“War Stories” & Her Own Stories: a Presentation by Artist Mary King

Mary King presents her work

On the evening of October 21^st, a group gathered at Woman Made Gallery for a dynamic presentation by the artist and educator Mary King on her solo show “War Stories”. Generously co-sponsored by the Gender and Women’s Studies Program at University of Illinois Chicago, the presentation included specific background information on the artist’s process in creating the series on display, as well as a history of her life as an artist and more general information on her art practice.

Mary King created “War Stories” through conducting extensive interviews with war veterans and survivors from the 2^nd  World War and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The pieces she presents are illustrative, occasionally abstracted images distilled from whole stories to depict single emotional elements that are sometimes climactic and sometimes simple details.

"Wounded in Two Places" - watercolor, color pencil, and liquid acrylic on paper, 12 x 15 inches

In her talk, King focused on these elements, explaining with great passion what each of her pieces illustrates- a soldier crying because he is not allowed to help the thirsty children he encounters in the desert of Iraq, a young German woman’s mother questioning her as to why she is late coming home after she has just been wounded by shrapnel, and smiling faces emerging from the beautiful tiles of the German subway system,  representing the excitement and glee of war against a symbolic backdrop of safety (the subways system served as a bunker during airstrikes).

This part of the presentation inspired a dialogue amongst the audience about the particular responsibilities of artists during times of war and struggle, and the ways in which all people have the capacity to be collaborators or at least complicit in the violence and suffering of war despite their relative removal from its reality.

King then went on to talk about how she became an artist, creating life size paper dolls in her one room school house when her teacher was busy attending to one of the other seven grades that shared the classroom. She spoke on issues of time, money, and discipline, describing how she has structured her daily life to support her art-making, through creating art first thing every morning, not answering the phone until the afternoon, and saving money by purchasing everything on sale and re-dying her black jeans so they always look fresh.

The final part of the presentation was an art activity in which King asked participants to illustrate their own stories of war, drawing quickly and directly so as to evoke a visual representation of the most emotional elements of the story. We then shared our drawings and the stories behind them. This was an excellent way to end the presentation. Not only did we gain some knowledge and understanding of one another and our experiences, the exercise also confirmed the value of Mary King’s process as a successful means of exploring and representing the complex reality of war and its effect on individuals.

-Ruby Thorkelson, Gallery Coordinator

“The Project” Reading

On Sunday, October 7th Woman Made sponsored a poetry reading in association with our current gallery exhibition, The Project.  Curated by Nina Corwin, the event joined a group of interdisciplinary and collaborative performers presenting written word in conjunction with music, video, and movement.

(left to right) Jenna Lyle and Tyler Mills

Approximately 30 attentive guests enjoyed writers and performers Carrie Olivia Adams, Robin Fine/Sandra Santiago, Charlotte Hart, Virginia Konchan/Tyler Mills/Jenna Lyle, and Anne Shaw/Robert McClure.

Drawing from her book, Organic Spirits, Charlotte Hart evoked the essence of the natural world. Supplementing her poetry with rye and orange liquor, Hart engaged the audience in a fully sensory experience.  A performance by Carrie Olivia Adams successfully married film and the written word.  A video piece depicting slides of old medical x-rays provided visual evidence of the poet’s inspiration. In a dynamic spoken word collaboration, Robin Fine and Sandra Santiago called for the reestablishment of accepted female body norms. An exploration of sound proved an integral and intriguing component in the work of Anne Shaw.  The poets voice was layered over a prerecorded audio track played at sporadic intervals. The interplay between audio and text was further exposed by Virginia Konchan, Tyler Mills, and Jenna Lyle. Sound art composed from vivid poetic imagery generated a pulsating, multidimensional experience.

-Holly Bresnahan, Gallery Intern

MoMA Making Up For Lost Time

Valpincon Bather (After Ingres) by Niki Grangruth and James Kinser, featured in the Girl, Please! exhibition at Woman Made Gallery in 2010

In 1992 the NEA came out with the statistic that although 48% of artists in America were women, only 17% of artists exhibited in galleries were women. The founders of Woman Made Gallery recognized this disparity and created WMG in order to address this problem. While the gap in equality has narrowed since then, there is still discrimination and inequality. Some people, including Ariel Ramchandani in her article “Women Artists at MOMA”, are asking: “How important is it for women to clamor for more representation in museums?”

It is extremely important. The exclusion of women artists in the art canon is appalling and should not be dismissed. In 2007, art critic Jerry Saltz criticized MOMA’s permanent collection: “There are 400 works of art on these floors, and 14 are by women.” Those are staggering numbers, and while quotas may not always be the best way to better represent women in art, there should be more equality in major museums. Including more women artists in canons, art history texts, and permanent collections at museums is crucial to understanding art, whether in a contemporary or historical context. Women have made art throughout history and their perspectives should be represented.

Last year, for the first time in the its history, the Whitney Biennial exhibited more women artists than men. This is a hopeful and inspiring change at a major taste-making museum. And as Ariel Ramchandani’s article outlines, MOMA has also exhibited more female artists in the past year. While these are great strides towards better female representation in art, there is still work to be done. Woman Made Gallery has been exhibiting female artists for 19 years, and almost 7,000 women artists have shown their art here. Woman Made has and will continue to support, cultivate, and promote the diverse contributions of women in the arts.

-Christen Calloway, Gallery Intern