Curatorial Projects

Curatorial Projects

Please visit Gutfreund Cornett Art to see: RISE: Empower, Change and Action!, Beyond Borders: Stories of im/Migration, Social Justice: It Happens to One, It Happens to All, Vision: An Artist’s Prospective, What’s Right, What’s Left: Democracy in America, Visaural: Sight, Sound and Action!

“Not Normal: Art in the Age of Trump”.

“Art as Activism”! Artists resist the “not normal” political climate and raise their paintbrushes in protest of #45 on a variety of subjects including xenophobia, racism, misogyny, culture of violence, denying climate change, being a “liar liar pants on fire”, and just plain general stupidity. While the subject matter is very serious, the art is delivered with an irreverent sense of humor from the 36 participating artists.

Click on image above for the ISSUU publication for the full catalog and my essay or see the slide show of the works below.

“F213” co-curated by Karen Gutfreund, Tanya Augsberg, Prilcilla Otani and Sawyer Rose as a Northern California Women’s Caucus for Art exhibition, hosted at Arc Gallery in San Francisco from 4/11 – 5/13/19.

F213: ARTISTS PROVIDE THE IMAGERY. WRITERS RESPOND. TOGETHER OUR VOICES WILL BE HEARD.F213 is short for Fahrenheit 213, one degree above the boiling point of blood. This exhibition brings together nearly 100 national and Bay Area feminist artists and writers who are incensed about what is currently happening in the United States. F213 spotlights strong and bold artistic expressions of feminist protest. While we remain hopeful, we reject “thoughts and prayers” as adequate responses to corruption, demagoguery, state-sanctioned cruelty, social injustice, sexism, racism, white supremacy, sex crimes, relentless undoing of women’s reproductive choice, LBGTIA discrimination, Islamophobia, police brutality, gun violence, environmental assault, unlawful detention, and more. F213 calibrates the boiling points of our outrage against the flagrant disregard of human rights, let alone the destruction of civil liberties, civil rights, and hard-won protections. F213 brings together a diverse and inclusive mix of multicultural, intersectional, multigenerational feminist artists and writers to not only express their concerns, but to offer insights to all those interested in remedying current injustices and atrocities.

“A Series of Fragments of Moments” curated by Karen Gutfreund, ran from November 11 to December 9th in the Project Gallery of Arc Studios and Gallery and showcased works by Shannon Amidon, Sherri Cornett, Katelyn Dorroh, Sally Edelstein, Karen Gutfreund, Penny McElroy, Michelle Nye, Priscilla Otani, Sibylle Peretti and David Weinberg, offer a provocative exploration into the fragility of memory and explores ideas about passing time, narration, marking history and perception.

Examining the ways in which memory is constructed, it reflects how individual and collective memories shape our lives, leaving an indelible mark, manifesting in objects, words and dreams that can function as physical traces or intangible points of contact to the past. The works reflect the simple act of marking a specific time to the recording of memory to construct identity. Whether illustrative or evocative, ephemeral or concrete, A Series of Fragments of Moments collectively speaks to the apparent dichotomies reinvented memory, loss and remembrance, the individual and the universal.

“NASTY” an International Exhibition hosted by Arc Gallery, San Francisco, March 11-April 15, 2017. With a nod to President Elect Donald Trump’s misogynistic tenets, “NASTY” is an exhibition for and about those who challenge patriarchy and refuse to stay silent, creating a groundswell revolt with women artists who dare to speak up and speak out. In this turbulent time of political changes, women’s rights, social, racial, gender and economic inequality and reproductive choice/health care issues are all under attack. Rooted in a strong feminist foundation, the exhibition uses art to advocate for political, economic, and social equality for all addressing topics like violence against women, reproductive rights, identity and gender roles, beauty and sexuality, and empowerment, committing to a vision of equal rights, freedom, and opportunities with lives free from want, fear, and violence. The works of the 12 female artists seek to influence cultural attitudes and incite the viewer to question the social and political landscape, and through this questioning, affect the world and incite change toward equality.This curated exhibition includes the following artists: Emily Dvorin, Sally Edelstein, Alyssa Eustaquio, Karen Gutfreund, Yolanda Guerra, Judy Johnson-Williams, Beth Lakamp, Sarah Maple, Tanya Nolan, Priscilla Otani, Jessica Putnam Phillips, Spooky Boobs Collective, Colette Standish, Morgan Ford Willingham and Meghan Willis.

Exhibition Director for “Trending: Contemporary Art Now” by the Women’s Caucus for Art, hosted by the Target Gallery at the Torpedo Factory Art Center, February 2016, juried by Elizabeth Garvey, Simon Garvey Art Access.

International Juried Exhibition, presented with Women’s Caucus for Art at A.I.R. Gallery in NYC from September 10 – October 11, 2015 with Catherine Morris, Curator, Elizabeth Sackler Center, as juror for the exhibition. Catherine selected 36 works for the A.I.R. Gallery and an additional 83 for the online gallery and exhibition catalog. Who’s Afraid of Feminism is a feminist exhibition presenting art from cross-generational, self-identified women artists that addresses feminism with a contemporary spin. These works incite the viewer to question the current social and political landscape, and the continuing need for gender equality. The exhibiting artists, using a variety of media, elucidate where feminism has been and where it is going, and explore feminism’s political, personal and formal contexts. Read more.

International Juried Exhibition, presented with UniteWomen.org at N.A.W.A. Gallery in NYC from April 2 – 30, 2015 with Joan McLoughlin, McLoughlin Gallery, San Francisco and Amanda Uribe, gallery nine5, NYC, jurors for the exhibition, chose top three works each to be honored. Karen Gutfreund, Curator and the Executive Committee of UniteWomen.org, Karen Teegarden selected 26 works for the NAWA Gallery and an additional 102 for the online gallery and exhibition catalog. Voices: An Artist’s Perspective is a feminist exhibition with 26 women artists raising their voices to tell individual stories that advocate for the fight for social, cultural, economic and political rights and the inclusion of all voices in its push for gender equality and identity using a woman’s voice as the visual narrative to effect change. Read more.

Curatorial award for Women’s History Month at the Sarah Doyle Gallery at Brown University in Providence, RI. I chose 24 women artists for this exhibition “Views from the Edge: Women, Gender and Politics”. The exhibition runs from March 2 to 28, 2015. Read more.

National Juried Exhibition, with four exhibitions: presented by the Women’s Caucus for Art at the Westbeth Center for the Arts from February 7 to 22, 2015 with Petra Kuppers, Karen Gutfreund and Fay Grawjower as jurors. Transforming Community: Disability, Diversity and Access, National exhibition, juried by Petra Kuppers with 29 pieces chosen to be in the gallery. Ecology: The Difference Perception Makes, ECO Caucus, juried by Karen Gutfreund with 16 works chosen to be in the gallery. The Light Within: The Difference Spirituality Makes, JWAN Caucus, juried by Fay Grajower with 14 works chosen to be in the gallery. The Difference Community Art Makes, YW Caucus, juried by Karen Gutfreund with 5 works chosen to be in the gallery. View the catalog here

International Juried Exhibition, presented by the Women’s Caucus for Art at gallery nine5 from May 31 to June 22, 2014 with Anne Swartz and Maria Elena Buszek as jurors. “Identity” is an exhibition that address identity: In a world dominated by pop culture, society and the media – how is identity defined? Anne and Maria chose 25 works from 21 artists to be shown in gallery nine 5 and an additional 85 featured in the catalog.

“Though the Eyes of the Mother” at the Korean Cultural Center of Chicago from February 8 – 15, 2014. Co-Curated this exhibition with Hey-Seong Tak Lee portraying the work of Korean and American artists. Read more here.

“Equilibrium, Art for a Changing World” at Woman Made Gallery, Chicago from January 17 to February 27, 2014 with Beate Minkovski, Executive Director of Woman Made Gallery and Mary Stoppert, Artist as jurors.

“Stories We Tell” at the Phoenix Gallery, New York City from September 4 to 28, 2013 with Jessica Porter, Owner, Porter Contemporary as juror.

“Bound” at the Phoenix Gallery, New York City from January 30 to February 23, 2013 with Cora Rosevear, Associate Curator of Painting and Sculpture, The Museum of Modern Art as juror.

“Honoring Women’s Rights at the National Steinbeck Center, Salinas California from September 7 2012 to January 6, 2013 with Dr. Joyce Aiken, Dr. Ruth Weisberg and Patricia Rodriguez as jurors.

“Petroleum Paradox” at Denise Bibro Fine Art, New York City May 24 to June 23, 2012 with Eleanor Heartney, Contributing Editor of Art in America and art press as juror.

“Momentum”, 40th Anniversary Exhibition at Los Angeles Art Association, Gallery 825 from February 17 to March 2 by Rita Gonzalez, Associate Curator Contemporary Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art as juror.

“Man as Object: Reversing the Gaze” at the Kinsey Institute Gallery, University of Indiana, Bloomington, Indiana from April – June 2012 with 40 of the original 117 works chosen for this gallery.

“Man as Object: Reversing the Gaze” at SOMArts Cultural Center, San Francisco from November 4 to November 30, 2011 with Tanya Augsburg, Associate Professor SFSU as juror.

“Control” at Ceres Gallery in NYC, in February 2011 juried by the Guerilla Girls West.

“Hidden Cities” at the New Century Artists Gallery in New York City from February 1 to February 12, 2011 with Lisa Phillips, Toby Devan Lewis Director, New Museum of Contemporary Art as juror.

“Control” A juried exhibition of California women artists by the Guerilla Girls West shown at SOMArts Cultural Center August 2009.

“Ann and Mark Art Party” Oct, 2011. Fundraiser for the Arts Council of Silicon Valley.

http://staging.karengutfreund.com http://staging.karengutfreund.com http://staging.karengutfreund.com

Bonnie Kamhi “Devoured in Nature”

The “HerStory” 2019 continues a decades-long dedication by Renée Phillips in creating and presenting an annual exhibition devoted to art by women on the Manhattan Arts International website. This call was open to all women artists around the world and all themes, subjects, styles and mediums were welcome. The show ran run through September 20, 2019. (I give my sincere apologies to the artist and to Renée for the lateness in my write-up, I was sidelined for a while due to personal issues and my writing got put on the back burner for some time).

I was so pleased to be asked to be a special recognition art award panelist again for “HerStory” 2019 that was juried by Renée Phillips, Director of Manhattan Arts International. She is an amazing mentor and career advisor for art professionals and it is a privilege to work with her in support of women in the arts. Renée stated “We will continue to present annual “HerStory” exhibitions until there is a fair and equal balance of women artists represented by art museums, galleries, art book publishers, major private and public collections, auction houses, and the media.” I could not agree more—and I will continue my focus on exhibition opportunities for women artists, particularly on feminist themes until we see equality not only in the art world but in society also.

For this exhibition I chose the work of Bonnie Kamhi. She is a sculptor, photographer and natural story-teller who expresses contemporary and timeless messages about women. My usual focus is activist/feminist art and while Bonnie’s work does not fall within this genre, to spoke to me of the strength and resilience of women.

Bonnie’s work is visually arresting—it stopped me in my tracks to delve in and explore further. The work is gorgeous and lush, but now knowing her process I am even more intrigued and mesmerized. She is truly unique in her practice. The work has so many layers and nuances and while the exhibition had many fabulous pieces, I kept coming back to Bonnie’s work over and over. It sparked something in my mind and heart that could not be ignored.

A master of form, Bonnie first creates beautiful sculptures, with porcelain clay, of women with exquisite details. How she can capture such realistic form in pieces quite small is a mystery to me. As a feminist, I appreciate that the female form is not through the lens of the male gaze of objectified female—the arched back, unnatural pose with jutting buttocks or hips, waiting passively for male attention. Her figures are strong, self-assured and comfortable in their own al-natural skin, in a meditative state.

She then creates a still life with flowers to place her figures. The figure appears as the original Eve, before man cast and blamed her for sin and subjugated to patriarchy and deemed inferior and weak. The figure is in paradise, reveling in her solitude.

Lastly Bonnie photographs the still life and prints the image as her final art. The lighting and tonality in her prints is superb. My favorite of her works is “Devoured in Nature”, Archival print on Entrada Rag Natural paper, 23 x 29 inches, 2017.

From Bonnie’s statement: “I tell stories through a three-part process that involves first creating sculptures, then photographing and transforming them into digital images. The focus of my work involves marrying various aspects of the female form with the grace, beauty and lushness of leaves, flowers, and nature. In this way, I am able to evoke and express emotions within me that I need to share. The special hands-on relationship I have with physically forming each sculpture gives me the freedom to materialize in three dimensions whatever I visualize in my mind. The fact that I actually touch and feel the softness and flow evolve as I manipulate the clay. It allows me to nuance my work with an intimacy and closeness that I cannot achieve in any other way.”

Bonnie’s artwork is in numerous private collections which include many commissions. All of her work is printed on archival paper “Entrada Rag Natural.” High quality archival inks are used in the workmanship of the production. The buyer of her art receives a signed Certificate of Authenticity. More of her work can be viewed here: https://bonniekamhi.com/

The hand that rocks the cradle also rocks the world. Women are coming together in empowerment and to create positive change. Women build things, they are the glue for society in creating and maintaining families and building the foundations for their children and their future children to be successful. Women are also coming together to address issues to fight for our shared values and humanity and demand what we need from those in power. Bonnie’s work celebrates women’s beauty and strength.

I’m very empowered by the number of high-quality exhibitions being put together to promote women in the arts. 2020 is going to be a banner year, with exhibitions, the celebration of the 100^th year of women voting in the US and hopefully with many more women being elected into politics too!

Karen Gutfreund

Activist + Feminist Curator + Artist

Recent Posts

#CuratorLove, Bonnie Kamhi and “HerStory” 2019