February 09, 2004

Women talk art in new lecture series

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Reinforcing its position as a regional leader in the arts, California State University, Sacramento will host a new free lecture series focused on women artists during this spring semester. The "Women Make Art Lecture Series," organized by the Women's Art Forum at CSUS, launches with talk by muralist Juana Alicia Montoya at 6 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 12, in the University Union Redwood Room.

La Llorona's Sacred Waters, detail of mural design Juana Alicia © 2003 World Rights Reserved

“I am a muralist, printmaker, educator, activist and painter who loves to draw,” says Montoya. Her vibrant public work has appeared in locations from Pennsylvania to Managua, and her mural Santuario/Sanctuary graces a terminal in San Francisco International Airport. She is dedicated to the technique of fresco buono, using the ancient painting style to create works championing civil rights and social justice.

Mixed media and installation artist Mildred Howard will make the second presentation in the series at 6 p.m., Thursday, March 25, in the University Union Redwood Room. "Howard easily travels between private and public worlds, between a personalized folk art and powerful social statement," says Boston Herald arts writer Joanne Silver. The San Francisco-based artist explores racial, familial and cultural history through her installations, often using objects from her past to create intriguing environments that surround the viewer.

Artist Claudia Bernardi continues the series with her lecture at 6 p.m., Tuesday, April 20, in the University Library Gallery. A native Argentine, Bernardi has earned master’s in fine arts degrees from the National Institute of Fine Art in Buenos Aires and UC Berkeley. Since 1984 she has been a member of the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team and participated in the documentation of mass executions in Argentina, El Salvador, Ethiopia and Guatemala. In addition to numerous exhibitions of her pastels, Bernardi teaches art to political refuges and torture survivors from Latin America to assist them in dealing with past traumas.

A combined lecture from video artists Corey Ohama and Kara Herold closes the series at 6 p.m., Thursday, May 6, in the University Union Foothill Suite. Ohama's award-winning Double Solitaire explored in film the continuing effects of internment on two Japanese American men - her father and uncle. She is currently filming a documentary about the impact of culture on medical decision-making. Herold has worked in documentary, animated and found-footage formats, creating a diverse body of work concentrating on women. She describes her recent film Grrlyshow, on the girl "zine" or magazine revolution, as "an 18-minute explosion of fringe feminism and print media."

For more information, contact Tatiana Reinoza at (916) 451-3987. Media assistance is available from CSUS public affairs at (916) 278-6156.

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