Community: feminist.bloggers@brooklynmuseum

This Saturday, June 2, 2007
2–4 p.m.
Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Auditorium, 3rd floor

Come hear Feminist icon, Faith Ringgold discuss her groundbreaking work from the 1960s to the present!

Faith Ringgold’s inspiring and often humorous stories illustrate her personal journey and beliefs as an artist, activist, author, teacher, and parent. Her talk focuses on art and activism from the 1960s and 1970s to the present, and how she came to use painting, fabrics, quilt-making, and storytelling to create an extensive body of work containing paintings, soft sculpture, masks, and performances. And, after her talk, come be inspired by Faith Ringgold’s talk and create your very own quilt square in the Museum’s Beaux-Arts Court.

For more information on Ringgold’s work, please visit her profile on our Feminist Art Base where you’ll find a biography and lots of images.

We hope to see you Saturday!

• Another artist in Global Feminisms is having a solo show (this feature is sounding redundant, no?!), Ryoko Suzuki has a show, Anikora-Seifuku/uniform, at Zeit-Foto Salon in Tokyo (see photo above). Yeah, we wish we could be in Japan to see it too! It runs through June 7th…if you get the chance to see it, let us know!

• Another place I’d like to visit this long weekend is New Mexico. If I were there, I would definitely see the Helen Frankenthaler & Holly Roberts show, Sin & Soul, at Zane Bennett Contemporary Art. This show closes June 4th.

But since I’ll be in town, I’ll check out the following and recommend you do the same…

• In our backyard is Sue Johnson’s show, Animated Nature, at the Steinhardt Conservatory Gallery at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden (through June 17th); Kathe Burkhart, The Liz Taylor Series: Selections from 1983-2007, at Alexander Gray Associates (through June 23rd); and Bitforms Gallery (where our dear former intern Emily Bates now works!) to see their Summer 2007 Group Show which features, among others, Lynn Hershman Leeson (and while I’m there, I’ll remind them that they need to carry more women artists!).

Global Feminisms Remix
On View August 3, 2007 - February 3, 2007

Forty-four works selected from Global Feminisms will once again be on view at the Brooklyn Museum in the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art. Like its widely praised predecessor, Remix seeks to challenge the dominance of European and American contemporary art and explore such issues as racial and gender identity, politics, and oppression.

Remix assembles works by 40 women artists, who represent countries that are seldom involved in the contemporary art discourse such as Guatemala, Kenya, Pakistan, Thailand, Korea, India. The wide range of media employed in the exhibition includes paintings, sculpture, photography, works on paper, and video.

In this exhibition, many of the artworks are infused with political activism. From Afghanistan, Lida Abdul is represented by a single-channel video White House (2005), which shows the artist white-washing a building in bombed-out Kabul. Sigalit Landau, an Israeli video artist, swings a barbed wire hula-hoop around her naked, bloody stomach in which pain symbolizes the geographical barrier created along the West Bank. Regina José Galindo is seen making a bloody footprint with each step as she walks from the Court of Constitutionality to the National Palace in Guatemala City in memory of murdered Guatemalan women, in her performance video Who Can Erase the Traces? (2003). While other exhibiting artists’ themes are not as politically charged, they do create intense, emotive works that celebrate social freedoms or confront oppression. From Japan, Miwa Yanagi’s photograph from My Grandmothers series, depicts an elderly model with flaming-red hair riding sidecar on a motorcycle driven by her young lover. Japanese artist Ryoko Suzuki contributes a mural-sized installation of three photographs in which her face is bound tightly by pig’s intestines, where she is bullied into a kind of mute, anonymous submission.

Among the artists represented are Ghada Amer (Egypt), Arahmaiani (Indonesia), Pilar Albarracín (Spain), Pipilotti Rist (Switzerland), Tracey Moffatt (Australia), Lilibeth Cuenca Rasmussen (Denmark), and Tracey Rose (South Africa), Adriana Varejão (Brazil).

(Images top to bottom: Miwa Yanagi, Yuka, 2000; Lida Abdul, White House, 2005)

A HUGE, HEARTFELT THANK YOU TO OUR SUPPORTERS!First, we’d like to extend an extra special THANK YOU to the women of A Place at the Table, and especially Susan Grabel, who made the celebration here at the Brooklyn Museum on Saturday, May 19th so much fun–and meaningful! We appreciate their support and know everyone had a great time! We also can’t wait to link the blog to some video footage from the event as well! Thank you to Niki DiCesare of Bella Films and her crew for all their hard work on that. In the meantime, above are some fun photos of the event showing performances by Phoebe Legere, The Brazilian Sisters and Vernita N’Cognita. We also wish to thank all the women who signed the advertisement supporting the initiative at the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art in the May Gallery Guide! What a kind and thoughtful gesture!

The exhibition in the Herstory Gallery, Pharaohs, Queens, & Goddesses, has been extended to January 20, 2008. The show, dedicated to powerful female pharaohs, queens and goddesses from Egyptian history, was inspired by The Brooklyn Museum’s extraordinary Egyptian collection, and includes figures represented in Judy Chicago’s The Dinner Party such as, Hatshepsut, Cleopatra, Nefertiti, Tiye, Isis, Tefnut, Hathor, and Neith. This exhibition is co-curated by Maura Reilly, the Center’s curator, and Edward Bleiberg, Curator of Egyptian, Classical, and Ancient Middle Eastern Art for the Museum. Further objects pertaining to the show can also be found in the long-term exhibition Egypt Reborn.

(Image: Amulet in Form of Hathor Head Inscribed for Hatshepsut. Egypt. New Kingdom. Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn Museum Collection, 61.192.)

Our new Feminist Art Base currently has over 125 profiles and it is growing daily! We’re super jazzed because as far as we know, there is NO other digital archive dedicated to feminist art out there on the web! It’s a great source for other artists, curators, teachers or just art lovers! And depending on the artist and her/his preferred medium, each profile contains images, video and audio clips–so it’s really fun searching and exploring the database, which we lovingly refer to in-house as the F.A.B.

You can also learn all about each artist’s career by reading her/his bio and CV. And, most importantly, in the artist’s own words, how s/he or her/his work relates to feminism and/or feminist art in the mandatory requirement for each profile, the Feminist Artist Statement.

The Feminist Art Base features feminist pioneers such as Hannah Wilke, Carolee Schneeman, Faith Ringgold; international artists such as Tsuneko Taniuchi (b. Japan; lives in France) and Sutapa Biswas (b. India; lives in England); and a newer generation of feminist artists such as Ximena Zomosa and Aïda Ruilova.

See work from various points in a feminist career such as in Betye Saar’s, Joan Snyder’s, or Harmony Hammond’s profile; or discover someone who is new to the scene like Yun Bai or Swoon. There are also some really rare finds like impossible to locate videos by Mako Idemitsu or Joan Jonas. Where else can you see those for free?

Bottom line, feminist art rocks! And the Feminist Art Base is an ever-growing archive that demonstrates that.

Spread the word! And stay tuned!

(Images Top to Bottom: Hannah Wilke, Rosebud, 1976; Betye Saar, The Liberation of Aunt Jemima, 1972. Joan Jonas; Lines in the Sand, 2002.)

In conjunction with Global Feminisms, 46 out 88 international artists featured in the exhibition discussed or performed their works in the Forum of the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art. These artist talks took place during the Center’s opening weekend, March 23–25, 2007.

Videos of the Artist Talks have now been posted!

Also of note, if you are looking for a list of works in the Global Feminisms exhibition, we’ve posted an illustrated exhibition checklist on the Global Feminisms exhibition page.

Pics from May’s Target First Saturday have been posted to Flickr.

Yet another artist in Global Feminisms is having a solo show! Mary Coble will be performing a new piece, Aversion, at Conner Contemporary Art in D.C. on Friday, May 18th. An installation of video and photographs of the performance will be on view through June 30th. (Image courtesy of the Artist and Conner Contemporary Art.) In her opening night performance, Coble will attach electrodes to herself to recreate the severe effects of electric shock aversion therapy. The artist will simultaneously present a video narrative of experiences of gays and lesbians to whom this psychiatric treatment was forcibly administered with the objective of re-conditioning their sexual orientation. There will also be an artist’s talk, Discuss VIII, on Thursday, May 24th at 7pm between Mary and Andy Grundberg, Chair of Photography & Photojournalism at Corcoran College of Art & Design. Mary also has a profile on our Feminist Art Base.

We would also like to congratulate Ghada Amer, also in Global Feminisms, on her solo show at Museo d’Arte Contemporanea Roma in Italy! The show runs through September 2007. To see more of Ghada’s work you can also check out her Feminist Art Base profile.

Exhibitions opening this week include Janaina Tschäpe at Sikkema Jenkins & Co. opening Wednesday, May 16th and running through June 22nd.

Nancy Grossman has a solo show of drawings on view at Michael Rosenfeld Gallery opening May 19th and running through July 27th. You can also see more of Nancy’s work on her Feminist Art Base profile.

A show which recently opened on May 10th (running through June 16th) is Joan Mitchell: Works on Paper 1956 – 1992 Cheim & Read. The show, presented in cooperation with the Joan Mitchell Foundation, is comprehensive survey of Joan Mitchell’s works on paper from this time period and is accompanied by a full-color catalogue with an essay by John Yau. (Image courtesy of Cheim & Read.)

The Dorsky Gallery Curatorial Programs in Long Island City is presenting an exhibition, After the Revolution: Women Who Transformed Contemporary Art, which features work by Marina Abramovic, Louise Bourgeois, Ellen Gallagher, Ann Hamilton, Jenny Holzer, Elizabeth Murray, Shirin Neshat, Judy Pfaff, Dana Schutz, Cindy Sherman, Kiki Smith and Nancy Spero. The exhibition is curated by Eleanor Heartney, Helaine Posner, Nancy Princenthal and Sue Scott and runs through June 29. A panel discussion with the curators will be held on Sunday, May 20th from 2:30 – 4:00pm. To RSVP call 718-937-6317 or email bea@dorsky.org. The book, of the same title, will be available this month through Prestel Publishing.

Shows closing this week include Dana Schutz, Stand by Earth Man, at Zach Feuer Gallery which ends May 19th. The press release describes the paintings in this exhibition as “conceived as stories to our future selves, or miscues to that future.” A must see!

Sherrie Levine closes at Paula Cooper Gallery on May 25th. The show is being held at Paula Cooper Gallery’s new exhibition space at 465 West 23rd Street. It includes two new bronze sculpture groups cast from found objects, as well as a bronze cast of a steer skull from 2002, and a suite of twenty-four found postcards from 2000.

Also, don’t miss the show Fuerza Argentinos at SOHO20 Chelsea Gallery which includes four feminist artists from Argentina and runs through May 19th.

A final “Not To Be Missed” event–especially since it is 4 days only!!—is A Place at The Table at the 440 Invitational Feminist Exhibition running Thursday, May 17 - Sunday, May 20, 2007; opening reception: Thursday, May 17th from 6- 9 pm. Artists are: Olga Alexander, Audrey Anastasi, Racheal Budde, Susan Grabel, Julie Mcconnell, Nelleke Nix, Julie Pochron, Virginia Reath, April Renae, Connie Robinson, Flora Rocco, Jenny Tango and Elyse Taylor. 440 Gallery is located at 440 Sixth Avenue (between 9th & 10th Streets), Park Slope, Brooklyn. For more info, call: 718-499-3844

Susan Grabel and an amazing group of feminists have organized a gathering, A Place At The Table, to celebrate the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art. Everyone at the Center and Museum wishes to thank them for their support. We hope everyone reading this will come join in the fun here at the Museum. There will be refreshments, performances, and extended viewing hours for the Center, on Saturday, May 19th, 6-9pm! For more details click here.

Also happening this weekend at the Museum, art historian Gail Levin and artist Becca Albee will engage in an intergenerational dialogue about feminism in a Bridging the Gap lecture to be held at The Forum in the Center on May 19th from 2-4pm.

You may also be interested in checking out Gail Levin’s lecture on Monday, May 21st at Sotheby’s at 4pm where she will be discussing her latest book, Edward Hopper: An Intimate Biography (just out in a 2nd expanded edition from Rizzoli). She will also touch on the role played by his artist wife, Josephine Nivison Hopper, whose work was discarded in the early 1970s by a major museum. The talk will be held at 1334 York Ave, New York, 10021, 7th floor, followed by book signing and reception. It is free and open to the public.

And finally, we are thrilled to have all of our Global Feminisms Artists Talks, which took place during opening weekend, now available on our Flickr page. They will soon be made available on the Brooklyn Museum website as well–stay tuned! They all rock! So get comfortable because there are 46 of them! (Artist featured in image is Kate Beynon.)

• Julia Loktev, whose work is featured in Global Feminisms, will have her latest work, a feature film, Day Night Day Night, premiere this Wednesday, May 9, at IFC Center. Come see the film and bring your friends!

• Another artist in Global Feminisms, Wangechi Mutu, is having a solo show opening May 9th at the ACA Gallery at the Savannah College of Art and Design. The show, The Cinderella Curse, runs through June 24th. Check out more of Wangechi’s work on her Feminist Art Base profile.

• Afro-Cuban feminist artist Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons is having a full-scale survey of her work, Everything is Separated by Water, at the Indianapolis Museum of Art running until June 3rd. You can also see some of her work on her Feminist Art Base profile.

• Another artist featured in our Feminist Art Base to have a current solo show is Orly Cogan. Her exhibition, …and don’t forget to rescue the princess!, runs from May 4th to the 27th at Projects Gallery in Philadelphia, PA. Check it out and see more of her work on her FAB profile.

• There is a major survey of Louise Nevelson’s work which just opened May 5th at The Jewish Museum, The Sculpture of Louise Nevelson: Constructing a Legend. The Brooklyn Museum is pleased to have lent to this amazing show! The exhibit, which runs through September 16th, will hold a panel discussion, Knowing Nevelson on Thursday, May 10th at 6:30. For more information about the show or the discussion, click here.

• For our “Not To Be Missed” section, we would like to mention Cindy Nemser’s exhibition Women’s Work: Homage to Feminist Art at the Tabla Rasa Gallery in Brooklyn. The show features work by artists from the second and third-wave and is coming down soon–May 13th, so check it out. Nemser is the author of the book Art Talk: Conversations with 15 Women Artists. The artists include: Barbara Hepworth, Sonia Delaunay, Louise Nevelson, Lee Krasner, Alice Neel, Grace Hartigan, Eva Hesse, Lila Katzen, Eleanor Antin, Audrey Flack, Nancy Grossman, Betye Saar, Isabel Bishop and Janet Fish. We recommend this book for any feminist library!

• We would also like to congratulate Audrey Flack on the installation of her sculpture Veritas et Justitia at the Thirteenth Judicial Courthouse in Tampa FL. We discovered in the May issue of Art in America that after the sculpture was installed the poet-laureate of Tampa, James E. Tokley, Sr., was inspired by the work and wrote a poem in its honor. Learn more about Flack’s sculpture project and her other work on her Feminist Art Base profile.

• Last but not least, we would like to congratulate Dena Muller, former Director of A.I.R. Gallery, on her new position as Executive Director of ArtTable. To learn more about ArtTable click here.