And so it begins again...

September 1, 2018

The end of summer means fall is just around the corner and I am back on the road! This year I will kick off my 2018 ART OF ACTIVISM fall tour with a stop at the Spencertown Festival of Books. 

Spencertown Festival of Books 

Spencertown Festival of Books has been held every year since 2006 at the Spencertown Academy Arts Center.  A sleepy, verdant hamlet located in Columbia County, NY, Spencertown has a Country Store stocked with homemade pastries and jams and the best BLT I’ve tasted north of Manhattan. There is not much else to do in Spencertown except to experience the Academy – a cultural and community center housed in a landmark 1847 Greek Revival schoolhouse. Each year the Academy hosts a line up of events, one of the most popular being their festival of books – a curated used book sale with some of the best looking used books around. At this year’s festival I slipped a collection of short stories by Rick Bass under my arm and headed for the cashier while my husband, Richard, grabbed up novels by Helen Simonson and Anthony Trollope and followed me. 

Me and "UN/MASKED" 

But used books are not the only thing Spencertown Festival of Books offers. Every day the festival stage features readings from writers of fiction, nonfiction and poetry. They even host a young writers contest and I was so happy I arrived early to catch Claudia Maurino read her excellent and moving essay, “Loss,” as the nonfiction prize winner. Read it here.

Saturday, September 1^st was my day as a featured author and I was paired with Linda Dahl, the author of the recently published “Fight Doctor.”  Now at first I thought my memoir about surviving domestic violence would not be a good fit for a memoir about boxing. But we were billed as “two formidables” and took our cues from each other, reading about struggles with finding our place as women in the world. 

 

Linda Dahl (L) and Donna Kaz (R)

It was a beautiful, sunny and, thankfully, not very humid day as a solid crowd gathered to hear us read. I so appreciated the nods of recognition from the local crowd as I read my story of being a masked avenger taking on sexism in the arts. As I began to talk about sexual abuse and assault, my thoughts suddenly fixated on my good friend Charles Harper, who I used to visit this area with back in the 80’s.  I write about Charles in “UN/MASKED” and felt him with me during the hard parts of my story. 

Of course my reading would not be complete without a banana toss and a Guerrilla Girl On Tour poster give-away. These have become my signature moves and make my readings more like parties with food and party favors. 

So thank you, Spencertown Festival of Books, for a memorable Labor Day Weekend 2018 and a great kick off of my fall tour. I could not leave without a last look through the great selection of books on sale and a slice of my friend Magadini’s blueberry pie. 

Lee Magadini

See you on the road!  For a complete list of tour stops go here. 

National Hug A Cornhusker DAY!

With Edith Evans in front of the Sheldon Museum of Art, Lincoln, NE!

March 12, 2012

University of Nebraska at Lincoln,

A love letter to the jewel of the Midwest:

“From the East coast to the West (and in the center of the Heartland!), Women are the best” and so are the audiences that support them in Lincoln, Nebraska! Guerrilla Girls On Tour! continued our 2012 rock star status in the heart of the Midwest. Listen up, New York... Nebraska supports equality for women in the arts and you should too!

We were welcomed with barrels of bananas (and Trader Joes treats) at UNL by Victoria Hoyt, fabulous MFA student, feminist and artist extraordinaire. The day of our show was as warm and sunny as the disposition of the Midwesterners we met in the Hy-Vee supermarket. We frolicked around UNL's lovely campus, embracing opportunities to pose for pictures with cheeky public art works and chewed on reeds of Nebraska straw like the nearby farmers. Oh Lincoln, NE -- with your football stadium that could house the population of 3 states, your surprisingly good statistics for women-directed theater and your legacy of Johnny Carson -- we love you! But I’m getting ahead of myself. We were honored to perform in the beautiful Abbot Theater, which is part of the Sheldon Museum of Art and we were supported by a meticulous tech staff AKA Donny and Jack (thanks guys!).

We ran through our tech smoothly and retired to our backstage area and low and behold we began to hear the enthusiastic yelps of the standing-room-only crowd gathered in the house. Aphra accidentally locked us our of the stage by clicking the stage door shut and we had to call Victoria on her cell to rescue us. I’m blaming it on her mask being too tight.) Anyway, Jack came to our rescue and we were able to hear the flattering introduction we were given by Jorge Daniel Veneciano, the museum director, before taking the stage. The show began and the crowd was electric! Let's just say that we weren't the only ones casting off bras, slips and girdles in the opening number... The crowd thoroughly enjoyed the show, participated whole-heartedly, taking the opportunity to announce many productions, lectures and art openings on campus and in the area. The audience was diverse with many college students, but also parents with children, local theater artists and supporters like the retired farmer we met who is a member of NOW. We were further inspired by Alisha, our student volunteer, who lent to us her talents for the last sketch and song. She also educated us about a Native American female artist who created quilts, named Elmira “Buffalo Bone” Jackson. I am contemplating dropping “Bea” and going by “Buffalo Bone” to give me more street cred but that's not really fair to Alisha so maybe I'll just rock a leather tunic style top.

Me and a sculpture by Tom Otterness at Sheldon Museum of Art

That's more in character for me. Thanks cornhuskers of Lincoln, for making us feel quite at home in your RED state!

xx-Bea Arthur

Women's Caucus for Art exhibit "Man as Object, Reversing the Gaze"

Our poster My Fellow Californians was selected by the juror Tanya Augsburg, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Liberal Studies (Creative Arts and Humanities), at San Francisco State University, for inclusion in the Man as Object, Reversing the Gaze, an exhibition to be held at SOMArts Cultural Center, 934 Brannan Street, San Francisco from November 4 – 26, 2011.

About the Women’s Caucus for Art

The Women's Caucus for Art (WCA) is the leading national organization for women in the visual arts professions. Founded in 1972, it has 27 chapters across the country and is an affiliate society of the College Art Association. WCA is dedicated to the cultural, aesthetic and economic value of women’s art. If you are not already a member, we invite you to join a WCA chapter so you can participate in an activist community of women artists. Visit www.nationalwca.org.

Yoko Ono Courage For The Arts Award 2010

Julia Child and I got into our biggest wigs and our highest heels and headed down to the Modern to meet Yoko Ono Lennon and her guests at the second annual Courage for the Arts Awards dinner. We were one of 5 groups being honored and were humbled and grateful to be acknowledged for our work and our commitment to change the world, one sexist city at a time.


There was an hour of wine and yummy hors'dourves in a room overlooking MOMA’s sculpture garden and it was here that we met Yoko. I was struck at how warm and down to earth she was as she immediately put Julia and I at ease as her guests. We gave her a small gift of a hand carved gorilla and baby from the Dian Fossey Foundation dedicated to the conservation of gorillas and their habitats in Africa. While mingling we were honored to also meet Martha Wilson of Franklin Furnace (www.franklinfurnace.org) and the folks from Printed Matter who were also being honored. A. A. Bronson and Max Schumann congratulated us as we toasted to their continued success. (www.printedmatter.org) Just before dinner was announced we met journalist and art critic Edward M. Gomez who was intrigued by our masks and wigs. We were standing with Josephine Baker and Juana Sor Ines de la Cruz of Guerrilla Girls BroadBand (www.ggbb.org) another of the awardees and the five of us discussed activism and art.

After an hour we moved into the dining room and found our places. Julia and I sat at a table with Edward M. Gomez, Kathy Halbreich of MOMA and RoseLee Goldberg of Performa. The food was exceptional and the conversation moved from art to performance to cooking to Japanese culture. It is clear that Yoko Ono has the warmest of friends and only surrounds herself with great people - on this night a few masked ones as well.

It was time for Yoko to present the awards and as Julia and I went up to accept the framed award she grabbed our hands and held them. She spoke about how she felt it important to honor artists for having courage. Courage is bestowed onto soldiers but should also apply to artists who take risks, she said. Yoko mentioned that there was great energy in the room – we all felt it as well. As photos were being taken after the ceremony she whispered “keep doing what you are doing…don’t stop!” I nodded and urged her to do the same. She looked at me as if that idea had never once had crossed her mind. After this night I hope it never crosses mine again either.

We are having trouble adding photos to this post so they will be posted tomorrow. The text of our speech our below. Onward we go armed with courage and some new friends.

Happy Passover,
Aphra Behn March 29, 2010


Happy Women’s History Month! My name is Aphra Behn and this is my colleague Julia Child. We are two of the 26 members of Guerrilla Girls On Tour, also known as the theatre girls. We are honored with this award and thank you, Yoko, for your own courage and commitment to change and peace. As we travel around the world with our performances and street theatre actions, we meet many young women and men who want to channel the passion they have for the causes they believe into action but have very little first hand experience with radical theatre, protest marches, activism and resistance. One of the most important and rewarding things we try to do is inspire the next generation of theatre activists with new ways to effect change. Here is a letter from a student that we received last Tuesday while we were in Tennessee.

Dear Guerrilla Girls On Tour,
Four years ago I moved to Tennessee. All of a sudden I was the only one on campus who wanted to fight for women’s rights. I was immediately the subject of many hateful rumors. I countered this by reading feminist books and getting involved in the Women’s Council but I still felt hopeless. Then you showed up and the moment that your show “Feminists Are Funny” started I began laughing. Smiling AND laughing, for over an hour! Your humor, strength and passion woke me up and reminded me why I have to keep fighting through the tough days. I want to be able to speak out against violence against women and empower others to do the same. Suddenly I felt less alone. Even though I don't know who you are you made a big difference in my life tonight. Thank you for making me smile, and reminding me that every woman is worth it.
Love, "Alice Paul"

This award will help us to work with all the “Alice Paul’s” out there who continue the struggle for equality for all. Thank you.

Aphra and Julia

I HEART FEMINISM

Happy Valentines Day! Today I will love my feminist sisters and my feminist self.

I will love my legal rights. I will learn how to be more articulate about why I feel legal abortion should remain my right.

I will love my art. As a writer and artist I will reject being shoved into the gender-shaped subcategory “women writers” and “women artists”.

I will love my body. I recognize the anti-fat and anti-woman culture of weight in which I live in and will explore and take control of my own health.

Here's to loving feminism.

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Guerrilla Girls On Tour!
www.twitter.com/GuerrillaGsOT