Equity and excellence are among P.S. ARTS’ core values. I mention both today – a day celebrating social, economic, cultural, and political achievement for women – because excellence cannot exist without equity. In order to provide a high quality education and opportunities for college and career success for all children, we must activate the full range of our human resources, experiences, and gifts. P.S. ARTS honors and celebrates the presence of women, men, and the broad spectrum of human diversity in our service ranks, the arts, and education.
With this spirit in mind, and in honor of International Women’s Day, our staff and faculty recognize some of their favorite female artists and celebrate their achievements.
-Kristen Paglia, P.S. ARTS CEO
Name: Clarissa Hampton
Position: Events Coordinator
Favorite Female Artist: Andrea Bowers
What about this artist’s work, life, and/or career inspire(s) you personally and professionally?
I had the privilege of hearing Andrea Bowers speak at my university a couple years ago, and I was so inspired by the passion that she exudes not only through her work, but in discussing her own inspirations and process. She spoke about what being an “artivist” means to her, how that influences the subjects she chooses, and how it motivates her to keep working. Her commitment to bringing to light the dark injustices that are often neglected by the mainstream media is admirable and her dedication to these subjects inspires me to always pursue truth and fight for what’s right in all that I do.
Name: Elda Pineda
Position: Deputy Director
(One) Favorite Female Artist: Lucille Ball
What about this artist’s work, life, and/or career inspire(s) you personally and professionally?
As a former actress, I love Lucy because she was a trailblazer for all women in comedy. She was the first woman to run a major Hollywood studio, the first pregnant actress to be pregnant on camera and was 1/2 of the first interracial couple on TV. She was also 40 years old when she starred in “I Love Lucy”…40 years old! As a woman who is also in her forties, I appreciate her unwavering conviction that age is not a limitation, that she was in control of her destiny and that her “weirdness” was also her greatest asset. Her portrayal of a woman struggling against gender roles (albeit a humorous look) was quite subversive for the time. Professionally, she inspired me to think beyond the limitations I assume I have and to take charge of my own future.
Name: Gaby Hernandez
Position: Program Coordinator
Favorite Female Artist: Shirin Neshat
What about this artist’s work, life, and/or career inspire(s) you personally and professionally?
I admire Shirin Neshat for her feminist art that challenges stereotypes and fearlessly confronts issues of gender and identity. Her work, primarily film and photography, is informed by her experience as an Iranian born woman living in the United States. It is deeply personal and inextricable from politics, and yet significant for us all.
Name: Goreti da Silva
Position: Artist Leader, Inside Out Community Arts
Favorite Female Artist: Carol Burnett
What about this female artist’s work, life, and/or career inspire(s) you personally and professionally?
She was the first comedic actress I saw on TV. Family time was spent watching The Carol Burnett Show and laughing out loud. I was inspired by the fact that she played female characters that weren’t beautiful; she made me want to do the same thing: make people laugh.
Name: Heather Lowe
Position: Teaching Artist
Favorite Female Artist: Helen Lundeberg
What about this female artist’s work, life, and/or career inspire(s) you personally and professionally?
My work has been influenced by many great women artists including Bridget Riley, Berthe Morisot, Claire Falkenstein, and Mary Cassatt. I chose Helen Lundeberg (1908-1999) because her mastery of California light can be matched by no one. Her compositions are always surprising and subtle. Her oeuvre is so broad, covering figurative art, conceptual art, surrealism, and abstract art. Lundeberg was a woman of both integrity and humility. She was also an art activist, completing the manifesto of the Post-Surrealist group in the 1930’s. Although she was sometimes overshadowed by her husband’s (Lorser Feitelson) reputation, she has recently received much more museum exposure.The Laguna Museum the first comprehensive exhibition of her work, which will be on display until May 2016. In an interview conducted by Jan Butterfield, Lundeberg said, “I want the painting, as a whole, to have a subjective entity. It has to have some magic for me. Sometimes it works for other people. I’m not interested in merely a fine, formal visual arrangement. I want something more to happen.”My own work goes through many transformations and her work has inspired me at every stage. Her use of color and beautiful formal structures are qualities I often refer to when I am working out a composition. Her point of view is always subjective, which is a rare quality in what is now termed “hard-edge” abstraction.
Name: Jen Leitch
Position: Advancement Director
Favorite Female Artist: Suzanne Lacy
What about this female artist’s work, life, and/or career inspire(s) you personally and professionally?
Throughout her career, Suzanne Lacy has actively collaborated with other artists, the media, and the local communities in which she works to make productive commentary on social and political issues. Lacy is able to build community through her artistic process, and as a nonprofit practitioner, her commitment to relationships and collectivity is a good reminder of the power and impact we have when we work together.
Name: Lui Sanchez
Position: Program Director
(One) Favorite Female Artist: Ana Mendieta – Cuban American sculptor, painter, video and performance artist
What about this artist’s work, life, and/or career inspire(s) you personally and professionally?
I’m inspired by her earth/body sculptures and how she focused on spiritual and physical connections with the Earth. I loved the simplicity of her being out in nature and creating works with mud, sand, grass, twigs, and leaves with the complexity of themes on feminism, violence, life, death, place, belonging, and the body. I appreciate her focused essence that art is you and you are the art: you don’t have to go out and spend hundreds on materials, and you don’t have to go out and make product for others to buy, outside of your self.
Name: Oscar Navarrete
Position: Program Assistant
Favorite Female Artist: Rigoberta Menchu
What about this artist’s work, life, and/or career inspire(s) you personally and professionally?
Rigoberta Menchu has dedicated her life to becoming a human rights activist for the native people of Guatemala. She was the first woman of indigenous descent to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Her beautiful poetry and her persistence in using her words and her voice despite persecution inspire me to embrace my own.
Name: Sylvia Hathaway Chavez
Position: Program Manager
Favorite Female Artist: Josephine Baker, Activist / Dancer / Singer / Actress / Spy
What about this artist’s work, life, and/or career inspire(s) you personally and professionally?
Josephine Baker was a fearless artist who made decisions about her life and her art in a time when women, especially women of color, had little agency to do so. She was a jazz-age darling who spent most of her career living in Paris, as her home country of the United States was riddled with racists who violently protested a woman of color appearing onstage.
Aside from being a legendary performer and crossing genres and racial boundaries, she was also a life-long political and civil rights activist. During the Nazi occupation of France she volunteered with the Red Cross, and worked covertly for the French Resistance. When returning the the United States to tour in the 1950’s, she confronted racism head on by writing clauses into her contract that audiences must be racially mixed, effectively ending segregation in jazz night clubs. She also famously stood with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the March on Washington.
What inspires me so much about the life and work of Josephine Baker is her innate understanding that her privilege and responsibility as an artist was to shine a light on injustice and fight it through her art. And she never backed down from the good fight.
