Rend: City of Refuge by Linnea Goold

Sunday night at 7:30 pm, classmate Kelsey Herman accompanied me to Linnea Goold's opening for her junior exhibition project presentation at Whitworth University’s Lied Center for the Arts. Her presentation titled REND: the City of Refuge was a passionate and moving display and commentary of her own very personal experiences. The exhibit begins with the definition of the word rend: to become torn or split, to remove from place by violence, to cause great emotional pain to (a person or their heart). Next, there is a short essay about the inspiration for Linnea’s work and an explanation of why she did what she did. At this point, I do not feel that her story is mine to tell; however, I will say that her exhibition is extremely moving and emotional. I overheard one professor describe the work as “powerful.” I think it was so brave of Linnea to share her story with the world. The focus of her work is based on very sad and disturbing journal entries that she made starting from age twelve up to her current age of twenty-two. Linnea was able to make this ten year recording of the darker elements of her childhood experiences capture the heart and mind of the viewer, while also evoking a sense of comfort and hope. When I spoke with her directly, I asked what it is that she ultimately wants the viewer to get from this exhibit. Her response was that she hopes people can understand and learn to be “okay with being uncomfortable.” The exhibit was made up of photographs accompanied by quotes from her childhood journal. There is also an interactive element, which she calls “The City of Refuge”, a title inspired from a story from the Bible. The piece is built as a sort of nest-like creation, made out of tumbleweeds, with a brightly lit light bulb placed in the center of the nest. People are encouraged to write about their struggles or hopes or anything on their mind and place it into the City of Refuge. Linnea’s exhibition is very moving and beautiful and sad but above all, it evokes a sense of hope for inner peace for any struggling person. It is a reminder that it is “okay to be uncomfortable.” 

 City of Refuge (an interactive installation)

Spokane Art School Gallery

Spokane Art School, located on Garland Ave., “is a respected, private, non-profits arts institution that has been actively working to make Spokane a more creative, visually savvy community since 1968.” The current exhibition that is taking place from November 7 through December 24 features many original paintings, sculptures, and other multimedia art in the quaint gallery that’s nestled on the small town street.

            There are several projects that obviously portray talent, through different mediums and expressions of art. One of the pieces that stood out to me was “Look, Darling” by Lindsey Merrell. The sketch features a side profile of a personified rabbit with a green dress on. Just looking at the artwork I was brought back to my childhood. Not knowing exactly the history and context of which this piece was created for and from, I tried to interpret it myself. It reminded me of Beatrix Potter’s old children’s books. It gave me a light hearted, reminiscent feeling, all the while leaving me in an uncomfortable light. Something about an animal’s head being placed on a human body challenges me with what to feel. Especially because it is left at a simple sketch and one highlight of external medium, something about it feels incomplete, and almost assumingly intentional. It’s interesting to see how this simple piece of art affected my interpretation and position as a viewer.

            I believe it is important for communities to have venues for fostering, learning, and hosting art. With these resources, creativity is encouraged and introduced even in the most unexpected areas. Coming from a town that is so small, with not much to do, I have observed how important and beneficial it is for a place like this to exist. I appreciate the Spokane Art School and its effort to propose art as a gift to the world, and furthermore invest in Spokane’s greater community.


http://spokaneartschool.net

Have a Merry Menstruation

For the past 3 weeks, Madison and I have been working on creating and hosting a workshop for Transitions, a homeless shelter for women.  Through our project, we hoped to empower women to respect their bodies by using this safe and sanitary alternative to the chemical filled store bought products. We wanted to create an environment where women don’t feel they have to hide this part of the women experience, and instead embrace it and take control of it through creating personalized pads and talking openly about it. Unfortunately, due to scheduling issues we were unable to host the workshop at Transitions. However, Madison and I opened the workshop to the Whitworth community, and were able to hold the workshop on Sunday, December 7^th.

As people trickled in to join our workshop, we began with the get to know you topics. What’s your name? What are you studying? How scary is your finals week? What’s a fun Christmas tradition you are looking forward to? These questions allowed us to get to know each other as individuals and help us feel more comfortable talking about other topics later.

We then explained the first couple of steps in making the project. Some people came in with tons of experience, and some people hadn’t picked up a sewing needle in years. Everyone was able to work at their own pace and their own level. Conversation flowed pretty natural as we switched from get to know you topics to social taboos surrounding women’s menstruation. Everyone came in with different comfort levels of talking about periods, but everyone contributed in some form or another to the dialogue. We shared our individual perspectives and frustrations with how the topic of menstruation is approached in our society-basically don’t talk about it with anyone but your mom and your closest friends.

As we continued creating our re-usable pad, we talked about other options for periods as well. Sure we all know the pad and tampon options, but some people brought up the diva cup and the many variations. Many people in the group hadn’t heard of it, and so people shared how it works and where to get it. We walked out not only with our own reusable pad but knowledge of even more alternatives to use that can be cheaper, more effective, and better for your body. The workshop allowed for not only the creation of our own personalized pads (ranging from hot pink to dark blue), but for open free flowing dialogue among a group of women who had never spent time together as a group before.

 

Have a Merry Menstruation!