Contemporary lesbian art: Jessica Burke

Feminine Moments now presents a link to lesbian artist Jessica Burkes website. Jessica Burke writes:

'I believe we are a visual culture and our identity is defined by the visual vocabulary we create. My drawings and paintings portray figurative allegories of experience, thought and emotion. They allow me to express my reaction to issues concerning gender performance, specifically concentrating on the fundamental role of femininity in today’s reality. Most of my work focuses on the visual judgments that are propagated at an alarming rate in this “contemporary” society of ours. Only by honestly addressing the fractures caused by these judgments and assumptions, can we begin a dialogue and subsequent action that can initiate a broader understanding and acceptance'.

See Jessica Burkes works of art

See Feminine Moments index - Lesbian art links: Paintings

TELLING QUEER STORIES: ARTIST WORKSHOP

Dec. 1 / 10 a.m. - 1 p.m. / FreeExposure, Edmonton's queer arts and culture festival, Canada.

Listen to, learn from and network with established queer artists/writers Ivan E. Coyote, Ann Cvetkovich, Shawna Dempsey and Lorri Millan. This three-hour workshop is directed toward Edmonton's emerging queer artists working in all media. Bring your questions, aspirations and realities. Lunch will be served.
RSVP by Wednesday, Nov. 28 to todd@exposurefestival.ca.

As I don't know the performace and visual artists Shawna Dempsey and Lori Millian, I have decided to quote the University of Lethbridge webpage for background information about them:

"Shawna Dempsey and Lorri Millan are best known as performance artists. Their work is experimental, passionate, and irreverent. Collaborators since 1989, this duo were catapulted into the national spotlight with the controversial, now world-renowned performance piece, “We’re talking Vulva”. Since then, this duo has toured extensively throughout North America, Europe, Australia, and Japan. Their film and video works have been screened in venues as far-ranging as women’s centres in Sri Lanka and the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. They have also created installation (Archaeology and You, for the Royal Ontario Museum); published books, (Lesbian National Parks & Services Field Guide to North America, Pedlar Press); and curated exhibitions."

I wish the organizers and participants of this workshop all the best with their queer projects.

The Hasselblad Foundation award the 2007 prize to Nan

Nan Goldin is one of the most significant photographers of our time. Today she is awarded the Hasselblad Foundation International Award in Photography.

As many other women artists she turned her private world into public works of art. She is known for her intimate photos, especially her slideshow and first book 'The Ballad of Sexual Dependency', 1986. The rough aesthetics of her snapshots started a new trend among photographers around the world.

I am happy to see that for the third time in 27 years the Hasselblad Award Winner is a woman. You can see her photos on the Hasselblad Foundations webpage or visit the Guggenheim Museum's webpage, where you can see 11 of her works online.

L-calendar 2008, beautiful photography

Fátima Pombo, University Professor and writer. Porto (Portugal) autumn 2007 reviews the new L-Calendar:
"In the L-Calendar 2008 each month is celebrated with the presence of two bodies, as if the photographer wants to suggest that the body is the landscape to bring into light all the other subjects that shape daily life.
I believe that many decisions in life are aesthetical statements, either intuitive or justified by reasoning.
It seems that for Cristina de la Madera the black/white image proposes a perspective for the world: the experience of intimacy with one’s own and with the other, specially framed by the experience of time suspension.
The photographs of this calendar call life, not the prudent day, not the repressive day, not the flawy day… but the free day, the accomplice one, that that expresses the desire of union, lasting or ephemeral. A day after the other, a month after the other, a year after the other… time as a renewed possibility of being alive and free."

More info: www.lesbiancalendar.eu

Flickr.com and lesbian art

I have been looking at the group photo pool "Lesbian art" on http://www.flickr.com/. This is how the group's owner/moderator describes the pool:

"Artistic and inspiring images portraying women together. Joyous and erotic moments shared together. Lesbian girls who want to show their artwork to the world and their way of looking at it. Lesbian women showing themselves to the world in an artsy manner. Esthetic. Erotic. Lesbian Art."

This sounds wonderfully lesbian only. Like women making works of art for women, but if you study the profiles you will see that some male photographers have posted their 'lesbian art' images in this pool too. This makes me wonder how they define lesbian art.

Among the members of the group there is debate at the moment about what lesbian art is - see what they write about the question: What is lesbian art?? I find that all their different points of view are equally interesting, as there is no common consensus about what Lesbian Art is.

I am editing this blog and the resource site Feminine Moments to promote Lesbian and Queer fine arts by women artists and discuss matters which are of interest to my lesbian and queer readers.

Copenhagen Gay and Lesbian Film Festival

This year, CGLFF’s opening night is all about rocking your body. A profoundly gathered string of current yet distinct music videos – all exposing a queer edge. A musical celebration guaranteeing stimulation of your senses from The Knife, Fischerspooner, Le Tigre, Peaches, Björk, The Gossip and Antony & The Johnsons. The event was made possible through collaboration with London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival and the programmer Simone Pryne.

Opening night: the event starts at 08.30 pm. at October 19th. Party in Cinemateket, Copenhagen, after the screening. The price for this event is 90 DKK.

Sue Molyneaux a Canadian Lesbian Painter

I have visited the web gallery of Sue Molyneaux, a Canadian lesbian painter.

Sue writes: "My work combines that which I am good with, computers, and that which I love, women. When I sit down to reconceptualize an image, to reframe it within the lesbian context, I am reminded of the feminists before me who have fought “the good fight”, who have reclaimed language, reclaimed images and reclaimed creativity.

Using various digital tools such as a pen tablet, I interact with my work on an extremely detailed level. I imagine it’s like getting to know the subject on a molecular level – in this case, I am seeing and painting every pixel. When a digital piece is printed, there are uncontrollable variables affecting the printer, the canvas and the inks. This itself is part of the creative process, where the final work of art is a product of controlled artistry and chaos.

When my work is going well, I am filled with a sense of connection with the image and to the lesbian community. By placing my subjects within the lesbian context – regardless of the model – I reaffirm lesbian reality, my reality, my identity in the world. When people see my work, I want them to have that same feeling of being grounded in this place and time. I want them to feel connected to the lesbian experience, the culture, and the vision. When people view my artwork, I want them to pause, at least for a moment, and forget about everything other than this connection to lesbian identity."

You can also fine a link to Sue's web gallery in Feminine Moments' index of Lesbian Art Links.

Emilie Mundt and Marie Luplau, Denmark

Two danish women who fought for womens right to go to art schools. In 1874 they met each at Vilhelm Kyhns Art School for women in Copenhagen, where they were both students. They fell in love with each other, and in 1878 after their debut at the Charlottenborg exhibition in Copenhagen they opened an art school for women. The art school existed until 1913.

"Symbiose af liv og kunst", an exhibition about their lives and paintings is open until December 30 at the Women's Museum in Århus, Denmark. Here is a review (in Danish) about the exhibition.

Get Bent: Call for Youth Art

As part of Exposure: The Edmonton’s Queer Arts and Culture Festival invites gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and transsexual youth (ages 25 and under) to explore their identity through art. The festival is interested in questions such as:
How do others see you compared to how you see yourself?
How are you an active participant in creating your identity?
Let Edmonton see who you are, on your own terms, and take the opportunity to gain valuable experience as an exhibited artist.
"Get Bent" submission requirements and other details. Submission deadline is October 5th 2007. The exhibit will run from November 26th to December 2nd 2007 in Edmonton, Canada.

Call for entries to queer exhibition in Canada

Exposure Photo Call: Exposure, a new queer arts and culture festival in Edmonton, is seeking photographs as part of the visual arts component of the festival. In particular, we want work that documents, explains, aestheticises, and/or encourages discourse about sexual and gender diversity.

Individual prints and photo essays will both be considered.Queer-identified photographers or artists are preferred. Photographers from communities that have been historically under represented are considered a priority. There are no geographic limits on photographers. Emerging and professional artists are both encouraged to participate. The work will be shown in a variety of non-gallery settings, including some commercial spaces.

Please send 3-5 digital photos, a brief statement of intention, and if possible a resume or CV to programming@exposurefestival.ca. Deadline: 31, September, 4 pm. Any further questions can be sent to anthony@exposurefestival.ca. Information about the festival can be seen at http://www.exposurefestival.ca.

Do you know these artists?

After the latest update of Femininemoment.dk 's Lesbian Art Links I have realised that I have lost track of several artists:

Hanna Visser(nl), Marion Denis(de), Math(France), Tine Harden (dk), Margaret Graham(USA), Maya Gonzalez(USA), Sadie Lee(USA), Jocelyn Taylor(USA), Kathy Burdette(USA), Lynne Fernie(Canada), Pratibha Parmar(UK), Sadie Benning(USA), Susan Rebecca Ressler(USA), Holly Hughes(USA), Lizard Jones(USA), Monika Tichacek (Australia), Vanessa Buemi(Australia) and Mona Hatoum(UK).

Please send me new links if I you know any of the above artists. My email is: mailto:havmoeller@gmail.com?subject=New

Femininemoments.dk - new links

I have updated my site Femininemoments.dk with new links about the late artists Vanessa Bell (UK) and Bernice Bing (USA) and contemporary artist Stefanie Schneider (USA). Today I will suggest that you explore the strange, faded images from a queer world in the Californian sun: http://www.lumas.de/?id=618&artist=30&wid=736&p=1&version=1

Queer exhibitions by Elisabeth Ohlson

Photographer Elisabeth Ohlson Wallin has made two new exhibitions.

Ohlson made her name as a queer photographer with the exhibition “Ecce Homo” first shown during the Euro Pride in Stockholm in 1998. In the Ecce Homo series Elisabeth told the story of the New Testament in big staged photographs of queer people. The queering of Christian icons made the headlines in Sweden and when her exhibition toured Sweden there were several demonstrations against her exhibition. In Denmark the exhibition was shown in two galleries (in Copenhagen and in Aarhus). It was noticed by the gay audience but nobody else bothered to talk much about the exhibition as Denmark is on of the least religious countries in Europe.

In her new exhibition “In Hate We Trust” we can again see her as a dynamic visual narrator. She has staged big tableaux illustrating homo phobia, gay bashing and prejudices. The exhibition opened January 28 in Norrköpings Stadsmuseum and is open until 25 March, 2007. More information about the exhibition is available in Swedish (only) on the website of Norrköpings Stadsmuseum:

http://www.norrkoping.se/kultur-fritid/museer/stadsmuseum/utstallningar/kommande/hate/

Elisabeth Ohlsons comming exhibition in Stockholm: “Livet – med tiden” is about old people. She has made a series of portraits as a tribute to old peoples’ experience and wisdom. The exhibition can be seen in Galleri Kontrast, 8 Hornsgatan, Stockholm, Sweden, from February 17 – to March 4, 2007. You can see a couple of her portraits on here:

http://www.gallerikontrast.se/utstallningar/kommer.html

Calendar: Exhibition by Cindy Sherman

Cindy Sherman - "30 års iscenesat fotografi" (30 years of staged photography) - 16. februar – 20. maj 2007, Lousiana*, Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk, Denmark.

The 250 x Cindy from Michelangelo to Desperate Housewife or One Woman Comédie Humaine. Cindy Shermans staged photos are funny, humoristic or notoriously ugly.
The exhibition is organized by Jeu de paume, Paris and co-produced by Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria, Louisiana Museum for Moderne Kunst, Denmark og Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, Germany.

*http://www.louisiana.dk/

Contemporary lesbian art: New links

American photographer Kelly Puleio's online portfolio: http://goodmorningmidnite.com/
Canadian performance artist Val Desjardins: http://www.valdesjardins.com/

Monograph by queer artist Nicole Eisenman

Nicole Eisenman is a New York based artist known for witty and subversive work that is often loaded with gender metaphors and cultural critique. She earned her master’s degree in painting from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1987. Her fame and notoriety as the “bad” girl of the contemporary art scene was established in 1995.

She has recently published a monograph 'Nicole Eisenman:Selected Works 1994-2004'. Amazon.com writes the following about the monograph:
"This first monograph devoted to the work of the influential and transgressive New York City painter of all things excessive, queer, abject, kitsch and twisted features selected works from 1994-2004 - including drawings, paintings, collages and installations. Eisenman's work runs the gamut of visual references from Surrealism to Pointillism to WPA murals to name but a few, deftly moving from orgiastic crowds to Dionysian sacrifices, minotaur hunts and romps through art history and pop culture. Yet the wit and scope of Eisenman's vision often disguise the intimacy of her work. Here, clich s are turned inside out, gender roles are questioned, and one is engaged without fully realizing that the lushly painted scenes are always revealing something very personal. Features an essay by the painter Amy Sillman, a 'panel discussion' between some of Eisenman's paintings by Matt Sharpe and a biography".

Queer-arts.org presents some of Nicole's paintings online and comments on her queer arts projects - see: http://www.queer-arts.org/archive/show3/eisen/eisen.html

Visit www.femininemoments.dk to find more links to paintings by Nicole Eisenman.

Obscure Places

Temple, Fårö
Originally uploaded by Havmoeller.

I am working on a new series of landscapes. On my fieldtrips I try not to leave too many footprints revealing where I was, but my photos tell where I was for those who are familiar with obscure places and geological sites.

The photos of my latest e-catalogue 'Obscure Places' are visual imprints of my love for obscure places in England, France, Sweden & Denmark, and their hidden treasures.

The eye always sees what the beholder is looking for, and I suppose that I did not visit these places by chance. However I am not quite sure what I have photographed.- If it is insignificant places, landscape temples, my inner landscapes or something else.

See my portfolio: www.kunstfotografi.dk

Wet Dreams in a Submerged World

Visit American photographer Karima Cherif's webpage and see her queer portefolio of erotic underwater shots. http://www.karimacherif.com/

Lesbian Art online

I am the editor of www.femininemoments.dk. Feminine Moments is a Scandinavian based website about visual art made by lesbian, bisexual & queer artists.

Feminine Moments has been made to give the interested reader access to an archive - i.e. a list of art books and a list of art links - with information otherwise difficult to access in the mainstream medias in Europe. I hope that this will bring a greater appreciation of the art works by artists, and of lesbian & queer lifestyles in general.

I find the many different creative projects explored by lesbian and queer artists, very inspiring for my personal life as a Danish lesbian and a fine art photographer. Artists all over the world are welcome to submit links to their personal and professional websites and send me the titles of their publications.

This blog provides additional information about lesbian art. Here I mainly focus on what lesbian and queer artists write about queer art and I will write about their art blogs.