Community: feminist.bloggers@brooklynmuseum

Although she’s been settling into her fabulous new position as the National Programs Manager at ArtTable for a few months now, CONGRATULATIONS are past due for Melissa Messina (a.k.a. Wilma, Shirley, Susan B. Anthony), our former Research Assistant! So amazing was Melissa that there is absolutely no way that the Center could have opened in March 2007 without her dedication, good humor, enthusiasm, and, quite frankly, her workacoholism! While we miss seeing Melissa bounding around the Museum in her fashionable clothes and high heels on a daily basis, we are thrilled that she remains integrally connected to the Center as the current curator of the Votes for Women exhibition in the Herstory Gallery, opening February 16th. Stay tuned for more on this landmark exhibition, as well as some blogging from the curator herself, throughout the Spring and Summer!

Melissa posing as Wonder Woman, our favorite heroine! (Artwork by Mike Sekowsky, circa early 1970s. Copyright DC Comics)

Before coming to the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, Melissa Messina earned her MFA from Pratt Institute where she received the Presidential Merit Award in Painting. While there, she coordinated the 2005–06 Visiting Artist Lecture Series, which featured such artists as Vanessa Beecroft, Mariko Mori, Judy Pfaff, and Joan Snyder. During this time, she also worked as a Curatorial and Sales Associate for a private dealer in New York specializing in modern abstraction. Prior to moving to New York, Messina was hired by the City of Atlanta Bureau of Cultural Affairs as an independent curator and executed several regional and national group exhibitions for their public art galleries, City Gallery East and City Gallery at Chastain. In Atlanta, she was also Assistant Director at Comer Art Advisory, LLC, in 2004, and a Curatorial and Marketing Associate for the art consulting firm, Barkin-Leeds Ltd., 2001–2003. She recently was the Assistant Curator to Ernesto Pujol for the exhibition Mediating America (June 2006) at the Center on Contemporary Art, Seattle, and was invited to jury the exhibition Adam’s Rib Eve’s Air in Her Hair (January 2007) at the feminist art gallery SOHO20 in Chelsea. Her own artwork has been exhibited in museums and galleries in the Southeast, New England, and New York.

Thank you Panelists!

On Saturday, July 21st, a panel discussion was held in the Forum of the Center on The Future of Feminist Art. Four artists, each from different backgrounds, made up the panel: Sheila Pepe, Jaishri Abichandani, Erica Cho, and Em 16. Laimah Osman and Felix Endara, two editors from the queer feminist magazine riffRAG, moderated the event. We would like to thank the panelists, the moderators, and the many who attended the event for a energetic and fascinating discussion!

(from left: Laimah Osman, Jaishri Abichandani, Em 16, Sheila Pepe, Erica Cho)

(from left: Felix Endara, Laimah Osman, Jaishri Abichandani, Em 16, Sheila Pepe, Erica Cho)

(Elizabeth Sackler & Craig Barnes)

We would like to extend a gracious THANK YOU! to our speaker Craig S. Barnes for Saturday’s insightful lecture, In Search of the Lost Feminine: Decoding the Myths That Radically Reshaped Civilization. We hope everyone enjoyed it as much as we did! For those of you who did not make it, or wish to read more, check out Craig’s website here or order his book here.

(Craig’s lecture)

(Craig signing books)

We would like to CONGRATULATE our former Exhibitions Research Assistant, Amy Brandt, on her new position as Assistant to the Directors of Arts Administration at Pace Wildenstein Gallery. Amy spent a year here at the Center working amazingly hard on the Global Feminisms exhibition. We are forever indebted to her and wish her all the best at her new post! We miss you Amy!

After receiving her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Art History and French from the University of Michigan, Amy Brandt lived and studied in Paris, France, for three years. She obtained a License degree from the University of Paris IV-La Sorbonne in 2003 and went on to complete a Master of Arts degree, also in Art History, from Tufts University in 2005. She is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Modern and Contemporary Art History at the Graduate Center of City University of New York. During her undergraduate years, she worked as a Preparator’s Assistant for the University of Michigan Museum of Art. In Massachusetts, she was a Graduate Assistant at the Tufts University Art Gallery and an intern at the List Visual Arts Center. Prior to coming to the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center, Brandt was Curatorial Assistant to Lisa Dennison, Director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, for New York, New York: Fifty Years of Art, Architecture, Photography, Film, and Video (July 2006), co-curated by Germano Celant for the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco.

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!