PWALS 2017
PCC’s annual Women in Art Lecture Series introduces a feminist art symposium format this year and honors local artist and arts advocate Mardy Widman.
- Date: Friday, May 26, 2017, 4-6pm
- A reception in room 240 will follow the symposium.
- Location: Portland State University, room 200 in the Art Building
- Cost: Admission is free and the public is welcome.
The Portland Women in Art Lecture Series organizers move center stage this year to present on feminist art topics at Portland State University. In individual 15-minute presentations, the panel of artists and art historians will explore traditional and non-traditional methods of art-making from sewing to photography to painting with guns. The panel will consider the contributions of women in art and design historically and in the present day, all tied to current debates around gender rights and the roles of women in society.
Presenters
Elizabeth Bilyeu
Elizabeth Bilyeu teaches art history at Portland Community College. Her presentation “Women and Guns in the Visual Arts” is inspired by art content from the classroom, conversations with student veterans, current events, and incidents on an urban college campus.
Kelsey Birsa
Kelsey Birsa is a BFA candidate in Art Practices at Portland State University. Her presentation “The Transience of (Female) Body Consciousness” reflects her painting process and concepts explored in her current body of work. Prudence Roberts teaches art history at Portland Community College and is the director of the Helzer Gallery on the Rock Creek campus. Her presentation “Stitching Resistance” looks at political activism through textile work made by women.
Rachel J. Siegel
Rachel J. Siegel has exhibited her art in Portland, Los Angeles, New York, Seattle, and Taiwan. Her collaborator Deborah Faye Lawrence has exhibited satirical collages in New York, Washington, D.C, Los Angeles, and Seattle. Their presentation “The Evolution of Agent Yu” describes a collaborative stop-motion animation project built on Siegel’s D.I.Y. aesthetics, her knowledge of photography and digital processes, and on Lawrence’s creative writing skills and her prowess with scissors. The animation will be accompanied by accordionist Kyle Hanson of The Murkies.
Prudence Roberts
Prudence Roberts teaches art history at Portland Community College and is the director of the Helzer Gallery on the Rock Creek campus. Her presentation “Stitching Resistance” looks at political activism through textile work made by women.
Sue Taylor
Sue Taylor is Professor of Art History in the School of Art and Design and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in the College of the Arts at Portland State University. Her presentation “A Diffident Amazon: Hollis Sigler Comes Out” traces the exuberant art and activism of the celebrated Chicago feminist who died of breast cancer in 2001.
Christine Weber
Christine Weber teaches art history at Portland Community College and is the art department chair at the Sylvania campus. Her presentation “Too Many Artists in the Kitchen” addresses the challenges women artists faced working at the Bauhaus.
About Mardy Widman
Mardy Widman in front of her painting titled Elysian. Photograph by Jens Jensen, May 2017.
Mardy Widman in front of her painting titled Elysian. Photograph by Jens Jensen, May 2017.
In the spirit of raising awareness of women’s roles in art, PWALS organizers proudly honor Mardy Widman on this occasion, recognizing her contributions as an artist, advocate, and patron of the arts, supporting her immediate family of artists, students, and colleagues in Portland and the Northwest.
Widman is represented by the Art Adventure Gallery in Madras, Oregon. She has exhibited her paintings recently at the 12 x 16 Gallery in Portland and the Golden Gallery in Beaverton, Oregon.
PWALS is funded this year by the Time Arts Club at Portland State University.