Carmen Lizardo, “Punch Cards: Do Not Fold, Spindle, or Mutilate", 20 x 44 inches, 2016- Ongoing.
Curated by Priscilla Dobler-Dzul
February 8 - 20 | Opening reception: February 8, 6-8 PM
Featuring works by: Carmen Lizardo, Maureen McCourt, Lacey McKinney, Regina Ruff, Lesley Wamsley, Kelly Worman, LadyFIRM, Asia Tail and Hudson Valley Bee Habitat.
Women’s Work is an exhibition that examines the connection between women’s domestic labor and craft. The title of the exhibition comes from the derogatory use of the term “women’s work” and exams the unseen, disrespected domestic labor of women. Ten female artists have been selected to represent this group exhibition. These selected artists create work that examines the labor of women and challenges the patriarchal viewpoint of domesticity and craft.
Curator: Priscilla Dobler-Dzul (b.1985) is an interdisciplinary artist and curator, born in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico. Her work juggles multiple narrative layers, providing physical spaces in which viewers can reflect on society’s structures of inequality and misrepresentations of race, gender, and class. She is interested in developing her own unique artistic interpretation of her cultural identity through weaving, woodworking, audio, video and performances. Her work has been exhibited in multiple galleries and museums in the United States and internationally in Mexico. She has completed multiple residencies and received numerous grants. Priscilla holds an MFA from the State University of New York in New Paltz.
Artists:
Asia Tail is an artist and curator based in Tacoma, Washington. She attended the Cooper Union School of Art in New York on a full-tuition scholarship and graduated with a BFA and a prize for excellence in painting in 2014. As an extension of her creative practice, Asia handcrafts wearable beadwork in contemporary colors and forms. Using glass seed beads and sterling silver, she explores cross-cultural trade, matriarchy, and ancestral memory through her designs. Asia is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, and a member of the diverse urban Native community in the Pacific Northwest.
Lacey McKinney lives and works near Syracuse, New York. Born in 1984, she studied at the State University of New York at New Paltz and graduated with a Master of Arts in Painting and Drawing in 2012. She is an Assistant Professor of Visual and Performing Arts at Finger Lakes Community College. McKinney references embodiment and the implications of social power structures. In her most recent work, depictions of differing corporeal flesh form faces of women to address perceptions of self and other. Feminist theory influences her as well as how women are represented throughout art history and popular culture.
Kelly Worman (b.1983) is an artist, curator, professor, and archivist based out of New York City. She holds an M.F.A. from Pratt Institute (2011) in New York, and an M.A. in Culture, Criticism, and Curation with distinction from Central Saint Martins (2015) in London. Worman teaches at Pratt Institute in New York. She exhibits her work internationally and is included in an array of private collections. Recent exhibitions this year include "Summer of Love" at Freight + Volume in New York, NY, the Invitational at Barney Savage Gallery in New York, NY, "WE: Women Empowering Women" at Borghese Gallery on the North Fork, and "I See an Omen" at Benaco Arte in Sirmione, Italy. Worman was featured in NY Arts Magazine as one of "30 Artists to Watch" in 2012. Recent curatorial projects include "Shapes of Curiosity" at The Schneider Museum of Art in Oregon, "Surface Tension" and "Land After Time" at E.Tay Gallery in New York, NY and the last three (2015, 2016, 2017) Pratt Alumni Exhibitions at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY. Other recent projects and publications include "Karen Barth: Works 1979 - 2014" (a catalogue raisonné), "WYSIWYG?- What you see is what you get?" (a project in collaboration with South London Gallery, investigating the impact of the digital world on art and culture in the 21st century), the Studio Spoken project (interviewing artists about their studio practice), and "The (W)hole Picture– Transgressing/Abjecting Subjectivities in Art" in Unknown Quantities (written with Janice Mitchell). Worman also writes and speaks extensively on color theory, the role of artist as curator, the artist as entrepreneurial model, and arts and economics at multiple institutions internationally.
Maureen McCourt was born and raised in Montana. She is currently living in Oakland, CA. She received her B.A. from the University of Montana and her M.F.A in sculpture at the State University of New York in New Paltz. Maureen has exhibited at SOIL Gallery, LA, CA, Center for Community Arts, Walnut Creek, CA, Westchester Community College, Peekskill, NY; The Pelham Art Center, Pelham, NY; Adelphi University, Garden City, NY; The Hewn Art Center, Jersey City, NY; Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, Peekskill, NY; Samuel Dorsky Museum, New Paltz, NY; Saunders Farm Project, Saunders, NY; The Catalyst Gallery, Beacon, NY; The T-Shirt Factory, Kingston, NY; Chashama Gallery, New York, NY; the Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY; Masters On Main, Catskill, NY; the Church, Missoula, MT; The Golddust Gallery, Missoula, MT and GalleryStudio, Missoula, MT. She was a co-curator for The Untitled Show at the Golddust Gallery.
Carmen Lizardo was born in the Dominican Republic and immigrated to the U.S. at the age of 19. She holds a BFA ad an MFA from Pratt Institute. Lizardo was one of five American Artists of Latino descent awarded with a national/international travel and production grant from the US department of Cultural Affairs. She has received numerous grants, including a dual NYFA in nomination in Painting and Photography, The Sustainable Arts Foundation, the American Academy of Arts and Letter and The Women Studio Workshop, NYFA MARK among others. Lizardo Lives and works in the Hudson Valley, New York.
Regina Ruff is originally from Florida, Regina received her BFA at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. A couple years later she attended the State University of New York at New Paltz where she received her MFA in Painting and Drawing. Regina has shown her work in and around NYC for over a decade. She has taught at the Fashion Institute of Technology and SUNY New Paltz. She currently lives and works in New York City and Jersey City.
We are Lady Firm, a group of female artists who address issues of feminism, violence, gender inequality and injustice through creative performances and artwork. Lady Firm is a collaborative firm created by Priscilla Dobler, a textile sculptor, radiant genius Regina Ruff, an abstract painter and colorful crafty Maureen McCourt, a textile artist. Here at Lady Firm, we do our best to serve our community and people. Lady Firm is an artist collaboration committed to representing all persons regardless of race, sex, color, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity and disability. Interested in the politics of craft and fine art we create interactive performances allowing the viewers the opportunity to engage with the artwork and us.
Lesley Wamsley (b. 1982) is an artist living in Brooklyn. Her observational paintings focus on the landscape and portraiture. She holds a M.F.A. (2012) from the State University of New York at New Paltz, New Paltz, NY. Recent shows include Optimism, 20/20 Gallery, New York, NY, Watch It Burn, Trestle Gallery, Brooklyn, NY and Women’s Work, Columbia City Gallery, Seattle, WA. Awarded residencies include The Constance Saltonstall Foundation, Ithaca, NY and Wassaic Project, Wassaic, NY. Her work is held by The Museum of Modern Art Artists’ Books Collection, New York City, NY.
The Hudson Valley Bee Habitat: How might we leverage the arts to help save the bees? The Hudson Valley Bee Habitat was founded in 2016 when three artists: Emily Puthoff, Elena Sniezek, and Jennifer Woodin, asked this very question. Together they utilize their expertise as socially-engaged sculptors, beekeepers, digital designers, and mindful educators to pollinate public engagement with bees and to cultivate wonder for the natural world in order to help both humans and bees thrive.
