Eric Anthony Berdis : These Ones are Going to Grow Big Someday

THE MARLIN AND REGINA MILLER GALLERY KUTZTOWN UNIVERSITY

Eric Anthony Berdis

THESE ONES ARE GOING TO GROW BIG SOME DAY ARTIST IN RESIDENCE: OCTOBER 17 -NOVEMBER 3 , 2022 EXHIBITION: NOVEMBER 3 - DECEMBER 16 , 2022

THE MARLIN AND REGINA MILLER GALLERY KUTZTOWN UNIVERSITY

Eric Anthony Berdis THESE ONES ARE GOING TO GROW BIG SOME DAY

ARTIST IN RESIDENCE: OCTOBER 17 -NOVEMBER 3 , 2022 EXHIBITION: NOVEMBER 3 - DECEMBER 16 , 2022

ABOUT THE RESIDENCY During select years, The Marlin and Regina Miller Gallery at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania requests proposals from artists, craftspersons, and designers for the production of an original, temporary, site-specific installation for our exhibition space. The selected artist (or artist team) will be awarded $10,000 and will work with university students and community members during the residency period. The installation exhibition will be on view during the fall of that academic year. Proposed artwork can be realized in any medium and there are no restrictions on form or content.

Proposals that demonstrate innovation and deep, nuanced understanding of contemporary art, craft, or design are preferred. Proposals must be for a site-specific installation and must differ greatly from a solo exhibition.

All proposals are reviewed by a committee for overall artistic merit, impact on the experience of our students, feasibility within the established time-frame and budget, artist's demonstration of ability to complete such a project , and the relationship of the project to the gallery's mission.

This residency and exhibition by Eric Anthony Berdis was sponsored in part by the Kutztown University Art Education Department. We are indebted to Dr. Carrie Nordlund (Professor, KU Art Education Department) for her research, care, and work that was integral to bringing this exhibition to the KU community.

ABOUT ERIC ANTHONY BERDIS My studio practice lifts up and mimics a queer cannon of artists on the fray of art history. They are the not forgotten giants I’m lucky to stand on the shoulders of. Their methods of making become my lexicon for symbols, gestures, and approaches to craft. Using personal secrets, queer history, and gay boy glamour, my work builds a world for my audience to enter.

In periods of instability, insecurity, and oppression, I, as a queer maker, continuously find ways to imagine and embody joy through my practice. Happiness and play, are not only sought after during difficult times but are arguably necessary components of survival. Quilting and fiber practices have a long history of leisure and making for pleasure. For queer artists like myself, joy is an act of resilience—a critical method of subverting hegemonic narratives of suffering. In silliness and irreverence, I reflect on acts of violence, the AIDS crisis, and national moments of queer sorrow. Through childlike play, whimsical materials become a cast of characters that blur the line between ghosts, villains, and friends. These ghosts are not white cotton bedsheets we see at Halloween time. They are quilted, weighted down with thrift store cast-offs, hobbyist craft supplies, and of course…sequins.

I invite you to enter this world I am building, sit and stay a while, or explore for only a moment.

“The work that I believe in is the work in garages.”

- statement to the author during a studio visit, 2022.

Eric Anthony Berdis (he/him/they/them) is a maximalist fiber and performance artist, as well as activist who has grown their career in the art world through their work in the education system and DIY art spaces.

Berdis is first and foremost an educator, often referred to as “Mr. B” by his young students; his teaching style, like his artwork, is playful and expansive, an act of resistance wrapped in a pre-K art lesson. His time within the education system began in 2013, the same year he graduated with his

Queer Joy and Radical Love of a Real-Life Superhero Celebrating the Quilts, Performances, and Teachings of Eric Anthony Berdis

BY JESSICA BINGHAM-OTT

BFA. The parallel between graduating art school and becoming an educator (then without an official degree in education) has led Berdis to challenge the structure of the classroom, the importance of queer educators, and the abandonment of the hierarchy between teacher and student. Berdis’ teaching is not strictly defined by the system, although their work with young children, particularly preschoolers, proves to be the basis for much of their current work. Berdis has invested countless hours into advocacy work for the queer community, including Safe Space training, and held the position as LGBTQIA Service Coordinator at Virginia Commonwealth University.

It should not go unnoticed that within the seriousness of that critical work, Berdis continuously brings a lightness that invites others into the conversation–he is always creating

opportunities to learn acceptance and unlearn biases, encouraging the celebration of others as they are.

Playfulness and whimsy, art history and world building, health care injustice and generational grief seep from his brightly colored, beautifully chaotic quilted collages, soft sculptures (which Berdis calls Ghosts), wall paper installations, and energetic performances.

Similar to his approach of teaching complex ideas through radical love and patience, the contextual heaviness of Berdis’ work arrives upon close looking and time.

Drawing the viewer in with vivid colors, glamor, and abundance of layered textiles, the purpose of the work doesn’t sink in at first, not until the viewer becomes an active participant in their own learning/unlearning experience. Much like putting in “the work,” (as we have heard countless times over the past couple of years), Berdis’ audience also needs to confront their own barriers to understanding queer history, language, and contemporary issues pertaining to LGBTQIA rights like acceptance of name and pronoun changes, gender affirming healthcare, and LGBTQIA inclusive curriculum, as well as supportive (not performative) allyship.

My first lesson from Berdis was during his 2018 solo exhibition and residency at Project 1612, the alternative artist-run garage gallery space I founded with queer artist-curator and

activist Alexander Martin, in Peoria, Illinos. In true artist-run fashion, Berdis’s drove from Philadelphia on a weekend for his one-day exhibition, Hey is for Horse and Hook ups.

The exhibition included a series of handmade flamboyant hobby horses, a wall drawing, and collaborative performance.

The stick ponies were made from brooms of various sizes, dressed in sequins, ribbons, and feathers; each one stood upright, positioned around the garage space, leaving just enough room for visitors to meander through. White craft paper was tacked to the walls like floor-to-ceiling wallpaper, it’s surface covered with a comic-like Sharpie drawing of animated and personified clouds (complete with heart-shaped eyes, ridiculous smiles and frowns, arms, and legs), phallic bats, and countless portrayals of a cartoon-like Berdis represented as a “nonviolent homophobia fighting superhero” in tighty whities.

But the main event was the participatory performance, a hobby horse race. Before the race–which resulted as more of a theatrical trot–Berdis transformed into the live-action version of this hand-drawn superhero, stripping down to his white undies and tennis shoes before engaging the audience in a speech about the importance of pronoun changes and affirmation. Visitors were then invited to participate in the collaborative performance in which they selected their favorite hobby horse from the garage, named it, announced their pronouns, and “raced” up and down the garage driveway. No one won, everyone was celebrated.

Eric’s introductory speech for the hobby horse race: "I'd just like to let you know, that when you use the word "faggot" it creates an unsafe space for people who identify as gay, lesbian, transgender, and queer. I'd like to keep this a "safe space" and am going to ask that you don't use that word here anymore, thank you."

Making and teaching about queer joy and acts of radical love for the LGBTQIA community doesn’t end in the DIY art scene.

While Berdis has explored queer joy and acts of radical love for the LGBTQIA community through his work in the DIY art scene and classrooms, he has sought out ways to engage those in higher education in the conversation as well. In Don’t let them clip your tiny little insect wings, a 2019 solo exhibition I organized for Berdis while curator at University Galleries of Illinois State University, Berdis and I published a conversation titled “Queer Ghosts & Castoffs” and held a free and open to the public panel discussion that addressed “pronouns and name changes, the importance of allies, and how to end homophobic and transphobic language.” We highlighted the influence his youth in Erie, Pennsylvania has had on current work and the importance of honoring the queer artists and poets who came before him. Growing up as a young queer person within the heart of the automotive industry, Berdis remembers his father and grandfather working as CNC machinists. He vividly remembers homophobes telling him to,

“Go play on the railroad tracks,” and the “queer suicides” on those tracks that resulted from such hatred. All on the same tracks his dad and grandfather were making parts for.

Much like the importance of celebrating and accepting the queer community in his 2018 Project 1612 performance, Berdis honored the ghosts of his childhood memories in a participatory performance titled Don’t forget you are a sunflower during his 2019 University Galleries exhibition. The collaborative performance was inspired by Allen Ginsberg’s “Sunflower Sutra,” which states, “Poor dead flower? when did you forget you were a flower? when did you look at your skin and decide you were an impotent dirty old locomotive? the ghost of a locomotive? the specter and shade of a once powerful mad American locomotive?

You were never no locomotive, Sunflower, you were a sunflower!”

(As I am writing this, Ukraine is under attack by Russia; their symbol of resistance, the sunflower.) Reflecting on the legacies of Brandon Teena and Matthew Shepard, Berdis dressed in everyday attire and surrounded by a group of viewers, once again stripped down to his tighty whities before putting on a visually uncomfortable black suit and tie. A floor

drawing of an oval symbolizing a train track and made with the David brand sunflowers seeds–a nod to the life of gay artist and AIDS activist David Wojnarowicz who passed from the illness in 1992–was within the circle of viewers. One-by-one Berdis introduced himself to audience members with his name and pronouns, walking through the sunflower outline, crushing the seeds beneath his feet. Participants were invited to join in the human-made locomotive line, chugging along behind Berdis. Each time someone new joined they were instructed to introduce themselves and pronouns, an act of learning through repetition, an act of becoming.

As we continue to see legislation pushed to limit the rights of the LGBTQIA community and educators and parents attempt to block queer history in the education system, Berdis’ work is a bright light in this world. He chooses to guide these difficult conversations, urging them into the cracks of our culture, and refuses to stand on the sidelines waiting for those in power to celebrate the breadth of queer life, history, love, and joy. Time and time again, Berdis reminds me of the tenderness and strength within the LGBTQIA community, past and present.

Jesssica Bingham (b. 1989) is an artist, curator, homemaker, and mother. Her artwork has been exhibited extensively across the United States. Bingham is the director and co-curator of Project 1612, an artist-run exhibition space in Central IL co-founded in 2015 with Alexander Martin. Together they have co-curated nearly thirty exhibitions and have organized many community-based film screenings and fundraisers. Bingham studied abroad in Florence, Italy in 2011 at Linguaviva School of Italian Language and Charles H. Cecil Studios.

Bingham earned her BA in Studio Art in 2012 and completed a Post-Baccalaureate Fellowship in 2013 all from Monmouth College. She completed her MA and MFA in Painting at Bradley University in Peoria, IL in 2014 and 2016.

Fred used to live in Pittsburgh on Negley Ave in an apartment with a spiral staircase, but now lives in Woodside, Queens with his 20 year-old cat, Kero.

Before the pandemic, he was an arts worker, writer and curator (and a lifeguard, bellhop and bakery delivery driver too). He takes fencing lessons, plays bingo at least once a month and has made thousands of handcut stickers, hundreds of paper bracelets, three swimsuits (one is lost!), and concocted his own sprinkle recipe. He wants to make ribbon wands next and finish the two quilts he started. He likes to make things and give them away right now.

HOW TO MAKE A PAPER GHOST (CHILD'S POEM)

BY FRED Mr. B’s ghosts do not frighten me, they give me a good feeling They must have had a jolly time when they were living Covered in stripes, polka-dots and jewels that sparkle and swirl Mr. B’s ghosts love to dance and twirl!

But what’s beneath those amazing outfits?

Secrets under those beautiful blankets. *** The afterlife sure is long, they must have brought their favorite things along!

A comfy chair? Some pillows? And lots of snacks? Books to read and blocks to stack?

Grab your favorite things from around the house and don’t forget towels, sheets and that special blouse Maybe some cups and pots too from the kitchen, But only with mom and dad’s permission!

Can you make a stack as tall as you?

Or will you make a mini friend or two?

There’s no right or wrong way to do it, I just know you can figure it out, Boo! *** Once your pile is built and you’re sure its steady, our ghosts are almost ready!

Gather your fabric and ask a buddy to help cover But be careful! You don’t want to knock anything over!

You did it! Hooray! Its better than I could have dreamed of Your ghost is made up of all the things you love!

Next time you see one, you won’t be afraid Now you know what ghosts are made of, and you will be brave!

ABOUT KUTZTOWN UNIVERSITY The Marlin and Regina Miller Gallery at Kutztown University presents significant and professionally executed solo and group exhibitions of contemporary art in a variety of mediums; as well as supporting programs, events, and services that will directly enhance the artistic and philosophical development of our students and will contribute to the lives of our community. We strive to challenge assumptions and stimulate discussion by presenting artwork and programs relevant to the social and cultural life of the general and special population in our area.

Located an hour north of Philadelphia and two hours west of New York City, KU has an enrollment of 6,000+ students.

With one of the largest and most accomplished art programs in the state, Kutztown University offers five majors in the arts – Animated Arts, Art Education, Art, Communication Design, and Art History. Our visual arts programs are accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design. Over 300 art majors graduate every spring and KU's art alumni have gone on to become accomplished leaders in the design, education, museum, and art worlds.

P.O. Box 730 Kutztown, PA 19530-0730 www.kutztown.edu/millerartgallery @millerartgallery_kutztown