun Times) The democratic budget set for 2016 has been deemed “phony,” thus Rauner is making these cuts to save $400 million. “The governor has declared all-out war on the citizens of the state of Illinois because he’s peeved with the Democratic majorities in the House and Senate,” Lang said, adding: “It’s a path that’s carefully chosen to strike at the values and principles of what the majority of the members of the Legislature believe in.” (Chicago Sun Times)

On February 18th, in the 2016 Illinois Operating Budget Book, Tim Nuding, Director of the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget states, “The morale of our citizens is low, and many Illinoisans are down on Illinois. A 2014 Gallup poll found that 1 in 4 Illinois citizens believe our state is the worst state to live in - by far the highest percentage of any other state in the country. Only 3 percent of Illinoisans said ours was the best state in which to live - the lowest of any state. About half of Illinoisans say they would leave Illinois if they could - that’s the highest percentage of any other state. United Van Lines’ 2014 National Movers Study lists Illinois as the third highest outbound state, meaning that more people are moving out of Illinois than out of 47 other states. Illinoisans have the lowest trust in their state government, with only 28 percent of respondents saying they trust their government while the national figure is almost 60 percent.” (I wonder why!!)

Please see the FULL 2016 Budget Book here. (http://www.scribd.com/doc/262704484/Fy-2016-Illinois-Operating-Budget-Book) (Notice the Illinois Arts Council on here as well. I know many artist friends spent hours applying for grants through the council only to receive a message like this:

“Dear Julia Haw,

The Illinois Arts Council Agency was not able to proceed with the review of the application you submitted for a fellowship in Visual Arts. Unfortunately, funds appropriated for the program are no longer available.On behalf of the Council and staff of the Illinois Arts Council Agency, thank you for your interest in participating in the programs and services of this State agency.

Sincerely,

Shirley R. Madigan and Tatiana Gant”

Read here about how Rauner’s cuts will impact the state: http://wgntv.com/2015/06/02/gov-rauner-prepares-closures-spending-cuts-if-no-budget-okd/

2. With this new climate in Illinois, have you been impacted in other ways by this cut to arts funding?

As I mentioned above, the state has slowly been pulling funds from the Illinois Arts Council this year and I started noticing it when the laborious grants I worked on were responded to by a three sentence email stating the funds had run dry. I will be applying for funds elsewhere now, such as through Artadia, a non-profit that awards unrestricted amounts ranging from $5K - $20K in the cities of Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. 

Through this whole process, I am still very up in spirit. I am taking everything as it comes. I see this as an opportunity to talk about what is happening, why and how we can take a stand for ourselves and for our artists! As for the work coming down, look - I’ve created an amazing body of work, and sold over half the series to private collectors. In the meantime if the state cannot provide, or refuses to provide, we have to seek alternate means, while still making ourselves heard!

I offer simple solutions:

• Inform ourselves.

• Stop saying “Our hands are tied.”

• Raise our voices. This means using constructive means, like petitions and writing, sharing information, or creating work expressing our opinions.

• Find permanent solutions, rather than temporary ones.

• Hold art to the highest esteem. This is our cultural foundation!

John Lustig, the director of the Lockport Illinois State Museum, and who I have been working with for the past two years has met with the mayor of Lockport just this week. The mayor is a fan of my work and says “Julia still has her date of July 31st. The band is booked.” I don’t know what this means just yet since the work is coming down... but this could be an opportunity for something different, something right in the vein of what I’ve always done, something a bit wild.... So YES - there is still a party date on July 31st. And I really hope to see you there..... TBD!!!!!!

###

Thank you Julia for your critical perspective on this troubling threat to cultural institutions in Illinois. So please consider signing the petition against the closure of the Illinois State Museums.

Sign it here: http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/governor-rauner-dont
Check out Julia Haw’s work (including her exhibition threatened by the closure) here: http://www.juliahaw.com/

Interview with Rebecca Wolfram

This past week, I met Rebecca Wolfram, a prolific painter and curator of the “The Museum of Objects Left on the Sidewalk.” Several of her paintings depict a variety of violence perpetrated by humans against one another and even against animals. I asked her about this choice to depict these activities. She told me this absolutely incredible story about the origin of her series “We Are Capable People,” that depicts the dark side of human activity. She told me: “ “One night, I was walking along and there were these two guys. One was down on the sidewalk and the other one was over him ready to smash him. They were fighting... And so, I kinda froze and I said something like: ‘Is everything okay?’ trying to intervene a little bit. The one who was ready to pop the other one, he turned to me, very savage, he looked very bestial and savage, almost drooling, and he says, ‘We are capable people here! We don’t need your help. We are capable people here.’ Okay...So I backed off. But I loved what he said. That’s what it means to me. We are capable people. Yeah, what are we capable of?” What an incredible story.

We also talked about her series of drawings and paintings of dead rats. She told me that “People really respond to them. Some people hate them.” The inspiration behind the series originated when she came across a dead rat in the snow, “almost iridescent cause it was rotting.” It struck her that this was a living creature so she drew a picture of it. “People treat this rat like it’s garbage. They don’t treat all animals like garbage. It’s certain rats, especially rats, are just treated like garbage. People hate rats. ‘Just kill them. Get rid of them.’ Disrespect them completely. Yet, it’s common knowledge that rats are very intelligent…” The distinction between rats and other reviled creatures and beloved creatures seems so arbitrary. When she sees a dead rat, she feels compelled doing a drawing of in her sketchbook. This remarkable series of painting and drawings is giving dignity to the animal and its death.

Inside her home, Rebecca Wolfram also showed me some incredible wooden sculptures that she built from found wood. One was human sized person that originated when she found a discarded accordion folder. Now it serves as the guts of this beautifully painted sculpture. The outside is painted like skin, while the inside shows the internal organs.  She showed me a painted wooden dog on a skateboard that had began when she found a piece of wood that looked like a dog’s head. Very neat!

I asked about “The Museum of Objects Left on the Sidewalk.” The museum started in 2005 when she found some items to display. She found it irritating to see garbage just thrown on the street. She had the inspiration to put exhibits of the things found on the streets. She aptly said, “When you make something an exhibit, suddenly it takes on a quality of specialness.” She found some a headboard from a bed from the alley and put it on the fence and put exhibits up. She told me, “It was a big hit.” People in the neighborhood would contribute things; she made labels with her next door neighbor's’ kids. Over time, things began to decay. A few years ago, she and a neighbor built some solid shelves that are still there today.

Wolfram explained that the museum has become sort of a landmark in the neighborhood. She was surprised that everyone knew about the museum. Initially, she didn’t think of it as art project. She thought of it as “a museum, a community museum of stuff on the sidewalk.” Some of the more unusual things left included a dead lizard, a beautiful wooden box of sea shells and polished glass, and a shark made from hanger wire. Wolfram also talked about how proud people are about the things they contribute to the museum.A wooden plaque of a beautiful bird was one day left in the museum. Later, she got a visit from two ladies who wanted her to know that they had left it for the museum. People take a special pride in it.

At the end of my visit, I got a lovely guided tour of the Museum. She showed me a man’s grey/brown shoe that had been in the museum for awhile. Then it disappeared one day and then reappeared. There was a small drawing that she had done of the shoe above it. Two boots had dirt and plants growing out of them. The two Frida Kahlo paintings that had been placed there a week ago had disappeared since the morning. Alas. That’s how the museum goes. I decided that I had to contribute something to the Museum. I had a John Hancock Swizzle stick in my bag that I offered up as tribute to this wonderful museum.

Check out  her work at her website: http://benigngirl.org/