Woman In the 21st Century- Opening Night!
What an incredibly rich experience! For lack of a graceful way to begin I’m just going to start at the beginning.
I arrived and settled in my hotel room within 15 minutes. John Wronoski, the owner of Pierre Menard Gallery, showed up with the show’s curator, Lisa Paul Streitfeld, and we had a “spot weld” evening that lasted through the night. I fell in deep respect with John and was so honored to be exhibiting at the gallery. I couldn’t wait to see the work of the 30 or so other artists that would be exhibited who I had been hearing about for the last 2 months, including Aldo Tambellini, Heide Hatry, Michael Manning, Aaron Oshan and Suzanne Benton (one of the first founders of the Women’s Caucus for Art at the beginning of the feminist movement).
We got to the gallery the next day and the installation went seamlessly. There were 2 floors of inspiring work.
Francine Koslow Miller and her husband came in as the installation was nearly complete just as an intense discussion about labels ensued (to have or not to have) between Lisa and John. Francine is a renown art critic. It was pretty fascinating.
I love that she loved my work.
In the end there were labels -
And the night began…
Andrea Kalenowski,Gallery director
I met artists, poets, critics, collectors and in general people who I loved and valued. I fell deeply in love with Aldo Tambellini and Anna Salamone (a sculptor and poet he was one of the first artist to work in the East Village.)
I had such a beautiful quality of interaction with everyone that I interfaced with around this exhibition. It was just an amazing group of human beings, interesting, diverse and critical in the best sense of the word.
Revolutionary poets Aldo, Ton Ton Gi and Askia Toure
Suzanne Benton’s mask performance of the tale of Demeter and Persephone was an extraordinary part of the night.
By the end of this performance I was weeping. I had to take a moment and walk out of the gallery to digest that experience away from the crowd. I was so honored it took place in front of my sculpture. As a daughter and mother, it meant a lot to me to connect with this myth, this performance, and Suzanne’s ability to bring us all into that moment with her - I’m looking forward to talking more with her about my experience and hers.
The Pierre Menard Gallery was without a doubt the hippest landing strip in Boston. Thank you Lisa, John, Andrea the gallery Director, Nathan and Liam who hung the show. I am sorry I won’t be able to make the closing reception.
Check out Lisa’s blog about this event too! She has incredible insights and a unique lens through which she views the world.
Somehow or another I found this amazing hotel even though I didn’t know where I was going. This is the view from my window. Ahh-mazing.
