Upcoming Show!

My show at the Leslie Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art is fast approaching,

hanging on October 17th and with an opening reception on October 18th, from 6 - 8 pm.

I will be posting more sneak previews as the event approaches, 

so keep an eye out!  

In the meantime, the quick blurb about the show is this:

“Emblems of Things to Come” is an exhibition of life-sized wood and mirror paintings considering feminist figures in the artist's search for a past as well as a pursuit for context.

           

Many of the figures depicted drew my attention after I found their names 

in Judy Chicago's Dinner Party.  In the Dinner Party's timeline component, 

there is a list of martyrs, saints, and ancient women of power.  

For a long time, I have sought feminist and LGBTIQ icons of a similar substance and vintage. 

I consider them anchors of a sense of continual history and community in what is often

 a disjointed and disparate collection of identities, and relish an opportunity

 to exhibit this collection of beacons of defiance.

As gender roles for women have historically been restrictive, any act of wildness, 

wisdom, or independence can be perceived as gender-nonconformity. 

As a girl I was proud of the accounts of strong and independent women that I could find, 

mythic or historic.  As a trans and gender-nonconforming queer fellow now, 

I continue to crave the voices and histories of strong women 

and a sense of the shared histories we as LGBTIQ persons come from.

Queer history or imposing queer identities on persons who came before

 is a self-serving practice.  Instead I consider any person who challenged 

expectations of gender, either via how they lived, fought, spoke up, or who they loved,

 to be a valuable icon to the LGBTIQ community without label or modern imposition.

The exhibition will be a series of 8 large scale paintings on wood and mirrors 

depicting a selection of these historic female figures.  

They will be in classical, somewhat saintlike postures, but executed more as a 

fluorescent sinew and collection of symbolic indicators than simply a classic portrait.

 Illustration and history both have the ability to fill a person with hunger and curiosity –

 I aim to bring both to the forefront in this body of work.

It is far too easy to erase the collective strengths and threads of unusual 

pasts, presents, and futures. 

This would be another opportunity to explore and celebrate these ties we share.