BEING WOMAN | Exhibition Opening with Artists Panel Discussion
BEING WOMAN
Panel Discussion with the Artists, October 5th at Cornerstone Sonoma
When: Sunday, October 5th, 2-5PM
Where: Cornerstone Sonoma (23570 Arnold Dr, Sonoma, CA 95476)
What: BEING WOMAN - Exhibition Opening with Artists Panel Discussion
Tickets: $25 – contact the Gallery or visithttp://beingwomanexhibition.eventbrite.com. Seating is limited. Reservations are required. Special pricing available to Sonoma Valley Museum of Art members, please contact SVMA for more info.
DETAILS:
Cornerstone Sonoma presents a lively panel discussion with five powerful women artists, as they explore issues facing women today and how being a woman in a male dominated world has shaped their careers and the art world in general.
Much like the world-famous gardens at Cornerstone, these artists and their work inform us about the artistic landscape, but in this unique panel event, we also have the opportunity to learn about how they participate in the artistic process –both as women and as artists. Each woman brings a unique perspective to this exhibition, exploring how their diverse and powerful conceptual works tackle issues like gun ownership/violence, body image/control, woman’s work versus “real” work, and the still ubiquitous glass ceiling. The artists featured in this panel (and whose work will be on display in the Cornerstone Gardens and at the onsite a new leaf gallery | sculpturesite through Jan) include Bella Feldman, Jane Burton, Gale Hart, Carol Koffel and Suzanne Morlock. The panel discussion will be moderated by Sculpturesite Gallerist and exhibition curator Brigitte Micmacker, who will ask each artist to elaborate on her life, artistic path, and the subjects she approaches in her work. An Exhibition catalogue signed by the 5 artists will be available at the gallery during the event.
In partnership with Cornerstone Sonoma, Sculpturesite Gallery is delighted to host Being Woman, an exhibition curated by gallerist Brigitte Micmacker, which brings together sculptures as diverse in concept as in execution by five accomplished women sculptors. Although much progress has been made toward achieving equality in the workforce, political sphere and at home, Micmacker notes, “Many American women’s lives are still veritable obstacle courses, avoiding injustice, brutality and insults on a daily basis, while attempting to achieve a grounding and balanced self-image in spite of the constant din of media input.”
In this context, Micmacker has asked five remarkable women sculptors to bring their perspective to this exhibition. In their powerful conceptual works, tackling issues including cultural near-taboos such as gun ownership and violence, body image and control, woman’s work versus “real” work and the still ubiquitous glass ceiling, they explore how being a woman in a male dominated world continues to inform their life and art practice. During the panel discussion that will bring together these five women for the first time on the exhibition’s opening day, October 5th, Micmacker will ask each artist to elaborate on her life and artistic path, and will moderate a discussion on the subjects that they tackle through their work.
Bella Feldman, who recently had a 50 year retrospective at the Richmond Art Center, has much to say about being a woman sculptor and battling gender disparity in art academia during her 30 years teaching at CCAC (now CCA) in Oakland. But Feldman has much more to convey about our culture and its fixation on materialism and war-making. In her massive 2011 sculpture “Jacob’s Ladder”, the rungs of the ladder are delicate glass, perhaps a reference to the glass ceiling she personally experienced. About the other works in the exhibition from Feldman’s series “Utility/Futility” (referenced as “Civilian Goods” in her 1996 monograph),
Feldman notes, “The work is intended to be experienced physically first and then intellectually and aesthetically.”
Gale Hart is best known for her functional objects, beautifully crafted from repurposed steel and paint, and for her humorous, often visceral paintings and sculptures that address cultural issues around animal welfare and street art. More recently, questioning Americans’ (both male and female) obsession with guns, Hart embarked on an exploration of the culture of personal weapons: she attended a major gun show and spent time on a shooting range. Many things surprised her, not the least how and why women acquire hand guns and how their men assist them, presumably wanting to empower them, yet sometimes patronizing the women in the process. In a world where women are often the victims of gun violence, and most often at the hands of their partners, Hart’s visual puns are both exquisite and utterly disturbing.
In Jane Burton’s often larger-than-life ceramic figures, female forms are reminiscent of ancient representations of the goddess associated with fertility; a shape starting small and rising into the fullness of her power and strength. With her commanding, yet utterly graceful women, Burton explores how women handle issues of femininity, body image, fashion, sensuality, family and spirituality. For “Being Woman”,
Burton is creating an all new body of work, including “Foreign Language”, a wall-hung white installation with shadow casting shapes based on the sometimes lethal contraceptive IUDs, which the artist sees as a way for women to lose the control of their own bodies. The work addresses miscommunication and potential violence in women’s lives.
The gallery is pleased to welcome Wyoming sculptor Suzanne Morlock to participate in this exhibition! Morlock uses familiar disposable materials in her sculpture, such as newspaper, fishing nets, plastic construction barriers and recording tape, in order to demonstrate the paradox of disposability and endless potential. Morlock, who has shown widely in twelve American states and in Europe, says, “I repurpose the unwanted debris of our disposable society through techniques historically subscribed to as “women’s work”, like weaving, sewing, and knitting, revealing aspects of beauty and whimsy while embracing the impermanence of even the work itself.”
Carol Koffel’s latest sculptures explore issues around menopause and other changes during a woman’s lifetime. “Estrogen drives synchronicity between emotion and relationships like the moon and the tides,” states Koffel. “As estrogen leaks from our bodies, the loss manifests profound changes. The change of life is a time of transition. A time of choice and celebration of the next stage, where women enter an age of wisdom.”
The body of work created for this show comes out of Koffel’s recent residency at the Anderson Ranch in Colorado. Several of the works include light glowing through diaphanous porcelain forms, which communicate change, vulnerability and resilience, adjustability, and ultimately the lightness of achieving balance as an elder woman.
About Sculpturesite Gallery
Sculpturesite Gallery is Northern California’s only gallery dedicated entirely to modern and contemporary fine art sculpture, representing over fifty mid-career to internationally renowned artists. The gallery is located at Cornerstone Sonoma, at the gateway to the Sonoma and Napa wine countries. Cornerstone Sonoma is located minutes from the Sonoma Plaza and 45 minutes north of the Golden Gate Bridge.
SculptureWALK is the gallery’s latest creation: a sculpture garden showcasing over sixty free standing, monumental, kinetic, and water sculptures throughout the Cornerstone garden complex. Curator-led tours are available by appointment.
Sculpturesite Gallery is open daily from 10am – 5pm at Cornerstone Sonoma (gardens open 10am – 4pm) 23588 Arnold Drive (Highway 121) Sonoma, CA 95476 |707-933-1300 | [email protected] | www.sculpturesite.com
