Friday, June 11, 2010

San Francisco's WomenROCK Collective Celebrates Four Years of Empowering Female Artists in the Music Industry

San Francisco, CA, June 16, 2010

On Wednesday, June 16th, 2010, San Franciscans will pack The Independent to celebrate the fourth anniversary of the WomenROCK Collective, a group that has contributed to making the city by the bay a great place for women musicians and their fans.

Founded in San Francisco in 2006, the collective strives to empower female artists in the music industry at the local, national, and international level while raising awareness and money for important causes.

Women make up less than ten percent of the music industry and less than six percent in executive, producer or engineer roles. Women who do achieve commercial success are often over-sexualized and objectified, leaving women who don’t fit the mold out in the cold. WomenROCK was created in response to this situation by a group of talented and motivated women musicians, producers, and promoters (including *bernadette*, Valerie Orth, Lisa Sniderman, Sylvia Roberts, Kristin Hathaway, Zarah Gamaldi, Jessie Woletz, Melissa Rapp, Nomi Adiv, Nkechi Live, Vanessa Verlee, Eva Jo Meyers, Marianne Barlow, Abigail Picache and others) who decided to work together to raise visibility and opportunity for themselves and the other women artists in their community.

“We are organizing ourselves to work together to showcase our creative endeavors, talents, intellect, business savvy and penchant for community-building and activism,” says the celebration’s organizer and WomenROCK visionary *bernadette*, who is also one of the artists being showcased at The Independent.

Since its inception, WomenROCK has presented monthly showcase performances and special one-off shows in San Francisco, and has raised money for Bay Area and national organizations, including IMPACT Bay Area, Breast Cancer Action, Blue Bear School of Music, Women’s Community Clinic, and more.

Wednesday’s performers will include:

Stripmall Architecture (http://www.stripmallarchitecture.com/)

As members of San Francisco’s celebrated Halou, Ryan and Rebecca Coseboom built up a remarkable body of material and worked with a wide range of iconoclastic artists including DJ Shadow (on his infamous Radiohead remix), Low, Cocteau Twins guitarist Robin Guthrie, and the Velvet Underground’s John Cale. When Halou came to an end after a US tour with indie legend Bob Mould, they regrouped quickly and launched their new project, Stripmall Architecture with guitarist Tim Hingston and drummer Patrick Harte. Now, in 2010, Stripmall Architecture have released their second album, Feathersongs for Factory Girls, entirely funded by their dedicated fanbase across the US and the globe.

Conspiracy of Venus (http://www.conspiracyofvenus.com/)

Conspiracy of Venus is a groundbreaking women's community activist a cappella choir based in San Francisco. Under the artistic direction of Joyce Todd McBride, the ensemble’s 40 singers perform McBride's daring and inventive arrangements of songs ranging from the classic (Joni Mitchell's “Big Yellow Taxi”) to the cutting-edge (Bjork's “Possibly Maybe”). Their repertoire also includes works by Bill Withers, Rufus Wainwright, Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen, and Roger Miller. Conspiracy of Venus has performed to sold-out crowds in venues around the Bay area ranging from The Palace of Fine Arts to the Dublin Women’s Prison.

ZIVA (http://www.zivamusic.com/)

Israeli-born, Ziva grew up on a small kibbutz, where she began her musical journey playing the cello, saxophone, and singing in the local choir. Becoming increasingly drawn to jazz and R&B music of the United States, she soon found herself as lead singer in a funk band, becoming a local sensation. After serving in the military and attending the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, she relocated to sunny California where her American dreaming is becoming a thriving phenomenon not only in her musical performance but also her organizational skills with WomenROCK and her new endeavor as producer and promoter of the newly formed Bay Vibes.

*bernadette* (http://www.bernadettelovesyou.com/)

*bernadette* is taking the stage by storm with her vibrant musical presence and unique vocal sound. She writes heartfelt, sultry songs that encapsulate the essence of San Francisco's timeless sound with a 60's sensibility and authentic purity. Hailing from San Francisco, *bernadette* has played the Grand Rooms of San Francisco - The Fillmore, Great American Music Hall, The Independent, Slim's, Bottom of the Hill, Café Du Nord and festivals around the Bay, playing across the United States as well as touring Europe. Backed by co-conspirator Garrin Benfield on guitar, the two harmonize and play together akin to Gillian Welch & David Rawlings in a brutally honest, soul-baring live performance. *bernadette* is the visionary and one of the co-founders of WomenROCK as well as running the thriving Box Factory art, community and culture space and a co-producer of one of the largest festivals in San Francisco, Power to the Peaceful.

The celebration will also include a burlesque performance by the Cheese Puffs, spoken word by Scorpio Blues, SHEketch comedy from PianoFight’s Monday Night ForePlays, and a dance party with DJ Kipp Glass.

ASL Interpretation of each performance will be provided, and the show will be broadcast live at: http://realize2actualize.ning.com/.

If you live in the Bay Area, come support the power and potential created by women artists who work hard – and play hard – together.

WHEN: Wednesday, June 16th, 2010 at 7:30PM

WHERE: THE INDEPENDENT 628 Divisidero Street, San Francisco, CA 94110.

http://www.theindependentsf.com/ , (415) 771-1421

The Independent is a 21+ venue and is wheelchair accessible.

TICKETS: $12 Advance/$14 at the door.

http://www.ticketweb.com/t3/sale/SaleEventDetail?dispatch=loadSelectionData&eventId=1912905

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

WPA Artist Mary Perry Stone Honored for SWAN Day

Dayton, OH -
On Friday, February 5, 2010, 70 people, including Dayton’s mayor, braved a snowstorm to attend the opening reception of “Art Makes Us Human,” an exhibit of work by Mary Perry Stone (1909-2007), a WPA artist who focused on social justice and civil rights. The exhibit inaugurates “The Mary Perry Stone Women’s Art Gallery” at the Missing Peace Art Space, which will house a permanent collection of works by Stone and showcase work by women artists from around the world whose art is dedicated to peace. The gallery will hold a SWAN Day event the weekend of March 5-7, 2010 in conjunction with the exhibit.

Mary Perry Stone was one of 40 women employed by the New York City Federal Arts Project as part of the WPA during the 1930’s as a sculptor and teacher. It was during this period that her work became focused on social protest, her lifelong subject. After working in the shipyards during World War II, Stone moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, where she continued to sculpt and paint. Much of her work during the 1960’s opposed the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. She moved to Ashland, Oregon, in the 1990’s, where she continued to sculpt, paint, and exhibit her work until her death in 2007. Stone’s art was shown in numerous group and solo exhibits at museums and galleries in New York, California, and Oregon, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Carnegie Hall, and Rockefeller Center.

Over the course of her career, Stone made over 50 social-protest canvas murals on subjects ranging from the struggle for civil rights to the exploitation of labor. Her work “was all grounded in her belief that an artist… has a responsibility to work for a more humane world,” said Ramie Streng, Stone’s daughter. According to Streng, her mother’s lifelong commitment to social justice was largely influenced by the Great Depression and her involvement in the WPA. Wanting to remain true to the anti-commercial, progressive spirit of her mother’s work, Streng created a website where visitors can view Stone’s social protest murals for free. With a new gallery home at the Missing Peace Art Space, Stone’s colorful, dynamic, deeply humanistic art will continue to inspire generations to come.

WomenArts is delighted to celebrate the life and work of Mary Perry Stone as part of our WPA 75th anniversary retrospective for SWAN Day 2010. Special thanks to Ramie Streng for getting in touch with us about her mother’s work, and to Steve Fryburg and Gabriella Pickett of the Missing Peace Art Space for planning the SWAN Day event in Dayton.

If you’re in or near Dayton, be sure to visit The Mary Perry Stone Women’s Art Gallery at the Missing Peace Art Space, 234 S. Dutoit St., Dayton, OH 45402-2215, T: (937) 241-4353. Read more about the exhibit and see a video at: http://www.missingpeaceart.org/missing_peace_art_space_upcoming.htm.

Visit http://maryperrystone.com/ to learn more about the life and work of Mary Perry Stone.