R E V I E W S
R E V I E W S
RECENT SCULPTURES
RECENT SCULPTURES
CASTLE SERIES
By David Raymond
Art New England, Nancy Azara: Passage of the Ghost Ship: Trees and Vines
July/August, 2017
By David Raymond
Art New England, Nancy Azara: Passage of the Ghost Ship: Trees and Vines
July/August, 2017
Nancy Azara was an artist and feminist educator best known for her large-scale wood sculptures and mixed media collages. Nancy developed a distinct style of sculpture - found wood, carved, ornamented and mounted. Instinctive chip carving peels off an outer layer of wood, reaching for an essentialized raw experience of the body, of the limbs, exposing flesh and blood. This work explored life cycles, utilizing the metaphor of tree for personhood. Egg tempera, often in reds and pinks, and aluminum, palladium, gold gilding recover these exposed layers, exploring folkloric stories of women’s roles, goddess imagery, ancient symbols, mystic spiritual traditions and affirmation of female self.
Nancy made and exhibited work from her studios in Tribeca and Woodstock. She was constantly challenging herself and her community in quarterly intergenerational feminist dialogues, (RE)PRESENT, an outgrowth of NYFAI, The New York Feminist Art Institute, a school she co-founded in 1979. Here, she formalized automatic journal drawing for a class she taught called "Visual Diaries, Consciousness Raising Workshop" as a way to access the unconscious. This method quickly became popular as a feminist consciousness-raising technique and was embraced in the nascent feminist art community in New York and with groups like Redstockings.
Photo Credit: Grace Roselli, The Pandora's Boxx Project
Nancy held annual workshops, teaches, and mentors other feminist artists, sustaining a unique visual, experiential and pedagogical artistic practice which remains informed by the body, nature, spirituality and her experience as a woman.
![Today at the @westchelseafestival PENTHOUSE !!
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11/19 12-2pm [PENTHOUSE 508 W26th 12Fl] Join us for a contemporary consciousness raising discussion led by historic feminist art pioneer @azaranancy & @strawberry_yellow_fire Represent: An Intergenerational Feminist Dialogue What do we want from Feminism and how can we achieve it?
Emily, Katie and I have been involved in these discussions since 2007, keeping the memory and the dialogue of the New York Feminist Art Institute, NYFAI (1979-1990) alive and available for discussion. www.nyfai.org
In my book Spirit Taking Form, which you can purchase at the event, I explain “consciousness-raising is a method of discussion used by many women in the 1970s to understand how their lives were shaped. We would sit in a circle and talk about a particular topic, always using ourselves as the subject to describe it.
We honored the use of the word "I." Before this wave of feminism, women especially used "we" or "one" to discuss themselves and others. Using "I" was considered impolite and self-important, which we were never to permit ourselves to be. This was the first time in my life that I remember saying, "I did this. I felt this. I thought this," and others would listen to me. We listened to each other without interrupting or trying to fix each other.”
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Stay afterwards in the penthouse for the Women in the Arts Salon from 2-5pm!!
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11/19 2-5pm Artist Talk by @sophiawallaceartist the artist known for establishing an iconography of the clitoridian. Followed by @gracerosellistudio Artist Talk: Pandora’s BoxX Project & a Live performance by @samantha_sea_sea w/ special guest @fcflaherty @RITTigers
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Link in bio for full program, follow @westchelseafestival for updates!](https://scontent-den2-1.cdninstagram.com/v/t39.30808-6/470239733_18364620280137326_4878683357735504535_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_e35_tt6&_nc_cat=107&ccb=7-5&_nc_sid=18de74&efg=eyJlZmdfdGFnIjoiQ0FST1VTRUxfSVRFTS5iZXN0X2ltYWdlX3VybGdlbi5DMyJ9&_nc_ohc=DYNJq0CnN3kQ7kNvwGWSQYH&_nc_oc=AdoZ5bfcxUvYGzP91vCSP9pCFpYR_t4KVkOdq9N-NTcC5AZoIahde2RSsfAE2-q8gJk&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent-den2-1.cdninstagram.com&edm=ANo9K5cEAAAA&_nc_gid=YfGTRZ-3TFlUNqGnbe1foQ&_nc_tpa=Q5bMBQGDWqaeMGlb_Vk_d2j12iqOF4_EPxieaZmC9h8t-N-XsqxH9l-_YxF8-E-HurNlF3Jaq2T1Gi2i&oh=00_AfzAoPws8GGJF6iYk-ORgapgsvDjRwyBkU3XzPwgVfLX9A&oe=69D091F6)
