Painting in 2014

http://teresayoung.artistwebsites.com/

I've been trying new things this year, such as teaching a class on the basics of acrylic painting in February... For that, I had to figure out something everyone could relate to as a painting subject, and I settled on birds.  You can see on the left, it's in a style I thought I left behind years ago,  realism....

And following that, I started trying out other paintings in a more realistic fashion... I guess after you stay away from it for really long, it's all new again!
I figure, why limit myself?  I'm versatile, so I might as well move in any direction I please.
I'm posting here a cross section of where I've gone this year as a painter. As you can see, I'm not sticking to one area!

Canadian Artist Teresa Young and British Artist Penelope Oakley’s Collaboration 2011

Teresa Young and Penelope Oakley are embarking on their first collaborative artwork together, after they initially connected through the Celeste Prize network, an international artist’s network at the beginning of 2011. 
Their artworks first appeared together side by side at the Camden Art Gallery, London in a Collective Exhibition in January.  From there they both exhibited at the Scoletta di San Giovanni Battista, Venice in concurrent exhibitions in May and June.
Their current involvement together in another exhibition in Mississippi, USA with The Energy Art Movement sees some of their pieces coincidentally again next to each other on the same wall.  Both artists are involved with the UNICEF Arte Maggio 2012 Reconstructing Childhood project.
Strangely enough, both artists were both born in Surrey, Penelope in Surrey England and Teresa in Surrey Canada. Although separated by the Atlantic, they have a lot in common, age group, backgrounds, love of art and artistic approaches. A true product of our electronics age, they have become fast friends although they have yet to meet in person.
Their idea for a collaborative work was a natural instinct for both.  Since Penelope’s flowing style was surrealistic, energetic and dominated by patterns of light, and Teresa’s work was flowing, patternistic and organic, their styles were a natural fit to harmonize together in one piece. With that in mind, Teresa has painted an intricate background in her own distinctive abstract style with Penelope’s artistic style in mind. The acrylic painting is two feet wide by three feet high and the original has now safely arrived with Penelope for her to commence her contribution to the piece.  This as yet untitled work will be exhibited when complete.  Keep an eye out here for further updates.
Two earlier works by Teresa Young can be seen at the JAG Gallery with Penelope’s work at Madeira Drive, Brighton and will be a part of the Christmas AOH 2011 Exhibition……

Websites:  http://teresayoung.artistwebsites.com/ and www.penelopeoakley.com

Where Are The Famous Female Artists?

You know, I was thinking of role models the other day and it occurred to me, that other than one single female artist (Emily Carr),  all of my 'role models' are male!

I realize that up until the last couple of centuries, we have lived in totally male dominated society, which would explain the lack of famous female visual artists... But it's been a couple of hundred years here where women have been making inroads on equality, and still, I really haven't seen any larger than life genre defining women appear on the horizons. 

I've been discussing this from time to time with my writer friend and she has many theories as to why. 

I've even read a book about different types of societies and how humanity seemed to have started with something more equal, not a male dominated society, back in the days of Crete. 

The book was called the 'The Chalice and the Blade' by Riane Eisler, and it was pretty dry, but very, very interesting...  Ms. Eilser advanced the theory that early societies in human history were based on Goddess worship rather than focusing on a male God.  This led to less warlike tendencies, greater harmony between the sexes and also with nature... She went on to mention how our archeological history was slanted to give credit to males while discrediting, misinterpreting or dismissing female accomplishments found in historical artifacts.  This was a natural tendency as the bulk of archeologists were men and historically, women were not really thought to matter. 

I'm pretty glad that society has changed, I know I didn't enjoy growing up in the seventies with my mother harping at me to become a housewife and stop having so many opinions!

As for Ms. Eisler's theory, light of how western society has worked in the past, it makes a lot of sense.  I've noticed that history has a way of highlighting male accomplishments while just leaving out the women.  It's a definite void in history, it's like we are missing half of our background!

I wonder if there were more female visual artists that were just left out, overlooked?  It would be interesting to try to collect them and get a more detailed picture of how art evolved over time...

On the other hand, I'm going to be the devil's advocate here and hypothesize that we may have done some of this to ourselves...  Women have been socialized to be modest and self effacing... That type of approach would certainly lead to women not putting themselves forward to create new art movements. 

In fact, one of the things I was taken to task on by my rather traditional mother was my lack of modesty about my artwork...

But I figured that if I didn't like my own work and put it forward, certainly nobody else would do it for me!  I've noticed that people that stand back and wait for others to notice their merits tend to be left standing on the sidelines...

I've never been that good at waiting for things, and blending into the crowd on the sidelines sounds like a special kind of feminine torture to me... So I think I'll just carry on with being myself and let my mother rest with her traditions back in the last century!

But I still think it would be nice to have some more famous female artists out there...  Hmmm... Maybe I could help fill that void someday!

References:  Eisler, Riane. 1989. The Chalice and the Blade: Our History, Our Future. Harper & Row. New York.

Images:
Paintings by Teresa Young, photograph of Teresa Young by Nina Munteanu.
1. Undercurrents - Mar.2009,  2. Central Viewpoint - Aug.2009,  3. Near The Edge of Reason - Sept.2009,  4. Halo - May.2001.