WE, the Women's Caucus is a biennial juried exhibition of photo-based/light artists that are members of the Women's Caucus within the Society for Photographic Education.
WE, the Women's Caucus stands to celebrate Women, Trans, Gender Non-Conforming, and our diversity with an honorable nod to our solidarity with our identity and medium. These photographic works are responsive pieces that illuminate, question, and challenge societal notions through our individual expression.
The saying "it takes a community" is no joke. This opportunity is a daisy-chain of events and people that without it wouldn't have come to light.
Let's dance down this daisy-chain of our community that made this entire thing a reality:
Wildcats from moons ago organized a group of people with a common interest- the Society for Photographic Education.
Boom! Then some wild women established the Women's Caucus within this organization. Check out the awesome job fellow SPE and Women's Caucus member Rebecca Zeiss did at pulling together the history of the caucus! (side note: I'm so proud of one of my former professors from RISD, Deborah Bright- as she appears several times in the below document.)
Women move mountains, what can WE say!
(read the history of SPE's Women's Caucus here)
Fast forward several years and you have me (JordanneRenner), a member of SPE and the Women's Caucus who decided this historical year (from yesteryear to now) needed to be earmarked by an exhibition opportunity for Women's Caucus members and took initiative to apply for two small-but-mighty grants.
With the blessing of the wild women co-chairs of the Women's Caucus, and the support of the original venue from Contemporary Art Matters, I applied and received a Foto Focus 2020 Biennial exhibition grant.
Realizing exhibitions cost money and I needed a way to source more funding, I also applied for and received as an individual artist the BIG IDEAS grant, from the Greater Columbus Arts Council to help fund this opportunity. This grant also made it possible to provide a small scholarship to a student intern, Andria Parady from Xavier University (also an SPE and Women's Caucus member).
Covid smacked the entire world from foreseeable future events, but WE, the Women's Caucus exhibition needed to continue on- even if via a virtual platform.
But wait! There is more!
The wild woman that I am, and with social distancing in mind, a new venue needed to be secured, so I reached out to the larger art space ROY G BIV and their awesome wild woman gallery director, Lynette Santoro-Au, who connected me with the current huge exhibition space 400 West Rich Promenade's rad wild woman community director, Stephanie Maglone. While all of this was happening, four other badASS women kindly agreed to take on the challenge of the blind jury process to determine the selected participating artists; and Miss Parady created some pretty fabulous illustrations to be used for all social media call and exhibition postings.
Women supporting women.
Women supporting trans.
Women supporting GNC people.
Now that's a BADASS community.
I'm honored to be apart of this community
and grateful for all the incredibles I've met.
WE hope to see you at the opening, and/or
during some of the virtual programming we have
planned for after the holidays.
Until then:
VOTE!
Support the Arts!
Volunteer!
Stay bright, healthy, and be loud about the things that matter.
Yeow!
Jordanne
Stephanie McGlone is an arts-community advocate and mixed media artist based in Columbus, Ohio.
Describing herself as a "facilitator of creativity", McGlone discovered a passion for education in 2011. After teaching in art museums, studios, and other non-traditional education spaces, McGlone gained the skills to develop art-engagement in countless ways, leading to her start at 400 West Rich Studios in June of 2018. Her role as Community Director allows her to develop programs for artists to connect with the community through special exhibitions, workshops, and events. McGlone's own artwork has transformed alongside her professional portfolio. In 2012 she began working in collage and since then her work has morphed into different explorations of the medium. In her current work, she repurposes archival resources into eye-catching designs that bring the materials into the contemporary. While most of her work is analog and hand-cut collage, Stephanie uses her skills in graphic design to add digital elements to some of her pieces, sometimes digitally painting or creating GIFs from the collages.
Lynette Santoro-Au, Gallery Director Roy G Biv, has been working in the arts for over thirty years. Her goal is to showcase innovative contemporary art by emerging artists, both local and global impacting the community by supporting neighborhood activities and arts groups, hosting outside organizations in Roy’s gallery space and collaborating with other arts institutions on events and promotion.
She graduated from The Ohio State University with a BA Degree in English. She serves as an emeritus member of the Columbus Arts Marketing Association and volunteers with the Columbus Arts Festival. She has juried art shows for the City of Kettering, Siegfred Hall Gallery at Ohio University, Grandview Lazy Daze Festival, Y Bridge Festival, Easton Art Affair, Ohio State Fair Fine Arts Exhibit, Winterfair, Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts, Urban Scrawl, 934 Gallery and the City of Upper Arlington’s Concourse Gallery. A Columbus Tourism Ambassador, graduate of Leadership UA and Next Generation Leaders, Lynette uses her connections in the community to build partnerships to make the arts a part of everyday lives.
In her new role she is looking forward to working with other Creatives in Franklinton to create opportunities for the emerging artists we champion.
ROY G BIV Gallery is a nonprofit art gallery located in the Franklinton Arts District of Columbus, Ohio. Founded in 1989, ROY is known for presenting innovative contemporary art by emerging artists. ROY champions emerging artists by presenting thought provoking exhibitions that increase the public's awareness of the artists' work and enhance the cultural diversity of Central Ohio by focusing on artistic merit alone.
ROY’s highest priority is to support artists early in their careers who are creating new work that is and/or has the potential to be:
Compelling—offering distinctive vision and authentic voice
Deeply considered, imaginative, and executed with attention to craft and with technical proficiency, providing artistic experiences that communicate unique perspective/s, and invite viewers to question, discover, explore new ideas in new ways.
Innovative and risk-taking—engaging, questioning, challenging or re-imagining conventional artistic forms. Innovation and risk-taking reflect our interest in supporting artists from diverse backgrounds and experiences who are expanding ways of working, asking questions, and inspiring new ways of imagining.
