Heaven Spot Webisode: Those Who Stand By

As I mentioned in a previous post, my colored pencil drawings were recently featured in an episode of a web series produced by the group Heaven Spot, which has the goal of focusing on local under-the-radar metro-Detroit artists.

The Salon Night that they hosted at Young Fenix Loft in Detroit last month included some very entertaining and thought-provoking pieces, including a environmentally-conscious contemporary movement routine, a wonderful live guitarist and bassist duo, and a moving preview of a scene from the upcoming play For Colored Girls. I was honored to be invited to be a part of it. I brought my six "Stronger Together" colored pencil drawings to the event, displaying them on a table near the stage, and got the chance to talk to some people about the meaning behind my works after the performances.

The night ended with a viewing of Heaven Spot's second episode, "Those Who Stand By," which spliced together a few different interviews, stories, dance practices, and music performances with occasional shots of my and Mariel Collins' colored pencil drawings, which Heaven Spot filmed during the GRRRLS Like Us exhibition at the Canton Village Theater back in November 2017. If you'd like to watch the fifteen-minute video, you can find it here on Heaven Spot's website.

I was also interviewed about my drawings (though they didn't end up using any of the interview in the webisode). You can see a snippet of the interview here, on the site for the Facebook event.

It's always exciting to be invited to participate in these things, share my artwork with people, and connect with like-minded metro-Detroiters! :)

L'Art Erotique - Broadcasting Schedule

As I've mentioned before, last May I was flown to Denver to interview with Eureka Productions, a company based in Montreal, Canada, for their upcoming TV series "Erotic Art," which will show on ARTV. They talked to me about my thesis paintings, which feature flowers that were restrained, pierced, and mutilated as metaphors for female sexual oppression, assault, and female genitalia and sexuality in general. (Search the "thesis" tag on this blog to read more about my thesis specifically, or read the thesis online for free at: http://commons.emich.edu/honors/238/)

Well, now is the time for the TV show to air! I'm not sure which episode my specific interview will be a part of, but here is the list of episodes that will be airing, for those who may live in the Montreal area and are interested in checking it out. The first episode airs tonight (January 6th).

If I find out where my interview is online, I will post that here as well, but for now watching live on ARTV is the only option. Here is a description of the episodes, as sent to me by Eureka Productions in an email: (French first, with English to follow.)

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Encore un grand merci pour votre participation et votre implication dans notre projet de série documentaire intitulé l'Art érotique.

Grâce à votre généreuse collaboration, nous avons réussi à rassembler des artistes inspirants issus de disciplines variées, autour d’un même sujet : l’érotisme et la sensualité dans l’art.  L’équipe d’Eurêka! Productions est heureuse de vous présenter le résultat de ses rencontres à travers le monde, dès le mois de janvier 2016.

Voici les horaires de la télédiffusion sur la chaine canadienne ICI ARTV :

 1/ Ode à la beauté, mercredi 6 janvier 2016 à 21h - Les modulations du corps dans l'art : réinvention des perceptions de l'érotisme

 2/ Éros et Thanatos, mercredi 13 janvier 2016 à 21h - L'érotisme entre vie et mort, le corps dans une frontière trouble.

 3/ Jeux Jouissifs, mercredi 20 janvier 2016 à 21h - L'érotisme quand il n'est pas pris au sérieux, place au plaisir.

 4/ Éros au futur, mercredi 27 janvier 2016 à 21h - Entre machines et robots, voyage de l'érotisme et des corps à travers le temps 

 5/ Désirs secrets, mercredi 3 février 2016 à 21h - Pèlerinage dans les confins du désir et de l'interdit, l'érotisme caché sous la symbolique.

Suite à la diffusion télé de l’épisode dans lequel vous apparaissez, Eurêka Productions vous fera parvenir un DVD de celui-ci. Au plaisir de vous revoir à travers vos nouvelles œuvres !

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Thank you once again for being part of the documentary series and its web project "l'Art érotique" ("The Erotic Art"). Your collaboration made it possible for us to be proud of the good quality work we did.

Now, the time has come to present you the good result of Eurêka! Productions’s work.  By going on ICI ARTV, Canadian Channel, on January 2016, you'll be able to watch the collaboration of our work in the five episode of the series.

Here is the TV broadcasting schedule on ICI ARTV :

 1/  Ode to Beauty, Wednesday January 6^th 2016 at 9 p.m. - The body's curve, eroticism and sexuality as creative sparks.

 2/ Eros and Thanatos, Wednesday January 13^th 2016 at 9 p.m - The dangerous line between death and living: erotic tension between two bodies.

 3/ Game and Pleasure, Wednesday January 20^th 2016 at 9 p.m - This episode will explore the playful side of erotic art.

 4/ Eros and the Future, Wednesday January 27^th 2016 at 9 p.m - Eroticism through machines and robots.

 5/ Secret Desires, Wednesday February 3^rd 2016 at 9 p.m - A journey through the hidden erotic uses of everyday objects.

Following the television broadcast of the episode in which you appear, Eurêka! Productions will send you a DVD of it. Hope to see you through your new works!

Six Questions

Back in May, I was interviewed for an upcoming Canadian television series about sexuality/sensuality/eroticism in art, which I am told will be shown on ARTV in Montreal in January 2016. (More about the details of where to watch that program once I know more myself!)

"Pinned for Safety" 22"x20" Watercolor Painting by Andrea Arbit

I recently received an email from the group putting together the program (Eureka Productions) that there will be a complementary web component that presents each artist and selection of their works. They sent me a list of questions to answers for the web page, and I thought I'd give you blog viewers a preview by sharing the answers I emailed back. 

These should all be on their website once the program airs, but who doesn't like to be the first to see things? :)

"Bandaged Duality" 22"x30" Watercolor Painting by Andrea Arbit

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- What is the art work that you enjoy the most?

Colored pencil is probably the medium I enjoy the most. I feel most free when I'm drawing, just because I have more experience holding pencils than paintbrushes and I like having complete control over the instrument I wield. That said, watercolor humbles me and intimidates - in a good way - and when I find success with a painting, it often gives me more satisfaction than a drawing would, because I get the feeling of conquering a more difficult process.

- What is your most favorite artist?

I really admire Frida Kahlo. She was never afraid to infuse her paintings with stories of personal trauma. In her painting "Henry Ford Hospital," she literally invites viewers into her hospital room to dissect her physical and emotional pain. Her transparency is aspirational. 

- If you were not an artist, you would be...

A novelist - which is, essentially, a different kind of artist. I've always loved storytelling and writing. I'm actually working on a novel concurrently with my art projects. Eventually it would be great to merge the two into a single medium.

I have also always been interested in psychology - getting in people's heads and understanding why they think and behave the way they do. I reflect on my own thoughts almost constantly, and would enjoy helping others manage their lives as I try to manage mine.

- What do you hate above all?

I hate people who are so self-serving and set in their opinions that they are physically unable to imagine or comprehend the words of those who disagree with them. Everybody has certain topics they believe so rigidly that no amount of friendly debate or personal search for truth will quit them of those beliefs, but we should still be able to talk to each other with open minds and enter every conversation willing to cast doubt on our own assumptions. Empathy is the most important currency in our global economy, and yet often undervalued in favor of stubbornness, greed, apathy, and privilege.

- With whom would you like to have a drink?

As an introvert, there are few people I'd like to go out and have a drink with - but several I'd enjoy exchanging email correspondence with, perhaps. I'd love to pick the brains of Renaissance and Baroque artists like Michelangelo, Caravaggio, and Rubens, to learn their methods and technique. I'd also love to delve into the personal lives and psychology of troubled artists and writers like Van Gogh, Edvard Munch, Jackson Pollock, Sylvia Plath, and Virginia Woolf. I think any dialogue with them would be fascinating.

As for an in-person conversation, I'd love to meet with a future version of myself - an Andrea who has decades more experience with art and life and might be willing to share her acquired wisdom with a younger me. A "Dinner Party" of notable women in history (as Judy Chicago envisioned for her 1979 installation) would also be amazing to witness. If only time travel were possible!

5"x7" Watercolor Painting by Andrea Arbit

- Which artists have influenced you the most and why?

Judy Chicago's idea of "central core imagery" as a common composition among female artists greatly influenced my floral watercolors created for my thesis "Flower Symbolism as Female Sexual Metaphor" - and continues to influence my more abstract pattern watercolors to this day. I've always been drawn to symmetry, often doodling radial patterns on graph paper during math class.

Georgia O'Keeffe's beautiful floral paintings also served as a big influence to me. As a child, before I knew anything about the Freudian interpretations of her work, those large flowers with their gorgeous colors resonated with me. To create art that 1) is aesthetically pleasing and 2) can be layered with nuances of meaning and interpreted in different ways is, to me, the ultimate goal.