[-empyre-] Carolee Schneeman

[Renate Ferro]

Constanza wrote: 
<snip>
But for me, it was in the role that the
body played within the works by feminist artists that made an impact on me. It was the return to the body, as an object, a material thing, a corporeal and phenomenological thing in the world that inspired a true awakening in thinking intellectually about the role of women throughout art history.
<snip>

Thanks Constanza for your thoughts about Carolee Scheemann.  A quick anecdote about Carolee.  Tim and I attended a feminist conference at the University of Montreal in 2002 or 2003.  Carolee was an invited guest lecturer.  A bit later in the afternoon on Saturday, the second day of the conference, she suggested the three of us escape the stuffiness of the day and grab a drink at a local bar.  We spent a wonderfully interesting time listening to her ideas most particularly about politics as it was shortly after 911. She was adamant about moving to Canada to escape as she felt vulnerable as an artist as the US Government was tracking citizens and infiltrating rights with illegal wiretaps and other means. As an artist, she felt particularly vulnerable.  I believe she ended up moving to Canada for a short time after our conversation but for that afternoon we ended up taking a walk in the beautiful sunlit grass, Carolee in bare feet.

The recording of all histories is a precarious one. What is it that gets recorded?  What privileges certain information over others?   I was also frustrated as a young artist sitting in art history and art studios where the artists presented to us were that of a western male canon.  For me art history was documented in Janson’s Art History and Gardner’s Book of Art History where historical art was presented according to time periods and classical categories:  Cave Era, Egyptian Art, Greek Art, Roman and Gothic periods and so on.  

Early feminist artists such as Scheemann along with Judy Chicago, Hanne Darbovan, Eva Hesse, and others are featured in a well-crafted recent film by artist Lynn Hershman. !Women Art and Revolution.
  http://www.womenartrevolution.com/ 
Hershman’s film tells of the feminist movement born from politics and free speech through direct interviews and artefacts of video and film. It is through the film that Hershman corrects the telling of art history through original documents. 

The feminist turn to the body was indeed a turning point and one that helped to raise the consciousness of women. Thanks Constanza.  Looking forward to hearing more. 

Renate
   



Renate Ferro
Visiting Associate Professor
Director of Undergraduate Studies
Department of Art
Tjaden Hall 306
rferro at cornell.edu
 
 

On 4/16/19, 4:27 PM, "empyre-bounces at lists.artdesign.unsw.edu.au on behalf of Constanza Salazar" <empyre-bounces at lists.artdesign.unsw.edu.au on behalf of cs2293 at cornell.edu> wrote:

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