Woman to Woman, Art in Our Lives

114 the minnesota review Margaret Randall Woman to Woman, Art in Our Lives . . . Jane and I did a painting, with collage elements from many photographs of Palestinian women. It was a tribute to those women, and one of the photographs that I xeroxed and painted and collagcd and worked into the composite was of a woman, profile, in a scarf, holding a baby ... for some reason it really looked to me like you, reminded me of pictures of you in Cuba. It was a proud, strong feeling photo, and as I struggled (almost all night!) to finish, in that quiet and peace that only comes in the wee hours in an urban place, I drifted on thoughts of your life, your history, your work, and how glad I am to know you, and to love you . . . The above is from a letter I received from a friend. She is a wonderful artist and muralist, a woman whose feminist as well as internationalist concerns consistently inform her art. Reading and re-reading the paragraph, I realized it contained several of the sparks that would finally push me to write a piece I've been wanting to get to for a while now: something about the ways in which women's expression often draws powerfully on other women's creativity, on how we share each other's —to push them further— from generation to generation and also among those of us now who live and work in an ever broadening network of female expression. This single paragraph of Miranda's letter (my friend's name is Miranda Bergman) exemplifies so many ways in which we make our art: "Jane and I did a painting . . ." Communal activity, in so many different circumstances, is valued and nurtured. "// was a tribute to those women . . ." In our art we frequently honor other women, often women who continue to be historically ignored or silenced. "/ xeroxed and painted and collated . . ." Women artists have worked on the cutting edge of innovation, experimentation, and mixed media. And, finally, "as I struggled (all night!) to finish, in the quiet and peace that only comes in the wee hours in an urban place, I drifted on thoughts ofyour life . . ." The recognition and sharing process, as well as the generosity of acknowledging connection, are among the most relevant aspects of female creativity. As Miranda worked, she freely admits she used the nurturing presence of a friend's life. She is telling me that my life informs her creativity. On a deeper level, she is also telling me that my life is art. I want to write, here, about how women often take this process one step further; not only allowing a human presence to inspire us, but actually using another woman's art in ours, transforming and pushing it further in our own creative process. I believe this a particularly female experience. Randall 115 Before going further, I should say that I don't believe this is an inherently female experience, that is to say, it is certainly not programmed or explicit in a biological sense. We—women and men—are socialized to these ideas and praxes. Patriarchy, especially as it operates in the context of advanced capitalism, promotes a male-dominated model which induces extreme individualism, an unhealthy sense of competition, rampant aggressivity—the "ole boy" syndrome. There are men—artists among them—who have come to understand these issues and attempt to address them in their lives and work. There are also women—generations of them—who continue to internalize the conditioning that tells us we must mimic men in order to succeed. Class, race, and other conditions, as well as gender, must be factored into our analysis. What I am saying is that feminists are waking powerfully to the possibility—indeed, the need—for change in these relationships. I want to write here about how many women who are artists revel in this particular creative sharing, and also about how specifically feminist are the mechanisms we employ. The act of taking an idea, an image, even a more fully evolved work of art by one and using it as the basis or jumping-off place for a work of art...