Allyson Mitchell: Ladies Sasquatch curated by Carla Garnet for the McMaster Museum of Art, 1280 Main St. W., Hamilton ON
Curator Carla Garnet and unidentified lady friend photos by John Abrams
Installation View
Familiars
As well as a major solo exhibition, Allyson Mitchell curated the current exhibition When Women Rule the World: Judy Chicago in Thread at the Textile Museum, 55 Centre Avenue, Toronto, ON
Judy Chicago The Creation 1984 wool, silk and gold threads 42 x 168”, Woven by Audrey Cowan, Photo: Donald Woodman
i had some real problems with the chicago show, and her work in general.
I never could stand it myself. The Creation was the least tortuous image I received.
On the other hand, Allyson's work is brilliant.
And I think Familiars is probably the most wonderful image I've received in a long time.
allyson's work is brilliant, for sure.
"Familiars" looks like cuteoverload.com on acid. In the best way possible, of course.
I think someone should give Allyson Mitchell the armatures for a Rock-a-fire Explosion band.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbnN6QmdrH4
I haven't seen the Judy Chicago show and I probably should. My only real exposure to her work was a documentary about the Dinner Party that I saw when I was just a kid and it grossed me out. I always thought I was just too prudish for vagina art, but I love Allyson's work and it's got vaginas galore. I wonder what the salient differences are between the two artists that mean several of us are excited about AM but not so keen on JC? There are some obvious similarities: a taste for the grotesque, a feminist agenda, an I-ain't-no-wallflower approach to female sexuality, garish colours, bigger-than-life iconography.
AM is formally much more sophisticated and complex than Chicago.
I agree with LM about the formal differences between Chicago and Mitchell. Also, all the stories that came out about the women potters/ceramicists who constructed The Dinner Party and how poorly they were paid/treated has always left a bad taste in my mouth. I know Mitchell has studio assistants and production help too, but I like how the labour and craft in her objects is really explicit - how I can always imagine how her objects were made, what the materials originally started out as, and how fun it must be to play in her studio.
I am so totally down with what you are saying about the explicit labour and craft issues in Mitchell vs. Chicago. But what's this about the formal sophistication? I sorta get it but I'm wondering why. Is it because Mitchell doesn't look like Georgia O'Keefe and Chicago does?
Georgia O'Keefe's work is way better than Chicago. No comparison really, JC's work just looks dated in that way that period illustrations do.
good point. There's a kind of earth mother thing going on that you don't see in Mitchell's work.
b/t/w lady curators, according to Leah Sandals, the director of The National Gallery of Canada, Marc Mayer, is very concerned that all the icky smelly ugly girly curating that the art programs are now turning out is discouraging for all the lads.
I saw that, L.M. I have now heard that argument from men in art history department 3 times and it has not gotten less idiotic with time.
I saw it too. cudos to Leah for sharing that little tidbit.
I do actually think it's kind of weird how few male students there are in my (and Gabby's) art history department. I wonder what is going on? It's one messed up discipline. I think everyone is kind of confused. At the risk of essentialising, maybe women tend to be a little more comfortable with participating in a discipline (western art history) that isn't being valorized anymore. Feminists have been working for a long time with meanings that aren't authoritative or absolute. As the myth of critical omniscience goes bye-bye down the drain, some of us are happier than others to get into the muck and dig around. (I've been reading too much Donna Haraway lately. She rocks my world.)
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Allyson Mitchell: Ladies Sasquatch curated by Carla Garnet for the McMaster Museum of Art, 1280 Main St. W., Hamilton ON
Curator Carla Garnet and unidentified lady friend photos by John Abrams
Installation View
Familiars
As well as a major solo exhibition, Allyson Mitchell curated the current exhibition When Women Rule the World: Judy Chicago in Thread at the Textile Museum, 55 Centre Avenue, Toronto, ON
Judy Chicago The Creation 1984 wool, silk and gold threads 42 x 168”, Woven by Audrey Cowan, Photo: Donald Woodman
- L.M. 2-25-2009 6:46 am
i had some real problems with the chicago show, and her work in general.
- anthony (guest) 2-25-2009 12:28 pm
I never could stand it myself. The Creation was the least tortuous image I received.
On the other hand, Allyson's work is brilliant.
- L.M. 2-25-2009 4:21 pm
And I think Familiars is probably the most wonderful image I've received in a long time.
- L.M. 2-25-2009 5:16 pm
allyson's work is brilliant, for sure.
- anthony (guest) 2-25-2009 6:18 pm
"Familiars" looks like cuteoverload.com on acid. In the best way possible, of course.
- Gabby (guest) 2-26-2009 5:04 am
I think someone should give Allyson Mitchell the armatures for a Rock-a-fire Explosion band.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbnN6QmdrH4
- rob (guest) 2-27-2009 3:28 pm
I haven't seen the Judy Chicago show and I probably should. My only real exposure to her work was a documentary about the Dinner Party that I saw when I was just a kid and it grossed me out. I always thought I was just too prudish for vagina art, but I love Allyson's work and it's got vaginas galore. I wonder what the salient differences are between the two artists that mean several of us are excited about AM but not so keen on JC? There are some obvious similarities: a taste for the grotesque, a feminist agenda, an I-ain't-no-wallflower approach to female sexuality, garish colours, bigger-than-life iconography.
- sally mckay 2-27-2009 11:20 pm
AM is formally much more sophisticated and complex than Chicago.
- L.M. 2-28-2009 1:12 am
I agree with LM about the formal differences between Chicago and Mitchell. Also, all the stories that came out about the women potters/ceramicists who constructed The Dinner Party and how poorly they were paid/treated has always left a bad taste in my mouth. I know Mitchell has studio assistants and production help too, but I like how the labour and craft in her objects is really explicit - how I can always imagine how her objects were made, what the materials originally started out as, and how fun it must be to play in her studio.
- Gabby (guest) 2-28-2009 4:08 am
I am so totally down with what you are saying about the explicit labour and craft issues in Mitchell vs. Chicago. But what's this about the formal sophistication? I sorta get it but I'm wondering why. Is it because Mitchell doesn't look like Georgia O'Keefe and Chicago does?
- sally mckay 2-28-2009 5:07 am
Georgia O'Keefe's work is way better than Chicago. No comparison really, JC's work just looks dated in that way that period illustrations do.
- L.M. 2-28-2009 5:44 am
good point. There's a kind of earth mother thing going on that you don't see in Mitchell's work.
- sally mckay 2-28-2009 3:44 pm
b/t/w lady curators, according to Leah Sandals, the director of The National Gallery of Canada, Marc Mayer, is very concerned that all the icky smelly ugly girly curating that the art programs are now turning out is discouraging for all the lads.
- L.M. 3-01-2009 7:53 am
I saw that, L.M. I have now heard that argument from men in art history department 3 times and it has not gotten less idiotic with time.
- Gabby (guest) 3-01-2009 2:23 pm
I saw it too. cudos to Leah for sharing that little tidbit.
I do actually think it's kind of weird how few male students there are in my (and Gabby's) art history department. I wonder what is going on? It's one messed up discipline. I think everyone is kind of confused. At the risk of essentialising, maybe women tend to be a little more comfortable with participating in a discipline (western art history) that isn't being valorized anymore. Feminists have been working for a long time with meanings that aren't authoritative or absolute. As the myth of critical omniscience goes bye-bye down the drain, some of us are happier than others to get into the muck and dig around. (I've been reading too much Donna Haraway lately. She rocks my world.)
- sally mckay 3-01-2009 11:34 pm