Art & Society

Posted by Mary Rayme

For those who think slavery in the United States ended with the Emancipation Proclamation, think again.

While the notion of a man having several wives may sound like the stuff that sitcoms are made of, these religious polygamous communities brainwash and enslave women, especially, by marrying off teenage girls to old men. Some of these women end up marrying and reproducing with their fathers, grandfathers or uncles which leads to deformed and stillborn births.

Today, I dedicate my blog to an unnamed 16-year-old girl who was raped and beaten by her 50-year-old husband and had the courage to call law enforcement officials who have raided the cult community and taken countless women and children into protective custody. My guess is that many of these brainwashed women and children are confused and have mixed feelings about their newfound freedom. This kind of raising of women to be child-bearers and servants to the men is more than sexual abuse or brainwashing, it is slavery.

I hope that this event will bring to light something uglier than steroids used in baseball, something uglier than Eliot Spitzer's call girls; slavery is alive and most unwell in America.

For more information read Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer.

Posted by Mary Rayme

While researching an article about sports artists, I stumbled upon the curious case of Daniel A. Moore.

Moore is a sports artist who creates oil paintings of great sports moments and sells the paintings as well as limited edition prints. In a challenge to the First Amendment Rights of all artists, the University of Alabama has waged a legal war against the artist Daniel A. Moore for three years. The University contends that Moore is violating the intellectual property of the University by creating paintings of football players wearing their school colors, red and white.

This lawsuit is still pending and unresolved, and per Daniel A. Moore, the second judge in the case has recently recused himself. Will the University of Alabama sue all photographers who publish photographs of the Crimson Tide for violation of intellectual property or copyright?

This is an important case to follow as it highlights the misconceptions in society today about the artist and the role of the artist. Read more here.

Posted by Mary Rayme

OJ Simpson has managed to stay in the media recently. First is the release of a book by OJ, originally titled I Did It, which has been conveniently re-titled, If I Did It. This book was stopped at the publisher when many people protested about OJ making money from a book which tells the tale of what happened the night OJ murdered his ex-wife Nicole Simpson, and Ron Goldman.

The new version of this book includes commentary from the Goldman family which has fought tirelessly to bring OJ to justice. There is a forward by Pablo F. Fenjves, the witness who heard Nicole's dog howling the night of the murders. Strangely enough, he is the one chosen to interview OJ, to get the "what if" story from the only living human witness to the bloodshed of that evening back in 1994.

If you want to support the Goldman family, buy this book. It offers a chilling insight into the mind of one of the most villified figures of our world. I did not have the stomach to get through Chapter 6, which goes through the details of "The Night in Question", and invents a character named "Charlie" who possibly helped OJ commit his hateful acts. It is too horrible to relive a moment in which a jealous ex-husband kills the mother of 2 of his children and another friend of hers, Ron Goldman who seems to have been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Recently, OJ was arrested at another surreal scene where an auction of some of his belongings (that he believed were stolen) was taking place. Allegedly OJ had the goal of recovering the stolen goods with the help of some allegedly armed friends. Out on $125,000 bail, the rest of this tale waits to unfold.

Posted by Mary Rayme

I had the pleasure of going to The Purple Fiddle in Thomas, West Virginia this week to hear an old-time country band, The Sweetback Sisters. This nouveau country band features the sweet and sassy vocals of Emily Miller and Zara Bode. They like to describe themselves as, "Honky tonk for the modern day cowboy and girl". I gotta say, I thought of Patsy Cline upon hearing Zara Bode's voice that harmonizes impeccably with the sweet voice of Emily Miller. The Sweetback Sisters have a new EP called Bang! I recommend buying multiple copies since you will want to give this shot of musical bliss to all of your friends. It's that good. Jesse Milnes plays a hot-lickin' acoustic guitar and swinging fiddle, along with Ross Bellinoits' lightning fast, telecaster interjections. Stefan Amidon is a solid, jiving drummer and Joe Dejarnette is the cartoonishly good bass player.

Emily Miller learned her craft from her mother Valerie Mindel. I was lucky enough to catch this amazing mother-daughter duo at a concert at the Augusta Heritage Center in Elkins this summer. There is nothing like related voices harmonizing and the new CD, In the Valley, 2006, by Emily Miller and Val Mindel is an instant classic.

Next up is The Weight of Light by The Ginsangers, a band that also has a mother-daughter combo of voices in Connie Townsend and Rose Bell. This pleasing and soulful CD contains some excellent original songs and a great cover of the Hank Williams song, I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry. Dave Parker as co-songwriter and solid guitarist rounds out the band nicely.

We are lucky to live in such a musical neck of the woods! Now get out there, people, and listen to live music and BUY the CDs.

Posted by Mary Rayme

Duncan Long asked me for some advice as to how to market his artwork. I suggested that he find an agent to represent him and to sell his work for him. He gathered a list of agents and sent them a link to his website.

Quality artists, illustrators, photographers and artisans can market their work successfully through the use of professional representation to sell your work for you. Make sure you take the time to understand the terms of your contract and to establish a good working relationship with your dealer. The relationship can be profitable and mutually beneficial.

Thanks, Duncan, and hope this exercise proves fruitful for you someday.

Pat Hackett Art Rep, Email: pat@pathackett.com, Phone: 206-447-1600

411 Creatives

Mosaic Alliance

Alison Eldred,alisoneldred@gmail.com

Allen Spiegel Fine Arts. orders@allenspiegelfinearts.com

Illustrationweb.com

Emily Inman, ewinman@earthlink.net

Levy Creative Management, LLC, 300 East 46th Street Suite 8E, New York, NY 10017

{212} 687 6463, info@levycreative.com

Bernstein & Andriulli, (212) 682-1490, 58 W 40th Street, Floor 6, New York NY 10018

franciner@ba-reps.com

illustrationOnLine, 215-232-6666, inquiry@illustrationonline.com

Début Art, info@debutart.com

Three In A Box, info@threeinabox.com

Magnet Reps, 1685 H Street, #219,Blaine, WA 98230, art@magnetreps.com

Store 44 Reps, PO BOX W,Scottsdale, AZ 85252, art@store44.com.

Scott Hull, 4 West Franklin. Suite 200, Dayton, Ohio 45459, 937.433.8383, headquarters@scotthull.com

Morgan Gaynin Inc.,194 Third Avenue #3, New York, NY 10003, info@morgangaynin.com

Gerald & Cullen Rapp, Artist Representatives, 420 Lexington Ave., New York, NY, 10170, 212.889.3337

info@rappart.com

Richard Solomon, 305 E. 50th St. New York, NY 10022, 212.223.9545, info@richardsolomon.com

Mendola Artists, info@mendolaart.com

Heart Agency, nyc@heartagency.com

Langley Creative, Sharon Langley, ARTREPSJL@aol.com

Lindgren & Smith, info@lsillustration.com

ArtAgent.com, 865 Delaware St., Denver, CO 80204, 303-820-2599, info@artagent.com

Jennifer Vaughn, 1927 Grant Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94133, 415. 666. 3447, jen@jenvaughnart.com

Melissa Turk & The Artist Network, 9 Babbling Brook Lane, Suffern, New York 10901, (845)368-8606

melissa@melissaturk.com

Tugeau 2, Jeremy & Nicole Tugeau, nicole@tugeau2.com

Helen Ravenhill, 816 333 0744, hravenhill@earthlink.net

The NewBorn group, joan@newborngroup.com

Irmeli Holmberg, irmeli@irmeliholmberg.com

David Goldman Agency, dg@davidgoldmanagency.com

B A Reps, www.ba-reps.com

Posted by Mary Rayme

Bookclub Fiction

I have belonged to a small town Bookclub with a total membership of 15 or so for several years. We have read some excellent books, The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, Mrs. Kimble by Jennifer Haigh, The Samurai's Garden by Gail Tsukiyama, and Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. We have had some interesting and lively discussions about the ideas in the books, the style of writing by the author, and comparisions to other books we have read.

The Non-Fiction

There have been a smattering of non-fiction books: Devil in the White City by Erik Larson, The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat by Oliver Sacks, and Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich come to mind. Most recently I hosted Bookclub with the book Thinking in Pictures by Temple Grandin.

You Want Me to Read What?

Maybe because it's June and folks are on vacation, but only 3 ladies attended my Bookclub and of the 3, only 2 had read the book. Let's just say there was more wine drinking that evening than conversation to be had. My other theory as to the low attendence was my choice of a non-fiction book. As an unusual female appreciator of non-fiction, I have to say that I think most women seem to prefer fiction to non-fiction, and i'm not quite sure why.

OMG! All Chicks.

Which brings me to the gender makeup of my Bookclub--all chicks. This is not unusual, why is that? I'm sure that there are men in Bookclubs somewhere in the world, but in my neck of the woods there are at least 3 very active Bookclubs and none of the members are male. We're not excluding the guys, they just are not interested in attending.

Men Are Literate

We know the men are reading the books. The wives report back regularly about which husband has read and liked a recent or current book club book. So, do men perceive Bookclubs as feminine because these groups have been culturally championed by Oprah? Or do men like to read books, but don't feel the need to get together to discuss them? So are there any men out there who can enlighten me as to the male Point of View on Bookclubs? I'm still trying to figure it all out...

Posted by Mary Rayme

Some of the big news this past week is that Dr. Jack Kevorkian, the Suicide Doctor, has been released from a Michigan prison after serving 8 years. I think that Dr. Jack’s work had merit, while some of it was highly suspect. No one should ever run a suicide machine in the back of their van, even if it does have lovely shag carpeting on the walls.

Kevorkian will hopefully continue to advocate for some sort of professionally-assisted suicide legislation, and as our baby boomer population grows older, the need to die with dignity will become imperative and commercial.

Perhaps the only scary thing about Dr. Kevorkian is his paintings. View them here if you dare…

Posted by Mary Rayme

A report from Amnesty International, Maze of Injustice: The failure to protect Indigenous women from sexual violence, indicates that Native American women and Native Alaskan women are the targets of rape by non-Native males. In other words, these women are being targeted by non-Indian men who don’t live on the reservation. Why?

In no small part, it goes back to how the United States government has treated Native Americans Indians, or Indigenous populations in the country since the very beginning. This from the United States Declaration of Independence, and just one of a long list of grievances that the colonies cited against King George of England:

“He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.”

From this one sentence, it is clear that in 1776 Native Americans were considered the enemy of the ruling white men. Indians were eventually defeated by the newcomers to the New World, and were forced to give up tribal lands and live on reservations.

Perhaps we are not viewed as “merciless savages” but women are not viewed as equals in society by both men and women. We live in a culture, in the United States, where Feminism is considered a dirty word that conjures up images of man-hating, hairy-legged lesbians who want to teach Herstory, not History. Why is this?

Maybe one reason is that The Equal Rights Movement is stalled and not going anywhere. Recently, I viewed the first season of Saturday Night Live from 1975. A young and earnest Candice Bergen urged everyone to support the Equal Rights Amendment. I felt nostalgic and sad all at the same time. Where did ERA go? Why do women still make 72% of the salary of their equal male counterparts? Why is there a higher crime rate against women? Perhaps it is because like Indigenous women in Alaska and Oklahoma, we are targeted by males for abuse and disparity.

The statistics from the Amnesty International report are cause for alarm. Native American women are 2.5 times more likely to be raped or sexually assaulted than the general population of all other women in the US. More than one third of all Native American and Alaskan Native Women will be raped. The comparable statistic for the general population of all other women is less than one out of five. Many Native American women do not report rapes because they believe they will be ignored and not believed. The report gives evidence to the widespread indifference to the Native American female population.

A dictionary definition of feminism: the advocacy of women's rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men. We need to continue to advocate for women worldwide. As Mother’s Day approaches, consider the mothers, women, sisters, and female friends in your life. Wouldn’t you want them to be treated humanely, kindly, and equitably? Would you want a member of your family to be targeted as the vicitm of a violent crime? Of course not. Would you want your mother to be paid inequitably? Of course not. This Mother’s Day, let us urge the United States government and Native American authorities to work together to respect and pay honor to our women. We need and deserve to be protected.

But don't take my word on the issue. Read the report here.

Posted by Mary Rayme

I will admit this. I used to be a huge Howard Stern fan. When I Iived and worked in Baltimore and then Philadelphia, I hung on every titillating and juicy word of my favorite shock jock. His world was full of racist and sexist commentary, all of which was seemingly OK when his co-host Robin Quivers was a black woman.

The interesting thing about Howard Stern was this: he was adored by liberal Democrats as well as conservative Republicans. Why? Here's my theory: The Democrats perceived Howard as a social commentator and/or a sly satirist who was not really a racist, but merely commenting or reflecting the racism and sexism of our time. Conservative Republicans viewed Howard as one of them and took his comments at face value, all the while chuckling at the idiocy of porn stars, the homeless, and the freaks who frequented Stern's studio. The truth of Howard, as with all humans, lies in the middle of these two points of view. Howard Stern is quite human just like the rest of us, including Imus.

But the world changes, just as our ideas about race, sex, and equality change to keep up with where our society takes us collectively.

I noticed recently that an art exhibition by Chinese artist Huang Yong Ping created some controversy in Vancouver, Canada, with a piece of art that pits live insects and critters against each other. The piece is entitled, Theatre of the World, and is a giant turtle shell shape that one can look through and see various snakes, lizards, insects, and scorpions, battling it out in a life and death coliseum.

This piece has already toured though the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, and the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art with no controversy or fanfare. In Vancouver, Canada, this piece has been called into question by the Vancouver Humane Society and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

What does this have to do with Imus? It's about how our idea of what is ethical changes both through time and geography. Imus' words that got him fired were nothing new. He has always spouted the same naughty and un-politically correct words that got him fired. It is us as a society that has changed. The corporate sponsors and the general public decided that enough was enough.

There are other factors at play here as well. Imus' comments were targeted and displayed on YouTube, the great social and politcal equalizer, where you can watch Michael Richards freak out and give a racist tirade. (You can also watch Janet Jackson's infamous wardrobe malfunction, or watch President Bush read My Pet Goat on the morning of September 11.) I would also be willing to bet that it was a convenient time to fire Imus. His ratings have no doubt dropped since there's no Howard Stern to do battle with on the radio airwaves, and his salary must be exhorbitant considering his years with the same company.

But more importantly, perhaps we realize as a society how important words are, and how they can be used to build up or to drag down. I am strangely grateful to Don Imus for this whole imbroglio because it demands that we talk about and discuss issues of race and racism and sexism. Why? Until we have a society of equality, it is absolutely essential that it all be discussed.

Posted by Mary Rayme

There is a classic and cliche arguement I still hear regularly from white people, about how they are confused about what black people want to be called. Many white people seem offended that black people would want to re-label or re-title themselves as a race. But I think it makes sense.

In the USA, especially, we are a nation that struggles with the idea of race and race labels. In a nation founded on slavery, the name we use for black people has evolved from negro, to colored-person, to black, to African-American, to person of color. (It should be noted that the NAACP is still the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People probably based on the recognition of their acronym.)

I think that searching for suitable and acceptable race labels will continue to change over time. Labelling and re-labelling is how we process things as humans, it's also how we identify ourselves.

I also think that if tomorrow black people decide to call themselves The Chiefs, I'm cool with that. If white people are suddenly offended by their label ("I'm not white, I'm pinkish-beige!") and want to change their racial designation to something that they feel is more descriptive or accurate, why not? After all, what the heck is a caucasian anyway?

The other statement I hear, "Why don't they just pick a name or label and stick with it?" Sorry, it the progress of semantics. It is what has made dumb people, mute; crazy people, mentally ill; retarded people, mentally challenged. Words and/or labels do mean a lot to us, and need to change as our perceptions do as well. It is this same freedom of language that allows new words into the vernacular everyday just as google has become a verb.

I'm just saying that this kind of faux indignation at changing race labels that an ethnic group wants to give itself is really about racism and the fear of something they don't understand. Black people are constantly trying to redefine themselves in a changing world that still gives them little or no power. If a name, identity, or descriptive change helps them to feel empowered and to move forward, why not?

And just to spell it out, we are all prejudiced in some way, and not necessarily race-wise. I am predjudiced against the ignorant and the over-educated equally. We just need to constantly question our comfortable beliefs about race and race identity so we can understand our societally ingrained notions. We are all bigots and need to accept that to be able to make progress.