HIDDEN WOMEN – An Illustrated Presentation
The past has much to offer us in the way of examples of courageous and ingenious women in the guise of goddesses and real women who have been sadly neglected by a patriarchal society in a history largely written by men. I will be drawing from my extensive research of the many women “left behind” to create an illustrated discourse of a diverse range of cultures and expertise worldwide.
I plan to introduce a number of unsung “heroines” including Lozen, an Apache woman who rode with Geronimo as a valued warrior, a healer and a mystic, Veronica Franco, a premier courtesan in Venice who was a respected poet and saviour of Venice from an incursion by the French, Grace O’Malley, a Irish woman pirate who was summoned to the court of Elizabeth I, Remedios Varo, a Spanish/Mexican Surrealist painter and Tomoe Gozen, a 12th century Samurai warrior! I will be using PowerPoint to illustrate my speech.
In 2013, I had an exhibition in the States that was held in two museums in Michigan celebrating women from the Great Lakes region. I wrote a book to accompany the exhibition that has been disseminated to libraries throughout Michigan and seeks to give young women better role models than I had. Throughout my career, I have endeavoured to give women a stronger “look” and have carried that into my public art as well as workshops and lectures in the community.
I have a master’s degree in fine art from the University of Michigan where I was the first person to receive a mixed-media degree and where I taught at an experimental college for 7 years teaching various art disciplines as well as “Women’s studies”. I have work on display in the Lane Hall which Women’s Studies Building and, in the foyer of the Martha, Cook building where I resided as a student. I received a Rackham Award for Lecturers in 1977 to study Celtic culture in the UK. I decided to remain and resided in Devon until 2003 when I relocated to the Medway, along with my husband, three dogs, a cat and a raven. I have also been awarded 2 Endowment for the Arts awards together with choreographer Gay Delange to design sculpture for dance. Philip Glass was commissioned to do original music.
I consider myself a mixed-media artist who works in a variety of media including sculpture, painting, jewellery, and mosaics. I have worked with London designers to create jewellery for their collections and my work has been on the Clothes Show adorning the work of Megan Douglas in the 90’s in Milan. I was in a London gallery for many years until the death of the owners when I decided that I could manage better on my own without the interest charged by most London galleries. Coming to the Medway offered new opportunities with grants for work and public sculpture in the UK, Wales and the States. I was also awarded a number of residencies paricularily with Native American communities which offerred priviledged and extraordinary insights to a very different way of thinking.
In 2018, I initiated DUENDE (the power of art to move one’s soul), comprising a group of women artists. This year’s theme is HIDDEN WOMEN. The exhibition will be held in October at The Halpern Gallery in Chatham. We are pleased to have guest artists from Chile, Finland, the States and the Ukraine. Zandra Rhodes, who was born and studied fashion at the ICA will honour us with her presence and students from the Creative University of the Arts will be showing their work.
Currently, I have been preoccupied with the Auction for the Ukraine which will be held on the 24th of June with an exhibition of the work on display in the Rochcester Cathedral from the 18th. I have connected with artists in the Ukraine who have been invited to display their work as well as local artists. I am also organising an exhibition for them which will take place at some point in the near future.