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Les amazones et le mâlisme artistique
(Added 22 January 2010)
Art et féminisme Public events poster, 1982. La Médiathèque du Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal
Leisure Projects extends special thanks to Robin Simpson for his participation at the recent Salon events at the SBC gallery and for contributing an article to Leisure Letters. Click here to read Robin’s survey of press material surrounding the two exhibitions ( Art femme ’75 at the Saidye Bronfman Centre, and Art et Féminisme at the MAC in 1982) that inspired us to initiate the exhibition “I haven’t been a figment of my own imagination” at the SBC gallery, Montréal.
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Then, Now and Later
(Added 28 November 2009)
Salon 1: Then, Now and Later
Feminist art from a curatorial perspective
Thank you to everyone who attended and participated in the first Salon event at the SBC gallery. In particular Catherine Morris who jumped into this experiment with us. The Salon discussion touched on geo-politics, the definition and re-definition of feminist “waves” in art and culture, as well as the impact of dialogue in forming a continuum of female art thinking and creation.
Catherine Morris spoke candidly about her new position as Curator of Feminist Art at the still quite new Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, The Brooklyn Museum as well as her experience curating “Gloria” (with Ingrid Schaffner, at White Columns, 2002).
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mysterious sequined figure / club-woman / society hostess / culture vulture
(Added 22 November 2009)
According to Gazette reporter Virginia Nixon, the opening of the three-part exhibition, Artfemme ’75 at the Saidye Bronfman Centre, the Musée d’art Contemporain and Powerhouse Gallery, was graced by a big snowstorm and the spirit of notorious ‘bon vivant’ and Algonquin Round Table participant, Tallulah Bankhead…
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The Witch Doctor of Long Point
(Added 11 June 2009)
....at the foot of his bed, a huge trap was bolted to the floor, where it was set every night to catch witches. The jaws were about three feet long and when shut were two and a half feet high. But in spite of this defensive means the witches would occasionally take Dr. Troyer out into the night and transform him into various kinds of animals, compelling him to act the part. “One night the witches took him out of a peaceful slumber, transformed him into a horse and rode him across the lake to Dunkirk where they attended a witch dance. They tied him to a post where he could witness the dance through the windows, and fed him rye-straw…. (more after the jump).
-from Canadian Houses of Romance by Katherine Hale & Dorothy Stevens, 1926.
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Mary Wigman: Witch Dance
(Added 28 May 2009)
“The revised Witch Dance made explicit what had been implicit in the identically titled solo presented twelve years earlier on her debut program. As in the earlier solo, the choreographer does not impersonate the character of a witch but rather embodies the quality of “witchness.” However, her self-transformation is intensified and made more complete through her use of a facial mask, designed by Viktor Magito. As a review described the effect: ‘She emloys a small face mask, which doesn’t hide all of her cheek, nor does it cover her hair. The eye openings of the mask allow her eyes to be seen… (Her) partially covered body…lives no longer, but withdraws so far from life that each movement extinguishes all thought of human existence.’
… Wearing a mask, the female dancer objectifies herself rather than allowing herself to be objectified by the (male) spectator. Wearing a mask, she turns the gaze back on the spectator.”
-from Ecstasy and the Demon: The Dances of Mary Wigman, by Susan Manning , University of Minnesota Press, pg. 127
Perruque 7: Hair Beautiful
(Added 11 April 2009)
A recent addtion to the Leisure collection is a copy of Hair Beautiful magazine, published in the 1960’s by the Poly Divison of the Lambert Chemical Company, London. Rich in tips and how-to imagery, this publication also serves up inspiring descriptions of high-piled hairdos. Some haiku-esque, card-sharp favourites are transcribed here…
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Perruque 6: Homer's 'systematic soldiering'
(Added 11 April 2009)
In the spirit of collaboration Perruque 6 is a contribution from Knowles Eddy Knowles.
Knowles Eddy Knowles are in search of the ultimate object: A homer (the word translated from the french Perruque, to mean, something produced on company time with company materials, usually destined for domestic use) from a wig factory…