“Artemisia” is an historical drama based on the true story of Artemisia Gentileschi, the first woman to achieve success as a painter. Her father forbids her to draw male nudes, but curious, she persuades local men to model for her. In time, her attention is drawn to Agostino Tassi, a friend of her father is also a well-known painter. He is impressed by both her and her art, but as their love affair begins, Tassi finds himself on trial for rape.

Details:

Tuesday, February 14, 2012 / 7pm

10th Street Gallery/In Tandem Theatre (628 N. 10th St. Milwaukee, WI 53233)

Theatre seating, cash bar

For more information about this film series that celebrates women in the arts, click here.

I would like to take a moment to thank you for all of your support over the years. Guildess has grown into what it is today because of your continued support and patience.

In 2009, two ambitious women started Guildess with the simple hope of bringing women together. Over the years, our organization has become more than a place for women to gather. We have seen the creativity and energy of our members become a tool for engaging our city and addressing the needs of marginalized women throughout Milwaukee. Guildess’ growth is proof that if female artists stick together, support each other, and reach out to other women in their community, powerful things can happen.

As Director, it has been my privilege to work in service of the invaluable arts programming that Guildess provides the women of Milwaukee. Unfortunately, I have decided to step down from my role as Director of Guildess. I have chosen to seek a graduate education in order to further my understanding of the issues facing artists and women of our time. I will continue to spend my time and energy supporting women’s causes and in the future, I hope to return to an organization like Guildess, with increased knowledge and expertise. I encourage you to continue to support female artists in our community and consider volunteering at an organization that focuses’ on women’s needs.

Great organizations to support:

Milwaukee Women’s Center

Lissy’s Place (My Home, Your Home)

Sojourner Family Peace Center

Meta House

Hope House Milwaukee

Daystar, Inc.

Throughout this transition, I am committed to honoring the initiatives Guildess began this year. Our About Women, By Women film series and Stitching Our History quilting program will continue through Spring/Summer 2012. If you have any questions about this transition, please feel free to email me at: guildessmilwaukee@gmail.com

Thank you and best wishes during this holiday season.

Sincerely,

April Heding

Director, Guildess Milwaukee

Biography: Marjane Satrapi is an Iranian born French author, graphic novelist, director, and illustrator. As a child, she attended the Lycée Français in Tehran where her family was involved with communist and leftist political groups partly responsible for the 1979 Iranian Revolution. Her graphic novel, Persepolis, is a memoir of her childhood growing up during the Revolution, the subsequent Islamic regime that took control of Iran after the Revolution, and the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980′s. More info: http://www.gradesaver.com/author/marjane-satrapi/

Biography: Rose Tarman is a recent graduate of the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design who is in the process of relocating to Rome, Italy. Currently, she is working in installation form, combining photography, video and built environment to discuss ideas such as memory, home and familiarity and experiment with dislocating her viewers.  She was born in Lawrence, Kansas in 1988.

I asked Rose a few questions about inspiration, collaboration and her favorite female artist! Here’s what she said:

Your work has a poetic element to it, do you find inspiration in words?

Absolutely.  I’ve made several works that have included written or spoken components. I love the way certain textures of spoken words can create specific feelings or moods within a piece and how written words can hint toward something hidden within the visual.  I like to be as vague and ambiguous as possible when using text, it’s never my intention to give away much or allude to anything too specific, that way the viewer has to work a bit more to find connections.

How does collaboration play a role in your work?

I’ve practiced a healthy amount of collaboration, it’s something that I’d love to continue.  It’s a strange thing to be able to find a push and pull with another person in a way that takes the work to a new level. The brainstorming process might be the most fun for me, there’s a real honesty and immediacy that I love and a vocal process that I find refreshing.  I’ve had more technical relationships that have also been collaborative acts in my mind.  My most recent work, The Fly-by-Night, had a huge array of contributors in various ways.  I hadn’t ever built anything so extensive before, I new nothing about creating walls or a ceiling or installing flooring so I had to seek people who were confident in those areas to take part in the making of the piece. They influenced decisions I made and helped the piece grow into its final state.

Who is your favorite female artist? Why?

I have to say I’ve realized most of the artists I look up to are male, but I have absolutely looked toward Ann Hamilton and Nina Katchedourian often.  I admire Hamilton’s complete activation of space and tension between the visual and the viewer through that space.  Katchedourian brings out a more verbal, lighthearted side, finding levity in manipulated language and confusing natural order.

Are you currently working on anything?

My status with my work at the moment is only in concept.  I’m taking the summer to accomplish non-artistic endeavors and get myself to Italy in September.  Once I’m there and a little more established I plan on putting some of the ideas I’ve been floating around with to use and let my physical work evolve more.

RedLine and Guildess team up for a workshop that combines aspects of printmaking, storytelling and quilting! Participants will create quilt squares using relief, screen printing and dying techniques with an emphasis on personal histories and experiences.

RedLine Mentor Artist Dara Larson will share her love for storytelling. Learn how stories and personal histories are told through the process of collaborative art making, texti…le design and quilting throughout the world. Bring a personal artifact, journal, photograph, etc. for inspiration.

Extra quilt squares created by participants will become part of a collaborative quilt donated to a local women’s shelter that will kick off Guildess’ fall/winter outreach program. Participants are welcome to help with quilt construction. No experience necessary, fabric donations are encouraged. Cost: $60. Pre-registration is required.

• This is a TWO day workshop – November 5 & 12 (1-4pm).

• You can REGISTER by visiting RedLine’s website and following the instructions: http://www.redlineartmke.org/2011/09/01/experimental-quilting-workshop/

Filmed over the course of two years, “Our City Dreams” is an invitation to visit the creative spaces of five women …artists, each of whom possesses her own energy, drive and passion. These women, who span different decades and represent diverse cultures, have one thing in common beyond making art: the city to which they have journeyed and now call home – New York.

Opening night details:

10th Street Gallery/In Tandem Theatre (628 N. 10th St. Milwaukee, WI 53233)

October 11, 2011 / 7pm

Theatre seating, cash bar

More info: Here!

Biography: JAZMEN (Jasmine Barmore) is an illustrator based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She is a recent graduate from the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design. She majored in illustration and focused on secondary studies in printmaking and graphic design as well.

She is currently working as a freelance illustrator, but also serves as an urban arts community coordinator. Jazmen collaborates with inner-city youth to do community clean-ups, run creative cultural events, and project murals and workshops for local organizations.

Website: http://jazmenart.moonfruit.com/

Blog: http://jazmenart.blogspot.com/

The show generated a bit of press:

• Article about Guildess and Spirited by Expose Kenosha.

• Mention in Art City (Journal Sentinel Art Critic Mary Louise Schumacher)

Here are a few photographs from the opening…

If you missed the show and would like to check it out, it will be on display until October 16, 2011.

Artist Statement:
I create works through weaving, embroidery, printmaking, drawing, painting, animation, music, and performance. Through these mediums I explore sexual power, fantasy, folklore, religion, and cultural memory.

I subvert ideals. By embroidering onto and altering traditional, gendered objects such as wigs or doilies, I change their meaning as objects of adornment. Similarly, as a songwriter and performer, I draw on spiritual and shamanistic musical traditions to create songs that both reminisce and controvert their histories.

I enjoy the magic of transforming a familiar object, song, or motif into something unexpected. In my world, the Sphinx is more powerful than the Great Pyramid, a male Centaur has beautifully feminine legs, and a Witch relishes in her own burning. I give age-old characters new dominion. Ultimately though, this confuses them; they are torn between all-powerful
and completely powerless.

Gendered histories and myths are so ingrained that we forget where they come from. By confusing these traditions, I invite the viewer and audience to create transformative, new histories.

Rebecca has work in Guildess’ exhibition “Spirited”, opening this Friday at the BeExposed Gallery space in Kenosha. You can read an article about Guildess and the exhibition here: Expose Kenosha.

Leah’s most recent work will be included in “Spirited”, a group exhibition featuring work by Leah Borkenhagen and Rebecca Schoenecker. This exhibition will be on display at the BeExposed! Gallery space from September 16 through October 16, 2011.

Statement/Biography:

I’ve always been an artistic dabbler;  I like to keep my hands busy with a little bit of everything.  Whether it be painting, printmaking, collaging, interior work, jewelry, sculptor, etc., I enjoy it all.  Making art is about more than keeping myself occupied, it’s about taking my interpretation of the world as I see it and reconfiguring it through my hands. 

My work varies in theme and style, but generally I toy with ironies in our culture.  Animals often become metaphors for people and societal norms….snakes, sharks, lions…..I like leveling with the fierce and feared. 

Website: http://leahk.webs.com/