FEATURED ARTISTS
DEREK FREESE views the role of an artist to be one of a mediator. Much of his work reflects his experiences growing up and various relationships. He doesn’t always plan a piece before he starts to work through it, but through the act of creation he better understands himself. He uses objects that have birthing, growing, and delicate qualities to them. He describes his work as innocent, playful and humorous. Get connected: mnartists.org: Derek Freese
JESSE HANNER is a recent transplant to Minneapolis from La Crosse, Wisconsin where he attended Viterbo University for Printmaking. He and Sarah M. Sosa will be showing a collaboration piece entitled Sissy Boy; an attempt to capture the beauty and fluidity of sex and maleness. He will also be showing a zine that serves to encompass the emotional, social, and physical changes of transition. The story of the zine is about any Trans guy that struggles with and/or identifies as a trans guy and doesn’t completely fit into the hetero-normative definition of “male”.
HAVEN MICHAEL HERRIN is a 28-year-old queer artist, activist and teacher. They are originally from Texas, but have adopted the Twin Cities as their home. They have been re/working record covers for a few years since they became interested in dj’ing and the gendered but bodiless space of music. This series is called Cowboys and Pearls. Haven reworks old record covers, and the elements include silhouettes of urban cowboys with bolero ties and strands of pearls, bits and pieces of maps from where they have traveled, and overblown female hairdos. Haven is from Dallas, Texas and this is their way of playing with the clothing and accoutrements of gender as they experienced them growing up in the South and incorporating their upbringing with the far-flung travels they have taken in their adulthood.
SMALLS LOOZE, aficionado of all things campy, argyle, plaid and paisley, has come to realize that a career in fashion design would not suit them. Despite this setback, they are an excellent coffee drinker and first rate tennis racket re-gripper. They remain confident that these skills, paired with their constant state of disarray, will lead to unexpected and fulfilling opportunities. Smalls is a poet and craft dabbler. Get connected: http://mmlooze.blogspot.com
MEL PORCINELLI was always drawn to plants and the female form. As a young child, she was impacted profoundly by media portrayals of womanhood. Without condoning the meaning behind the images, she thought she would grow up to be one of these highly sexualized women of desire. When she didn’t become the woman she dreamed would be, she developed an eating disorder. She says, “All efforts in my life were focused on my outer shell. I developed an eating disorder, and stopped doing and paying attention to the things that I loved. Anyone or anything that got in my way was an enemy. I was happily submerged into my own perfect jar of beauty. The Eternal Marshland series is a reflection on this time in my life. It focuses on the constant teeter totter-like allure of beauty along with the perils of it. I would also like to dedicate the series to all women who have taken a similar plunge into the media’s portrayal of the female form. Some of us have become submerged, and cannot get back out.” Get Connected:mnartists.org: Mel Porcinelli
IGNACIO RIVERA is a queer, gender fluid, Trans- Entity, Black Boricua from Brooklyn, New York. Ignacio Rivera aka Papi Coxxx who prefers the gender-neutral pronoun “they”, is an activist, performance artist and sexual liberationist. Ignacio is currently performing and lecturing internationally. Their work has manifested itself through skits, one-person shows, poetry, lectures, workshops and experimental film. Get Connected: http://www.ignaciorivera.com and http://polypataoproductions.com/
NICHOLAS SCHAFFER uses his art to investigate body image, gender identity, and emotional dissonance within the self. He’s a postmodern photograper who views the body as something seperate from the self, that endures the life we go through as we create our own identies. In his photographs, he says, “the body becomes a relic, a survivor or remnant left after decay, disintegration, and disappearance, a physical representation of stepping into a void, an escape from the self.” He does not digitally manipulate any of his images. They are photographed using a small theater set that he built with a mirror installation inside of it. All the images are photographs of a body’s reflection in the mirror. His photography is special not only because of his artistic process, but because it captures the complexity of gender identity and body image. His work is a mash-up of multiple identities in a single photo, the same way there are mash-ups within each individual. We create our own identies, seek coherence within our own conceptions or perhaps new ways to live with dissonance. “The work represents a collage of body image identities represented in a physical state. Metamorphosing itself into an alternative physical state involving cut up forms, colors, and shapes. Trying to condense an emotion with the use of the figure in distressed configurations,” he says.
SARAH M. SOSA is a mixed media artist from Minneapolis, MN. She makes small-scale collages built through layers of acrylic paint, paper and ink on canvas. Using mixed media to represent sociological theories such as the commodification of womanhood is at the foreground of her artistic endeavors. She communicates her interpretation of social constructs with robust strokes and vivid colors in an oftentimes satirical manner. In her most recent body of work–bun.artpetit, she has employed repetitive images of rabbits to further her ideas on production, consumption and the intersection of the manufactured and handmade. She has participated in 6 group exhibitions over the last four years and has been published in the University of Minnesota’s Ivory Tower 2010 spring issue. Get Connected: http://sarahmsosa.blogspot.com/
HEIDI BARTON STINK is a self described Trans-Radical M.C. based out of Minneapolis, MN. She writes and performs HipHop with an emphasis on social justice and trans and queer rights. Her songs cohesively vary from sentimental and uplifting to darkly poetic and political. She skillfully maintains this balance in a genuine way and with a sense of humor. In early 2010 she released a short free download album: The Familiar Pattern EP, which was reviewed and talked about in a number of national music and GLBT news outlets. In the last year she has performed at various shows across the United States -San Francisco, Chicago, Camp Trans in Michigan, Portland Oregon, Portland Maine and Cornell University in Ithaca New York, just to name a few– as well as countless High Profile local events such as the Dirty Queer Show and HipHop Against Homophobia.She is currently working on her debut full-length album, with her comrade See More Perspective doing the production. A talented performer and wordsmith, she is a rising star in the world of independent rap. (She supplies the mouth in our GASP! flyers, could you tell? Her mouth has a lot of charm, with one tooth just slightly crooked. *Cute*) Get Connected: www.heidistink.com and www.facebook.com/bartonstink