ART MATTERS GROUP ON 12/7/08 UPCOMING EVENT

We will focus on the work of Louise Bourgeois at the next ART MATTERS GROUP potluck supper. Interested members are encouraged to view the current exhibition at MOCA Grand Avenue (opened 10/25 and runs thru 1/25/09). Spanning the distinguished career of one of the most important artists of our time, this major survey—the first tour in the United States in 25 years—presents an extensive and deeply symbolic body of work. See an impressive selection of over 150 works from the 1930s to the present—including Bourgeois’s best-known sculptures and large installations as well as early paintings and significant pieces from Los Angeles collections. We will also view a DVD about the artist.

Meeting will be at the Brentwood home of member KESA KIVEL. RSVP to Diane Destiny at dianedestiny@scwca.org to let her know you are coming and to request a packet of information about the exhibitions. All members are encouraged to attend. It’s fine to attend even if you haven’t seen all the suggested shows.

ART MATTERS GROUP ON 8/24/08

Recommended exhibitions: Contradictions and Complexities - contemporary Indian art by women at d.e.n. contemporary art and Western Project, Mami Wata: Arts for Water Spirits in Africa and Its Diasporas at UCLA Fowler Museum, Haegue Yang: Asymmetric Equality - multimedia installation by a Korean woman artist at Redcat Theatre Gallery and Marlene Dumas: Measuring Your Own Grave at MOCA Grand Avenue.

ART MATTERS GROUP ON 3/30/08

Recommended exhibitions: The Goat’s Dance: Photographs by Graciela Iturbide at the J. Paul Getty Museum; Kara Walker: My Complement, My Oppressor, My Love at the UCLA Hammer Museum; Spirits of LA and Tropics: A Contemporary View of Brazil, Cuba and Haiti at the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery.

ART MATTERS GROUP ON 10/28/07

Recommended exhibitions: Body Double at the Luckman Gallery/Cal State Los Angeles, Cosima Von Bonin: Roger and Out at MOCA (Grande Avenue), A Woman's Journey: The Life and Work of Artis Lane and Blacks in and Out of the Box at the California African American Museum in Exposition Park.

Program: After discussing the four exhibitions, there will be a screening of a 60 minute video, Works by Women: From the Heart. Artists featured are Lynda Benglis, Nancy Chambers, Clyde Connell, Janet Fish, Hermine Ford, Dorothy Hood, Mary McCleary, Gail Stack and Dee Wolff.

ART MATTERS GROUP ON 6/10/07

Recommended exhibitions: Ruth Weisberg Unfurled at the Skirball Cultural Center, Identity Theft: Eleanor Antin, Lynn Hershman, Suzy Lake at the Santa Monica Museum of Art, and Women Artists of Southern California: Then + Now at Track 16 Gallery.

Program: After discussing the three exhibitions, there will be a screening of a 40 minute video, Ruth Weisberg: On the Journey by Laura Vazquez.

ART MATTERS GROUP ON 10/22/06

Recommended exhibitions: Eva Hesse: Drawing and MOCA FOCUS: Lecia Dole-Recio at the Museum of Contemporary Art.

Reading: Meridel Le Sueur’s poem "Rites of Ancient Ripening," a short essay on aging and ageism, and an article titled "The Crystal Quilt: A Performance and Its Legacy" by Patrice Clark Koelsch.

Program: There was a screening of a 44 minute video, Making the Crystal Quilt. It documented a performance which took place on Mother’s Day at the glass-covered Crystal Count commercial center in downtown Minneapolis in 1987. The 430 black-clad older women over the age of 60 who participated discussed their accomplishments and reflections on self image, sexuality, family, community, illness, invisibility and activism to an audience of 3,000 people.

ART MATTERS GROUP ON 6/25/06

Recommended exhibitions: Family Legacies: The Art of Betye, Lezley, and Alison Saar at the Pasadena Museum of California Art. This exhibition explores how a mother and two of her daughters share a passion for transforming found objects and materials into personal artworks that reflect contemporary social issues. Through the lens of their mixed ancestry, the three artists interpret aspects of family and identity, race and gender. Something to Look Forward To: Abstract Art by 22 Distinguished African Americans at the California African-American Museum in Exposition Park. This exhibition pays homage to the exceptional talent, unique vision, and courageous persistence of 22 mature visual artists who have created dynamic abstract images and objects during extended and successful careers. Although only five of the artists are women, it is possible to see their work within the context of their peers and in relation to the Family Legacies exhibition.

Reading: A chapter titled “The Image” from a new book by Lisa E. Farrington – Creating Their Own Image: The History of African–American Women Artists (Oxford University Press, 2005).

Program: After discussing the two exhibitions and the related book chapter, there will be a viewing of a 30 minute video, Betye and Alison Saar: Conjure Women of the Arts.

ART MATTERS GROUP ON 2/12/06 (note name change)

Recommended exhibitions: Contemporary Soliloquies on the Natural World (Karen Carson, Merion Estes, Constance Mallinson, Margaret Nielsen, Takako Yamaguchi) at USC Fisher Gallery, Meditations on the Natural World by Linda Vallejo at the Natural History Museum in Exposition Park, and AOR – A Solo Exhibition by Lita Albuquerque at The Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art at Pepperdine University.

Reading: Two articles which address current trends in the representation and collection of work by women artists: “The Art World’s Feminine Side” from the August/September 2005 issue of ART-TALK and “The X Factor” from the May 5, 2005 issue of The New York Times.

Program: We launched the year with a special event—attending a matinee performance of Permanent Collection at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City. Thomas Gibbon’s award-winning drama examines how a revered collection becomes the focus of a battle over race, history, and culture. This play parallels the history of the Barnes Collection and its eccentric founder. The performance was followed by a post-play discussion at Karen Jacobson’s house.

Naming Contest: We decided to come up with a shorter, more contemporary name for the group. Various members submitted ideas and we voted for the best one. The group is now called ART MATTERS, a name suggested by SCWCA member Joanne Aloni.

ART VIEWING / DISCUSSION GROUP ON 9/18/05

Recommended exhibitions: California Women Modernists – At the Forefront of American Modernists at Spencer Jon Helfen Fine Arts, Ladies with Figures at Jan Baum Gallery, and 3 x Abstraction: New Methods of Drawing (Hilma af Klint, Emma Kunz, Agnes Martin) at the Santa Monica Museum of Art.

Reading: Two essays about Womanhouse – one by Faith Wilding from her book By Our Own Hands (1977) and one by Arlene Raven from The Power of Feminist Art, eds. Norma Broude and Mary D. Garrard (1994). To put these essays in context, we also read “Constructing a New Paradigm: European American Women Artists in California, 1950-2000” by Laura Meyer from the exhibition catalogue for Art/Women/California: Parallels and Intersections, 1950-2000, eds. Diana Burgess Fuller and Daniela Salvioni (2002).

Program: There was a screening of Womanhouse, the famous documentary film by Johanna Demetrakis. This collaborative art environment was first conceived by Paula Harper and created in 1972 by 21 students of the Feminist Art Program at CalArts under the direction of artists Judy Chicago and Miriam Schapiro. Before viewing the video, SCWCA member Kesa Kivel briefly previewed her “Girl House” art project, which was inspired by the earlier prototype. Over a 10-month period a diverse group of girls aged 12-14 will explore gender issues, express their findings through art, and empower themselves in the process. Using a small cottage and surrounding area on the YWCA Santa Monica / Westside campus, the girls will create an art environment that reflects their issues and educates the public.

ART VIEWING / DISCUSSION GROUP ON 6/12/05

Recommended exhibitions: Rachel Lachowicz at Shoshana Wayne Gallery at Bergamot Station, Naturata (images by Mexican photographer Graciela Iturbide) at the Rose Gallery at Bergamot Station, and THING: New Sculpture from Los Angeles at the UCLA Hammer Museum.

Reading: We continued discussing a short essay titled "The Laugh of the Medusa" by Helene Cixous and heard from one of our members about a contexual essay titled "Poststructuralist Feminist Theory: Helene Cixous" by Dr. Mary Klages, Associate Professor of English at the University of Colorado at Boulder (see http://www.colorado.edu/English/engl2010mk/cixous.lec.html). We talked about the difficulty of expressing and redefining what "woman" means in a culture where men have traditionally held the power.

Program: To carry the exploration of power a step further, we also listened to a CD recording of a keynote address by Eve Ensler (author of the Vagina Monologues) titled "Women, Power, and Wholeness," which she presented at the September 2004 WOMEN & POWER conference sponsored by the Omega Institute in upstate New York.

ART VIEWING / DISCUSSION GROUP ON 3/6/05

Recommended exhibitions: Santa Monica Originals at Arena 1 Gallery at the Santa Monica Airport, Romancing the Metaphor ­ mixed media work by Annette Bird at Jan Baum Gallery, and Tactile Landscapes (working title) at the José Drudis-Biada Art Gallery, Mount St. Mary¹s College.

Reading: We explored a short essay titled "The Laugh of the Medusa" by Helene Cixous, the first in a series of post-modernist feminist writings on art, theory, and critical thinking.

Program: Barbara T. Smith graciously agreed to host this meeting, screen her Inner Landscapes video (a compilation of historic works from 1969-2001 by this pioneering performance artist), and answer questions. This was a great follow-up to our art field trip to see her retrospective exhibition titled The 21st Century Odyssey Part II: The Performances of Barbara T. Smith on February 12.

ART VIEWING / DISCUSSION GROUP ON 11/21/04

Recommended exhibitions: Celebrating Nature: Craft Traditions/Contemporary Expressions at the Craft & Folk Art Museum, Flights of Imagination: Recent Works by Cecilia Z. Miguez at Louis Stern Fine Arts, and a fascinating double-header at Griffin Contemporary ­ nature/ body photography and video by Liza Ryan and a performance film by Ana Mendieta titled Keane College Volcano, which documents the eruption of three small volcanoes placed atop a silhouette of the artist¹s body formed out of shale rock.

Program: Betty Ann Brown, Professor of Art History at Cal State Northridge, presented a slide lecture based on her book Gradiva¹s Mirror: Reflections on Women, Surrealism and Art History.

ART VIEWING / DISCUSSION GROUP ON 8/22/04

Recommended exhibitions: Made in Mexico with 40% women artists and the Tara Donovan site-specific installation Lure at the UCLA Hammer Museum as well as the historically important Through the Gates: Brown v. Board of Education and Joyce J. Scott's transparent beadwork contrasted with provocative subject matter in Kickin¹ It at the California African American Museum in Exposition Park.

Reading: We read Women Artists of the 20th and 21st Century, edited by Uta Grosenick and each selected five favorite artists to discuss.

ART VIEWING / DISCUSSION GROUP ON 6/13/04

Recommended exhibitions: Diane Arbus Revelations exhibit at LACMA and Helen Lundeberg and the Illusory Landscape: Five Decades of Paintings at the Louis Stern Fine Arts Gallery.

Program: We viewed and discussed a video titled Women Artists: The Other Side of the Picture (Films for the Humanities & Sciences, 54 minutes, color).

ART VIEWING / DISCUSSION GROUP ON 2/29/04

Recommended exhibitions: The Inspired Vessel at the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery. Almost half the artists in this show were women.

Program: THE DINNER PARTY AND SEXUAL POLITICS
The Dinner Party, conceived by Judy Chicago, found a permanent home at the Brooklyn Museum of Art in 2002. Elizabeth Sackler purchased this historically important feminist art work and gifted it to the museum, where she is a trustee, through her private foundation. This recent victory was preceded by many years of struggle as Judy continually searched to find housing for the piece. In 1990 she actually gifted The Dinner Party to the University of the District of Columbia in Washington D.C., but this plan was thwarted by Pat Robertson, Pat Buchanan, and some conservative congressmen in the U.S. House of Representatives. We viewed rare C-Span footage of the heated debate which took place over this supposedly "weird sexual art."

Reading: To put The Dinner Party in a more contemporary critical context, we read the an essay by art writer Amelia Jones from the exhibition catalog Sexual Politics: Judy Chicago¹s Dinner Party in Feminist Art History (UCLA Hammer Museum, 1996).

ART VIEWING / DISCUSSION GROUP ON 11/30/03

Recommended exhibitions: Lee Bontecou: A Retrospective at the UCLA Hammer Museum.

Reading: "Feminism and Art: 9 Views," featured in the October 2003 issue of ARTFORUM.

ART VIEWING / DISCUSSION GROUP ON 7/13/03

Recommended exhibitions: Bad Girls (Kim Dingle, Nan Goldin, Tracy Nakayama, Kiki Smith plus) at Ikon.Ltd./Kay Richards Contemporary Art and Rosamund Purcell¹s Two Rooms, juxtaposing an installation of her own Boston studio with a partial recreation of Danish naturalist Olaus Worm¹s 17th century cabinet at Santa Monica Museum of Art. Both shows were at Bergamot Station in Santa Monica.

Reading: Interviews of bell hooks, Karen Finley, Caralee Schneemann, and Valie Export from Angry Women explored the work of some of the feminist art movement¹s precursors to the current "Bad Girls."

ART VIEWING / DISCUSSION GROUP ON 5/4/03

Recommended exhibitions: Catherine Wagner: Cross Sections at the Pasadena Museum of California Art and Surrealist Muse: Lee Miller, Roland Penrose, and Man Ray at the Getty Center. We talked about Wagner¹s interior images of cellular, molecular structures and Miller¹s Surrealist images of psychological interiors influenced by the rise of psychoanalytical theory in the early 20th century.

Reading: A few more chapters in A History of Women Photographers by Naomi Rosenblum.

ART VIEWING / DISCUSSION GROUP ON 2/23/03

Recommended exhibitions: About Life: The Photographs of Dorothea Lange at the Getty Museum with more than 80 prints drawn primarily from the permanent collection and surveying Lange¹s career from the 1920s to the 1960s and the videos of Joan Jonas at Rosamund Felsen Gallery at Bergamot Station.

Reading: Selected chapters from A History of Women Photographers by Naomi Rosenblum and a review of Joan Jonas¹ performance work from Art in America. We discussed their work, how contemporary women artists have gained art world access through photography and video, and the ways they have transformed those mediums.