feminist blogs

Berries 2008. 1" x 1" x 1.5" Oil on rock.

Butts 2008. (approx) 2 3/4" x 1/2" x 1/2" Oil on stick.

Art book 2008. 7" x 9" x 4" Oil on log of wood.

Books 2008. 6" x 2" x 2" Oil on wood and matches.

Claw 2008. 15" x 8" x 1" Oil on stick and crab claw.

Roquefort 2008. 5.5" x 5.5" x 5.5" Oil on rock.

Ruler 2008. 11 1/4" x 12" x 1 3/8" Oil on wood.

Works of art, like people and Transformers, are more than meets the eye. To me, art is also the resources available to the artist, the medium, the message, the feel, what’s inside or behind or underneath the image. To me, art is also the thoughts that start running through my head when I experience the artwork; it’s my gut reaction AND the reaction that lingers and the questions that arise.

These sculptures of Leidy Churchman are so interesting to me because they blur the line between art and craft; art becomes less prestigious and craft less lowly. I love how he takes time to create individually-made, commonplace items that are usually mass-produced. His sculptures blur the line between practical and aesthetic. And, because they’re such cute, queer little things, I would love a bowl-full of the berries painted on rocks on my breakfast table! (By the way, my 9-year-old and I are both equally impressed with his rock painting because we have tried it, and it’s not as easy as it looks).

As his name might hint, he is a transgender artist who says of himself:

I make transgender pictures. My painting is informed by transitions, the humor of uncertainty, and relationships of supposed opposites.

I see people and their environments morphing into transsexual, not as a definitive destination but a space of complexity and amusement. As a transgender artist, I imagine “trans” as suggestive and paradoxical, where gender is always contradictory and in a state of flux.

Also, here’s a video that Leidy did for the really rad band MEN (MEN is a band and art/performance collective that speaks to issues such as trans awareness, wartime economies, sexual compromise, and demanding liberties through lyrical content and an exciting stage show).

Here’s to queer art and those who queer it! Cheers!

Spring

Jodie! Yay Jodie!

I hope the scarf makes you feel lucky and fabulous and wonderful in every way! You can wear it like a scarf (of course) or like a Miss America sash or as a tie belt à la the very first Miss America from 1921, Margaret Gorman (so cute!):

Enjoy! And, don’t forget to send me your email address so I can get the goods to ya

Spring

Before we had blogs, we had zines. And, I have been thinking quite a bit about zines lately. Recently, a woman I’ve never met in person asked me to participate in the creation of a zine, and I got goofily excited! It’s just that I think that is soooooo cool; these types of small, unexpected gestures make life so wonderful! Her gesture made me start thinking more about what it is about zines (and blogs and self-publishing in general) that have captured the attention of so many artists, activists, feminists, etc. throughout history.

My favorite self-publisher from the past, Emily Dickinson, created 40 handmade books (fancily called ‘fascicles’) filled with over 800 of her poems and helped forge the modern path where the self-published, self-taught, self-produced, self-edited, self-motivated circumvent capitalism.

Human beings, I think, are naturally wired to communicate and express themselves no matter their circumstances or environment. We create art and we write and we philosophize whether we exist in caves, in jails, in big cities, in small towns, in impoverished villages, in slave quarters, or in restricted 19th-century women’s roles. But, sometimes we become intimidated by the official, modern outlets intended to profit from creativity: production companies, publishing houses, television networks, universities, newspapers. (Not that profit is a bad thing- not at all!)

It is so heart-warming and fascinating to me that zines, and in many cases blogs, are made because people can’t help it, because humans have an innate need to make and share something. And we humans can always overcome the frustration that sometimes comes from trying too hard to think of something that is both artistically interesting and profitable. We forget money or success or fame momentarily, and we create anyway! Not perfect nor completely pure nor practical, but nonetheless beautiful.

The beauty of a small, not-for-profit, handmade zine is not only in the artifact itself, but also in the mysterious creative intention and evidence of human will that goes in to making the zine. Here’s to Ms. Dickinson and and all her grandchildren’s zines! A few links you might enjoy and support if you are so inclined (if pictures are provided, you can click on the pictures to follow the links)!!!:

Small Victories from New Zealand.

Young fashion blogger Arabelle goes on about ZINES!

A digital archive of grassroots & feminist media in Europe.

More on Emily Dickinson’s poetry at the Emily Dickinson Museum online. For the die-hard Dickinson nerd, they even have games and riddles!

∞Spring∞

~The following has been deemed ‘Comment of the Decade’ by the Progress on the Prairie administration (Beamish and Spring):

Poor Beamish. Another tragic child of divorce who has thrown away her life to be a burden on the system by becoming nothing but a PhD educated, socially conscious teacher that volunteers with underprivileged children. If only mama Beamish had stuck it out, we wouldn’t have to look at this tragedy.

And Spring’s poor baby! Have you ever seen such an unhappy, maladjusted, illiterate, ignorant, self-loathing child in your life? Every time I see her tragically curling her lanky form into the lap of her adoring mother as she reads Greek mythology with an infectious grin on her face I shed a tear. Those horrifying photos her father took of her in the art museum he took her to in New York just so she could see her favorite painting {Van Gogh’s Starry Night} make me want to vomit with rage at his neglect.

4 out of 5 people who get divorced don’t want to? I think that’s a little conservative. I’ma say 5 out of 5 people don’t want to discover that the commitment they hoped would last a lifetime would, for whatever reason, ultimately cause more harm and pain to all parties involved and that in order to dissolve this state-created union they must go through an emotionally and financially draining process that leaves them both tainted in the eyes of a hypocritical public. But hey, I’m one of those wackos that says nobody WANTS to get an abortion.

Anyone want to go in on some quicklime so we can write CORRELATION =/= CAUSATION on her lawn?

~Posted by the one-and-only MizH

Dear Friends, Family, Readers, Etc.:

Here’s to sending out 2009 with a bang!

Cheers from Progress on the Prairie! And BE CAREFUL!!!

1. Whip It * movie directed by Drew Barrymore. The value of Roller Derby has long been over-looked. I unashamedly believe that it is a great American pastime with historical, cultural, and socio-political significance on par with stickball and Jazz. A great movie with a great subject, good writing, good acting, and a damn good soundtrack. And you know me; any soundtrack that puts Dolly Parton and Peaches and Jens Lekman together in one place has a special place in my heart!

2. Far *album by Regina Spektor and I and Love and You *album by the Avett Brothers. Two of the albums that got me through 2009’s ups and downs again and again and again. The year’s not over yet, but I’ve been so busy that I have kinda neglected my heart’s need for good music. Good thing I have some real winners lined up, namely: Know Better, Learn Faster by Thao and the Get Down Stay Down. At just one listen through, my heart is already swollen. Thank you, music!

3. Pregnant people working on TV. This ain’t your momma’s pregnacy. Remember M.I.A. performing pregnant at the Grammys back in February of 2009? That was awesome! Another pregnant working woman I saw more recently was Kari Byron, one of the builder-experimenters on the Discovery Channel show MythBusters. If watching MythBusters is my guilty pleasure, then seeing very pregnant Ms. Byron construct a human analog for a deep sea dive test makes me a full-blown sinner! Of being pregnant while doing her out-of-the-ordinary job, she says:

I have weird little worries…like how loud does a gunshot have to be for the baby to hear it? And how much nitrogen can be in the atmosphere before it’s a danger to the pregnancy? I now know that I have to be 5,000 feet from an exploding bomb instead of 2,000 feet!

So cuuuuuuute!

4. Wine Tastings. Moving shamelessly from pregnant ladies to drunkenness. No seriously, though. This year, a few of my friends and I started planning wine tastings. We pick a country (or region), and we all bring a wine from that country and an interesting fact about that wine or some general wine production history from the country. The hostess also provides some tasty snacks to compliment the wine. I am still very much a wine novice, but these “meetings” have been such fun and educational experiences that my usual taste for Coors Light is now sometimes trumped by my palette’s curiosity about that French rosé on the menu. No lie.

5. Finding old letters from my Dad. This really is a happy note to end on, I promise  My dad has been dead 10 years now, so I was soooooooo glad to find about 10-12 letters that he wrote to me from the years 1993-1999. Better than finding buried gold and better than winning the lottery, they are my new most prized possessions. (For more found -though not always so sentimental- letters, check out FOUND Magazine. Good reads.)

I know the year’s not quite over yet, but what were some of your favorite things this year?

Do tell,

Spring