In Conversation – La Niña and Social Justice

In conjunction with the opening of Social Justice: It Happens to One It Happens to All on at Saint Mary’s College Museum of Art (September 18 – December 1, 2016), Gutfreund Cornett Art arranged for the exhibiting artists to come and speak, In Conversation! 19 of the 46 artists were able to come, some traveling as far away as San Diego, LA. Utah, Mexico and New Zealand! We were all share it there was a single event that had tipped the scale for us, why were were creating the socially engaged work we exhibiting. In this photo above, taken by Sherri Cornett, we are all nervously waiting to begin, the quiet before the sharing. I was struck by how heart-felt and deeply human and absolutely inspiring all the artist’s stories were! I thought I would share with you here what I shared with the crowd last Sunday about my piece.

The image for my painting, La Niña, came to me in a flash and it haunted me, calling me to paint it. I had been following the coverage of the tide of unaccompanied minors from Central America flooding across the border between the United States and Mexico and I was driven to try and understand the circumstances in their homelands that must be so horrible as to drive them to make this dangerous journey alone. What I found was an environment of rampant gang violence, gangs like Mara 13 and 18 that began in LA and were deported to El Salvador where they had flourished, fueled by poverty and civil unrest. So pervasive and endemic was this culture of the Maras, many minors felt they had no choice but to flee from forced recruitment and rape. There was this one photograph I came across that made such an impression on me, it was of a young woman with a giant 18 tattooed across her face which she had received in punishment for refusing to execute a gang murder, it was a family portrait with her baby and her husband, who was the gang’s tattoo artist . She seemed so sad and worried – branded in this very obvious way, an admonishment, a possession, a target. The photo was taken by Christian Poveda, a Hispanic-French photo-journalist and filmmaker of La Vida Loca who was later killed by the gang for his work. In this photograph, I saw the impossibility of the situation where your very skin is indelibly marked with violence. I imagined  the image of an innocent baby floating buddha-like in a sea of tattoos, those of one gang etched on to her body, and those of the rival gang floating around her. In searching for a more universal statement, these very specific gang symbols later morphed into more generalized symbols for danger and entrenchment that are marking the lives of our children.

La Niña – Oil on canvas

Here I am interpreting symbols I had morphed in this photograph by Ann Dubois at the reception.

Social Justice Reception

The powerfully engaging internationally juried exhibition, Social Justice: It Happens to One It Happens to All, organized by Gutfreund Cornett Art opened Sunday at Saint Mary’s College Museum of Art with an inspiring Artist Talk in which 19 of the 46 exhibiting artists participated, some who traveled from as far away as San Diego and Los Angeles, Utah, Mexico and New Zealand!  It was very moving to learn what had compelled each artist to create their work and to listen to the types of reactions their work has received. Typically working with controversial, challenging and even disturbing subject matter, I found all these artists to be particularly brave, passionate, thoughtful, smart and deeply human. I can’t tell you how honored I am to have my work included with this company. This exhibition runs until December 11, 2016 in Moraga, California. Print and online catalogues are available at Gutfreund Cornet Art.

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Dream team curators, Sherri Cornett and Karen Gutfreund in front of Saint Mary’s College Museum of Art.

Detail from Joseph Tipay‘s – Prison Letters – Woodcut and Monotype handprinted on kozo paper.

Me, with my oil painting, La Niña.

Miholyn Soon and Ellie Jones – The Sculpted – Video.

Sara Friedlander – Stonewalled in Jerusalem – MDF panels, digital collages, original and archival photos, paint.

Beth Krensky – The Bridge III  – Bronze

Veronica Cordoso – The Girl Who Fell From The Sky – Digitally modified digital photo on aluminum

Gerardo Castro – Haiti and Dominican Republic: One Island – Two Worlds – Fire-burning on Arches oil paper

Sibylle Peretti – Making Birds – Carved, engraved, silvered and painted plexiglass, feathers, paper

Rhonda Brown  – JustUs is not 4all –  Lenticular print, mixed media

Dan Tague – Justice Will Prevail – Ultrachrome print on photo luster paper

Jane Venis – Shiner – Vblack wet-look vinyl, 400 spikes, chrome chain

Jaime Shafer – 1 in 3 – Stonehenge paper, Epson paper, ink, photographs

Vicki Gunter – It’s Not One Thing…It’s Everything – Clay photographs, slips, stains, lusters, wood mount decoupaged with altered copies of $1 bills

Maru Hoeber – Flight – Porcelain and wood veneer

Priscilla Otani – Pleasure Quarter – Wax paper, photo, paper covered cages, ink drawings

Andrew Seaton – The Wall series (Reagan)  – Digital art

Justyne Fischer – The Sunshine State – Ink, voile, stretcher bars,  floater frame

Remedios Rapoport  – Power to the People II – Oil alkyd painted sculpture in wood with gilding, mirror and collage behind antique slumped glass

Xian Mei Qiu – The Birdcage – Photograph on plexiglass

Finally, I’m always grateful for my supportive friends – you’re just the best!

For more information on the exhibit, please click on this link to Gutfreund Cornett Art: http://www.gutfreundcornettart.com/info-social-justice.html

 

Social Justice in Moraga

Long time no see – but just because it was summer vacation and I was far to busy for blogging, doesn’t mean there wasn’t a lot happening behind the scenes that I’d love to share and I’m going to see if I can catch up! As usual, the post is loaded with easy links to click on where text is bold.

Yesterday, for instance, I took in my painting, La Niña to Saint Mary’s College Museum of Art in Moraga, California for Social Justice: It Happens to One It Happens to All, an exhibition curated by Gutfreund Cornett Art.  I’m standing in front of the exhibition banner featuring one of my favorite pieces from the show, Xian Mei Qiu’s  The Bird Cage (I can’t wait to see the original photograph on plexiglass in person!) The show opens Sunday, September 18 with a 1:15 pm  Artist Talk at the Soda Activity Center and runs through to December 18.

The art in the exhibition is extremely moving and powerful (as can be seen in their online catalogue), juried from artists across the country and beyond!

The exhibition catalogue can also be ordered through Amazon (I’m on pages 34 & 35).

Saint Mary’s College mission styled campus is stunningly beautiful, its white stuccoed architecture gleaming through its green and flowering landscape, nestled into the golden hillside east of Oakland – a gorgeous setting to look at some of the darker themes we need to pay attention to in our world.

This the the Soda Activity Center (up behind the church) where I’m told the Artist Talk will be held. There is free public parking directly in front of this entrance and the Museum is just across the way where a reception will be held in the pretty courtyard. I hope you’ll consider making the trip to experience the work first hand and to hear the artists tell their sure to be fascinating stories!