Rachel Epp Buller

After the end of the semester, I took a few days last week to make a trip to New York to feast upon art. Some visual exhaustion after three whirlwind days of museums and galleries was well worth it. One of the best parts was finding so many examples of work to share with my students next year – especially after seeing the Kehinde Wiley show at the Jewish Museum – and lots of reminders of artists to cover in my Women and Gender in Art class next spring. Other highlights: Keith Haring at the Brooklyn Museum; the Steins Collect show at the Met, as well as the Prada-Schiaparelli show; the Cindy Sherman and Print/Out shows at MoMA; my dear friend Erin’s “Presidents in Petticoats” show at ICP; happening upon a dance and music performance at the Whitney Biennial; and finding this Vermeer-inspired mural hidden in an inner courtyard.

Midwest Art History Society hosted their annual conference in Wichita last month, held on the WSU campus and at the Wichita Art Museum. It’s often a bit of a crap shoot of how well a panel of conference papers will fit together, but our panel on art in the Weimar Republic was one of the most cohesive in which I’ve participated. I was joined by really stellar (and new-to-me) colleagues from the University of Missouri and the Spencer Museum of Art. Lots of food for thought,  good discussions, and great potential for future collaborations. And, during the lunch break, we had the chance to see the temporary sculptural installation by Tony Feher around the WSU campus.

Nearly 1,000 people came through the doors on opening night, though they’re not shown here. Instead, photos of some of the artists and much of the artwork. Art Lives! in Kansas.

One of my favorite works from the show, Line Item Veto by Carolyn Wedel.

Many thanks to Larry Hatteberg of KAKE-TV news in Wichita for the great coverage of the Art Lives! exhibition and the funding crisis for the arts in Kansas. He interviewed several artists during the opening reception, who each spoke passionately about the issue and their work, and he showcased the art of many of the other exhibiting artists as well. I was particularly pleased that he included footage from my Painting class at Bethel College. Here’s to hoping that we helped keep the arts funding conversation going. The Kansas legislature is currently revisiting the issue; whether or not they can get through without a line-item veto, we’ll see.

See us on TV here.

Artist colleagues in Lincoln, Nebraska are celebrating the impact of Womanhouse and the Feminist Art Movement with their exhibition, Womanhouse v4.0: The House that Feminism Built. In addition to hosting a series of performances, lectures, movies, and discussions, they have facilitated a large-scale collaboration that has resulted in a fabric tent-house made of donated clothing that was cut up, drawn on, written on, pieced, and sewn together by many, many men and women.

My essay, “Surviving and Thriving through Collaboration,” was published in their exhibition catalogue and can be read here.

Art Lives! An artistic collaboration sponsored by The Feminist Art Project

Exhibition location: City Arts, 334 N. Mead, Wichita KS

Dates: March 30 – April 21, 2012

Opening reception: Final Friday, March 30, 5:30-9:00pm, with a 7:00pm presentation by Rachel Epp Buller about The Feminist Art Project

About the exhibition:

During the past year, artists, arts educators, galleries, museums, and other arts organizations in Kansas have sustained serious, sometimes fatal, blows. And yet, art is still alive! Kansas artists and arts advocates have rallied in unprecedented force to campaign for the importance of art and funding for art.

This inaugural exhibition of the Kansas Chapter of The Feminist Art Project, staged one year after the state budget cuts, connects artists in a cross-state collaborative endeavor as we seek to move forward despite constraints. Artists have been paired with colleagues around the state, enlarging each artist’s community and strengthening the Kansas arts network. The two dozen participating artists contribute artworks created independently and in collaboration with their artist-partners. Each artist addresses the theme of Art Lives! and offers serious reflections on the state of the arts in Kansas. In a time of economic crisis when funding for the arts is one of the first things to go, collaboration may be one of our best tools for survival.

–Rachel Epp Buller

!I’m so excited to see the fruits of these collaborative labors! Will post photos after the opening.)

Finally, a few images from Those Were the Days, my recent show at the Steckline Gallery.

(This is only a small sampling; more images to be posted later.)