Feminism Now: 2014 Symposium

The proliferation of media via the Internet has made it possible for more voices to be heard—and as well to be lost. It is this reality that contextualizes the questions that surround Feminism today as well as Feminism’s relationship to art. This mini-conference, the second of its kind, represents CIA’s Visual Arts Environment’s commitment to examining issues relevant to the community and artists today.

This week-long exploration includes a panel discussion on Monday, March 17, an exhibition of student work, a performance by artist/performer Sara Holwerda, and this symposium.

This symposium, moderated by Dan Tranberg will focus on moving beyond the legacy to look at contemporary issues and strategies. What is the current purview of feminism? What is its relevance to artists and the public at large?

Lauren Kalman is a visual artist whose practice is invested in contemporary craft, video, photography and performance. Through her work she investigates beauty, adornment, body image, value and consumer culture. Raised in the Midwest, Kalman completed her MFA in Art and Technology from the Ohio State University and earned a BFA with a focus in metals from the Massachusetts College of Art. She has been awarded residencies at the Corporation of Yaddo, Virginia Center for Creative Arts and Santa Fe Art Institute. In addition she has received Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation, Puffin Foundation West and ISE Cultural Foundation grants.

Kalman exhibits and lectures internationally. Her work had been featured in exhibitions at the Renwick Gallery at the Smithsonian Museum of Art, Museum of Contemporary Craft, Contemporary Art Museum Houston, Museum of Fine Arts Boston and the DeCordova Museum. Her video work has been screened in several international film festivals. Her photographs and objects are part of many private collections as well as the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and the Renwick Gallery at the Smithsonian Museum of Art. Her works have been featured in many texts including Hand + Made: The Performative Impulse in Contemporary Craft published by the Contemporary Art Museum Houston and 40 Under 40: Craft Futures published by the Renwick Gallery and Yale University Press.

She has taught at institutions including Brown University and the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, RI. Currently, she is co-curating ‘Im Your Man’ with Milee Tibbs through the Emerging Curator Program Exhibition and Grant and the ISE Cultural Foundation. Lauren is an Assistant Professor at Wayne State University in Detroit, MI.

Sara Holwerda grew up in an unincorporated small town in central Michigan named after the plant that killed Socrates. She went on to be fully educated in the state, with a BFA from University of Michigan and an MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art.

The almost constant performance required of women in society, especially women in entertainment and service industry roles, is a cultural condition that Holwerda investigates and responds to in her work. Her ten-year career as a competitive figure skater encouraged an exaggerated level of self-awareness about how her body looks and performs, introduced her to many classical and Broadway tunes and inspired a taste for heavily sequined garments. She lives and works in Chicago. Sara’s exhibition And is Herself Created with an accompanying performance by The Fall opens at The Sculpture Center on March 20.

Christine Howey is an award-winning theater critic, having been named Best Critic in Ohio by both the Press Club of Cleveland and the Society of Professional Journalists. She is currently the theater critic for Cleveland Scene. She has also reviewed plays for The Plain Dealer, Cleveland Free Times, and City Pages in Minneapolis, MN. Christine acted and directed locally, primarily at Dobama Theatre, from 1969-1984. Christine wrote and performed in the recent, one-woman production Exact Change at Cleveland Public Theatre. Howey is a Creative Workforce Fellow for 2014, a program of the Community Partnership for Arts and Culture.

This event is sponsored by CIA's Sculpture and Liberal Arts Departments, and The Sculpture Center.

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