Mary DeWitt has been chosen to design a mural for the West Wall of the William Way Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center in Philadelphia. DeWitt’s draft design was selected by a mural review board. Work was to begin in August 2001 and should be complete by the time we are in Philadelphia for CAA next February. cf. article by Karen M. Goulart in Philadelphia gay news, July 20-26, 2001, p. 1, 21.
Robert Gober represented the U.S. at the Venice Biennale 2001.
“History lessons” -- a film by Barbara Hammer (2000) -- opens at the Quad Theater in New York on October 19th. The film turns historical representations of lesbians upside down and inside out, giving them new meaning. Hammer received the Frameline Award in 2000 for this final installment in her gay/lesbian trilogy (“Nitrate kisses” 1992; “Tender fictions” 1995).
The 13th Annual Lambda Literary Awards (the “Lammys”) for lesbian, gay, bi, and trans books published in 2000 were announced on 31 May 2001 (just after our last issue went to press). Lesbian art in America (Rizzoli) by QCA member and former co-chair Harmony Hammond won in the Lesbian Studies category. Faeries by Keri Pickett (Aperture) won in the Visual Arts category.
Isaac Julien, videomaker, was one of four finalists for the Turner Prize given by the Tate Gallery, London.
Ray Anne Lockard has written eleven biographical essays that will appear in glbtq.com: an online encyclopedia of gay, lesbian, transgender, and queer culture. Each entry will include photographs or reproductions, an interactive chat feature, relevant links, and a bibliography. Her articles include AIDS and art, Alice Austen, Rosa Bonheur, Romaine Brooks, Dora Carrington, Gilbert & George, Gluck, Jared French, Anna Klumpke, Simeon Solomon, and Minor White.
Jeff McMahon received a Research and Scholarship Award for 2001 from the Monette/Horwitz Trust, given at the Lambda Literary Awards in Chicago, 31 May 2001. The award is in support of his proposed book on gay bathhouses and saunas. Beginning in fall term 2001, McMahon will be Senior Lecturer/Resident Artist Fellow at the Institute for Studies in the Arts, Arizona State University, Tempe.
“Everything I know, I learned at the movies” by Ann P. Meredith is a new fine art photography exhibition of thirty large-scale color photographs at the Collector’s Gallery at the Oakland Museum which runs from September 26 through October 29, 2001. A reception for the artist was held on September 29th. “In ‘Movies’ Ann P. Meredith comments on the power of the visual media to shape contemporary society. Meredith observes that the television monitor becomes the ‘Educator’ and ‘Parent’ all rolled into one” -- Bonnie Earls-Solari, Senior Curator, Bank of America Collection. Also, Ann’s movie “Tall in the saddle: cowgirl’s ranchwomen & rodeo gals” will be shown at the Austin (Tex.) International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival in September.
Kenneth Silver (New York University) organized an exhibition entitled “Making modernity: art on the Mediterranean” at AXA Gallery (formerly Equitable Gallery) on Seventh Avenue (51st St.) in New York. “A brilliant evocation of the sensual atmosphere of the south of France and the 20th century artists, from Matisse to David Hockney to Elsworth Kelly, who responded to it. The book was published by MIT Press and is an equally fascinating, enormously readable volume, for both beach and library enjoyment!” (Edward Sullivan)
George Towne is featured in an article in issue 83 of A & u: art & understanding. The article, written by Alistair McCartney (Tim Miller’s partner), includes an interview and reproduces eight of his paintings. George has been a caucus member for several years and was included in the caucus show in New York in 2000. He is affiliated with the School of Visual Arts, New York.
Jean-Nickolaus Tretter has been collecting materials on gay and lesbian life in the Upper Midwest since organizing an exhibition in 1983 at the Landmark Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Tretter and the University of Minnesota Libraries are now arranging for the installation of his collection at the university as part of the Steven J. Schochet Center for GLBT Studies. cf. http://www.glbtstudies.umn.edu/Research/Tretter.html
http://www.artwomen.org - addresses feminism and art, visual culture, women artists of color, feminist artists, heterosexism - site has news, conversation, gallery, archive
“A federal judge in San Antonio ruled today [May 15, 2001] that elected officials in that city acted unconstitutionally in 1997 when they cut off public financing of a controversial arts group that among other things had sponsored a gay and lesbian film festival.” The case involved the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center, a non-profit arts and cultural organization also involved in political and social activism. cf. New York times, May 16, 2001, p. A12.
Professors for Peace (an electronic discussion list) has been established in the aftermath of the events of 9/11. The group is for faculty and allies organizing for peaceful solutions to international conflicts. Their mission statement from yahoogroups.com: We believe the professiorate has a crucial (and neglected) role to play in shaping public dialogue in today’s United States. We are allied with othe movements of people of color, gays, lesbians, trans communities, women, the disabled and the left. To subscribe to their list, go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/professors_for_peace.