Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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SEPTEMBER 10-16, 2014 UCW 7 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM Organic Foods • Gluten Free • Vitamins • Herbs • Essential Oils Live, Learn... Be Healthy Fayetteville 2711 Raeford Rd. #110 426-7777 M-Sat 9am-8pm • Sun 11am-5pm Hope Mills 5430 Camden Rd. #103 432-8800 M-Sat 9am-8pm • Sun Closed www.applecratenc.com www.applecratenc.com Reflecting on the Complexities of Gender Roles and "Otherness" by SONI MARTIN From the Black Arts movement in the 1920s and 1970s, the feminist movement of the 1960s to the multiculturalism of the 1990s, there has been a large number of artists who continue to examine gender roles as a way to explore the relationship between individuals and their experiences, the constructs of power and representation in western culture. Presented by the Ellington-White Contemporary Gallery at the Fayetteville and Cumberland County Arts Council, Mediating Relevance: the Politics of Gender includes 12 local and national artists — gender roles are relevant in their work. Based on the belief that gender is a social construct and influences roles, behaviors and activities which are deemed suitable for males and females of all ages; the artists in the exhibit renegotiate the boundaries of fixed identities. According to Dwight Smith, assistant professor of art at Fayetteville State University and the principal curator of the exhibit, "artists were selected for the exhibit that examine, investigate or question society's position and perceptions as it relates to the complexities of gender roles and 'otherness.' Artists are presenting work that examines underlying social structures that affect how we define art and how those structures inspire art from a perspective of gender relevancy." Smith noted, "Visitors to the gallery are invited to participate in the dialogue about society's position and perceptions as it relates to the complexities of gender roles and "otherness" by reflecting on how each artist examines the underlying social structures that affect gender relevancy in our culture and how the question inspires contemporary artists." Within the larger context of the exhibit, the location of each artist's work in the exhibit is carefully placed for visitors to assess their relationship. For example, two of the six photographs by Erica Goodpaster, a local artist, are placed next to the found object sculpture by Susan Parrish from Raleigh, N.C. In a photograph titled The Bitch Has Everything, Goodpaster is exhibiting a photograph of a disheveled Barbie doll with duck tape over her mouth. Parrish's sculptures are a playful mix of found objects with a Barbie doll head at the apex of each form. Comparing the Goodpaster photograph with Parrish's sculpture titled Tea with Hot Mama creates a thought provoking comparison between fiction and reality, seriousness and the spoof. Across the main gallery visitors will see the photographs of artist Jill Brody from Province, R.I. Selected from a body or work titled Hidden in Plain Sight, Brody has several large format color photographs of women from the Hutterites of Liberty County, who, according to Brody have "lived untouched, as much as possible, by the outside world for 500 years — some of whom you see here, are reclusive, pacifist Christians. In these images you can see how their centuries-old communal lives of faith are being increasingly intersected by the forces of the 21st century." Brody continued: "As a woman I knew that I wanted to tell their story largely through the eyes of women, both young and old, whose obedience to the cadences of their patriarchal social order is something that most American women shed decades ago. And yet for the most part they love what they do, partly because they do it together, and partly because in their lives of faith doing the work of the colony, no matter how menial or exhausting . . . I hope that this rare glimpse into their world will raise for you some of the same thoughts it has raised for me about what we gain, and what we lose, when our cultural identities become more about to our individual selves than our communal selves — a natural outgrowth of the powerfully individuating, technologically-driven world we inhabit." The main gallery includes Betti Pettinati-Longinotti from Winston-Salem, N.C, Elva Trevino from San Antonio, Texas, and Shea Justice from Boston, Massachusetts. Also included in the main gallery are two artists from New Orleans, La., CC Givens and Ricky Charles. CC Givens and Ricky Charles both are realistic painters. Charles paints on distressed wood from the Katrina hurricane and skillfully portrays traditional views of beauty and wisdom for the elderly; while Givens masterfully paints the personal, private and public, identity between two young women. Trevino also investigates one's private life with a very large collage in the exhibition titled My Glance Makes Her Uncomfortable. A complex system of signs and symbols in the work, Trevino notes, "a myriad of emotions can arise in oneself when discovering love for someone who is exactly like self, yet not open to the experience." Justice and Pettinati-Longinotti are artists who both celebrate significant female artists or activists. Justice does this with drawings, while Pettinati- Longinotti has installed 60 painted and fired glass panels portraits which celebrate the achievements of significant artists in western art history. She stated, "Many of these women did not receive recognition during their lifetime. My intention is to re-inform the art canon; the faces of women are re-presented in this relief." In comparison to the main gallery, visitors will note a distinctive shift in mood when they enter the small west gallery. Upbeat and eccentric, the gallery includes works by local artists Jonathan Chestnut, Susan Grusenmeyer and Shane Booth. Many in the area are familiar with Booths self portraits – bare chested, in one photograph he is wearing a 1950s gas mask while holding a pic-ax! Beautifully photographed and staged, Booth commented on how the body of work was the result of his struggle to come to terms with having the HIV virus. He commented, "As I was struggling to come to terms with the disease I started to use my camera as a sort of diary to get out the emotions I was feeling on any given day. As I would experience new things I would recreate them in my own way through a series of self -portraits. The process of the shoot would help ease any anxiety or stress I was feeling." Jonathan Chestnut combines computer graphics with sculpture. The mixed media reliefs titled Wonder Woman and Medusa are internally lit. Chestnut adds, "Worship at the Altar of Pop Culture is a series that speaks to changing views of faith in modern American culture. This series combines religious iconography and pop culture iconography; while the construction technique reflects thte popular American response of 'fun housing.' In this work I am addressing a remodeled, modernized version of beliefs with pop culture icons." Sarah Grusenmeyer's work is striking illuminatiang in its format. Playful color portraits in the exhibit remind visitors of the range of emotions and antics we each have within in us. We may see ourselves in the portraits, yet do we comfortable enough with ourselves to just be ourselves? Grusnmeyer's portraits clang with truth, the metal-like affect in her printing process is a perfect process to present the crisp edges of her reality. Finally, visitors should stop and take a moment to look at the video by JooYoung Choi from Houston, Texas. Choi is sharing her time-based media titled Pleasure Vision. Exploratory postmodern mixes of images, viewers construct their own meaning during the flipping and flickering of images. There is plenty of time to see Mediating Relevance: the Politics of Gender at the Arts Council, 301 Hay Street, since the exhibit will remain up until October 18, 2014. For information, call the Arts Council at 910-323-1776 or the Ellington-White Contemporary Gallery at 910-483-1388. October 1, 2014 Gates Four Pavillion 6775 Irongate Drive Fayetteville, NC 28306 6:00 - 10:00 PM Tickets cost $30.00 per person Finger foods and palate pleasers Cash bar will be available Live Music by Erik Smallwood To purchase tickets or get more information please call 910-223-0949 or send an e-mail to wendy.dejong@kidspeace.org Check out our facebook page: KidsPeace North Carolina Foster Care and Community Programs SONI MARTIN, Contributing Writer COMMENTS? Editor@upandcomin- gweekly.com. Onion House Tableau is on display at the Arts Council of Fayetteville-Cumberland County.