A culmination of North Fork culture, feminist vigor and experiential learning will be showcased at the Floyd Memorial Library in Greenport this spring.
Co-curators Hannah Quigley and Sally Grant let inspiration lead in this extensive exhibit, titled “Passing the Brush: Feminist Art NOW” running from March 28 to May 11.
Quigley, an eighth-grader at Peconic Community School in Cutchogue, posits herself a feminist artist. She pitched the idea for a women-centric show during her internship with library art exhibit curator Sally Grant.
“It started with a brainstorm about what I like to do,” Quigley says. “I like reading, I like art, I like women empowerment, I like equality.”
Quigley was connected with Sally at the start of the year, as part of her school capstone project, intended to give students an opportunity to make an impact.
“The purpose of the project is to help your community in some sort of way and to add to it,” Quigley says. “It’s all on your own time, you don’t really do much of it in school. It’s about experience in a long term project and communicating with people, interviewing experts in a field.”
Greenport’s Arden Scott, North Fork Art Collective owner Kara Hoblin and Peconic Community School Photography teacher and photographer Deborah Feingold’s work will be on display along with projects from local students.
“Arden’s certainly a feminist, but I don’t really know whether she’d term herself as that,” Grant says of the local sculptor. “But she just doesn’t let gender define what she’s doing. [She’s] such a powerful role model.”
Denise Silva-Dennis and Lisa Bowen, members and artists of the Shinnecock Nation in Southampton, will also contribute, touching on equality and female figures in their community.
“A big part of this exhibition is the idea that it’s about multiple voices coming together in female solidarity, which has happened throughout history,” Grant says.
Poppy Johnson, former Greenport Librarian and a leader in womens’ rights for over 50 years, made a piece specifically for the show. She is also seen in a group photograph on display as the only female artist alongside creatives like Andy Warhol and Robert Rauschenberg in 1977 from the famed Manhattan pop-art heart center, the Leo Castelli Gallery.
“It’s such a powerful image,” Quigley says.
The library is partnering with the United Kingdom-based “Domestic Dusters Project,” in which women all over the world embroider yellow dust cloths with their views on domestic tasks in order to give voice and audience to an often ignored sector of work.
Dusters embroidered by North Fork community members will be on display as part of Hannah and Sally’s exhibit, then later will tour the U.K. with the project.
“The dusters have been coming in and they’re so different and inspiring and empowering and moving,” Sally says. “They have stories that often come with them as well. It’s really a privilege to have access to these stories.”
An opening reception will be held on Friday, March 28 from 6 to 8 p.m. For more information email [email protected].
