The Gift of Unmasking
I had to teach myself to hear what was in my bones/my blood memory/my intuition. – Sharon Bridgforth
Interviews with Three Lesbian Artists from the WomenArts Network
This month we are celebrating Gay Pride by interviewing three lesbian artists from the WomenArts Network – painter Lenore Chinn, playwright Sharon Bridgforth, and novelist Susan Stinson. They spoke with Sarah Browning of The Fund for Women Artists about the ways their sexual identities combine with other identities in their work, their definitions of success, the people who have inspired them, and how they keep going.
Back to the First Page of the June 2005 Newsletter>>
Introducing This Month’s Artists
Lenore Chinn
Lenore Chinn’s inclusion in Harmony Hammond’s groundbreaking book, Lesbian Art in America: A Contemporary History (Rizzoli, NY, 2000), the first study of American lesbian visual artists, has vastly expanded her national visibility. Her portraits documenting the historical evolution of San Francisco’s Queer community challenge the social conventions that currently constitute the racialized order of things. They are widely exhibited, and there is an online gallery of her work at:
www.queerculturalcenter.org/Pages/Chinn/ChinGallary.html
Chinn is currently president of QCC – Queer Cultural Center, a San Francisco based non-profit arts organization which hosts the annual National Queer Arts Festival, with events throughout the month of June. www.queerculturalcenter.org
Sharon Bridgforth
Sharon Bridgforth is the Lambda Literary Award winning author of the bull-jean stories. Her most recent work, the performance literature/novel, love conjure/blues (published by Redbone Press), was a finalist for this year’s Lambda Literary Award.
Bridgforth writes performance literature, using poetry as the base language for making jazz with words. A 2002-2003 Alpert Award nominee in the arts in theatre, Bridgforth has been presented nationally at venues such as The Madame Walker Theatre Center in Indianapolis, IN, and the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, MN. Her work has received support from the National Endowment for the Arts commissioning program; the Theatre Communications Group Playwright-in-Residence Program; and the Rockefeller Foundation Multi-Arts Production Fund. Bridgforth’s writing is widely anthologized.
Susan Stinson
Susan Stinson’s most recent novel, Venus of Chalk (Firebrand Books, 2004, www.firebrandbooks.com) was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award and was chosen as one of the Top Ten Lesbian Books of 2004 by Publishing Triangle. Her previous novels are Fat Girl Dances with Rocks (1994) and Martha Moody (1995). Belly Songs, a collection of poetry and lyric essays, was published in 1993. Excerpts from her work are available online at: www.susanstinson.net
Stinson’s work – which has appeared in The Kenyon Review, The Seneca Review, Curve and The Women’s Review of Books – has received the Benjamin Franklin Award in Fiction as well as a number of fellowships. London’s Diva magazine called her “the most criminally underrated dyke novelist in the world.” Stinson was born in Texas, raised in Colorado, and now lives in Northampton, MA.
The Artists Speak Out – Interviews by Sarah Browning
Sarah Browning: What are your thoughts on the intersection in your work of sexual orientation with other identities, such as race or class?
Sharon Bridgforth: i believe that Life is too complex/humanity is too messy for our issues – our identities to exist in vacuums and compartments. my experience is that the deeper/more personal we go to express our artistic voices, the more powerful, and, ironically, the more universal our stories become. no matter how abstract the work/there is a cord or a vibration of magic that comes to life when the work touches/connects/moves somebody. the gift the artist gives herself happens through the process of unmasking. so i bring all that i am to my work: Black lesbian mother working class global thinking Ancestral Loving urban american southern Spirited/dreamer. and i ask myself, “what is it that you don’t want to talk about today?” and of course that is where i try to go/to those nasty scary low down places.
Lenore Chinn: I believe these identities in my work are intertwined. My signature paintings, with their super realistic, crisply rendered compositions, convey a subtle message of visibility for the socially and politically disenfranchised peoples in my personal social landscape – people of color, women, lesbians, and gay men. In my oversized acrylics on canvas I explore a genre that is largely invisible in the fine arts. Through my character studies with contemporary themes I restore cultural difference to center stage, creating a presence which resonates in its luminosity, texture, color and light. While enticing the viewer with a non-confrontational aesthetic these narratives simultaneously challenge Old World views and compel a rethinking of how we define society’s others. (See examples at: www.queerculturalcenter.org/Pages/Chinn/ChinGallary.html)
Susan Stinson: I try to attend to those intersections and to address them with integrity. There’s always more to learn about the best ways to do that.
Browning: Do you think the climate for LGBT artists has gotten harder or easier in recent years? Or have you seen no change?
Stinson: The vibrant, adventurous, politically committed network of women’s presses, bookstores and journals that came out of the second wave of feminism in the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s is in tatters. I’ve always been published by those small feminist and lesbian presses such as Spinsters Ink (www.spinsters-ink.com) and my current publisher, Firebrand Books (www.firebrandbooks.com). These small presses have an amazing history.
On the other hand, I’ve just been invited to be part of a reading for a group called Out@Time, the queer affinity group at Time, Inc. That there is a such a group at a huge media corporation seems to me to be the result of decades of activism. What might come of me giving a reading at the Time-Life building remains to be seen.
Bridgforth: being a Black lesbian/living in the south/and a theatre artist working in the jazz aesthetic, it often feels like the “does the chicken come before the egg syndrome” – is it racism, heterosexism, or linearism, etc.? i just focus on doing the work and Walking with my “tribe” which consists of folk from all kinds of different backgrounds and identities. together we keep on keeping on.
Chinn: I would not say that the climate has gotten easier, particularly given today’s political environment. There are many obstacles to presenting work based on one’s sexual orientation, just as there are difficulties exhibiting subjects thematically based on culture outside of a “mainstream” context.
But one must realize that mainstream arts institutions – composed largely of museums, galleries and art schools – are predicated on a belief system constructed and maintained by arts power brokers with a vested interest. They are the keepers of the gate in a hierarchical system that is elitist at its core and this system tends to breed conformity. Those who participate in it believe in its merits and subscribe to its standards.
This is not to say that these venues do not serve any positive end, nor can we realistically ignore their position as purveyors of world class art. How many artists would decline an opportunity to have their work showcased in these Ivory Towers if the occasion presented itself? What I am proposing is that there are other strategies which can be developed and employed for bringing one’s art to an appreciative viewing public, in spite of the obstacles one may face. But it does call for perseverance, discipline and a vigilant belief in one’s work. An artist has to have a strong driving force to pursue this course of action.
Browning: Do you think about audience when you create? A specific audience or community?
Chinn: While I have developed an audience base which appreciates my particular iconography, I cannot say that I paint for them or with them in mind. On occasion I have accepted commissioned projects, but for the most part I have preferred to paint on my own terms. I think my work is stronger this way, not being tied to the whims of viewers or unduly influenced by prevailing trends. I think I would lose my edge if I did not opt for this kind of approach to my art production.
Stinson: My second book, Martha Moody, was clearly a love song for fat women. Communities of fat, lesbian, feminist and leftist writers, artists and activists have made my books possible in the most concrete ways; sometimes by holding fundraising parties and readings to help cover the printing or to let me travel to readings and conferences. I think about these folks and feel accountable to them. I write for everyone, though, for the expanding sense of humanity in all of us.
Bridgforth: i don’t think about audiences when i create. i focus very intensely on listening to the story itself/to the voices that want to take the lead in the telling/to the music that is just beyond my reach. then once i know what i am writing about (which takes forever), i immerse myself in the world of the work. i try to make all that i read, talk about, listen to, contemplate feed the work.
Browning: Was the form your work takes a conscious choice or did it evolve over time? Can you talk about your artistic intent in using the form that you use?
Bridgforth: i am most interested in creating word scores/in using the page as a canvas for creating words that make music. i love placing different tones/sensibilities and stories next to each other. love conjure/blues for instance is polyrhythmic in its telling and its tone. and though it weaves in a non-linear telling/it is one story.
i have a b.a. in creative writing. the discipline and privilege of being a creative writing major was very good for me/but i was not able to fully express myself within the forms that i was taught in school. ultimately i had to teach myself to hear what was in my bones/my blood memory/my intuition. luckily there were people who had already laid a foundation i could walk on: i had seen for colored girls [the play for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf, by Ntozake Shange, 1975], i had read toni morrison, langston huges and james baldwin. so i knew that it was possible to break form and make words sing. i eventually moved (from LA) to Austin, TX and with community support was able to try and try and try and make my work work. in 1998 after being Blessed with the opportunity to work closely with one of the foremothers in american theatre: laurie carlos/i finally began to feel that i understood what i was doing. i would say that was the beginning of the equivalent of graduate school for me.
Chinn: As an American realist my educational background was profoundly rooted in a Western European arts tradition. I received formal training in the visual arts and my knowledge of art history was based on a very narrow canon which did not encompass individual references to women artists, nor did it acknowledge in any way the artistic contributions of artists who were not of European or Euro-American descent. Pretty skewed when one thinks of it these days, but that was the norm of the time. The form of my art was a natural evolution of my rendering skills. When these inclinations were applied to painting this became my most fluent language in the visual arts.
Stinson: I use several forms. I write novels, poetry and sometimes lyrical essays or short fiction. Sometimes I feel as if I’m dipping into a river of image, emotion and meaning, then shaping the common water to what I need at any given moment. I love novels for the open use of imagination and the pleasures of creating a well-shaped thing. I think memoir writers, for instance, often use the same tools, but that their craft is masked by presenting the experience as nonfiction. Reading fiction helps people develop more nuanced skills in discerning whether a story that they’re being told feels convincing, if it rings true on the deepest levels.
What I feel for poetry is a reckless, insistent passionate need. It’s love. Poetry goes so deep so fast, and its density of language can hold so much information and feeling.
Browning: Please tell our readers about any role models or mentors early on who helped you conceive of yourself as an artist or who led the way for you.
Chinn: I would say a primary role model was my father, who was a mathematician and a lover of art, all kinds of art. He introduced and exposed me to a world of art through his many interests and he cultivated creative friendships. When I was young both of my parents engaged me in a variety of art forms which ranged from the visual to the performing arts. I’m not certain it was necessarily their intention that I assume the role of an artist as my chosen profession but they did not stand in the way of it either.
Other role models were artist peers, often in the world of dance and theatre. They showed me what was possible. In point of illustration what I am most fond of recalling is the story of Josephine Baker, a woman whose difficulties in our country have been well documented. Consider the time in her life when she could not find an audience for her art form here in the United States. For so many reasons, largely racial prejudice, she encountered great obstacles. In 1925 she went to Paris, and became famous for her performances in the Revue Negre on the stage of the Theatre des Champs-Elysees. For her inspirational life story and deep commitment to civil rights and racial harmony, I consider her a very successful role model.
Bridgforth: my family was my first and biggest influence. laughing/telling tales/dancing/singing/cooking/playing cards/working hard/Praying all at the same time/usually in the kitchen. i learned from them/how to tell a story/how to survive/how to dream.
Stinson: My brother, Don Stinson, a brilliant painter, has been an invaluable source of ideas, support and argument throughout my life. I paid tribute to him (among others) through the character of Tucker in my novel Venus of Chalk. Being in writers’ groups for years with amazing writers like Sally Bellerose, Sarah Van Arsdale and Alison Smith taught me so much about editing, intellectual companionship, and advocating for each other. Alice Sebold, Elizabeth McCracken and Alison Bechdel are others I look to for advice and to watch how they are negotiating specific artistic or publishing issues.
Browning: Can you give our readers a brief look at what are you working on now?
Stinson: I’m writing a new novel based on the life and family of Jonathan and Sarah Edwards. Jonathan Edwards was the eighteenth century preacher and theologian best known for his sermon, Sinners in the Hands of An Angry God. Sarah Edwards was a strong presence in the life of the family and in some of her husband’s theological arguments. Elizabeth Tuttle, Jonathan’s wild grandmother, is central to the story. I’m exploring the proposition that world views based on ideas, doctrine and spiritual insight are dangerous and incomplete without the bend, breath and force of mess and emotion. Tongued together, thought and experience can pull a world.
Bridgforth: i am currently putting together a touring production of my new performance/novel love conjure/blues (Redbone Press, publisher.) I am also artistic director for ALLGO: a queer people of color organization based in Austin, TX (www.allgo.org).
Chinn: Kindred Spirits is a work in progress, acrylic on canvas measuring 40” x 54”. (Click here to see the picture>>) It is a departure from my usual figurative themes, which frequently make visual references to lesbian and gay culture. I started this piece in the summer of 2001 when I became involved in the care of my father. Due to the nature of his medical conditions my focus was interrupted repeatedly over the course of the next four years, so the development of this image of antique Chinese marionettes has been very slow.
Browning: Do you have words of wisdom for other lesbian/bisexual/transgender artists struggling to make their art and have it seen?
Bridgforth: focus on the work. do the work. create a Life that supports the work. produce your own work. find and nurture a support system of artists and art lovers. don’t get caught in a cycle of being a starving artist. keep your debts low and be creative in thinking through ways to bring in income so that you don’t end up #@! your art. Love yourself…
Stinson: Be generous and attentive to other writers and artists you know, build community. Be as tough as you can be in sticking with the work. And honor it with all the tenderness, truth and craft you can come up with.
Chinn: I made decisions long ago not to take a strictly mainstream approach in the presentation of my work and the cultivation of an audience. What madness to paint images of people no one would want to purchase. That’s an attitude I often encountered. Well-meaning people would advise me to paint more “universal” themes but that would have required painting subjects that meant very little to me. Instead I have challenged viewers to rethink what “universal” means. I consider my themes “universal” but I do so from a more ethnically diverse and/or lesbian/gay cultural perspective.
One can either paint for money or paint for oneself. One can choose commodity or content. I have managed to do a little of both but my primary interest is focusing on what is meaningful to me. If one does not have a passion for what one does, why bother? It takes a certain strength and conviction to take the road less traveled. But one has to make a commitment and decide what is important for one.