Women & Identity Group Exhibition
May 7 - June 30, 2011
Women & Identity Group Show is dedicated to the concept of women artists creating a vibrant and supportive community with each other.
Artists include Ximena Alarcon, Sadee Brathwaite, Susan Bottrell, Victoria Gibson, Leslie Greene, Jan Harrison,
Julie Hedrick, Lynn Herring, Ione, Shirley Parker-Benjamin, Julia Santos-Solomon, Suiren and Julia White.
Women & Identity Group Show 2011 from Deep Listening Institute on Vimeo.
XIMENA ALARCON
Sounding Underground
Ximena Alarcón is a UK-based Colombian artist who focuses on listening to social context related sound, connecting it to individual and collective memories. She nourishes her practice with ethnography, looks for expression in voice and body, and uses networking technologies as resources to interconnect different locations and perspectives of life.
http://soundingunderground.org
SADEE BRATHWAITE
The female figures in my work connect to and stand for the universal female. All that is woman is celebrated. Her energies, thoughts, memories, dreams and spirit are explored, expressed and broken down through out my paintings. The ground space is a metaphor for the celestial universe and the figures in most pieces transcend ordinary portraiture.
As I build upon the theme “Cosmic Daughters” I take the concept of universal womanhood to a deeper spiritual level. The paintings serve as a reflection of each woman’s divine spark and honor unique differences as well as commonalities. They are an intensive exploration of the belief that all women are daughters of divinity regardless of color, race, or ethnicity. As I paint the many faces of women I unite with a larger understanding of humanity. This expression allows me to divulge aspects of myself and my connection to womanhood.
Biomorphic forms, expressing different states of being and emotions, serve as a parallel to the human form and are often combined with the figure in the work. At times they go unnoticed and at others they are highlighted through color. These forms along with the female figure reveal many facets of archetypal beings who exist eternally in the cosmos. The paintings are larger than we are and yet somehow are us, existing in multiple spaces, communicating and embodying portraiture in a new form.
Sadee Brathwaite, is an artist, curator and arts advocate. Her drawings and paintings explore issues of beauty, universal womanhood and the metaphysical. Often combining realistic representation with abstract imagery her work dwells in many realms.
VICTORIA GIBSON
Woman: in the flesh
Hindu philosophy sees each of us as containing five layers; the least refined, outside layer is the sheath of food. The inner layers are more related to spiritual existence, breath and links to the divine. The sheath of food, my flesh, is the layer that defines my sex, in all other layers no fundamental difference between men and women is defined.
In the North American society that has shaped my development, my identity as a girl, then as a woman was often used as a constraint. Females did not ride motorcycles, play electric guitar or become expert in technology, yet, I did all of these activities. This led to a lot of gender confusion in my mind until, when I was in my 30's I created my own concept of womanhood. Since that time, I have decided that because I am certifiably female that activities I do are appropriate for a woman. I ignore criticism and societal definitions as much as possible.
In the 1950's and '60's girls were assigned roles based on their physical appearance. I was not in the ""pretty girl"" category, so I was encouraged to have a ""nice personality"" and be useful in the domestic realm. These attitudes persist, even though they are not current official policy. Now I am older, I am doubly excluded, as ageism compounds my lack of commercial appeal.
Images of women who are perceived as beautiful in the media are pervasive and most women are excluded from this category. I intend to portray my flesh in an artistic celebration of female definition and joy that is different from the images promoted by the beauty industry and commercial sources. My intention will be to offer an alternative portrayal that is more inclusive and allows women to feel themselves as beautiful.
Victoria Gibson is an Integrated Media Artist who is involved in visual, dance and musical performances. Although her core training is in music, much of her professional work has included other media. She has worked with Pauline Oliveros, Anthony Braxton, Phil Minton and Karen Jamieson among others. Victoria lives in Vancouver and received her BA from the University of British Columbia, Canada. http://vix.ca
LESLIE GREENE and SUSAN BOTTRELL
Crossing into the fabric of fate, the new exhibition of Susan Bottrell and Leslie Greene at the Gallery October is the result of work begun in 2004 with the first solo exhibition / It's a garden ... / Leslie Greene followed by the exhibitions / Coffee Club / (with Leslie Greene, Susan Bottrell and two other American painters working in Paris) in January 2007 and the exhibition devoted entirely to Susan Bottrell, / Susan / in January 2010.
Susan Bottrell's work is a correspondence, she gathers letters and fragments from her life. She takes a line for a walk: but her step is that of a tightrope walker. She weaves the lines of her paintings as she unravels the threads from fabric, unveiling sudden and poignant pictorial space. Susan Bottrell's painting, modern and alchemical, has a breathtaking contemporary effect.
Leslie Greene leads us into her painting and her relationship to the world with a highly constructed pictorial discourse. The forms are sensous, vibrant colors, with an interiority that's palpable. Both revealing and generous the paintings of Leslie Greene work by merging layers of acrylics and lines that mark the interior and exterior, giving voice to the ineffable.
http://susanbottrell.uing.net/, http://leslie.greene.free.fr/
JAN HARRISON
A lifelong kinship and identification with animals has given me empathy with the life force, and has helped me to express what it is to be here as a flesh and blood being. Through a close relationship with animals, I feel as if their bodies are the same as mine. Since the earliest drawings in the 1980’s, I have explored the interaction between the animal nature and the human psyche. Mysterious and intimate characters act within an inner landscape, similar to dreams.
There is a purity and a sacred/profane spirit in the animal nature, something we often overlook as humans, as we live in a technology driven, industrialized society.
The myth in my art is intuitively known in my body, and not based on recorded mythology. We are animals....Animals are within us. Animals are symbolic of the natural world. They possess knowledge and innocence, darkness and light. Their eyes invite us into their world.
Coming from sensual/spiritual desires, a metamorphosis happens as I caress the surface, using pastels, ink, wax, and clay, and working the surface with my hands.
In “The Corridor Series,” animals exist in both ecological and psychological corridors. They are taking a stand, vanishing and returning. They are on the outside, inviting you to either join them, or to invite them into the viewing realm. “The Corridor Series” is both autobiographical and universal, having to do with personal feelings of various states of empowerment, and, expressing the similar states and plight of the animal nature.
Since 1979, I have spoken and sung in “Animal Tongues,” which has been recorded, performed, and included in installations. It expresses the emotions and the mystery of the animal nature, and enables me to live and see clearly.
Jan Harrison’s paintings and sculptures involve empathy with the animal spirit and the animal/human interface. In addition to visual art, she performs in Animal Tongues.
Her art has been in over one hundred exhibitions in the United States and internationally, including Animal.Anima.Animus, in Finland, Holland, Canada, and PS1, New York. http://www.janharrison.net
JULIE HEDRICK
Red is the title of my most recent exhibition October 2010 . The Red series is an exploration of the colour an it's meaning, it is the colour of revolution passion birth creation union fire power eruption and revelation, a colour of our times.
Julie Hedrick is an artist and a poet originally from Canada she has been living in Kingston New York for a decade. She is represented by the Nohra Haime Gallery in New York and has exhibited her work throughout North and South America as well as Europe. juliehedrick.com
LYNN HERRING
In my most recent work, I have been delving deeper into performance and video. I'm interested in following a true connection to self and seeing how contemporary culture affects our state of being. I am working primarily with a camera and boxes to capture and contain states of consciousness.
Lynn Herring’s work explores relationship and identity through video and sculpture. She was born and raised in Chicago and recently relocated to Woodstock and has a studio in The Shirt Factory in Kingston. Lynn had been living and working in the NYC Metropolitan area for the past 20+ years and has been exhibiting her work there since 2005. She has been included in several juried shows – most recently the WAAM Museum “Far and Wide” show. She made her international debut in 2009, exhibiting a 3-video installation at the Pera Museum in Istanbul, Turkey. She has been in several shows at the Visual Arts Gallery in Chelsea. She was chosen to exhibit at the Artists Project in Chicago and has repeatedly exhibited in NYSG’s MISC Video and Performance shows on New York's trendy Lower East side. Lynn Herring graduated from the School of Visual Arts in 2008 where she received a BFA with Honors.
IONE
Ione is an author, playwright and poet whose works include the critically acclaimed memoir, Pride of Family Four Generations of American Women of Color, Nile Night, Remembered Texts from The Deep, Listening in Dreams and This is a Dream! She is the playwright and director of Njinga the Queen King, the dance opera Io and Her and the Trouble with Him, She is the director and writer of The Lunar Opera; Deep Listening For_Tunes, and Dreams of the Jungfrau, an experimental narrative film shot high in the Swiss Alps.
Ione is also an improvising spoken word performer and sound artist who performs frequently in the United States and internationally. A dedicated educator and counselor who specializes in dreams and the creative process, Ione conducts seminars and retreats throughout the world. She is the Director of the Ministry of Maåt, Inc an organization specializing in women and community and she is the Artistic Director of Deep Listening Institute, Ltd.
SHIRLEY PARKER-BENJAMIN
Star Women represents a journey of originative insight integrating dreams and technology. Each image is inspired by a dream sequence. A great deal of my art is informed by my experiences as a priestess. Accessing ritual space and subliminal states presents the opportunity for me to become totally immersed in the opus as reflected in this series. Working with an Ipad and Iphone, my fingers, a stylus, and various drawing and painting applications, I have been able to explore a multitude of techniques made available through technology. This medium affords me the ability to integrate various textures in a layered multidimensional format interspersed within each piece of work thereby allowing for unlimited creativity.
Shirley Parker-Benjamin is an interdisciplinary artist working in mixed media, assemblage, installation, sculpture and writer. Shirley is the Artistic Director and Founder of Ezili Sacred Arts located in the Cunneen- Hackett Arts Center in Poughkeepsie, New York.
As an artist, Shirley’s work has been shown at Kleinart James Art Center and Varga Gallery in Woodstock, New York , Long Island Children’s Museum, Brooklyn Children’s Museum, Unframed Gallery in New Paltz, New York and Aurora Healing Arts in Brooklyn, New York as well as in Havana, Cuba. She has conducted workshops as an Artist-in-Residence at the Zimmerli Museum at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ, Brooklyn Children’s Museum, Long Island Children’s Museum and The Ironbound Community Arts Program in Newark, New Jersey Shirley has received a Fellow/Artist-in-Residence at the Vermont Studio Center in Johnson, Vermont. www.eziliarts.com
JULIA SANTOS SOLOMON
Mujers de la Tierra, Mujers de la Playa explores the concept of identity in four generations of women in my family. I am reflecting on the effects of immigration, survival and gender. This exploration led me to work out of my comfort zone as a painter, to other mediums that best express our narrative, such as sculpture, installations and writing. The sculptures have been painted according to the palette of my family's roots in the Caribbean. There are no literal skin tones. The colors of the waterways, vegetation, seeds and flowers of the Dominican Republic are brought forth. Identity is not described merely by what we inherit from our ancestors, but of we inherit from the earth. The landscape and the person are one element, residing inside each other.
Julia Santos Solomon is one of the most successful contemporary Dominican artists on the landscape today. Her work is featured in museum collections and private collections throughout the world. The bright colors of the Caribbean landscape are an important vehicle for her expression. She portrays the mystery and beauty of the vegetation. Her work was recently featured in the art publication Acrylic Revolution (North Light Books, 2007). Visit her website www.juliasantossolomon.com
SUIREN
Directly working with sumi, china paint on paper, the process is like flying--soaring and rising within a completely open and free space inside one’s mind and heart.
Inspired by music from Flightpatterns, a CD by Open Graves--Paul Kikuchi, percussion, Jesse Olsen, guitar--with Stuart Dempster, trombone. The paintings are rendered in the moment in a totally unrestricted way, tapping deep into the unconscious to express the un-expressible. Exhilarating and transforming, the process reveals with complete honesty one’s innermost truth.
Suiren, her given artist name, a.k.a. Renko Ishida Dempster, born and brought up in San Francisco. Her work is influenced by Japanese aesthetics and Buddhist philosophy inherited from her parents. Upon moving to Seattle, Suiren engaged in formal art studies at Factory of Visual Art and University of Washington School of Art. Suiren’s work includes costume design/construction for theater pieces; performances of drawings with Seattle’s movement, sound, and visual arts collective ROOM; and various exhibitions in the Northwest including Seattle’s Northwest Asian American Theater’s RAW Gallery “Celebrating Year of the Dragon” (solo exhibition); Jack Straw New Media Gallery (Seattle) “Dream–Time–Pieces” (with musician Stuart Dempster); and Commencement Gallery in Tacoma “Drawn From…” (group show featuring Washington artists of Asian decent).
JULIA WHITE
My art form is sculpture that is reminiscent of trees and root systems that are wrapped with yarns, textiles and twines. Knotted and bent, each piece is unique as it reaches up to rest against the wall. Tall and vine-like, these colourful pieces form a corridor of sorts, almost as if they are growing out of the floor. In a way, the art itself is growing out of the fertile landscape of my imagination. First I go to the forest on my land to find a fallen tree that draws me to it...I then bring the tree to the studio where I begin to weave other elements in. This process of bending and welding the steel rods and binding and wrapping them together with the original tree is very primal and raw for me. I feel like a vine as I twist wires and fibres around and through the structure, growing myself through the process of creating. I enjoy this way of working so much; it feels like a series without end... I imagine rooms with rows of wildness created out of this work as it beckons the viewer to seek the wild within.
Julia White is primarily a sculptor who works with natural forms and processes that celebrate art as ritual. Her latest sculptures made of trees, roots, and steel wrapped in fabric, yarn, fleece and textiles speak to how we nourish our deep selves through creativity.www.juliawhite.ca
