Monday, October 13, 2008

Ginger Wolfe-Suarez

I also went to Ginger Wolfe-Suarez' lecture at Mills last week. Like my classmates, I was a bit frustrated that she didn't show her work, but I did find it fun to geek out on all the interesting tidbits of research she showed us -- particularly her research on The Suffragette journal. I also found it interesting to hear her speak about her art journal and her commitment to an ad-free, collective-minded, all-women-staffed publication. Suarez is also a de facto art historian - she tries to bridge divides between art historian, artist, and critic- and i actually find that combination really interesting. it always puzzles me to listen to art historians talk versus artists-- i feel like they're talking about different things, in different worlds -- and i admire Suarez' commitment to walking the line between those disciplines. However, I did find her lecture verged more on 'historian' than artist, and as such I didn't feel she was entirely successful at walking that line in this instance. She read a lot from academic articles she'd written, which were rather dry, and seemed to be geared toward giving a talk at a conference rather than at a college. I am always interested in seeing people's research, though, and I can take a lot from that as an artist in terms of really remembering to get deep into a topic I might wish to explore.

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