Artists...who do you remember?

 

Jane was a fabulous artist

Quick, name ten famous artist that you love. My guess is not one of the ten is a woman artist. Or if I asked for twenty names I seriously doubt a woman's name would appear. No shame on you. This is the state of the world.

As my poor father used to say in 1863, once people start on all the Art  Goodbye, moralite! What my father used to say is good enough for me.                       A.P. Herbert

Sad to say, women have been horribly discriminated in all fields but none so blatantly as the art realm. Go into an art gallery anywhere in the world and you will find, no surprise,  95% of the work therein is done by men. This is true throughout history. I realize this is not true in the field of crafts, the one area, like quilt making, that has been deemed appropriate for women artists. Indeed women's brilliance does shine through the ages in crafts. What we have lost through the ages is many magnificent women artists who were equal to and sometimes superior to the males artists of their time. All lost. Sure a very few are recognized somewhat begrudgingly like Frieda Kahlo, Mary Cassat, Georgia O'Keeffe or the famous photographers Anne Liebowitz or Diane Arbus. Scanty recognition for women and with rare exceptions little money and not much fame. 

Do you recognize any of these names?

Julia Margaret Cameron. Pomona.

1. Properzia de Rossi. Properzia de Rossi. ...
2. Elisabetta Sirani. Portia Wounding Her Thigh, 1664.
3. Edmonia Lewis. The Death of Cleopatra.
4. Judith Leyster. ...
5. Sofonisba Anguissola. ...
6. Saint Catherine of Bologna. ...
7. Levina Teerlinc.

The above list from Google search is of the most famous women artists from the 15th to the 19th century. That's it. They forgot Artemisia Gentileshi [1593-1653] There's a marvelous film about her from 1997 called Artemisia. Only twenty one of her paintings survived. She was raped by her art teacher and took him to court, they found him guilty and he was incarcerated for two years.  This was unheard of in the 16th century, most often men were excused from the crime as a sin of passion. Interestingly this rape lent itself to the violence in some of her art work and most probably the notoriety in her day.

Kathleen Ricketts Shaffner

Speaking of violence, at the London Museum in 1914 a suffragette Mary Richardson took a cleaver and slashed at the Velazquez's painting of Venus' body. This was not a crazy woman or a random act, the woman replied, 

"I have tried to destroy the picture of the most beautiful woman in mythological history as a protest against the Government destroying Mrs. Pankhurst who is the most beautiful character in modern history." Richardson was referring to the abusive and brutal treatment of imprisoned suffragettes. Force feedings, beatings and maiming women in the prisons and on the streets as they demanded their right to vote. Although I don't approve of her method, her point was well taken that men value paintings more than they do actual women.

[This story was taken from a book by Catherine McCormack, Women in the Picture.]
                                                            

                                                        I guess one of the reasons that this is such a hot topic for me is my little sister struggled mightily to be a recognized artist. She entered show after show and gallery after gallery in her area, southern Illinois, to no recognition and no avail. Then most excruciating she died in 2019. Kathleen Ricketts Shaffner did remarkable works and I'm happy that I had bought many pieces of her art through the years. It wasn't until her death of a heart attack that she finally got some recognition. I realize this is a sad although very familiar story but it does gnaw at me. Where were all the people who shunned her work? Now all of her paintings and shadow boxes have sold. It breaks my heart that women artists rarely get any acclaim.  Some of the profits from her work did go to a local women's shelter which somewhat assuages me. 

My plea, is people please buy art, please find the beauty and originality in some of the women artists who have been left behind. 

susansmagicfeather 2022 Susan R. Grout 

 

Books and the Library

 What is more important in a library than anything else---than everything else---is the fact that it exists.  Archibald MacLeish

 The lover of books is a miner, searching for gold all her life long.             Katherine Peterson  

Of all the civil rights for which the world has struggled and fought for five thousand years, the right to learn is undoubted the most fundamental.             W.E.B. DuBois

Our little library is under attack. Although we are drastically short of space and room to grow there are those in our community that want to stop and inhibit this little library. We currently have a levy that could fix that problem and give this community a bigger library that we desperately need.

Predictably the people against the levy rarely to never enter the library and really haven't a clue as to how valuable this library is to most of our community.  Sadly they have lied about how much money we need to build the new, library which is truthfully 12 million dollars, because we have grants and generous donors. It's only going to become vastly more expensive in the future. We need to act now.

Libraries have been under attack on and off throughout history. In the past, and now sadly in the present, thousand of books have been banned in various countries all around the world. There is a physical and graphic example of this below, in front of the world's oldest public museum in Kassel, Germany.  On this spot in 1933 some two thousand books were burned during the Nazi's nationwide campaign against the "Un-German Spirit". Why is this hauntingly familiar? Here we are over almost ninety years in the future with people in many countries suggesting the same thing. The conceptual artist, Marta Minujin's sculpture  was first created in her native land of Argentina in 1983 where titles were being forbidden by the military dictatorship. Then, Marta did it again with more books in Germany 2017. 

The Parthenon of Books, made from 100,000 banned books, a conceptual piece opened in 2017  Kassel, Germany

You also might be asking yourself as I did myself, "what are they so afraid of that they would even think to attack an inanimate object?" Books don't bite, they don't rob you or even poison you, unless you consider an open mind poisonous.  BTW I consider some books written to be full of lies and depressingly stupid but I defend your right to read them. 

In a way I believe this is unspeakably sad, here are people all around the world worried about books they consider dangerous, whereas they have no such consternation about losing democracy and freedom of speech.  The word freedom currently has been usurped to mean 'anything that I do or believe should have no consequences'. They want the right to infect their neighbor or their family by not wearing a mask or getting vaccinated yet have no problem swiping a woman's right to privacy with her doctor. But then I realize some consider women and people of color fairly scary.  

I cherish books.  Books are my 'go to' for comfort, understanding and relaxation. I'm always on the look out for another great book. I have spent many, many happy hours wandering through our local library. I love and depend on this little building for supplying me with the ability to travel to other worlds, to meet characters both real and fictitious, to expand my definition of what's human, to increase my knowledge and to learn about many different subjects about which I have very little information. A treasure trove of learning awaits all who enter. Yes, I admit, it's a dependency but one I count on as being a rich essential for my life and growth as a member of the human race.

This was brought home to me because of the pandemic. We were without our library for several months last year. With a great deal of understanding and kindness the librarians gave all of us a heads up because they, for safety's sake, were going to close for an indefinite period of time in March of 2020. They made an announcement to the community so all of us would have a couple of days prior to the dark shuttering, to gather as many books, magazines and videos as we desired. It was absolutely laughable. The crowd of excited but dazed patrons rushed into the library to take out literally dozens of books and DVD's a piece. The terror of having nothing to read was upon all of us! That's when I realized how important the library, a favorite spot in our town, was in my life.  

Mom

 

I don't know what I'd do without books.                                                            Jane Ricketts

Sure, I have lots of books and truly could spend several years reading  the books I have on my shelves, but there's nothing like picking up a brand new best seller and diving into it.  Like most of the people who are bibliophiles I read the book section of newspapers, eager for a good review of a new author I've never heard of. What a pleasure to read book from vastly different points of view or a book about different cultures or walks of life. Despite Covid-19 I walked through many different countries, cultures, and even restaurants with the book's author leading the way.

To pay back some of my gratitude I'm volunteering at our local library and I feel so fortunate to be doing so. While tending to the books, the DVD's, graphic books, etc. on the shelves I've gained a knowledge of just what a huge collection we have in our small town. You might think about wandering around your own library for the sheer pleasure of being around the books and possibly [probably] finding some treasure you didn't realize was there.  For example, our DVD section of the library is rich with movies and series both old and new. This collection is vast and rich. Any treasured movie from the past 40 years is probably found in our shelves.

Then there are the librarians. These librarians are helpful, knowledgeable, generous and gracious. Yet these marvelous professionals are being attacked by screaming parents and furious people who probably have not even read the books that they're screaming about.  Texas has a bounty on women who are seeking an abortion, and are offering a $10,000 reward to anyone who can stop a woman from seeking an abortion. The Supreme court sided with this misogynistic decision. Next up in the idiocy race, Oklahoma has proposed a $10,000 punishment per day to any school library that has their list of banned books on their shelves. 

Where does this insanity end? It takes a nation to come together and stick up for the right to read. I grew up Catholic and at that time so many years ago the Church had lists of books [Index Librorum Prohibitorum] basically banning books. The practice ended in 1966 but though it never effected me,  it made and impression. Let's vote for sanity and the right to read and be educated.

PS  If you've read a great book I want to know it's title...

susansmagicfeather  2022 Susan R. Grout

  

 

Logical Consequences

If it's a rain river, some roads are going to wash out.

If there's not a proper culvert, roads may be impossible to ford.

 If you ignore abuse and violence or minimize them it only gets worse.

If we neglect education and caring for our children we'll have uneducated and impoverished adults.

If we allow the huge inequality in housing, food, and voting the consequences are angrier adults seeking more authoritarianism.  

Democracy is currently at stake. How can anyone who witnessed the brutality, disrespect and lawlessness of 1/6/21--- by an angry Trump mob--- not be concerned about this country?  They sought to overturn our democratically elected president by force, after it was encouraged by the ex president.

I have been increasingly worried about the state of our democracy and democracy in the world. Here in the USof A there are obvious crimes being committed on a daily basis by the previous president, his administration and his followers that are acknowledged but so far have suffered few to no consequences for the crimes. They are hoping the clock is going to run out on their illegal actions.  When and how can this be rectified? How can we at last punish sufficiently these egregious offenders? 

When I was raising my sons a sentence that reverberated for me was 'raise your children by having reasonable, logical consequences' for their behavior. If they spilled the milk by fooling around at the dinner table they were to clean up the mess. If they were fighting with each other they were to sit in separate chairs until they calmed down. If they avoided curfew, they were restricted for one night at home. Logical, the consequence made into sense for their behavior as a repercussion. Yet there is a vast difference in who gets the consequence for bad, illegal behavior in our country. We all have witnessed that and it is beyond frustrating.

I figured most people knew that logical consequences made sense in life, but found out this is just not true. At first this was brought home to me when I was working as a psychotherapist. I worked with people from all walks of life and with numerous kinds of families. In one family the step Mom was very authoritarian. When her step daughters didn't do whatever she wanted, [get all A's on their report card, keep their room tidy at all times, no disagreements or arguing with their parents] she came down--- overly harsh.  The Dad was fairly ineffectual and would not intervene on his daughter's behalf. The step Mom had some wildly unhelpful consequences for the daughters: no dinner and do all the dishes for a week; confinement to the house for a month; no socializing with their friends. This woman was so ill prepared to be a parent and no one had told her that her punishments were outrageously overboard. 'Let the punishment fit the crime' I pleaded. To my surprise at this suggestion she started crying because 'that's how I was treated as a child' and figured she had turned out alright. I took a deep breath and I told her I was sorry she was treated that way and she needed to lighten up considerably on the daughters [who were teens]. A sad situation all the way around.  

Then there were the other extremes, the sons who had been caught drinking and driving by the parents with the evidence of a car accident. These were the parents who would then help hide the dented car from the cops. The parents who provided beer for their teenagers parties with the idea that drinking at home would be better than being out drinking at someone else's house. Mind you they were hosting other people's teens.  Parents who regularly were called to school because their child was bullying other children and these parents would vehemently defend their son. They falsely believed their progeny walked on water and could do no wrong. They most probably continued to be abusive as adults. No consequences.

What is this world coming to if big businesses don't clean up their messes and there are no consequences for their bad behavior? What is this world coming to if people are told obvious falsehoods by their "news" station, then their viewers die of the virus and there are no consequences? What is this world coming to if a young man is allowed to walk around with an AK17, kills a few people because he is frightened and there are no consequences. I heard that he recently got a standing ovation at a conservative rally. Bullying and murder rewarded.

How is this doing unto others? How are these loving acts? What can we do about it? 

• Vote the perpetrators of falsehoods out of office.
• Vote out the ones who side with the bullying and abuse and excuse this behavior.
• Speak up to the ones who've been told falsehoods about accurate science.
• Work for the Democrats, I don't see many Republicans championing truth these days
• Run for office, there are people running for school board and volunteering at polling offices who's soul purpose is to intimidate and bully.
• Buy newspapers! it costs far less than daily coffee out
• Be willing to volunteer for causes you care about.
• Put your money where your heart is,  make donations to good candidates, environmental causes, local food banks, etc.

susansmagicfeather 2022 Susan R. Grout
                                        

WEIGHING IN

  I think women tend to be very hard on themselves and push themselves very hard to get things right.           Helen Fielding

I have my annual doctor's appointment and as silly as it sounds I actually had a moment of trepidation. Was it about an illness, was it about my high cholesterol, was it about ageing?  No. I'm delighted to say it was about my weight. Why should I care if the scale goes up or down a few pounds? Why? Because I've been indoctrinated since I was a teen to believing that there is a right look, a right weight and a right style. None of this, in my feminists heart, do I truly believe--- but the malady lingers on. 

First of all, and I'm admittedly a shrimp. Definitely off the norm. I am universally shocked, momentarily, when I see pictures of myself next to my family, I'm little and yet I don't feel that way ever. As a joke my Dad used to say I was "Mrs. Take Charge" when I was a young girl. I guess that's why in my perception of myself I can't possibly be small. And in my guts I believe that most of the time I'm very big and mostly always right. Huh?

If a man speaks in a forest and there's no woman around to hear him, is he still wrong.  Jerry Dennis

Is my delusion about my height also about my appearance?  Probably.  I believe as my mother said when in her seventies, "out of these eyes is a 35 year old woman." I literally hold that to be the absolute truth. Ageing? Nonsense!

Him: Mom! You used to be really good looking!                                   

me: Zach! 

           Him: I mean it, you used to be...                                                                                                said my teenage son after viewing photos of me in college.                                                                                             

The Waist is a terrible thing to Waste.                                                             Susan Grout

One of the shocking things about ageing is the changing body when your mind is stuck in another era.  Perhaps this is a cliche but I believe that many of us in our 70's who've made a viable effort to take care of our bodies do hope, in our souls, that this diligence is going to pay off. Unfortunately, my skin hasn't gotten the message. Although I'm fairly fit I really do look approximately my legitimate age. Another shocking thing is what I took for granted with this small body. I thought if I kept about the same weight and exercised most days than not, that I would retain my teenage figure. Sadly no. I never appreciated the relatively slim waist until it became, let's say, less narrow. I would have, should have flaunted it. Like the nearly eighty year old woman I met in California. Here's the story:

Years ago I was in a lovely coffee shop with my husband and granddaughter. In marched with a great deal of flamboyance an older woman who was perfectly coiffed, beautifully made up, wearing a flaring skirt, tight blouse and, the piece de resistance, a very wide leather belt.  I spotted her and said, "Isabel?" She fell upon me with open arms crying, "It's so good to see you!" This, my friends, was none other than Isabel Allende, an author I've greatly admired since her first book, The House of the Spirits.  Such a charming lovely woman with the obvious spectacular look. BTW we'd never met before. I understood her willingness to believe we had.  I have a rather ordinary face with regular features and people often mistake me for, "aren't you my cousin Kate's friend?" and etc. I went in and got paper for her as she wanted our address to send me and my granddaughter a book. She did and I cherish this chance encounter in more ways than one. Isabel flaunts what's a pretty good waist, I appreciate that. 

  

My mother was notorious also for the rather comical jabs.  I once told her that I was thinking about losing five pounds and she said, "don't bother it'll just hang." Another time I was complaining to my mom about wrinkles and she said, "go look in the mirror." I did and came back to her comment, "it's all down hill from here." She was right but please!

The truth is I have no legitimate complaints about my body or about ageing. I'm still feeling mostly good despite the aches and pains associated with arthritis. So, the wrinkles, the enlarged waist, the arthritis I will take with gratitude that I get to live and enjoy my life even if once upon a time I was really good looking.

susansmagicfeather  2022  Susan R. Grout