The Wignall Museum of Contemporary Art (outside of LA) is the host of an exhibition called "Separation Anxiety", on the theme of parenthood. The review is here.

Artist mothers are a hot topic. The film "BREAKING IN TWO follows Los Angeles curator, artist, mother Bruria Finkel and filmmaker, mother Sabine Sighicelli, as they build from the ground up, the first group exhibition to challenge societal perceptions and representations of motherhood through the visual and performing arts."

Here is the trailer. Looking forward to this, as I so wished someone would do a version of "Who Does She Think She Is?" with artists that are successful (by my definition). Ask and you shall receive.

New work:

"Your Fragility...", 2010, mother's hair from gestation period embroidered in child's garment, velvet, 14 x 15".

Wait, I may not have to interview Sarah Petruziello, most of my questions were answered by her latest post.

Saturday, March 20th (tomorrow), in conjunction with my exhibition "Purge/Deluge", I am hosting a screening of Pamela Boll's film, "Who Does She Think She Is?" at the Hillyer Art Center in Washington DC. The film will be followed by a panel discussion with four artists who are also mothers: Elena Patiño (whose exhibition is also on exhibit at Hillyer Art Space), Sarah Wallace Petruziello from the NY area, and Tess Cummins of Richmond.

***SEATING IS EXTREMELY LIMITED. PLEASE RSVP TO events@artsandartists.org
TO RESERVE YOUR SEAT***

The event is free, but donations are accepted.

For more information on the film, please visit http://www.whodoesshethinksheis.net/

Artist Sarah Wallace Petruziello wrote a very interesting post on the complexities of using one's children as subject matter in contemporary art making. She is visiting this weekend to be on my artist/mothers discussion panel and I am hoping to interview her for this blog.

Found a fantastically relevant article by Sharon Butler.

Stay.

"Stay.", 2010, 18" round, baby shoes, baby blankets, embroidery thread, convex glass, frame.

Since my daughter was born, at the end of each day, if I have not been able to get into the studio, I prick my finger and write the word "art" before going to bed. Appeases the art gods, tells them that I am still here, have not abandoned those who have been so good to me & saved my life. I mark the day. I make SOMETHING.

"Who Does She Think She Is?", and Centuries of Conditioning

Awoke with a start this morning, at 4 a.m. Last night, I pre-screened "Who Does She Think She Is?", fell asleep thinking about it, and awoke still digesting it. Ever since I first saw the trailer, I have been begging people in the DC area (National Museum of Women In The Arts, most notably) to screen this film, and, getting no response, decided that I would take matters into my own hands. I ordered a house party copy, and will be screening it in several small local venues in the coming months.

This film is nothing short of revolutionary: I thank God that it has been made and is being packaged and promoted in such a way that its messages are bound to eventually seep into the collective consciousness. This movie, along with Jerry Saltz's highly influential Facebook post about women artists who are mothers, is a can of worms that desperately needed to be opened.

The issues this film brings forth are so complex and layered, it is difficult to tease them apart. I wept at several points during the movie, in part because the subject currently hits so close to home these days. (I plan to supply tissue and brownies at the screenings.) But being someone who has always been bored and rolled my eyes whenever the subject of "Goddess Culture" comes up (especially in art contexts), I found myself stunned to be particularly moved by the introduction, which stressed the development of our various civilizations as they evolved from goddess worshipping cultures to those that devalue all things feminine, most notably the power of creation.

I thought of the bad reviews I read about the brilliant Janine Antoni's last two NY gallery shows, featuring some work that touched on themes of Motherhood. I thought of the female gallery owner on Jerry's Facebook thread who complained that, when her women artists became mothers, "their work changes". And I thought about my secondary response to this film: while the women's personal histories are beyond inspiring, the reason some of them are not recognized is because their work is not that outstanding. It is derivative, fairly literal, non-confrontational, and executed in a visual language that is easily dismissed.

I wrestled with these ideas for a little bit, asking myself if I was mindlessly following along with the mainstream art world in being dismissive of their work because I didn't get it, and then I thought, "no, I'm not". When looking at art in Chicago last week, I realized that I often discriminate, preferring the work of women artists like Louise Bourgeois, Petah Coyne, Kiki Smith, etc,. over work made by men. I believe this happens for the same reasons that male curators, gallerists and critics (and females who were educated with the values of a male-centric art world) devalue the work of women: it doesn't "speak to them". They can't relate.

I remember being in grad school (it was a while ago, and the dept has evolved since then), and volunteeering to be the one who ran the slide projectors for the faculty when they reviewed MFA applicants. I thought it would be a valuable learning experience, and it was. For whatever reason, the two female members of the substantial faculty were not present at the screening. They might have been putting up important shows, they might have been lazy, or maybe they were tired of having their voices drowned out in these contexts. In any event, I remember several instances of female applicants' work coming up on the screen, and hearing the male faculty say, "I don't know what this is about....", or "I don't get it. Next!" I was so livid after witnessing this, that I wrote a letter to each of the female faculty members, telling them how much their support was needed at these events.

Of note in "Who Does She Think...": several, no, most, of the women get divorced, seemingly a direct result of their drive to make art. And, although they did not make a big deal of this in the movie, one of the women supplements her income by being an assistant for Larry Bell, who tells an incredibly sexist story about her showing up on his doorstep one day, "young and beautiful, in a light cotton dress", looking for work. (He responded by handing her a broom.) She turned out to be quite valuable, and has been helping him make work for several decades. Take a look at his resume.

Watching the extras provided with this DVD (some of which are more potent than parts of the main film), I understand that the director Pamela Boll made an important, unprecedented, and inspirational work with the resources that she had available to her. From all accounts I have read of screenings across the country, a dam has been broken by her efforts: women uniformly leave the screenings weeping, or carrying on conversations with complete strangers about their shared experiences until the wee hours of the morning. I was going to make one of my screenings an all-girl slumber party, but thought the better of it, since men who profess to love women need to see this film more than the women themselves, IMHO.

I am so grateful to Ms. Boll, but couldn't qualm a strong, nagging thought I had at the end of the film: I hope this is only the beginning, and someone will be inspired by this to make ANOTHER film. Because this movie wasn't for me: these women's lives, mainly outside the mainstream art world, were not the life that I aspire to.

I wish someone had interviewed Elizabeth Murray on this topic. Talk to Janine Antoni, Teresita Fernandez, Bjork (whose "Wanderlust" video, I am convinced, is about motherhood): has anything changed for them since they became mothers? What happens if/when they make work about motherhood? Can/will they talk about it? What role does class play in the equation, because wealthy women (and already established artists) can pay for help while they are in their studios?

PLEASE, SOMEONE, create this film. I would do it myself, but I have art to make.