THE WILD SIDE - California Women Celebrate the Untamed by priscilla otani

NCWCA presents

California Women Celebrate The Untamed June 18-August 13, 2022 Arc Studios & Gallery Design & Production: Elizabeth Addison, Editor: Laura Abrams Copyright 2022 by Northern California Women’s Caucus for Art

Table of Contents

About The Wild Side

Juror’s Statement

Curator’s Statement

NCWCA President’s Note

Exhibition Committee

About NCWCA

About Arc Studios & Gallery

The Wild Side’s Curated Invitational Artwork

The Wild Side’s Juried Exhibition Artwork

118

Artist Directory

“You were once wild here. Don’t let them tame you.” ~Isadora Duncan THE WILD SIDE: California Women Artists Celebrate the Untamed We all have a wild side, whether we stride boldly there or keep it under the radar. Women, traditionally, have been taught to keep their “wildness” under wraps—raucous, adventurous, risk-taking, bold and brave, sometimes licentious, or living outside traditional moral codes. For THE WILD SIDE, California women artists evoke drama, awe and strong emotions with works that excite visually… and celebrate the untamed! Arc Studios & Gallery hosts THE WILD SIDE: California Women Celebrate the Untamed, a NCWCA sponsored exhibition. THE WILD SIDE, a primarily juried exhibition, also includes six invited artists–each anchoring an interpretation of the theme.

Featured Invitational Artists

Marguerite Elliot, Gillian Garro, Kate Jordahl, M. Louise Stanley, Afatasi The Artist, Debra Wright

Featured Juried Artists

Mimi Abers, Salma Arastu, Karen Benioff Friedman, Susan Bercu, Jean Cacicedo, Mague Calanche, Kim Cardoso, Belinda Chlouber, Abigail Lee Goldberger, VestaMaria Gonzalez, Stacey Gregory, Vicki Gunter, Jennifer Huber, Juliet Mevi, Linda Joy Kattwinkel, Emily Keyishian, Kayla Kirsch, Anna Kirsch, Susan Kitazawa, Mido Lee, Janet Lipkin, Yunan Ma, Linda R. MacDonald, Anna Mathai, Priscilla Otani, Laura Paladini, Francesca Pera, Jude Pittman, Barbara Pollak-Lewis, Wo Schiffman, Sondra Schwetman, Durba Sen, Dobee Snowber, Christina Spiegel, Nancy Tabeling, Judy Threadgill, Rachel Tirosh, Victoria Veedell, Lorraine Woodruff-Long, Jane Yuen Corich

Juror’s Statement THE WILD SIDE: California Women Celebrate the Untamed, a NCWCA juried exhibition, called for art that celebrates the untamed. The exhibition call yielded a vast array of materially and conceptually dynamic visual responses, broaching topics that hold deep relevance to the individual artists. Several thematic constellations emerged. Some works offered a glimpse of THE WILD SIDE as unrestrained gestures of pure expression, visions of nature, and the body in nature. Other works fearlessly embraced the unhinged as an aspect of THE WILD SIDE and alluded to psychological and political matters that resonate with the challenges of these unprecedented times. Artworks that centered on transformation and shamanic evocations offered compelling interpretations of the theme, as well. Without question, the entries demonstrated high levels of skill from technical, aesthetic, and conceptual perspectives, which made it challenging to whittle the 200 submissions down to 46 accepted works. It was exciting to view the exceptional array of entries varying from traditional to experimental, technically challenging to intellectually stimulating. The number of admirable pieces that I would have liked to include was more than the space would allow. It is heartening to know that despite this time of uncertainty, vulnerability, and polarization, creative expression continues to flourish. It takes inspiration, grit, dedication, and courage to create beautiful, emotive, and sophisticated works of art. I am inspired and grateful to all the artists who responded to the call–who persevere and continue to create art. It has been an honor and an enriching experience to serve as juror for THE WILD SIDE: California Women Celebrate the Untamed. In my role, I carefully reviewed every entry multiple times. I considered how the art responded to and aligned with the theme of THE WILD SIDE as an expression of the untamed. I observed how the material, aesthetic, and conceptual layers expressed the untamed. In subsequent viewings, I read the artist’s statement to consider intentionality in the artwork and how those layers of meaning could add nuance to notions of the untamed. While it is always more pleasurable to see art in person, I enjoyed looking closely at the submitted photographs of the art and carefully considered mark making and compositional choices. Consideration of the exhibition space was also a component. I thought about how selected works were in conversation with each other and could be installed in a manner where thematic constellations could offer a visual narrative. It was important to create an exhibition with a balance of messaging, innovation, process, presentation, media, and materials.

The pieces in THE WILD SIDE demonstrate the powerful and transformative possibilities of unbridled creative expression. In this show women are at the helm, riding the waves of uncertainty, the specter of war, social isolation, and fear of contagion. Despite a history of societal constructs and pressure to remain tame, ordered, compartmentalized, and meek, these women are unafraid, unapologetic, and unhinged. They create art in provocative ways that offer a space for public reckoning, processing, grief, and empowerment. I am deeply inspired and grateful to the artists of THE WILD SIDE for their creativity, perseverance, and commitment to the power of art. ~Cynthia Brannvall, THE WILD SIDE Juror Cynthia Brannvall is an art historian and a multimedia artist who teaches art history as a full-time faculty member of Foothill Community College. She is a California native of African American and Swedish descent. Cynthia has undergraduate degrees in Art Practice and Art History from UC Berkeley where she was a Phi Beta Kappa and a Ronald E. McNair scholar and was awarded the Departmental Citation for her research in Art History. She has an MA in Art History from San Francisco State University with an emphasis on Modern and Contemporary art. An advocate and ally for social justice and equity, Cynthia’s artwork explores identity formation envisioned in an imagined deep time terrain of memory, reclamation, and the geographies of forced and voluntary migrations of body and spirit. Her artwork has been selected for juried group exhibitions in the San Francisco Bay Area, San Luis Obispo, Los Angeles, New Orleans, and Washington DC. Cynthia has been selected for the 2022-2023 Emerging Artists Program at the Museum of African Diaspora in San Francisco where her first solo exhibition began on March 29, 2022.

Curator’s Statement “Did you really do that?!” “Perhaps,” I replied slyly to my daughter. Then she one-upped me with a personal tale of her own. “Did you really say that?!” I asked in confused admiration. “Mostly,” she stated proudly, but cautiously, in case I disapproved. “Good for you!” I blurted wildly. I grew up when individual expression, passions, and female power were tamped down—an indoctrination shared with many women of my generation. Thankfully, I also lived in a time of vibrant feminism that gave me the tools to reframe and reshape my early conditioning. I took for granted that we were on an unstoppable trajectory. Last fall, when I contemplated my next NCWCA curatorial project, we were still in the grips of a pandemic, anti-abortion legislation was sweeping the nation, the threat to Roe v Wade became real, and the withdrawal from Afghanistan, months earlier, left me horrified about the fate of women there and around the world. I was deeply grateful for my relative privilege, but I was haunted by its tenuousness. These feelings of tenuousness, anger, and fear drove me to reframe my thinking, once again. I turned towards empowerment, the audaciously untamed, and our right to it! It was important to select a theme that celebrates these qualities and gives space to examine urgent issues. Once selected and titled, I began to consider artists who embodied THE WILD SIDE. This evolved into a small invitational group anchoring various interpretations. I had recently become acquainted with Cynthia Brannvall, a recognized visual artist, professor of art history, and a NCWCA member. She had to be a part of this project, I decided! After reaching out to her, she enthusiastically agreed to jury the larger portion of this exhibition. It has been an unbridled and uncensored delight working with Cynthia and the amazing, untamed artists of THE WILD SIDE. “Did you really do that?!” “You bet I did!!” ~Elizabeth Addison, NCWCA Exhibitions Chair Elizabeth Addison MFA is a Berkeley-based visual artist, curator, and educator whose works are included in numerous private and public collections. Elizabeth’s practice encompasses printmaking, mixed media, digital media, and immersive installation. She daily records images on her walks and transforms them into mandalas of ‘the one… the universe.’ Her work ranges from examining California’s native flora and the cosmos to social justice and environmental equity. She is Exhibitions Chair for Northern California Women’s Caucus for Art as well as an Artist-in-Residence at Kala Art Institute and Creative Director for the Bay Area Women Artists’ Legacy Project. 6

A Note from NCWCA’s President Our culture trains women to “stay small.” From girlhood, we are told not to take up too much space physically, emotionally, in our homes, and in our careers. At the moment, there’s a poem making the rounds on the internet that begins: “I bet she’ll be pretty” They say at her cot, I wonder what this means So I ask “pretty what?” “Pretty bold? Pretty bright? Pretty wise, loud, and brave?” But they just mean her face, And they hope she’ll behave ~Kiara Whittle So, what happens when women absorb these restrictive messages and “behave”? We may find that we become shameful, angry, self-conscious. Our power and creativity, stifled, begin to extinguish. Then again, what happens when women throw off years of indoctrination and decide to live outside of the societal boundaries set for us by others? What happens when we center ourselves in our own narratives? When we assert rather than accommodate, spread out rather than shrink, persist—even provoke—rather than pull back? The women-identifying artists in THE WILD SIDE exhibition unflinchingly examine these questions from a range of viewpoints, and their courage is a fair match for the challenge set by the show. Even in easy times, artmaking can be a brutal business. It takes guts to bare one’s mind and soul and the work of one’s hands to the world. THE WILD SIDE asks these artists to go further—to let their light shine as brightly as they dare—blindingly bright, if need be—and the artists answer with a riot of creative expressions that celebrate the authentic potency that blooms from a woman unleashed. ~Sawyer Rose, NCWCA President

Exhibition Committee THE WILD SIDE’s success is ultimately due to the skilled support, talent, and ingenuity of our volunteer exhibition team.

Elizabeth Addison - NCWCA Exhibitions Chair, The Wild Side Curator Cynthia Aurora Brannval - The Wild Side Juror Arc Gallery, Priscilla Otani & Michael Yochum - Exhibition Hosts and Consultants ~~~ Laura Abrams - Copy Editor, Exhibition Installation Elizabeth Addison - Catalog Design/Production, Exhibition Installation Nilou Farzam - Volunteer at Large Angela Han - Artwork Check-in, Social Media Coordinator Julia LaChica - Artwork Check-in, Volunteer at Large Alina Larson - Catalog Proofreading, Exhibition Installation Priscilla Otani - Online Gallery & Store, Webmaster Laura Paladini - Volunteer at Large Jessica Phrogus - Exhibition Installation, Gallery Sitting, Volunteer at Large Sawyer Rose - Gallery Sitting, Volunteer at Large Rachel Tirosh - NCWCA Publicity, Marketing and Outreach, Volunteer at Large Victoria Veedell - Exhibition Installation, Gallery Sitting, Volunteer at Large Stephen Wagner - Arc Gallery Publicity, Marketing and Outreach 8

About NCWCA Founded in 1972, Women’s Caucus for Art is an affiliate society of the College Art Association and founding partner of the Feminist Art Project. The Northern California Women’s Caucus is one of its earliest chapters, formed in 1973. It is one of three California chapters and serves members in San Francisco, East Bay, South Bay, Marin and all parts of Northern California. Our mission is to create community through art, education and social activism. NCWCA is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. www.ncwca.org, @ncwca

About Arc Studios & Gallery Arc Gallery & Studios features a 1,000 sq. ft. art gallery, a smaller project gallery, a fine art consulting office & gallery, an art education center, and ten quality artist studios, along with the Kearny Street Workshop office, the San Francisco Artist Network office, and VEGA Coffee Shop. Arc supports the making of quality art in all media, provides a nurturing environment for artists to create their work, builds a community of artists to encourage exploration of art, provides resources for the professional development of visual artists, and promotes appreciation of the visual arts in the city of San Francisco.

Invitational Artists

Marguerite Elliot

Flidais: Protector of the Forests and All Wild Things 108 x 36 x 24 inches steel, paint, gold leaf, wire

Flidais is a powerful Celtic goddess who protects nature and everything wild. My sculpture invokes her fierce energy to watch over and protect forests as well as all creatures that reside therein. Flidais is part of my Sentinel series that keep watch or stand guard over our sacred lands and symbolize the precarious interface between humankind and the environment.

Gillian Garro

Radiant Red

96 x 12 x 12 inches felted wool, silk, sinemay Radiant Red is the most recent of thirteen ancestor figures collectively entitled Multitude. The figures are intended to evoke a sense of our shared ancestry —the energy/spirit that moves endlessly through us from the beginning of time, connecting all beings. Each piece is a vessel, husk, or skin that honors the unique being who once lived inside.

Radiant Red, detail 12

Kate Jordahl

Self Portrait

45 x 30 inches archival pigment print

Self Portrait 2

45 x 30 inches archival pigment print Artworks echo through the years. The two self portraits in this exhibition are separated by decades. They are a call and response from my younger self to my current self. They represent my search for self and my place in the world. What is wilder than our inner world? I am my most authentic self, free and untamed when seeing and making art. I believe art heals and leads our way to understanding. In all my making, I strive to create a pause and an opportunity for reflection. I create quiet work that beckons viewers to contemplate.

Kate Jordahl

(clockwise, from top left)

Tree Pair, Hundred Acre Wood, Bellingham 6.5 x 4.25 inches unique lumen silver gelatin print

Ferns in Hundred Acre Wood, Bellingham 6.5 x 4.25 inches unique lumen silver gelatin print

Leaf, Hundred Acre Wood, Bellingham 6.5 x 4.25 inches unique lumen silver gelatin print

Three Trees, Hundred Acre Wood, Bellingham 6.5 x 4.25 inches unique lumen silver gelatin print

Exploring wild, natural areas like the Hundred Acre Wood, I create quiet works that invite introspection. The process of translating these photographs into unique Lumen prints, made by exposing a digital negative onto silver gelatin paper to sunlight for six hours, is also contemplative. Art and Nature heal. Right now, our wild hearts need this healing. 16

Afatasi The Artist

Afronaut 1

textile, papier-mâché These wearable art pieces are called, Vehicles of Exploration and are dedicated to Afrofuturism. These vehicles allow the wearer movement, a free pass, into another part of themselves–transported; able to interact, engage, and explore the environment in new ways. Afronaut 1 is an exploration of spaces in San Francisco that hold memory for its Black residents. The helmet in this piece is handmade entirely of papier-mâché, with hand-carved details, equipped with lighting elements. The outfit was sewn by the artist, and includes EVA foam inside of the bell-bottom pants.

Afatasi The Artist

Bitch What ‘Chu Lookin’ At?!? textile, steel, vinyl

These wearable art pieces are called, Vehicles of Exploration and are dedicated to Afrofuturism. These vehicles allow the wearer movement, a free pass, into another part of themselves–transported; able to interact, engage, and explore the environment in new ways. Bitch What ‘Chu Lookin’ At?!? explores what it is like to have all eyes on you, literally. The headpiece is hand welded with steel rod, and vinyl fabric is added to create detail to the eyes. The shirt and skirt set is made from three different fabrics.

M. Louise Stanley

Conversation Between Two Harpies courtesy of Anglim/Trimble 46 x 64 inches acrylic on canvas

Years ago, I had a dream of two harpies conversing on a dead man. I made a little sketch the next morning but couldn’t make sense of it. Several years later I asked my sister what I should do. She said, “go ahead and paint it, it will then make sense.” My mother never liked it. It now hangs above my bed. It still doesn’t make sense. To the Ancient Greeks, Harpies were vile creatures. They were thought to be personifications of the destructive nature of wind. Their name means ‘snatchers.’ They are the messengers of Hades, god of the underworld, who steal the souls of men. They preyed on Phineas who was blinded and sent to Crete (another story). Every time he sat down to eat, the Harpies befouled his plate and snatched his food. I believe harpies are man’s invention out of a fear of strong and independent, bitchy women of a certain age. If you confronted a harpy, sauntering in the door, about three feet high or so, click, click, click, you would be scared out of your pants!

Debra Wright

Criminal Code, Revised

10 x 10 inches hand milled shredded criminal code book There are few powers greater than the written rule of law. Recent attempts to overhaul the criminal justice system have yet to fully address the widespread racial oppression inherent in the criminal code. Mass incarceration remains an effective instrument for those in power to disproportionately impact the lives of people of color. Criminal Code, Revised was created from pulp fibers extracted from a shredded criminal code book. I destroyed this publication as an act of outright protest. Shaped by hand and deckle, the pulp was dried in the harsh summer sun. This resulted in a finished paper with an appearance closely resembling the concrete brick and block used to build facilities that warehouse inmates. Fragments of text are visible and several viewers remarked that one such artifact closely resembles the word “lies.” This occurred completely by accident. This work bears no inscription, reinforcing our collective ability to write our future history and rectify errors of the past. 24

Debra Wright

Money Shot

9 x 8 x 8 inches U.S. currency Money Shot addresses the power dynamic between sex workers and the patrons they serve. Fabricated from actual U.S. currency, it is a fully-functional undergarment that begs the viewer to ponder where the dominance lies in these equations.

Juried Artists

Mimi Abers

In a Mellow Tone 18 x 12 x 8 inches ceramics

I work in both kiln cast glass and ceramics to express my inner demons and exhilaration. No matter how old I get, I’m still dancing. There is always some kind of self-portrait involved in my sculptures, a psychic/physical exploration of the self, reflecting personal demons. Here I am dancing softly in my dreams to a tune by Duke Ellington.

Elizabeth Addison

Fearless: Smith River Reverie 3

25.5 x 25.5 x 2.5 inches original photography, acrylic paint, monotype, mixed media Each summer, the emerald waters of California’s last wild river welcome my family. It’s a homecoming. The Smith River’s clarity is startling and she’s fiercely independent. The Reveries are created with original photography printed on 100% cotton paper at Kala Art Institute. I cut, paint, and construct, with imagery and memory guiding my process. These dimensional works are intentionally mandala-like, embodying the Smith River’s spiritual force… and that of all wild waters.

Smith River Reverie 3, detail 30

Salma Arastu

Mother Earth Roaring

48 x 48 inches acrylics, paper collage, and pen and ink on canvas When people do injustices to women, other humans, animals or to Mother Earth herself, I lose my normal quiet and calm self and I am furious. My artistic expression becomes wild and explodes out in a poem or a painting. I cry when I witness the consequences of war, extinction of species or the rising water levels threatening low-lying countries. How long can Mother Earth sustain greedy and selfish human beings? I visualize her rising with fierce force, carrying all creatures in her womb, calling the stars, the sun, and the moon as witnesses, roaring like Kali, the Goddess of Destruction.

Karen Benioff Friedman

Maine Woods on a Foggy Day 9 x 12 inches mixed media on canvas board

Untamed. Bold. Underneath. These words from the prompt for the NCWCA show resonate deeply with me. Because the more I try to harness my untamed fear, fury and wildness, the stronger these elements rage. I often feel I am tangled in my need to be outspoken and my fear of being heard; in my need to walk solo into the wilderness and the safety of community. These works represent the tension between my interior and exterior selves. When I set out to paint the woods, the fog rolled in and stole chroma away. So I imagined colors binding together the energies of the sky, trees and the ecosystem beneath the ground.

Susan Bercu

Too Late for Superheroes

46 x 30 x 4 inches papier-mâché, recycled canvas, maps, toys, dolls, bullet cases, flora, tulle, wood, wire, paint My assemblages broadcast global existential threats, celebrating the wildness in nature. When nature is in peril, my inner wildness is alerted. I hit hard against science denial, racism, sexism, and wealth inequity. My wall triptych depicts the annihilation of our planet propelled by greed and shunning scientific fact. My wild women warriors want the chance to save humans and our planet home. Magical thinking, symbolized by toy Superheroes, cannot save us from doom. The trio of faces, crowned with weapons, represents aggression by unlimited power. The world map, covered with ash, charred human remains and flora are evidence of global warming with escalation of natural disasters.

Cynthia Brannvall

Crevice

37.5 x 37.5 inches oil on canvas Crevice is an abstract painting full of connotations. Painted forms oscillate between the body and the landscape. Nebula, fissures, cracks, rivers, and crevices form micro and macro perspectives reminiscent of aerial, telescopic, and microscopic views.

Jean Cacicedo

Behind the Veil

40 x 14 inches paper, fabric, thread I am both the object and subject of work depicting journeys of protest, love, and sexual desire. I identify with the alluring and mysterious quality of veils to reveal and conceal. Incorporating layers of cloth, cut and stitched paper, Behind the Veil uses the imagery of pattern and texture inspired by my travels to Istanbul. I placed focus on the uncovered face as a means to provoke and reveal the truth behind desire.

Behind the Veil, detail 40

Mague Calanche

Doblando La Realidad, Despues De La Pandemia (Bending Reality After The Pandemic) 48 x 36 x 2 inches acrylic, collage and oil on canvas

When we put on a costume, we are transformed and transported into the unknown, unpredictable and magical instances of our undiscovered, wild, and untamed natures. Our imaginations take hold of our profound curiosities, taboos, and fears only to let them play and act out. This painting allowed my imagination to be adventurous by indulging and exaggerating what I experience in my Mexican heritage and cultural festivities.

Kim Cardoso

Items Will Be Marked With Bullets

24 x 24 inches encaustic, oil, and schoolwork on cradled wood panel These paintings from the Schoolwork series celebrate women in male-dominated fields and comment on notions of safety. When I select words to preserve in luminous wax—in this case from my daughter’s math and science papers—I look for themes of our times. Arranged to approximate landforms and maps, I guide the viewer to question what we are taught, pushing habits and undercurrents onto our radar. I want this series to feel familiar, uncomfortable, and to evoke thoughtful connectedness.

Items Will Be Marked With Bullets, detail 44

Belinda Chlouber

Wild II

18 x 24 inches acrylic, pencil, charcoal on cradled panel Wild II was inspired by a poem by my mother, Carla Chlouber, called The Wild Animal Trainer, which begins; “A woman is never prepared for the slashing claws, the bared teeth, but I have never been seriously hurt. A few scratches, perhaps a bruise or two, certainly nothing to worry about. I admit there were times when I shut my eyes, twisted inside, almost screamed, but I never turned away.” It is one of my favorite poems of hers. For me, it is a glimpse of a woman coming to terms with both the joy and pain of being in love. After my mother passed away in 2011 we discovered her writings and they have inspired my work for years.

Abigail Lee Goldberger

The Wedding on Top of the World 36 x 32 inches oil on canvas

There is a powerful and otherworldly aspect to my two paintings in THE WILD SIDE. There is a sense of life and danger, but also a sense of strength and understanding. I like that the main characters all have the feeling of belonging amidst the wildness of their circumstances. I am a narrative artist and my work draws out the stories of a world that lies just at the edge of our understanding. In my paintings, humans are just animals, and the personalities of everything depicted shape the story.

Abigail Lee Goldberger

The Moonlight Girls 34 x 30 inches oil on canvas

Stacey Gregory

The Penny Test - Ledbetter v Goodyear

30 inches diameter used Goodyear tire, Swarovski crystals, pennies, mirror Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s dissent in Ledbetter v Goodyear paved the way for equal pay for equal work. A used Goodyear tire with a convex mirror ‘hubcap’ challenges the viewer to confront the power of ‘dissent.’ Swarovski crystals recreate RBG’s dissent collar and the red on the Goodyear logo is her favorite lipstick shade. The tire balances on pennies in the tread to represent the backs of the underpaid women who built this company. Fiery pennies creep up the side treads. The sly and ingenious RBG showed her wild side by circumventing the court’s majority opinion and in her dissent, urged Congress to pass a law for equal pay for equal work. She considered the law’s passage as one of her greatest achievements. Wild side well played.

Vicki Gunter

It’s Okay To Be A Wild Flower! New Era Series 37 x 25 x 4 inches porcelain, recycled clay, underglaze, glaze, rhinestones, brass, gilding

THE WILD SIDE call inspired this piece. It is defiant! A healing affirmation: Wild joy as Woman! My Body, My Choice! Out with a system, capitalism, causing breast/ uterine cancer! We are Nature! I’m going to be Okay! While creating this work, I learned about a serious health complication (still being evaluated) and my kiln malfunctioned mid-fire, exploding one breast and navel. I rebuilt the kiln and mended the sculpture. This wild woman’s uterus holds our California native Iris, a lightning bolt, an OK gesture, the stars, and the moon. Seeing everything in the universe as one makes up her wildly joyous bouquet. Her watery bodice, breasts, and womb embody the ebb and flow of the feminine, home, and sexual freedom. In this revolutionary time we must not accept limitations on the rights, health, and joy of all women or nature.

Jennifer Huber

Floating

24 x 18 inches acrylic painting on gallery-wrapped canvas I imagined a perfect moment of tranquility, happiness, and healing. The subject is a child, but it could be anyone of any age and ability floating on their back in clear, clean water with the gentle swells lifting and settling, sounds muffled, and the vast sky above.

Linda Joy Kattwinkel

mustfly

12 x 12 inches oil on canvas Linda Joy Kattwinkel

willdie

12 x 12 inches oil on canvas These paintings declare my intention as an older feminist female artist, in the time I have left, to create work outside the cultural boundaries of being a women and a female artist.

Emily Keyishian

Debrief

48 x 48 inches oil on canvas Debrief deals with the struggle to find roots in a land that does not belong to you, with no country to return to. Through patterning, movement and texture I try to recreate the turmoil and beauty in the everyday struggle of belonging. I work with natural forms and the language of abstraction to connect to my own loss of roots through my family’s survival of the Armenian Genocide on one side and the Jewish pogroms in Galicia on the other, and how that has affected us in the diaspora.

Anna Kirsch

Disposable Labor

36 x 42 inches acrylic on wood panel A working class woman slumped on her BART seat after a long day of mundane, mind-numbing work, looking at the sky and daydreaming about an existence free from toil and drudgery. Capitalism depends on a reserve army of labor, a permanent underclass with no hope for an escape from a futile existence.

Kayla Kirsch

Wild Heart

82 x 35 inches mixed media print on bond paper This work is one of a series investigating the wild heart—both its huge capacity for feeling and compassion and its vulnerability. The giraffe has the largest heart on the planet, with height to see a bigger picture. What would it be like to embody the giraffe into human experience—its wildness, its view, its heart? I researched giraffe hearts and animal blood systems, then I replaced a human head with a giraffe heart and integrated a human aorta in a giraffe’s head. Our lives and our planet depend on an explosion of compassion, perspective, and gentle strength.

Susan Kitazawa

Do You See What I See?

40 x 30 inches acrylic on canvas, textile materials, embroidery hoops, ophthalmology test results on paper I enjoy making playful art to uplift and encourage others. This work reflects the precarious balance and sense of humor many of us hope to maintain as we move through lives lived outside of mainstream experience. My diminishing eyesight and advancing age have nudged me to unleash my playful creativity.

Mido Lee

The Wild One

24 x 36 inches digital archival print on aluminum Everyone has a wild side, yet we can not seem to find it in this modern life. After I moved to the USA, I started to go solo backpacking in the wilderness. I found myself warm and comfortable in the snow in Montana. Nature awakened my senses, and for the first time I felt at home when I was alone in the moor. It is hard for a woman to travel alone in a foreign country, especially in the wilderness. The power that I felt after I finished my first journey alone overcame my fear. Women are stronger than they tell us and we all have the right to travel safely.

Janet Lipkin

Raining Babies

50 x 29 inches raw canvas, paint, fabric,trims, hand stitching I work with paint and fabric from around the world to create my images. As I mix different fabrics, paint, and trims, my images come alive. I work on raw canvas to honor the textile as a surface. The Guatemalan folk doll in this painting holds her newborn. My daughter and daughter-in-law were both pregnant when I painted this piece so babies were on my mind. The joy of birth and new beginnings, tie all women together. Abortion is also being threatened and this takes women’s lives out of their own hands. This painting celebrates life, yet reveals the struggle of choice.

Yunan Ma

Love 5

33 x 33 inches Corriedale wool, Merino wool, Alpaca wool, copper hoop This hand-woven fiber art is created with intricate textures blooming from the center to the edge. There is a complex universe inside of any life; big or small, quiet or loud. Although the vision may be little, there is room for unlimited enthusiasm to shine through. Though I have a fine arts and knitwear design background, I believe art is more than beautiful texture and exquisite craftsmanship. Every piece depicts a storytelling experience by cheerfully interpreting energy and emotion.

Linda R. MacDonald

Heating Up, Hendy Woods 60 x 48 inches oil on canvas

Walking in the redwood forests and enjoying the stately beauty of the immense trees, I can see the dangers from fire immediately. Fire is a normal occurrence, but it has greatly intensified in strength, breadth, and area. I want to record these amazing trees in their struggle for life. This painted redwood tree has been burned many times yet still lives. It gives us hope. These incredible living trees have been ravaged by environmental events yet still adapt, change, and transform themselves to continue living.

Anna Mathai

Wild Woman 13 | Swishbone

36 x 24 x 7 inches spray paint, acrylic paint, oil pastel, microsuede, wire My Wild Woman sculptural paintings balance chaos and control, using spray paint, plaster, resin, oil pastel and other materials to create dynamic texture and movement. This ocean abstract is imbued with an energy that reflects the radical, transformative, brave, confident, and independent strength (the inner ‘wild woman’) needed to meet life’s challenges. It rejects social biases and reclaim the label “wild woman” as a positive. She is wild and beautiful and sometimes fierce; ever-changing like the ocean.

Wild Woman 13 | Swishbone, detail 76

Juliet Mevi

At the Overlook

30 x 24 inches acrylic and oil on canvas Here we are, the travelers, observing the wild side of Yosemite National Park from a very safe spot.

Juliet Mevi

We Demand

28 x 20 inches acrylic on paper I wish I could have been one of the brave women who put their positions, their dignity, and their lives in danger in order to secure the vote for women. I will forever be grateful for their sacrifices and their willingness to step into the wild side.

Priscilla Otani

Amaterasu and Califia

48 x 24 inches papier-mâché, silicone, artificial plants, snake sheddings, acrylics, fabric, fake hair on wood panels This work brings together two mythic female figures that form the origin myths of Japan and California: Sun Goddess Amaterasu and Califia, the warrior queen of California. Born and raised in Japan and living my adult life in California, I embrace the duality of my cultures and belief systems through these two wild, powerful figures.

Amaterasu and Califia, detail 82

Laura Paladini

Little Grandma

24 x 18 inches oil paint on wood panel This theme was exciting for me because I’m inspired by people who, when presented with challenges and obstacles, overcome and live their authentic lives. My intent is to non-judgmentally get into someone’s soul and attempt to paint their energy. Living vicariously through my paintings is the first step for me personally to be more bold and less inhibited. Little Grandma has put up with everything and everyone far too long. She now wears what she wants, whenever she wants, which usually includes flowers in her hair and 1950’s red lipstick. The edit button on her thoughts has been disarmed and, without prompting, she will share exactly what she is thinking whether you want to hear it or not.

Francesca Pera

Pandemic Days 2

36 x 36 inches gouache on paper on panel with molding paste and encaustic Unpigmented encaustic (bleached beeswax and damar resin) cover the painting, along with small encaustic dots applied with a heated pen. Limited by the size of watercolor paper, the red bumps (molding paste) cover the seams. I enjoy their corporeal quality. I generally keep my wild side under wraps, but this is what I like to explore in my work. Recent paintings, completed during the pandemic, touch on the environment, fear and mortality, the unknown and wild.

Pandemic Days 2, detail 86

Jude Pittman

Sounds of the Wild

20 x 20 inches original digital painting, archival pigment print The world is wild and technology is a wilderness. Style and elegance are not immune to the “sounds of the wild.”

Barbara Pollak-Lewis

Anjeli

24 x 24 inches oil on canvas I started my Scream series shortly after the 2016 election as a reaction to the political and social nightmare that was unfolding in the United States and globally. Through my painting, I am seeking to express our collective anger and frustration as a society by showing humans of all races and ages screaming. I have focused mainly on women and girls for this series, as they are being directly affected by attacks on their reproductive rights. Anjeli is a portrait of a young girl screaming.

Barbara Pollak-Lewis

Hazel

Wo Schiffman

Gazing Inward

25 x 25 inches acrylic and ink on clayboard Gazing Inward is a visualization of journeying to the center of self and gazing at the indescribable self— wild and without boundaries–stardust and fire on ice. I get glimpses of my wild core when I play in water. Some call me a water sprite, but through selfreflection I feel the core of my being aligns more with the concept of Stardust. I imagine traveling to a place deep in my center and gazing at pure spirit: an aurora borealis of stardust. Ice and fire! From this place my kinship with water is born. I paint with oil, encaustic, and acrylic mediums on wood and canvas. Using a range of brush techniques and scraping tools, I strive to expand the familiar by blending vibrant color and abstract perspectives.

Wo Schiffman

Wild Child

26 x 20 inches encaustic and ink on wood panel Wild Child explores a water spirit untamed by life. My Immortal Self, an ancient immortal creature of the natural world, and my Untamed Core. A water spirit is untamed and unafraid. She is the source of my earliest memories: learning to swim, sail and be in the sea surrounding Barbados. She pushes me forward and maintains my connection to water. She provided the courage and impetus to build a 52’ sailboat and race the Pacific Cup (from SF to Hawaii). She is unbounded by the shore of humanity and reminds me I am a drop in the vast sea. I paint with oil, encaustic, and acrylic mediums on wood and canvas. Using a range of brush techniques and scraping tools, I strive to expand the familiar by blending vibrant color and abstract perspectives.

Sondra Schwetman

Boobies

19 x 9 x 6 inches hand-dyed silk organza and dyed embroidery hoops My current body of work addresses issues surrounding the female body myth and reality. This work celebrates the breast: “boobies,” “ta’s,” “titties,” “the girls.” It also reflects the male gaze that is particular to our culture. Through these playful works I am reclaiming imagery from that gaze. It is my hope to continue a dialogue about women’s bodies, both past and present.

Durba Sen

Dramatically Defiant 24 x 30 inches acrylic on canvas

The defiance and rebellion from the chains of societal control is seen through abstract representation of women in bold colors, lines, and shapes. My painting defies the constraints of art verbiage and norms to break out from the glass cage bestowed by society and men. Well-defined geometry contrasts with vivid, curving colors representing the untamed defiance of bondage.

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Dobee Snowber

Mabel Was Distracted By The Full Moon

7 x 11 inches acrylic, tissue paper, ink, pencil, pastel on board Within each of us there is a wild side. Sometimes blatantly apparent, at other times lurking just beneath the surface, visible only to those paying attention. It can be that point slightly left of control and comfort, or the one that loudly announces itself in quiet bedlam. It is the gaze that stares unapologetically at the viewer and simply says, “I am here.”

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Christina Spiegel

One of These Things

50 x 15 inches acrylic, ink, paper, egg shells on board We decide if we are birds in water, fish in trees, genuine or imposter. Plague doctors with bird feet beg the question.

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Nancy Tabeling

A Woman Scorned!

14 x 22 inches archival print on Arches paper My work germinates and sprouts from a visceral seed. A Woman Scorned is meant to be entertaining and thought-provoking. I believe the female “collective psyche” is universal. Some have had to push harder to break through to the other side to visit their authentic wild side. By turning my “feminine gaze” onto the subject of “female emotions,” I explore the female psyche from my own lived experience as an artist, woman, worker, mother, and yoga instructor. Strong emotions—anger, rage, passion, ambition—are often considered undesirable and discouraged when expressed by women. The penalty is to be chastised, shamed, or suppressed.

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Judy Threadgill

Untitled 1

8.5 x 11 inches paper, glue, tape Judy Threadgill

Untitled 2

8.5 x 11 inches paper, glue, tape I have developed my own style of collage, featuring the juxtaposition of mundane articles with whimsical objects. Sometimes my creations are intentional, and other times they are more like a puzzle, with combined backgrounds and other elements. My “Wild Women” images are bold free-spirited mavericks. They constantly evolve and embrace the cycles of life.

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Rachel Tirosh

Treasure Map II

52 x 18 inches mixed media, acrylic paint Last year I decided to go wild (for me) and paint big and colorful. This was an unstretched canvas that I stretched myself. Painting on larger canvases felt like making my voice heard, announcing my presence. This was quite a journey and an experience, both physically and mentally. It is my treasure map to my wild side.

Treasure Map II, detail 110

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Victoria Veedell

Winter Shadows In Finland 10 x 10 inches oil on paper on wood

Traveling to international artist residency programs is integral to my art practice. This is one of a series of paintings recording my adventure and experience in the winter landscape of Finland. I was in awe of the crisp light, colors and bold long shadows falling across the ice. This was my first experience of walking about and spending time exploring a frozen river.

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Lorraine Woodruff-Long

I Wish My Uterus Shot Bullets

36 x 36 inches pieced and appliqued cotton with discarded vintage doilies and lace This work is made of hand-cut letters, sewn onto a pieced fabric top, then backed and quilted using a “matchstick” pattern. Vintage lace and doilies, collected from waste bins and estate sales across the country, were sewn onto the quilt to embellish and frame the harsh words. The U.S. is denying women fundamental rights over our own bodies and lives yet allowing innocent people to be murdered with gun violence. Harsh words float on a stereotypically feminine pink banner, embellished with the beauty of discarded lace from the hands of women. Women’s privacy, health, and futures are being discarded and carelessly thrown away with the loss of reproductive freedom.

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Jane Yuen Corich

Fountain Head

24 x 24 inches acrylic, collage, mixed media I call on my imagination to make sense of the world through my art. Fountain Head was made during the Covid lockdown. I felt that our leaders left us to endure this pandemic with face masks and political hog wash. On some days I was the figure blowing off steam in reaction to what I was hearing on the news. On others I was one of the helpless scribbles watching this pandemic take command of the world.

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Artist Directory

Mimi Abers Berkeley, California mimiaberssculpture.com

Marguerite Elliot Fairfax, California margueriteelliot.com

Elizabeth Addison Berkeley, California elizabethaddison.com

Gillian Garro Oakland, California instagram.com/gillygarro

Salma Arastu Berkeley, California salmaarastu.com

Abigail Lee Goldberger San Francisco, California AbigailLeeGoldberger.com

Karen Benioff Friedman Berkeley, California karenbeniofffriedman.com

VestaMaria Gonzalez San Francisco, California

Susan Bercu Santa Rosa, California susanbercu.art Cynthia Brannvall Berkeley, California cynthiabrannvall.com Jean Cacicedo Berkeley, California jeancacicedo.com Mague Calanche San Francisco, California maguecalanche.com Kim Cardoso Oakland, California kimcardosoart.com Belinda Chlouber San Mateo, California belindachlouber.com 118

Stacey Gregory Salinas, California skgregoryart.com Vicki Gunter Oakland, California VickiGunter.com Jennifer, Huber Dublin,California jenhuberartist.com Kate Jordahl Millbrae, California jordahlphoto.com Linda Joy Kattwinkel San Francisco, California Emily Keyishian Piedmont, California devildoll.com

Kayla Kirsch Oakland, California kaylakirsch.com

Laura Paladini Pleasanton, California laurapaladini.com

Nancy Tabeling Capistrano Beach, California instagram.com/nancyboyart

Anna Kirsch Vallejo, California, instagram.com/girlonbus

Francesca Pera San Francisco, California francescapera.com

Afatasi The Artist San Francisco, California afatasi.org

Susan Kitazawa San Francisco, California c/o aawaa.net

Jude Pittman Pacifica, California judepittmanart.com

Judy Threadgill Oakland, California facebook.com/judiththreadgillart

Mido Lee San Francisco, California midoleeart.com

Barbara Pollak-Lewis San Francisco, California barbarapollakart.com

Rachel Tirosh Sunnyvale, California RachelTirosh.com

Janet Lipkin Richmond, California janetlipkin.com

Wo Schiffman Larkspur, California woschiffman.net

Victoria Veedell San Francisco, California veedell.com

Yunan Ma Redwood City, California yunanma.com

Sondra Schwetman Arcata, California sondraschwetmanart.com

Lorraine Woodruff-Long San Francisco, California QuiltingintheFog.com

Linda MacDonald Willits, California lindamacdonald.com

Durba Sen Fremont, California durbasen.com

Debra Wright Fairfax, Virginia www.debrawrightstudio.com

Anna Mathai San Francisco, California www.bymathai.com

Dobee Snowber Berkeley, California dobeesnowber.com

Jane Yuen Corich Walnut Creek, California, janecorich.com

Juliet Mevi Oakland, California facebook.com/mevi-art

Christina Spiegel Alameda, California likeallofyou.com

Priscilla Otani San Francisco, California mrpotani.com

M. Louise Stanley Emeryville, California mlouisestanley.com 119

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THE WILD SIDE - California Women Celebrate the Untamed

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