MAN V/S NURTURE
Venue: The Bridge PAI, Charlottesville VA
Date: February 1, 2013
The first of my current projects will feature twelve drawings of Charlottesville men that have chosen careers or social roles that are nurturing. Examples: counselors, EMT personnel, clergy, teachers, nurses. I will also conduct interviews with the subjects of the drawings and create a slideshow presentation that features segments of the recorded audio from the interviews with still images of the finished drawings. My intention is to demonstrate that men have a wide range of options among their choices of social roles that encourage empathy and cooperation as opposed to hierarchy and anger-selective emotional expression.
For me, this show represents a proactive way to encourage men towards behavior that benefits all people. I perceive that men are seeking enhanced, emotionally expressive norms but are using language and patterns that are exclusive of women and gay men. While I do not plan to target fears men may have about being labeled feminine or gay for choosing nurturing roles, I think my show will function as a positive reinforcement and celebration of the ways that men are already encouraged to be emotionally available and empathetic. I believe that an art show which is celebratory will be better received and appreciated than a show which confronts stereotypical behavior or which ridicules men as they stumble through redefining masculine norms.
Please check in with this web page each month as I post the current subject I am drawing and my interview with that person.
PORTRAITS FROM SHORT MOUNTAIN SANCTUARY
My second, ongoing project will likely span a minimum of three years. So far, I have spent two years living at several different intentional communities around the Short Mountain Sanctuary in middle Tennessee, and while there, I drew several portraits of the residents and members to celebrate their unconventional lifestyles. I am largely drawn to rural communities and people who farm organically with a focus on sustainable resources.
To begin my project, I relocated to Cannon County, Tennessee the first week of December, 2008. I selected people for portraits in a fairly arbitrary manner and have tried to display the broad spectrum of people that reside in and around the Short Mountain Sanctuary. So far, I've only completed several portraits and have posted them here. I have two more planed for 2012, and I hope to photograph more people at the Beltane gathering the spring of 2012.
The idea for this project came to me while I was in the middle of a three-week visitor period at the Twin Oaks community in Louisa, Va. I was struck by the rugged individualism of the people living in that community and their never-ending quest for a functioning utopia. Many of the people that I met there had incredible stories to share that shaped their ultimate decision to live in an income-sharing, egalitarian community. In a similar manner, the people of Cannon County that have migrated to the Short Mountain Sanctuary charmed me with their peculiarities and peccadilloes.
So, I will be posting more portraits here as they are completed. I encourage you to check back seasonally to watch the content of this page as it grows.
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Gary
graphite/pencil
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Krista
graphite/pencil
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Mike
graphite/pencil
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Dirt
graphite/pencil
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