Women's Art Exhibit at the Public Library

I zoomed through the Women's Art Exhibit on Sunday. That is, I didn't get to spend as much time as I wanted (had a Vagina Monologues cast party to attend), but I honed in on the art works by Lori Carlson, Kathy O'Brien, and Junanne Peck. I'll definitely be heading back for a more prolonged and leisurely tour of the entire exhibit within the next coupla weeks, and I encourage you to do the same.

This year's show seems much stronger than the previous Women's History Month art exhibit at the public library, and I would guess that has to do with the support women artists are getting from one another and from the library. There was one incredibly provocative piece, a tryptych created with inter-connected cardboard (!) panels, that addresses the dismaying policy change towards deprioritization and defunding of arts education in the public schools. This piece is quite political, very "outsider art", yet it is rendered with sensitivity and a sense of hope. (Sorry, but I cannot remember the artist's name.)

I also spent a little time distributing hard copies of the XX COMMUNICATOR (March event/activity calendar). One woman rushed up to me later--after scanning my handout and feeling a connection btwn. our efforts--and introduced herself as the director of Resurrection Art, which is a project that encourages and showcases art made from recycled/trash materials. Resurrection Art is affiliated with the Dallas Peace Center, and maintains a pretty cool website with links to Metroplex artists doing recycled art (such as Romance Fire Starters, made with pages from romance novels!) Julia Schloss is the Resurrection Art coordinator and director, and wants to meet all of us who like to make creative things with cast-out materials. Check out RESURRECTION ART for more info.

Julia also mentioned that she is going to be looking for participant-artists for an event which will focus on child trafficking. The Dallas Peace Center is going to be hosting this, so stay tuned for more details as they become available.

Oh, while you're at the library, check out the Women's History Month book display. I did, and immediately grabbed their copy of Helena Maria Viramontes' "The Moths and other Stories." I highly recommend "Krik Krak" by Edwidge Danticat and poetry by Joy Harjo. I could go on, but I shan't. Discover your own new literary sheroes.