|
DOLLHOUSE: ART AS SERIOUS PLAY
Arc Gallery, January 15 - February 19, 2022
Curated by Priscilla Otani & Tanya Wilkinson
“Genius is childhood recalled at will.”- Charles Baudelaire
When you were a child you made art, probably lots of it. You, and everyone around you, called that “playing.” Art is part of a child’s normal response to almost any aspect of life. A small child asks an art-teacher what he does at work. “I teach people to draw” the teacher says, and the child responds “You mean they forget?”
Within the bounds of an imaginary dollhouse, this exhibition showcases art that uses the tropes of playtime—storybooks, toys, dolls, games, dress-up, imaginary friends, and secret spaces—to explore the serious and playful nature of art-making. The works compel the viewer to recall the joys of make-believe and to appreciate the unique interpretation of “play” that each artist brings to the dollhouse.
When you were a child you made art, probably lots of it. You, and everyone around you, called that “playing.” Art is part of a child’s normal response to almost any aspect of life. A small child asks an art-teacher what he does at work. “I teach people to draw” the teacher says, and the child responds “You mean they forget?”
Within the bounds of an imaginary dollhouse, this exhibition showcases art that uses the tropes of playtime—storybooks, toys, dolls, games, dress-up, imaginary friends, and secret spaces—to explore the serious and playful nature of art-making. The works compel the viewer to recall the joys of make-believe and to appreciate the unique interpretation of “play” that each artist brings to the dollhouse.
Dollhouse Artists
Afatasi the Artist, Glenn Caley Bachmann, Rosalia Balthazar, Marie Bergstedt, Johnny Botts, Joshua Coffy, Sas Colby, Diana Elrod, Miriam Fabbri, Kathy Fujii-Oka, Dolores Gray, Creativity Explored Artists Maribel Guzman & Miriam Munguia & Jose Nunez, Trudi Chamoff Hauptman & Zachariah Hauptman, Dianne Hoffman, Jennifer Jigour, J.L. King, Liz Mamorsky, Kristine Mays, Michael McConnell, Erica Meriaux, Geralyn Marie Montano, Howard Munson, Tomye Neal-Madison, Sean O'Donnell, Priscilla Otani, Barbara Pollak-Lewis, Na Omi Judy Shintani, Liz Steketee, Denise Tarantino, Stephen C Wagner, Tanya Wilkinson, and Sandra Yagi.
Dollhouse Curators
Priscilla Otani is a founding partner of Arc Gallery & Studios and has curated many exhibitions for Arc Gallery, Northern California Women’s Caucus for Art, and Pacific Center for the Book Arts. She was president of the National Women’s Caucus from 2013 – 2015 and currently serves on the board of Northern California Women’s Caucus for Art. Otani is a mixed media artist whose works have been selected in Bay Area, national and international exhibitions.
Tanya Wilkinson is a Feminist artist and author based in San Francisco. She has curated shows focused on themes of Mythology, Storytelling, Metaphor and Political Activism for the Pacific Center for Book Arts, at the Village Theater Art Gallery in Danville California, for the California Institute of Integral Studies and at Arc Gallery and Studios in San Francisco. Tanya’s own art practice focuses on collage, assemblage, mixed media sculpture and book arts. She is also the author of several books: Medea's Folly: Women's Relationships and the Search for Intimacy (1998), Persephone Returns: Victims, Heroes, and the Journey from the Underworld (1996) and Women’s Dreams and Nightmares (2018)."
Dollhouse Event Manager
Laura Abrams is an artist, writer, and arts manager who has worked primarily in the live arts presenting field. She holds an Art History degree from UCLA and an MA in Arts Administration from NYU. As Education and Community Programs director/campus and community liaison at UC Berkeley’s Cal Performances, she developed events designed to nourish interdisciplinary understanding in and through the arts. She is former board president at MOCHA, the Museum of Children's Arts. As a Northern California Women's Caucus for Art member, she was part of the exhibition team and edited the catalog for “Composing the Future.” Laura’s current drawings and mixed media shadow boxes express a colorful, surrealist aesthetic inspired by nature, folk art, puzzles, and improvisational jazz. Her blog, LA Art Notes https://www.laura-abrams.com/la-art-notes/ centers on creating meaning through artistic encounters.
Dollhouse Gallery
DOLLHOUSE ARTIST STATEMENTS (INCOMPLETE)
Afatasi the Artist
In her conceptual mixed-media work entitled, BLACK SPACE, Afatasi hones her textile skills and love of Afrofuturism to dispel the progressive and liberal myth of her hometown of San Francisco. This work captures the many ways in which the city has been criminally complicit to the
discrimination, minimization, and purposeful erasure; all while honoring the spaces, contributions, and hidden histories of the American Decedents of Chattel Slavery (ADOCS), most of whom fled extreme violence and discrimination in the American south, and now call the city their home.
Glenn Bachmann
WAITING FOR STATEMENT
Rosalia Balthazar
Food is a big part of my work life and my artistic life. It has informed my art in many ways, as it feeds my mind and soul as much as my body. Food can be an art form in itself. The colors, textures and shapes of food are nothing new to art, but I sometimes think I see something different in a fruit, vegetable, or prepared food each time I see it. Even knowing that, I am still surprised that my inspiration came from tiny erasers.
Artistic creations come to me first in visions, nudging me until I take action. One visit to a Japanese stationery store was all it took – my imagination gathered all the adorable food-shaped erasers into a sculpture and I woke the next morning seeing it in my mind almost as it appears now. This was a labor of joy, love and obsession, discovering more tasty looking erasers than I thought existed. After applying about 2500 erasers over 3 months, and crowning it with Manga guardians, I thought it reflected the kind of crazy fun I had while making it.
Marie Bergstedt
"Triker" represents a serious memory of childhood play. During the peddling years I was switching back and forth between my birth mother and the home where I resided with eight foster children. I felt completely without a say in my life and rarely spoke aloud. When I was with my mother, I was dressed up much like a princess doll, posed, and commanded to look happy for the camera, but without a true smile or a head on my shoulders.
Inside myself, I knew where my super-power lay. I took advantage of every moment astride the throne of a tricycle, pushing the pedals and steering with all my might. With herculean strength, I plowed through all obstacles, magically transforming myself into a person of consequence.
With art I am playing the same toddler game, pushing through memories and current barriers one pedal at a time in the doll house which is our world.
Johnny Botts
When I was a kid, I created a lot of collages, decorating envelopes that I’d send through the mail, and I have returned to making collages since joining Collage-a-Rama at Arc Gallery. Throughout the pandemic, I have been making small pieces that have been easy to mail to buyers. I like to find creative ways to re-use old materials in my art, and created the texture in my smiley face piece using sheets of paint peeled from roller trays.
Joshua Coffy
As a young boy I spent a lot of time at my Grandmother’s house and she was a woman obsessed with birds. She was also one of the
kindest and gentlest people I have ever known. Being at her house always meant warmth, safety, and shelter. In my daily life now as an
adult I strive to emulate her kindness and compassion for others. She was one of the first people that encouraged my artwork so in turn I
paint colorful birds as a tribute to all that she was. Its one way that I carry her with me. For me the birdhouses are a symbol of home. But
that doesn’t necessarily mean your dwelling as much as where you feel like yourself. Painting is where I feel most like myself.
Sas Colby
bunnies on ice & other experiments
I began drawing the Bunny in 1997 as a daily meditation, attracted by its shape and vulnerability.
Soon the bunny evolved into an alter ego and I deployed him in diverse environments and sent him out in the world for adventures. Then he attracted a companion, a one eared “bad” bunny, the shadow figure, who challenged the narrative, often getting into compromising situations, more like real life. In this book, the bunny celebrates Obama’s election, he floats in dreamscapes, has a smoke, becomes a tattoo on a sexy leg, and is an overdressed tourist with a camera in the desert. In the final image he sprouts pink wings having taken me from a sad place to one of curiosity about life’s potential. Now the Bunny leads and I follow.
Greek Bunny
The original Bunny, from which this drawing is made, is a miniature rubber figurine, about 3 inches high, bought in a resale shop for 50 cents. I began drawing the Bunny every day as a kind of meditation, finding it instructive, altering the scale and rediscovering the form each time, and turning the Bunny into an alter ego. This drawing was made after a trip to Greece , and Bunny strides through a field of dried flowers amidst a Snake Goddess from Crete, pottery, and a bunny- eared Cycladic figure. Wherever the intrepid Bunny goes, others follow.
Diana Elrod
Years ago, my mother sent me several scrapbooks with ephemera she had collected throughout my childhood years – a lock of my hair, awards, letters I wrote, and some of my artwork from various ages. About 5 years ago I revisited those scrapbooks and was particularly smitten by a little knight I had drawn when I was not quite six years old. In my art practice, I have since drawn additional versions of the knight in various ways, and have incorporated these drawings into paintings, collages, and other mixed media work. Although I don’t know exactly what compelled me to draw him in the first place at the age of almost-six, I now see the little knight as a protective force, quiet in his strength.
Miriam Fabbri
Raggedy Ann was my Mother’s doll. She appeared on the second floor steps of my family home sometime long after I had left. When I returned for visits, I would see her sitting about half way up the staircase as I went to and from my bedroom.
I never thought to ask my Mother how she acquired the doll or why she placed her on the stairs. But Raggedy was one of the treasures that I
chose to keep from the family home. And now the doll’s silly grin and wide innocent eyes always remind me of Mom.
Kathy Fujii-Oka
I Broke My Foot
As a young child, I enjoyed playing with my mother’s collection of Japanese wooden Kokeshi dolls. She loved her small dolls and admired them immensely. The doll in this painting is one I have favored since childhood and throughout my life. Tiny, feminine and delicate, she is approximately five inches in height and has a broken foot from being dropped on the floor.
After my mother passed, my sister and I shared her intimate collection. This painting symbolizes the absence and presence of her spirit. Creating this piece helped me to reinforce my relationship and memory of her, as well as offering a tribute to her legacy.
It’s Raining
While living in San Francisco some years ago, I began to experience water intrusion in my newly renovated condo. I was on the ground level, and it was a corner unit. As the years passed, the leaking became worse and each winter, the leaks returned. I felt surrounded by water, seeping into the ceiling, dribbling down the interior windows and onto parts of the wood floors. Lots of plugging and patching took place, but it was only a temporary band aid and I endured many sleepless nights.
In December of 2014, there was a torrential rainstorm that was referred to as California’s, “Storm of the Decade”. It was powerful and caused a lot of damage in SF and beyond. Every single window in my unit leaked, and puddles were everywhere. I literally felt like a caged bird underwater and treading water. Additionally, several other units in my building experienced the same. Two years later, a new roof was installed on our building and the water leaks ceased. It was a huge relief and subsequently I moved out. I am now enjoying my new home on the top floor and have peace of mind.
Dolores Gray
Discarded love in a Doll House
Playing with dolls is a recent art adventure for me. As a young girl I was the quintessential tomboy interested in building forts, treehouses, derby boxcars, playing Indians and cowboys, and drowning my younger sister’s dolls in the rain barrel.
The fun of drowning dolls has not abated. I have reawakened a guilty pleasure in creatively torturing Barbie and the fifties representation of the perfect feminine form. . The fact that this plastic doll remains an icon in feverish childish dreams and fantasies instills in me the wicked desire to tarnish the image.
Over the last few years my hunt for dolls has expanded to include antique porcelain, bisque, plastic, paper and clothe dolls. Using doll parts to tweak my fun and games assemblages. I am always looking for ways to manipulate an adventure in doll play that still excites the wicked kid in me.
In 2018-19 I set myself a challenge to create 25 small assemblages using the plethora of dolls and items I had collected over years of flea market hunting. My playtime began with small boxes the perfect house for mini dolls and doll parts and twisted movie titles. I have sliced and diced doll heads, stitched them together like Frankenstein, and bottled them like baby gherkins.
Maribel Guzman, Miriam Munguia & Jose Nunez Collaboration at Creativity Explored
Maribel Guzman
Guzman is focused and perfectionistic when in the studio, creating iconic drawings and detailed paintings, which combine figures and animals in dreamlike scenes. The subject matter typically tells a story, with family groups, lush gardens, or interiors, all drawn with a sure line and filled with vibrant colors. Her narrative style translates well to other media, including embroidered textile works and ceramics.
Miriam Munguia
A former laundress in her home country of Honduras, Miriam Munguia was instantly attracted to tapestries, quilting, and weaving upon joining the Creativity Explored studio. She is a dedicated worker, meditatively sewing together baskets, assembling complex figurative tapestries, or embroidering quilts with lyrical, meandering lines.
Being deaf and mute, Munguia’s art practice serves as an effective tool to connect with her community. Graphic forms, which often represent people, houses, animals, and tropical plants, take inspiration from her native home in Honduras, and the people she surrounds herself with here in San Francisco.
Jose Nunez
José Nuñez uses a simple, assured stroke to delineate the shapes of his subjects, which he often repeats or elongates to fill the picture plane, giving his work a complex graphic arrangement. The flora and fauna of his beloved El Salvador occupy a large portion of his attention, his work often depicting memories from time spent alone in the countryside taking care of his family's cows. Out of those memories also come artistic investigations of mythological subjects like cadejo, a shadow dog that hunts at night and used to terrify him.
Trudi Chamoff Hauptman & Zachariah Hauptman
Trudi Hauptman (she/her) makes art quilts and textile sculpture; Zachariah Hauptman (they/them) specializes in poetic fiction. The Twin is a collaborative work contesting and exploring the nature of relationships, (self-)perception, and the division between experiential and internal memory.
Intended as a rhetorical "twin" to Zach, by inviting them to collaborate, the replica is transformed from Trudi's construction of Zach's body into an intimate manifestation of personal interiority both true and unknowable. The external form (based off a child's "life-sized" crocheted doll) is familiar, albeit altered by its encounter with adulthood, as a vessel for powerful potentials. The internal space holds room for both heart and soul in the form of poetic tokens, which Zach hid inside the body of The Twin. Mother and child explore the layered iterations of childhood, parenthood, and identity through building a toy which is not meant for, but is a mirror of, play. The Twin investigates the tenuous possibilities of truth projected onto selfhood.
With foundations in the golem story, and Plato’s allegory of the cave, The Twin is a replica transformed through shared hands into a gilgul, a soul re-invited into the physical world to continue its work.
Dianne Hoffman
I have a tendency to personify inanimate objects and feel genuine compassion for those that are damaged or disregarded. I see potential
in broken bits and find beauty in rust and erosion. The older an object, the more haunting and alluring its ghost. Assemblage art allows me to
indulge these concepts by creating dimensional worlds of allegory where tall tales are told, jokes are cracked, emotions stirred, and poems imparted.
My treasure hunt is rummaging through thrift shops, flea markets, reuse centers, garage sales, junkyards, attics and basements for precious baubles, bits and boxes. Sometimes an inspired idea will come upon first sight of an object. But more often I will mull through
my neatly organized piles of arbitrary things repetitively placing random items together until something visually clicks and the piece takes hold.
For my 2020 Color of Connection series I derived inspiration from the distinctive color palette of admirable assemblage artist, Janice Lowery.
With rich jewel tones and whimsical, figurative remnants, I applied my focus towards finding a unifying relationship that created dialogue
between each object. In doing so I was able to abstractly portray amiable metaphors that coincided with my childhood consciousness.
Jennifer Jigour
My name is Jennifer Jigour, I am the Artist with the Golden Paintbrush, born and raised in the Bay Area, California. I create what I want to see become a reality. Love, freedom, unity, and growth in key to what inspires me to create, as well as images of time, and the blending of history with fantasy. In Dollhouse, I present to the viewer visual candy and playful ideals in watercolour and pen on paper. Draped in time periods long past, previously confined in sexuality, reimagined with an essence of carefree innocence and romantic friendships. My paintings playfully break boundaries and invite the viewer to play not only what could have been, but also, what can still be.
J.L. King
I remember spending entire days with my cousins using any household non-breakable objects we could find to imitate real world scenarios we were exposed to. A game of make-believe is center stage in my piece titled "Abecedarians" with forts and boxes that imitate the cityscape that lies ahead while the abecedarians set their attention in three different directions.
Liz Mamorsky
My CoronaBots were created during the COVID 19 pandemic, and were a great comfort to me during the lockdown. Fortunately, I was well, and found solace in creating these smaller pieces from electronic detritus that I have been collecting for years. They are more intimate than my larger Artbots, and have a certain sense of humor to them. I think of these 4 pieces as a family, if you will.
Kristine Mays
“Ah, what sights and sounds and pain lie beneath that mist. And we had thought that our hard climb out of that cruel valley led to some cool, green and peaceful, sunlit place---but it's all jungle here, a wild and savage wilderness that's overrun with ruins. But put on your crown, my
Queen, and we will build a New City on these ruins.” - Eldridge Cleaver
The crowns offer the opportunity to view oneself in a different light, to play, to explore the possibilities of a new world, to harness ones own power in order to create change.
Michael McConnell
Many cultures have assigned specific human characteristics onto animals, this method of anthropomorphism is explored in the Little Animal Series. The Children personalities are portrayed in “animal masks” correlating to those meanings given to those animals by different cultures.
These masks can be seen as the children “acting” like those animals or the personalities that the children are being raised as.
Erica Meriaux
The cult of Cybele has its root in Phrygia, but she was familiar to the Greeks and had connections with Greek gods. She was raised
by lionesses and was the keeper of the key of richness. A story says she was napping in the shade of trees when Zeus noticed her. Watching her rest so peacefully, he felt aroused and masturbated.
Agditis, a hermaphrodite, sprang from the semen that spilled on the ground. The gods, convinced that he represented a serious threat to their power, emasculated him, and from his blood sprouted an almond tree...
Geralyn Marie Montano
The term “apple” symbolizes a Native considered by others to be “white” on the inside, or of mixed
Native decent. The term can be used in a derogatory way, or amongst Natives, in a humorous way.
I was raised apart from the Dine’ side of my father’s family, while only recently, my mother discovered
her Comanche, and Pueblo lineage. As a result, I grew up estranged from Native culture and was
raised to embrace mainstream “American” culture. This left me feeling lost at times, questioning where
I fit in--an all-too-common experience for many Natives I’ve met.
As an adult, I read widely about Native history and contemporary Native issues. While reading, I
discovered Captain Richard H. Pratt, who was the founder of the first Indian boarding school. Named
Carlisle Indian Industrial School. Indian boarding schools sought to strip away tribal culture
systematically, and brutally. At Carlisle Pratt attempted to “Kill the Indian and save the man.” The
school insisted students adopt Euro-American culture, including, names, language, clothes, work
skills, religion, and cut off their long hair.
Native culture is fascinating, valuable, and much needed in today’s world. I am very pleased to say
Native language and culture is being successfully revitalized today.
My Native ancestry, interest in feminism, and matriarchy has inspired many of my artistic pursuits. I
created this installation to share the historical truth of boarding schools--and reclaim the term “Apple”.
Displaying resilience in a playful fashion as a contemporary Native woman artist.
Howard Munson
The accordion book structure invites theater play for pop-ups. My inspiration evolves from early avant grade theater, Dada, Bauhaus, the 1920’s. This book was inspired by the maquette costumes designed by Carl Schlemmer for the ballet “ Figural Cabinet in 1922. I took the
liberty to design my own costumes. Imagination plays a key role in the construction. One can play a role in the production and relive in your imagination what it was like.
Tomye Neal-Madison
While browsing in a shop that has a receptacle full of black and white period photos, (images depicting a few decades ago) the photo of a little girl on a rocking horse piqued my interest. I wasn’t recalling my time on one. I don’t think there was one in the immediate or extended family. I’d seen such sentimental moments in books, on tv, etc.
I decided to meld the image of the girl with an image I’d photographed of another rocking horse that was within another antique store. It was the appropriate visual for my final enamel on copper creation. I’d pushed my abilities to handle the process during a series of workshops.
Loving to paint Gouache portraits, shifting and painting with fine enamel powders required more attentiveness. There are multitudes of kiln firings.
Once the larger areas were taken care of, the details of the little girl’s face and the horse’s face needed more concentration using the compacted enamels that replicated those watercolors in tins you are given as a child. Tight rendering with a tiny brush is my forte.
How exhilarating to retrieve and once cool from the kiln, to see this final version of Her Rockin’ Horse.
Sean O'Donnell
The essence of child’s play is doing whatever strikes one’s fancy at the moment. No rules. No adult supervision. The freedom of using any materials on hand when the muse comes to play.
Making music is another form of creativity where we can make any sound using anything within our grasp and claim it as our musical form. As I assembled these bits and pieces of instruments, I was adding to the score of a mental soundtrack. This silent cacophony enticed me to play conductor and join all these parts together as one sculpture.
Pipe Dream came about as I sorted through my inventory of flea market treasures to begin creating this piece. What I perceived as a half hour of working in my studio turned out to be three hours. This exquisite engagement of being enveloped by the consuming glow of the creative zone is truly pure child’s play.
Priscilla Otani
Kitsunes, iconic Japanese white foxes, make their appearance as ectoplasmic visions of children long gone. They take shape from driftwood, polished and shaped by the sea, and wear tattered finery of discarded dolls. They do their bewitching dance at midnight when their magic is most potent. They flow in and out of our orifices, feasting on our dreams.
I’ve long been fascinated with the folklore and mythology associated with the kitsune In Japan. On the one hand the kitsune is a symbol of agricultural fertility and financial success, and on the other, a shape-shifting spirit associated with casting spells and wreaking vengeance. These associations are the starting point for creating my own fairy tales associated with the kitsune.
Barbara Pollak-Lewis
I was raised in a small suburban town into a very traditional post-war 'Mad Men'
era family. Much of my subject matter addresses a mid-20th century sanitized
sensibility of conformity. My TV dinners and food series reflect an obsession with
postwar America and the pre-packaged automated convenience that TV dinners
represent. For many of us, TV dinners offer up a shared nostalgic feeling about home
and our childhoods.
Na Omi Judy Shintani
The Bakekujira (Ghost Whale) tattoo is an inking of the ghost whale skeleton who haunted Japanese
fishermen one rainy night. They rowed out to see the huge glowing white creature with no
skin or meat on its bones. One of the fishermen threw his harpoon at it, only to pass through
the bakekujia without harming it, and it disappeared with its thousands of companions of
strange fish and birds. Was it a ghost of a whale killed in a hunt, a curse, or perhaps a whale
who dressed in a kimono to bring the secrets of rice cultivation to Japan? No one knows for
certain. I appreciate the mystery of this ghost who may be friend or foe. Whales were once
hunted in Japan but there has been a ban on it for 30 years. Recently a hunting quota of
non-endangered whale species has been set, as well is as a "by-catch" rule that allows the
killing of a whale that no one set out to catch, but that just happened to swim into the wrong
place, at the wrong time.
Liz Steketee
WRAPPEDPANDEMICMUMMY FAMILY: soft textile sculpture using photography printed on fabric , wrapped sewn. WRAPPEDis an exploration of photography as object. The process of wrapping then sewing of fabric and thread, acts as a meditation on memory, loss, and the cycle of life. The notion of mummies was a reaction to the masking and confinement experienced during the duration of the Pandemic Lockdown and the emotions experienced by my family. Like much of the world, we all felt restricted , afraid, bound, scared, and frustrated. My intention was to archive my sense of this experience as artworks that felt like historical artifacts. I knew our experience was pivotal and somehow an important piece of our collective history as humans. With a touch of humor and darkness, I marked this time in our lives.
Denise Tarantino
In partnership with Curated State Gallery and the San Francisco Parks Alliance I create a special body of work for the annual Party in the Parks event. Like many city dwellers, I love and cherish the outdoor space that is unique to San Francisco. I set out in support of this project by experiencing the parks thorough sight and sound As I visited many of our resigned parks, I the need to observe by separating the site and sounds. At first, I felt it important to listen, and then watch. I sat quietly, with my eyes closed, and listened to the unique sounds of joy that flooding playgrounds. There was a lot of solace and warmth found in the sounds of the children playing, dogs barking and conversations of passers-by. I then blocked out the sounds and watched what happens in the park. I found myself studying the playground equipment, and the motions of the children through their shadows. My images bring the viewer through this peaceful taunt of nature placed urban environment, the undisturbed sound of children playing, and the warmth of our steel playgrounds. All of which, make for a welcomed and cherished paradox.
Stephen C. Wagner
The American Dream
Post-war families that had delayed having children because of poverty and wartime conditions, dreamt of a better life, a perfect life, and chose the suburbs as their ideal. New Jersey’s Levittown and California's Rohnert Park typify the planned suburban communities of the 1950’s and early 1960’s that were marketed to attract middle-class people into an area once populated with farmers. Many illustrations from magazine articles and ads of the 1950’s depicted this ideal dream of families enjoying material comfort.
But this conformity also had a dark side. For women, the charms of suburban life began to wear thin. Popular culture was replete with messages counseling women that their greatest satisfaction in life would come from raising children, tending to their husbands' needs, and owning all of the labor-saving household appliances that money could buy. Many began to identify a creeping sense that there ought to be more to life than childcare and housework. And minority women did not experience the ennui of suburban life because, by and large, they were barred from suburbia altogether.
Suburban affluence is the defining image of the good life under capitalism, commonly held up as a model to which all should aspire. Employed professionals can direct significant portions of their income to discretionary spending. This sector of society participates, consciously or unconsciously, in what is often called “consumer culture.” This consumerism often fails to fulfil its promise of a rich and meaningful life. The consumer class has been sold a lie.
Tanya Wilkinson
Fairytales both reflect and shape the deep levels of our psyches. When we enter into the tale we go back to a child-like state where
transformation and transfiguration seem inevitable.
Sandra Yagi
This piece is part of a series of works done in the style of medieval illuminated manuscripts. Instead of religious topics, I’ve taken the iconic monsters from horror and science fiction film classics, and rendered them in medieval style. I love the contrast of nuclear age monsters rendered in medieval style, as well as depicting a mass media character using a form of art that is handmade and one of a kind. Pennywise, from the mini-series film version of Steven King’s It, takes the subtle scary features of clowns, and magnifies it to a level of terror that is out of this world.
In her conceptual mixed-media work entitled, BLACK SPACE, Afatasi hones her textile skills and love of Afrofuturism to dispel the progressive and liberal myth of her hometown of San Francisco. This work captures the many ways in which the city has been criminally complicit to the
discrimination, minimization, and purposeful erasure; all while honoring the spaces, contributions, and hidden histories of the American Decedents of Chattel Slavery (ADOCS), most of whom fled extreme violence and discrimination in the American south, and now call the city their home.
Glenn Bachmann
WAITING FOR STATEMENT
Rosalia Balthazar
Food is a big part of my work life and my artistic life. It has informed my art in many ways, as it feeds my mind and soul as much as my body. Food can be an art form in itself. The colors, textures and shapes of food are nothing new to art, but I sometimes think I see something different in a fruit, vegetable, or prepared food each time I see it. Even knowing that, I am still surprised that my inspiration came from tiny erasers.
Artistic creations come to me first in visions, nudging me until I take action. One visit to a Japanese stationery store was all it took – my imagination gathered all the adorable food-shaped erasers into a sculpture and I woke the next morning seeing it in my mind almost as it appears now. This was a labor of joy, love and obsession, discovering more tasty looking erasers than I thought existed. After applying about 2500 erasers over 3 months, and crowning it with Manga guardians, I thought it reflected the kind of crazy fun I had while making it.
Marie Bergstedt
"Triker" represents a serious memory of childhood play. During the peddling years I was switching back and forth between my birth mother and the home where I resided with eight foster children. I felt completely without a say in my life and rarely spoke aloud. When I was with my mother, I was dressed up much like a princess doll, posed, and commanded to look happy for the camera, but without a true smile or a head on my shoulders.
Inside myself, I knew where my super-power lay. I took advantage of every moment astride the throne of a tricycle, pushing the pedals and steering with all my might. With herculean strength, I plowed through all obstacles, magically transforming myself into a person of consequence.
With art I am playing the same toddler game, pushing through memories and current barriers one pedal at a time in the doll house which is our world.
Johnny Botts
When I was a kid, I created a lot of collages, decorating envelopes that I’d send through the mail, and I have returned to making collages since joining Collage-a-Rama at Arc Gallery. Throughout the pandemic, I have been making small pieces that have been easy to mail to buyers. I like to find creative ways to re-use old materials in my art, and created the texture in my smiley face piece using sheets of paint peeled from roller trays.
Joshua Coffy
As a young boy I spent a lot of time at my Grandmother’s house and she was a woman obsessed with birds. She was also one of the
kindest and gentlest people I have ever known. Being at her house always meant warmth, safety, and shelter. In my daily life now as an
adult I strive to emulate her kindness and compassion for others. She was one of the first people that encouraged my artwork so in turn I
paint colorful birds as a tribute to all that she was. Its one way that I carry her with me. For me the birdhouses are a symbol of home. But
that doesn’t necessarily mean your dwelling as much as where you feel like yourself. Painting is where I feel most like myself.
Sas Colby
bunnies on ice & other experiments
I began drawing the Bunny in 1997 as a daily meditation, attracted by its shape and vulnerability.
Soon the bunny evolved into an alter ego and I deployed him in diverse environments and sent him out in the world for adventures. Then he attracted a companion, a one eared “bad” bunny, the shadow figure, who challenged the narrative, often getting into compromising situations, more like real life. In this book, the bunny celebrates Obama’s election, he floats in dreamscapes, has a smoke, becomes a tattoo on a sexy leg, and is an overdressed tourist with a camera in the desert. In the final image he sprouts pink wings having taken me from a sad place to one of curiosity about life’s potential. Now the Bunny leads and I follow.
Greek Bunny
The original Bunny, from which this drawing is made, is a miniature rubber figurine, about 3 inches high, bought in a resale shop for 50 cents. I began drawing the Bunny every day as a kind of meditation, finding it instructive, altering the scale and rediscovering the form each time, and turning the Bunny into an alter ego. This drawing was made after a trip to Greece , and Bunny strides through a field of dried flowers amidst a Snake Goddess from Crete, pottery, and a bunny- eared Cycladic figure. Wherever the intrepid Bunny goes, others follow.
Diana Elrod
Years ago, my mother sent me several scrapbooks with ephemera she had collected throughout my childhood years – a lock of my hair, awards, letters I wrote, and some of my artwork from various ages. About 5 years ago I revisited those scrapbooks and was particularly smitten by a little knight I had drawn when I was not quite six years old. In my art practice, I have since drawn additional versions of the knight in various ways, and have incorporated these drawings into paintings, collages, and other mixed media work. Although I don’t know exactly what compelled me to draw him in the first place at the age of almost-six, I now see the little knight as a protective force, quiet in his strength.
Miriam Fabbri
Raggedy Ann was my Mother’s doll. She appeared on the second floor steps of my family home sometime long after I had left. When I returned for visits, I would see her sitting about half way up the staircase as I went to and from my bedroom.
I never thought to ask my Mother how she acquired the doll or why she placed her on the stairs. But Raggedy was one of the treasures that I
chose to keep from the family home. And now the doll’s silly grin and wide innocent eyes always remind me of Mom.
Kathy Fujii-Oka
I Broke My Foot
As a young child, I enjoyed playing with my mother’s collection of Japanese wooden Kokeshi dolls. She loved her small dolls and admired them immensely. The doll in this painting is one I have favored since childhood and throughout my life. Tiny, feminine and delicate, she is approximately five inches in height and has a broken foot from being dropped on the floor.
After my mother passed, my sister and I shared her intimate collection. This painting symbolizes the absence and presence of her spirit. Creating this piece helped me to reinforce my relationship and memory of her, as well as offering a tribute to her legacy.
It’s Raining
While living in San Francisco some years ago, I began to experience water intrusion in my newly renovated condo. I was on the ground level, and it was a corner unit. As the years passed, the leaking became worse and each winter, the leaks returned. I felt surrounded by water, seeping into the ceiling, dribbling down the interior windows and onto parts of the wood floors. Lots of plugging and patching took place, but it was only a temporary band aid and I endured many sleepless nights.
In December of 2014, there was a torrential rainstorm that was referred to as California’s, “Storm of the Decade”. It was powerful and caused a lot of damage in SF and beyond. Every single window in my unit leaked, and puddles were everywhere. I literally felt like a caged bird underwater and treading water. Additionally, several other units in my building experienced the same. Two years later, a new roof was installed on our building and the water leaks ceased. It was a huge relief and subsequently I moved out. I am now enjoying my new home on the top floor and have peace of mind.
Dolores Gray
Discarded love in a Doll House
Playing with dolls is a recent art adventure for me. As a young girl I was the quintessential tomboy interested in building forts, treehouses, derby boxcars, playing Indians and cowboys, and drowning my younger sister’s dolls in the rain barrel.
The fun of drowning dolls has not abated. I have reawakened a guilty pleasure in creatively torturing Barbie and the fifties representation of the perfect feminine form. . The fact that this plastic doll remains an icon in feverish childish dreams and fantasies instills in me the wicked desire to tarnish the image.
Over the last few years my hunt for dolls has expanded to include antique porcelain, bisque, plastic, paper and clothe dolls. Using doll parts to tweak my fun and games assemblages. I am always looking for ways to manipulate an adventure in doll play that still excites the wicked kid in me.
In 2018-19 I set myself a challenge to create 25 small assemblages using the plethora of dolls and items I had collected over years of flea market hunting. My playtime began with small boxes the perfect house for mini dolls and doll parts and twisted movie titles. I have sliced and diced doll heads, stitched them together like Frankenstein, and bottled them like baby gherkins.
Maribel Guzman, Miriam Munguia & Jose Nunez Collaboration at Creativity Explored
Maribel Guzman
Guzman is focused and perfectionistic when in the studio, creating iconic drawings and detailed paintings, which combine figures and animals in dreamlike scenes. The subject matter typically tells a story, with family groups, lush gardens, or interiors, all drawn with a sure line and filled with vibrant colors. Her narrative style translates well to other media, including embroidered textile works and ceramics.
Miriam Munguia
A former laundress in her home country of Honduras, Miriam Munguia was instantly attracted to tapestries, quilting, and weaving upon joining the Creativity Explored studio. She is a dedicated worker, meditatively sewing together baskets, assembling complex figurative tapestries, or embroidering quilts with lyrical, meandering lines.
Being deaf and mute, Munguia’s art practice serves as an effective tool to connect with her community. Graphic forms, which often represent people, houses, animals, and tropical plants, take inspiration from her native home in Honduras, and the people she surrounds herself with here in San Francisco.
Jose Nunez
José Nuñez uses a simple, assured stroke to delineate the shapes of his subjects, which he often repeats or elongates to fill the picture plane, giving his work a complex graphic arrangement. The flora and fauna of his beloved El Salvador occupy a large portion of his attention, his work often depicting memories from time spent alone in the countryside taking care of his family's cows. Out of those memories also come artistic investigations of mythological subjects like cadejo, a shadow dog that hunts at night and used to terrify him.
Trudi Chamoff Hauptman & Zachariah Hauptman
Trudi Hauptman (she/her) makes art quilts and textile sculpture; Zachariah Hauptman (they/them) specializes in poetic fiction. The Twin is a collaborative work contesting and exploring the nature of relationships, (self-)perception, and the division between experiential and internal memory.
Intended as a rhetorical "twin" to Zach, by inviting them to collaborate, the replica is transformed from Trudi's construction of Zach's body into an intimate manifestation of personal interiority both true and unknowable. The external form (based off a child's "life-sized" crocheted doll) is familiar, albeit altered by its encounter with adulthood, as a vessel for powerful potentials. The internal space holds room for both heart and soul in the form of poetic tokens, which Zach hid inside the body of The Twin. Mother and child explore the layered iterations of childhood, parenthood, and identity through building a toy which is not meant for, but is a mirror of, play. The Twin investigates the tenuous possibilities of truth projected onto selfhood.
With foundations in the golem story, and Plato’s allegory of the cave, The Twin is a replica transformed through shared hands into a gilgul, a soul re-invited into the physical world to continue its work.
Dianne Hoffman
I have a tendency to personify inanimate objects and feel genuine compassion for those that are damaged or disregarded. I see potential
in broken bits and find beauty in rust and erosion. The older an object, the more haunting and alluring its ghost. Assemblage art allows me to
indulge these concepts by creating dimensional worlds of allegory where tall tales are told, jokes are cracked, emotions stirred, and poems imparted.
My treasure hunt is rummaging through thrift shops, flea markets, reuse centers, garage sales, junkyards, attics and basements for precious baubles, bits and boxes. Sometimes an inspired idea will come upon first sight of an object. But more often I will mull through
my neatly organized piles of arbitrary things repetitively placing random items together until something visually clicks and the piece takes hold.
For my 2020 Color of Connection series I derived inspiration from the distinctive color palette of admirable assemblage artist, Janice Lowery.
With rich jewel tones and whimsical, figurative remnants, I applied my focus towards finding a unifying relationship that created dialogue
between each object. In doing so I was able to abstractly portray amiable metaphors that coincided with my childhood consciousness.
Jennifer Jigour
My name is Jennifer Jigour, I am the Artist with the Golden Paintbrush, born and raised in the Bay Area, California. I create what I want to see become a reality. Love, freedom, unity, and growth in key to what inspires me to create, as well as images of time, and the blending of history with fantasy. In Dollhouse, I present to the viewer visual candy and playful ideals in watercolour and pen on paper. Draped in time periods long past, previously confined in sexuality, reimagined with an essence of carefree innocence and romantic friendships. My paintings playfully break boundaries and invite the viewer to play not only what could have been, but also, what can still be.
J.L. King
I remember spending entire days with my cousins using any household non-breakable objects we could find to imitate real world scenarios we were exposed to. A game of make-believe is center stage in my piece titled "Abecedarians" with forts and boxes that imitate the cityscape that lies ahead while the abecedarians set their attention in three different directions.
Liz Mamorsky
My CoronaBots were created during the COVID 19 pandemic, and were a great comfort to me during the lockdown. Fortunately, I was well, and found solace in creating these smaller pieces from electronic detritus that I have been collecting for years. They are more intimate than my larger Artbots, and have a certain sense of humor to them. I think of these 4 pieces as a family, if you will.
Kristine Mays
“Ah, what sights and sounds and pain lie beneath that mist. And we had thought that our hard climb out of that cruel valley led to some cool, green and peaceful, sunlit place---but it's all jungle here, a wild and savage wilderness that's overrun with ruins. But put on your crown, my
Queen, and we will build a New City on these ruins.” - Eldridge Cleaver
The crowns offer the opportunity to view oneself in a different light, to play, to explore the possibilities of a new world, to harness ones own power in order to create change.
Michael McConnell
Many cultures have assigned specific human characteristics onto animals, this method of anthropomorphism is explored in the Little Animal Series. The Children personalities are portrayed in “animal masks” correlating to those meanings given to those animals by different cultures.
These masks can be seen as the children “acting” like those animals or the personalities that the children are being raised as.
Erica Meriaux
The cult of Cybele has its root in Phrygia, but she was familiar to the Greeks and had connections with Greek gods. She was raised
by lionesses and was the keeper of the key of richness. A story says she was napping in the shade of trees when Zeus noticed her. Watching her rest so peacefully, he felt aroused and masturbated.
Agditis, a hermaphrodite, sprang from the semen that spilled on the ground. The gods, convinced that he represented a serious threat to their power, emasculated him, and from his blood sprouted an almond tree...
Geralyn Marie Montano
The term “apple” symbolizes a Native considered by others to be “white” on the inside, or of mixed
Native decent. The term can be used in a derogatory way, or amongst Natives, in a humorous way.
I was raised apart from the Dine’ side of my father’s family, while only recently, my mother discovered
her Comanche, and Pueblo lineage. As a result, I grew up estranged from Native culture and was
raised to embrace mainstream “American” culture. This left me feeling lost at times, questioning where
I fit in--an all-too-common experience for many Natives I’ve met.
As an adult, I read widely about Native history and contemporary Native issues. While reading, I
discovered Captain Richard H. Pratt, who was the founder of the first Indian boarding school. Named
Carlisle Indian Industrial School. Indian boarding schools sought to strip away tribal culture
systematically, and brutally. At Carlisle Pratt attempted to “Kill the Indian and save the man.” The
school insisted students adopt Euro-American culture, including, names, language, clothes, work
skills, religion, and cut off their long hair.
Native culture is fascinating, valuable, and much needed in today’s world. I am very pleased to say
Native language and culture is being successfully revitalized today.
My Native ancestry, interest in feminism, and matriarchy has inspired many of my artistic pursuits. I
created this installation to share the historical truth of boarding schools--and reclaim the term “Apple”.
Displaying resilience in a playful fashion as a contemporary Native woman artist.
Howard Munson
The accordion book structure invites theater play for pop-ups. My inspiration evolves from early avant grade theater, Dada, Bauhaus, the 1920’s. This book was inspired by the maquette costumes designed by Carl Schlemmer for the ballet “ Figural Cabinet in 1922. I took the
liberty to design my own costumes. Imagination plays a key role in the construction. One can play a role in the production and relive in your imagination what it was like.
Tomye Neal-Madison
While browsing in a shop that has a receptacle full of black and white period photos, (images depicting a few decades ago) the photo of a little girl on a rocking horse piqued my interest. I wasn’t recalling my time on one. I don’t think there was one in the immediate or extended family. I’d seen such sentimental moments in books, on tv, etc.
I decided to meld the image of the girl with an image I’d photographed of another rocking horse that was within another antique store. It was the appropriate visual for my final enamel on copper creation. I’d pushed my abilities to handle the process during a series of workshops.
Loving to paint Gouache portraits, shifting and painting with fine enamel powders required more attentiveness. There are multitudes of kiln firings.
Once the larger areas were taken care of, the details of the little girl’s face and the horse’s face needed more concentration using the compacted enamels that replicated those watercolors in tins you are given as a child. Tight rendering with a tiny brush is my forte.
How exhilarating to retrieve and once cool from the kiln, to see this final version of Her Rockin’ Horse.
Sean O'Donnell
The essence of child’s play is doing whatever strikes one’s fancy at the moment. No rules. No adult supervision. The freedom of using any materials on hand when the muse comes to play.
Making music is another form of creativity where we can make any sound using anything within our grasp and claim it as our musical form. As I assembled these bits and pieces of instruments, I was adding to the score of a mental soundtrack. This silent cacophony enticed me to play conductor and join all these parts together as one sculpture.
Pipe Dream came about as I sorted through my inventory of flea market treasures to begin creating this piece. What I perceived as a half hour of working in my studio turned out to be three hours. This exquisite engagement of being enveloped by the consuming glow of the creative zone is truly pure child’s play.
Priscilla Otani
Kitsunes, iconic Japanese white foxes, make their appearance as ectoplasmic visions of children long gone. They take shape from driftwood, polished and shaped by the sea, and wear tattered finery of discarded dolls. They do their bewitching dance at midnight when their magic is most potent. They flow in and out of our orifices, feasting on our dreams.
I’ve long been fascinated with the folklore and mythology associated with the kitsune In Japan. On the one hand the kitsune is a symbol of agricultural fertility and financial success, and on the other, a shape-shifting spirit associated with casting spells and wreaking vengeance. These associations are the starting point for creating my own fairy tales associated with the kitsune.
Barbara Pollak-Lewis
I was raised in a small suburban town into a very traditional post-war 'Mad Men'
era family. Much of my subject matter addresses a mid-20th century sanitized
sensibility of conformity. My TV dinners and food series reflect an obsession with
postwar America and the pre-packaged automated convenience that TV dinners
represent. For many of us, TV dinners offer up a shared nostalgic feeling about home
and our childhoods.
Na Omi Judy Shintani
The Bakekujira (Ghost Whale) tattoo is an inking of the ghost whale skeleton who haunted Japanese
fishermen one rainy night. They rowed out to see the huge glowing white creature with no
skin or meat on its bones. One of the fishermen threw his harpoon at it, only to pass through
the bakekujia without harming it, and it disappeared with its thousands of companions of
strange fish and birds. Was it a ghost of a whale killed in a hunt, a curse, or perhaps a whale
who dressed in a kimono to bring the secrets of rice cultivation to Japan? No one knows for
certain. I appreciate the mystery of this ghost who may be friend or foe. Whales were once
hunted in Japan but there has been a ban on it for 30 years. Recently a hunting quota of
non-endangered whale species has been set, as well is as a "by-catch" rule that allows the
killing of a whale that no one set out to catch, but that just happened to swim into the wrong
place, at the wrong time.
Liz Steketee
WRAPPEDPANDEMICMUMMY FAMILY: soft textile sculpture using photography printed on fabric , wrapped sewn. WRAPPEDis an exploration of photography as object. The process of wrapping then sewing of fabric and thread, acts as a meditation on memory, loss, and the cycle of life. The notion of mummies was a reaction to the masking and confinement experienced during the duration of the Pandemic Lockdown and the emotions experienced by my family. Like much of the world, we all felt restricted , afraid, bound, scared, and frustrated. My intention was to archive my sense of this experience as artworks that felt like historical artifacts. I knew our experience was pivotal and somehow an important piece of our collective history as humans. With a touch of humor and darkness, I marked this time in our lives.
Denise Tarantino
In partnership with Curated State Gallery and the San Francisco Parks Alliance I create a special body of work for the annual Party in the Parks event. Like many city dwellers, I love and cherish the outdoor space that is unique to San Francisco. I set out in support of this project by experiencing the parks thorough sight and sound As I visited many of our resigned parks, I the need to observe by separating the site and sounds. At first, I felt it important to listen, and then watch. I sat quietly, with my eyes closed, and listened to the unique sounds of joy that flooding playgrounds. There was a lot of solace and warmth found in the sounds of the children playing, dogs barking and conversations of passers-by. I then blocked out the sounds and watched what happens in the park. I found myself studying the playground equipment, and the motions of the children through their shadows. My images bring the viewer through this peaceful taunt of nature placed urban environment, the undisturbed sound of children playing, and the warmth of our steel playgrounds. All of which, make for a welcomed and cherished paradox.
Stephen C. Wagner
The American Dream
Post-war families that had delayed having children because of poverty and wartime conditions, dreamt of a better life, a perfect life, and chose the suburbs as their ideal. New Jersey’s Levittown and California's Rohnert Park typify the planned suburban communities of the 1950’s and early 1960’s that were marketed to attract middle-class people into an area once populated with farmers. Many illustrations from magazine articles and ads of the 1950’s depicted this ideal dream of families enjoying material comfort.
But this conformity also had a dark side. For women, the charms of suburban life began to wear thin. Popular culture was replete with messages counseling women that their greatest satisfaction in life would come from raising children, tending to their husbands' needs, and owning all of the labor-saving household appliances that money could buy. Many began to identify a creeping sense that there ought to be more to life than childcare and housework. And minority women did not experience the ennui of suburban life because, by and large, they were barred from suburbia altogether.
Suburban affluence is the defining image of the good life under capitalism, commonly held up as a model to which all should aspire. Employed professionals can direct significant portions of their income to discretionary spending. This sector of society participates, consciously or unconsciously, in what is often called “consumer culture.” This consumerism often fails to fulfil its promise of a rich and meaningful life. The consumer class has been sold a lie.
Tanya Wilkinson
Fairytales both reflect and shape the deep levels of our psyches. When we enter into the tale we go back to a child-like state where
transformation and transfiguration seem inevitable.
Sandra Yagi
This piece is part of a series of works done in the style of medieval illuminated manuscripts. Instead of religious topics, I’ve taken the iconic monsters from horror and science fiction film classics, and rendered them in medieval style. I love the contrast of nuclear age monsters rendered in medieval style, as well as depicting a mass media character using a form of art that is handmade and one of a kind. Pennywise, from the mini-series film version of Steven King’s It, takes the subtle scary features of clowns, and magnifies it to a level of terror that is out of this world.
DOLLHOUSE EVENTS
- November Pre-event: Zoom Conversation: Artists' Childhood Memories of Playing
- January 15, 2022 7-9 PM Opening Reception
- January 20, 7-8 PM Zoom Artist Talk 1
- January 23 or 30 Toy Piano Music Concert and Performance Theater Event
- January 27, 7-8 PM Zoom Artist Talk 2
- February 13 Art-Making Workshop
