In light of recent events, we at the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (CSGV) have taken time to reflect on the opportunities to expand gun violence prevention that lie ahead -- and the best way to seize those opportunities. 

 

I outline our approach in my new op-ed in the Chronicle of Philanthropy, “With the White House taking bold steps, now is the time for philanthropy to do the same and vastly expand that network of support.” 

 

Please create a free Chronicle of Philanthropy account to read the op-ed and learn about our bold vision to back local leaders and effect lasting change. 

 

To learn more about the Safer States Initiative, please visit our website, where you can request more information about supporting this important new initiative!

 

Thank you for your support, 

 

Jen Pauliukonis 

Director of Policy and Programming

Coalition to Stop Gun Violence

 

The Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence
805 15th Street NW, 502
Washington, DC 20005
United States

 

Laura Aguilar, Plush Pony #2, 1992. © Laura Aguilar / Gift of the Laura Aguilar Trust of 2016, jointly acquired by the Vincent Price Art Museum Foundation and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Laura Aguilar: Show and Tell, organized by the Vincent Price Art Museum in collaboration with the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center, is the first comprehensive retrospective of American photographer Laura Aguilar (1959-2018), assembling works in photography and video that she produced over the course of three decades. After opening in Los Angeles, and travelling to Florida and Chicago, the exhibition is finally open at the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art in New York City for its final viewing. The exhibition’s curator, Sybil Venegas (she/her) and LLMA Assistant Curator, Noam Parness (they/them), met over zoom to discuss her relationship to Aguilar’s life and work to prepare for Venegas’ public virtual tour of Laura Aguilar: Show and Tell. Below is an excerpt from their conversation. We hope you’ll join us on Tuesday, April 20th, at 6 pm EDT as Venegas takes us through Aguilar’s path-making and powerful work. Join the curator-led tour! Noam Parness I’m curious, what was and is your relationship to Laura and her work? Sybil Venegas My personal relationship?  NP  Personally and as curator, all of the above. SV   Laura was my student back in the early 80s, after which we became friends. There was a lot to our friendship, but it was also a friendship where she as an artist shared her work with me as it progressed. I've seen Laura's work from her early portraits to the last series that she did in Joshua Tree. I was able to watch her grow as an artist, as a photographer. I watched her grow from an emerging artist in East LA, and to where she began to get a broader base of interaction with other institutions and other communities, to finally where, in the 90s, she began to show her work internationally—in Europe and Latin America. On a personal level, she was also a very good friend of mine. Towards the end of her life, she asked me and another close friend, Chris Velasco, who was also her photographer assistant, to be the trustees of her estate. Laura was like family to me, so when she asked, it wasn't that big of a stretch. We had no idea what the Trust would turn into after the Show and Tell exhibition, it kind of launched her into this renown and collectability. We thought we were just going to help her put her affairs in order and help her to die, as she was very ill and knew her time was short. It turned out to be something so much more that nobody–not even Laura herself–was expecting. In a way, being her trustee has been a way of continuing my relationship with Laura. Today, Chris and I are very much involved with her work and her legacy.  NP   Thank you for sharing that. It’s amazing, having installed the show and seeing all her work across these decades, you've been with her the whole time in one capacity or another.  SV  Yes, for example, when she would share her contact sheets, or when she would bring over small prints of what would be in an exhibition, I was often just amazed. Especially when she showed me Three Eagles Flying— it was a big leap from where she had been before, and eventually sharing the nudes in nature, which were really stunning and brave. To do what she did in the 90's was extremely brave. Today, of course, it’s still pretty amazing, but it's hard to overstate how extraordinary making that work was at the time. Nobody did that, or very few people did. And she just kept growing.  The tragedy of Laura is that she got sick so young. She passed well before her time. Had her health been different, she would have continued to move forward. As I saw it, her whole career was just always pushing it, pushing it, pushing it to the next thing, and every next thing was more stunning than the last.    Sybil Venegas is an independent art historian, curator and Professor Emerita of Chicana/o Studies at East Los Angeles College. She is among the first art historians to historicize Chicana art and is a recognized scholar in Chicana feminist art history as well as the cultural politics of Dia de los Muertos ceremonials in Chicanx/Latinx communities. As a commentator on Los Angeles’ curatorial and multicultural visual arts landscape, Professor Venegas’ extensive experience in the Chicana/o art community spanned the early years of Chicana/o art production. She is curator of the traveling exhibition, Laura Aguilar: Show and Tell. exhibitions I events I visit I join RESERVE YOUR TICKETS HERE  ‌  ‌  ‌ LeslieLohman.org SUPPORT LLMA TODAY The Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art is open Friday - Sunday, 12-6 pm.

 

Hey! Its been a while, here’s an update of what the team at Homotopia have been up to. Starting with some artist opportunities you might have missed. . .

The Homotopia Writers Award

The Everyman and Playhouse script submissions are open and we’re so happy to be partnering with them to offer one LGBTQIA+ writer The Homotopia Writers Award. The opportunity is for a professional rehearsed reading or workshop and a £500 seed commission towards developing their work. The subject matter of a submitted script for the award should explore LGBTQIA identities, challenges, experiences and culture. Applications close April 24th.

Find more info here!

Queer Creatives Meet-up

From Thursday 17th June and every third Thursday of the month after that join us in the Unity bar for a friendly and inclusive meet-up with local LGBTQIA artists, makers and creators. This is your chance to meet new creative collaborators, seek career advice and have a lovely time with liked-minded queer pals. This is a free, informal event. To RSVP please email hello@homotopia.net - the first event has a capacity of 20 people so get yourself signed up! This mixer will take place in the U1 Theatre, and be socially distanced.

More info. Lucky you.

Artist Development Opportunities

Image: Rachael Young Are you a queer artist? Do you want to hear about any opportunities that might benefit you? Opportunities both in and outside of our organisations and partners. Then join our new Artist Mailing List. So we can keep in touch, keep you up to date and if we hear of anything we think you'd like we can keep y

Sign up here

New Staff and Trustees

And lastly, some more good news, we’re delighted to have welcomed Olivia Graham onto our team in a new role as Marketing and Development Manager and Ruth Fawcett our freelance fundraising consultant. We’re excited to have both roles contribute to the overall reach, development and growth of our organisation. Alongside this we’re delighted to have three new trustees Jess Shannon, Sinéad Nunes and Steven Welsh. Welcome to the family!

New staff and trustees info

Know an amazing LGBTQIA artist? Send this email to a friend!

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19th C Technology and Architecture

 Courses on Udemy:

• Art History: Prehistory to the 1300
• Art History: Renaissance to 20th C

Technologies: Architecture
 
 

Sir Joseph Paxton, The Crystal Palace 1850-51Originally in  Chatsworth, England Queen Victoria's husband Prince Albert, and the Duke of  Devonshire's gardener, Joseph Paxton.

Most of the following text is "borrowed" from the following website. Full text and story at http://www.victorianstation.com/palace.html Form: This structure is based primarily on an earlier greenhouse design Paxton used to house the giant Victoria Regia lily in Chatsworth England and incorporates iron, wood and glass.  Paxton's design won the commission primarily because the  materials were benefitial: the fact that they were lighter and cheaper. The dimensions of the building based on 24 foot intervals were a result of the maximum size of a sheet of glass that could be manufactured at a reasonable cost (49 inches was the cheapest for reliable 16 oz glass).  Mostly site construction using pre fabricated componets, some of which were cast less than 24 hours earlier. The cast iron columns were tested on site, and on site milling and machine painting included miles of wood glazing bars. Even temporary fencing material was designed to be used in the final building so little was wasted. The transept was strategically placed to preserve and temporarily cover the large elm trees on the site. When the building was torn down and moved to Sydenham, broken glass was remelted providing some of the replacements. Iconography: The Crystal palace was built to showcase the achievements of Great Britain during the Industrial Revolution. The British were very secure in their belief that they were the ideal of Industrialization that they felt it neccesary to show the rest of the "less civilized" world by staging this enormous exhibition. "The prevailing attitude in England at the time was ripe for the somewhat arrogant parading of accomplishments. Many felt secure, economically and politically, and Queen Victoria was eager to reinforce the feeling of contentment with her reign. It was during the mid-1850s that the word "Victorian" began to be employed to express a new self-consciousness, both in relation to the nation and to the period through which it was passing. Context: "Despite outbursts of opposition to Albert by the press the family life of the Victorian court began to be considered increasingly as a model for the whole country. Albert had appreciated the achievements of Prime Minister Robert Peel's political and military advances and publicly advocated the advancement of industry and science. These facts began to sway opinion in his favor as respectable foundations of family life and industrial supremacy were becoming rapidly acquainted with the monarchy of Victoria and Albert.  Conceived by prince Albert, the Great Exhibition was held in Hyde Park in London in the specially constructed Crystal Palace. The Crystal Palace was originally designed by Sir Joseph Paxton in only 10 days and was a huge iron goliath with over a million feet of glass. It was important that the building used to showcase these achievements be grandiose and innovative.  Over 13,000 exhibits were displayed and viewed by over 6,200,000 visitors to the exhibition. The millions of visitors that journeyed to the Great Exhibition of 1851 marveled at the industrial revolution that was propelling Britain into the greatest power of the time. Among the 13,000 exhibits from all around the world were the Jacquard loom, an envelope machine, tools, kitchen appliances, steel-making displays and a reaping machine from the United States.The objects on display came from all parts of the world, including India and the countries with recent white settlements, such as Australia and New Zealand, that constituted the new empire. Many of the visitors who flocked to London came from European cities. The profits from the event allowed for the foundation of public works such as the Albert Hall, the Science Museum, the National History Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum."

 

Gustave Eiffel 1887-1889 Eiffel Tower Paris,  France 984-foot (300-metre) International Exposition of 1889  to celebrate the centenary of the French Revolution

Form: Huge tower built of steel beams and girders."...to obtain the 300 meters, the Tower is basically composed of two elements : - a base, which is a sort of bar stool, very sturdy, standing on 4 main pillars that are bonded and extended with a much lighter batter at the smaller level that constitutes the second floor, - a tower firmly attached atop. The value of the pillar base is directly related to the swaying caused by wind forces." " The parts used to construct the Tower: All of the iron came from the factories of Mr. Dupont and Mr. Fould, blacksmiths located in Pompey (Meurthe-et-Moselle), who were represented in Paris by their director Mr. A. Prègre and who kept us informed on iron grades. They were delivered at the following prices: Equal angles from 40 to 100 ..................................13.25 F per 100 kg  Standard sections, 1st and 2nd grades..................................13.25 F per 100 kg  Standard sections, 3rd and 4th grades ..................................13.75 F per 100 kg  Wide flat bars up to 500..................................15.00 F per 100 kg  Ordinary sheet iron..................................15.50 F per 100 kg  Checkered plate ..................................16.50 F per 100 kg  Special tee-sections (designated in Eiffel's book)..................................16.00 F per 100 kg  Open and closed angle sections, at made to order angles ..................................20.00 F per 100 kg  The rivets came from Mr. Letroyeur and Mr. Bouvard in Paris. The quality was that of boiler or locomotive rivets." Iconography:  " The plan to build a tower 300 metres high was conceived as part of preparations for the World's Fair of 1889.  Emile Nouguier and Maurice Koechlin, the two chief engineers in Eiffel's company, had the idea for a very tall tower in June 1884. It was to be designed like a large pylon with four columns of lattice work girders, separated at the base and coming together at the top, and joined to each other by more metal girders at regular intervals. The company had by this time mastered perfectly the principle of building bridge supports. The tower project was a bold extension of this principle up to a height of 300 metres - equivalent to the symbolic figure of 1000 feet. On September 18 1884 Eiffel registered a patent "for a newconfiguration allowing the construction of metal supports and pylons capable of exceeding a height of 300 metres".  In order to make the project more acceptable to public opinion, Nouguier and Koechlincommissioned the architect Stephen Sauvestre to work on the project's appearance. Sauvestre proposed stonework pedestals to dress the legs, monumental arches to link the columns and the first level, large glass-walled halls on each level, a bulb-shaped design for the top and various other ornamental features to decorate the whole of the structure. In the end the project was simplified, but certain elements such as the large arches at the base were retained, which in part give it its very characteristic appearance. The curvature of the uprights is mathematically determined to offer the most efficient wind resistance possible. As Eiffel himself explains: "All the cutting force of the wind passes into the interior of the leading edge uprights. Lines drawn tangential to each upright with the point of each tangent at the same height, will always intersect at a second point, which is exactly the point through which passes the flow resultant from the action of the wind on that part of the tower support situated above the two points in question. Before coming together at the high pinnacle, the uprights appear to burst out of the ground, and in a way to be shaped by the action of the wind".  Context:  " An engineer by training, Eiffel founded and developed a company specializing in metal structural work, whose crowning achievement was the Eiffel Tower. He devoted the last thirty years of his life to his experimental research... His outstanding career as a constructor was marked by work on the Porto viaduct over the river Douro in 1876, the Garabit viaduct in 1884, Pest railway station in Hungary, the dome of the Nice observatory, and the ingenious structure of the Statue of Liberty. It culminated in 1889 with the Eiffel Tower. After the end of his career in business, marred by the failure of the Panama Canal, Eiffel began an active life of scientific experimental research in the fields of meteorology, radiotelegraphy and aerodynamics. He died on December 27,1923." All text and more fun readin about the tower at http://www.tour-eiffel.fr/teiffel/uk/

John Augustus Roebling Brooklyn Bridge 1867-1883

Form: Length of river span: 1595.5 feet Total length of bridge: 5989 feet Width of bridge floor: 85 feet Suspension cables: four, each 15.75 inches in diameter and 3578.5 feet long, containing 5434 wires each, for a total length of 3515 miles of wire per cable Foundation depth below high water, Brooklyn: 44 feet 6 inches Foundation depth below high water, Manhattan: 78 feet 6 inches Tower height above high water: 276 feet 6 inches Roadway height above high water: 119 feet (at towers) Total weight, not including masonry: 14,680 tons Source: Blue Guide to New York, 1991, p616. ISBN 0393304868.  Iconography: "In 1855, John Roebling, the owner of a wire-rope company and a famous bridge designer, proposed a suspension bridge over the East River after becoming impatient with the Atlantic Avenue-Fulton Street Ferry. Roebling worked out every detail of the bridge, from its massive granite towers to its four steel cables. He thought his design entitled the bridge "to be ranked as a national monument… a great work of art."..." Responding to those who doubted the need for the bridge, Roebling responded that projected growth in the cities of New York and Brooklyn would necessitate the construction of additional bridges. Specifically, Roebling suggested future construction of the Williamsburg and Queensboro bridges further north along the East River.Two years later, in June 1869, the New York City Council and the Army Corps of Engineers approved Roebling's design. Later that month, while examining locations for a Brooklyn tower site, Roebling's foot was crushed on a pier by an incoming ferry. Roebling later died of tetanus as a result of the injuries. Immediately following Roebling's death, his son, Washington, took over as chief engineer of the Brooklyn Bridge...The Brooklyn Bridge cost $15.1 million to build, $3.8 million of which was to purchase land for approaches and the remainder going toward construction. This was more than twice the original cost estimate of $7 million.On May 23, 1883, President Chester Arthur and Governor Grover Cleveland officially dedicated the Brooklyn Bridge before more than 14,000 invitees. Emily Roebling was given the first ride over the completed bridge with a rooster, a symbol of victory, in her lap. After the opening ceremony, anyone with a penny for the toll could cross the Brooklyn Bridge. On the first day,the bridge carried trolley lines, horse-drawn vehicles, and even livestock." Full text at http://www.nycroads.com/crossings/brooklyn/     Context: "...it is Roebling's 1840 patent for the in-situ spinning of wire rope that has to be recognized as one of the decisive breakthroughs in modern suspension bridge technology. This patent brought John Roebling a commission to build a cable-suspended, wooden aqueduct over the Allegheny River in 1845. Roebling built a number of such aqueducts before receiving two major bridge,commissions in his mid-career: his 821-foot-span Niagara rail bridge of 1841-55 and his 1,000-foot span Cincinnati Bridge of 1856-67; both of which were prototypes for the 1,600 foot Brooklyn Bridge, whose construction ran through two generations of Roeblings between 1869 and its completion in 1883.The twin masonry support towers of this vast span necessitated the building of foundations 78 feet below the water level... — Kenneth Frampton and Yukio Futagawa. Modern Architecture 1851-1945. p31.

 

Bibliotheque St. Genevieve, Labrouste, 1842-1850   Form: This building uses the barrel vault design, supported by the many decorative arches found within. Iconography: "The  Bibliotheque Sainte-Genevieve is located in the Quartier Latin in Paris, France.  It is located across from the Pantheon, built in1790, and in former years became the church of Ste.Genevieve.   Labrouste originally invisioned the library having a fore court, which would be planted with big trees and decorated with statues.  Instead he chose to embellish the vestibule to resemble a garden.  The size of the site  was approximately 278' x 69'." ( http://gladstone.uoregon.edu)    Context:  "One of the greatest cultural buildings of the nineteenth century to use iron in a prominent, visible way was unquestionably the Bibliotheque Ste.-Genevieve in Paris, designed by Henri Labrouste and built in 1842-50. The large (278 by 69 feet) two-storied structure filling a wide, shallow site is deceptively simple in scheme: the lower floor is occupied by stacks to the left, rare-book storage and office space to the right, with a central vestibule and stairway leading to the reading room which fills the entire upper story. The ferrous structure of this reading room—a spine of slender, cast-iron Ionic columns dividing the space into twin aisles and supporting openwork iron arches that carry barrel vaults of plaster reinforced by iron mesh—has always been revered by Modernists for its introduction of high technology into a monumental building."  —Marvin Trachtenberg and Isabelle Hyman. Architecture: from Prehistory to Post-Modernism. p478.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Courses on Udemy:

• Art History: Prehistory to the 1300
• Art History: Renaissance to 20th C

18th C Neoclassical Art

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Courses on Udemy:

• Art History: Prehistory to the 1300
• Art History: Renaissance to 20th C

Academic Art

"The École des Beaux-Arts, in full École Nationale Supérieure Des Beaux-arts, school of fine arts founded (as the Académie Royale d'Architecture) in Paris in 1671 by Jean-Baptiste Colbert, minister of Louis XIV; it merged with the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture (founded in 1648) in 1793. The school offered instruction in drawing, painting, sculpture, architecture, and engraving to students selected by competitive examination; since 1968, architecture is no longer taught there." (http://www.britannica.com/)

 
In the 19th century the French Academy (École des Beaux-Arts) that David had taken over still flourished.  Artists who worked in David's style continued to dominate the French art world.  The style that they worked in was referred to as "Academic" however they didn't just paint Neoclassical scenes but also painted scenes depicting Arabia, Turkey and India and this subject matter was called "Orientalism."

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Apotheosis of Homer, 1827.  Oil on canvas, approx. 12' 8" x 16' 103/4". Louvre, Paris.  French Academic Painting Raphael School of Athens 1509-1510 Stanza della Segnatura, Vatican, Rome fresco

Form:  This painting is rendered in a very slick and detailed fashion.  No brushstrokes are visible in Ingre's paintings.  Although photography hadn't been invented yet, this painting recalls the photo realistic surfaces and textures of David and Jan Van Eyck's paintings.  The overall design of this image reflects a Neoclassical sense of composition and a Renaissance sense of perspective. The picture plane is arranged in a sculptural frieze like band that takes its cue from antique sculptural friezes such as those found on the Ara Pacis and the Parthenon.  Like its classical counterparts, the image is constructed so that most of the figures are placed in the foreground and even though there is the creation of deep space, the background is not as important as the figures.  It is also classic in that the composition is arranged symmetrically with the most important figure, proclaiming the oath, in the center.  The use of perspective also focusses on this figure. Iconography:  The vessel depicts the apotheosis of Homer which is a kind of crowning scene.   Homer is about to be crowned by a winged victory figure called a nike. To the right of the nike figure is a figure who hands Homer his harp. This painting contains some similar types of elements as Raphael's work.  The figures in the foreground represent important thinkers and paintings from the last three centuries.  In the lower right hand corner is Isaac Newton.  Above him and to the left is Rene Descartes.  In the lower left hand corner is an image of Poussin, the hero of the French school of painting who gestures up towards Homer on his throne.  Behind the figures is an ionic temple that serves as both a visual and conceptual frame with which to view the work. Context: Ingres was David's student and came to Paris because he was awarded a scholarship to study there.  Throughout his life he became one of the giants of the French academic style and he was instrumental in maintaining the Academy's integrity despite the competition it had with a style of art called Romanticism.

 

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres,  Jupiter and Thetis, 1811 oil on canvas, 130 X 101"

Annibale Carracci  The Farnese ceiling-1597-1601 depicting the Loves of the Gods,  ceiling frescoes in the Gallery,  Palazzo Farnese, Rome. Venus and Anchises  (detail)

Form:  This painting falls into all the major characteristics of the Academic style.  It is painted almost photographically, it is symmetrical and textures and the human forms are rendered extremely naturalistically and exactly by using glazes.  However, one of the qualities that begins to show up in Ingre's work is that he subtly distorts or stylizes the anatomy of the figures.  Usually the females have very thin sloping shoulders and slightly rubbery elongated torsos which was the ideal of female beauty at the time.  Iconography: one of the criticisms of the French 19th century academic style was that the uses of classical themes were no longer elevated as they had been in the earlier paintings of David.  Here we see an eroticized almost Mannerist looking interaction of two mythological figures that looks almost as if it might belong on the ceiling of the Farnese Palazzo rather than in a French 19th century drawing room.  Even the figures are stylized almost in a similar manner to Carracci's works.

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Large Odalisque. 1814 oil on canvas, 35"x64" Louvre, Paris French Academic/Orientalist  TIZIANO Vecellio (Titian) Venus of Urbino 1538 Oil on canvas, 119 x 165 cm Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, Italian Renaissance

Form:  This painting falls into all the major characteristics of the Academic style.  It is painted almost photographically, it is symmetrical and textures and the human forms are rendered extremely naturalistically and exactly by using glazes.  It is also very Ingres- like in his distortions of the figures.  Here is a perfect example of his thin sloping shoulders and slightly rubbery elongated torsos which was the ideal of female beauty at the time.  Iconography:  This painting is a European fantasy of what a Turkish harem girl might look like but if she is a Turkish woman why is her skin so pale? In many ways this painting refers almost exactly to the schema that Titian established in his Venus of Urbino and Boucher established in his Brown Odalisk.  These artists chose to juxtapose the eroticized female form with commodities or luxury items.  By playing the textures and body of the female against expensive fabrics, feathers, and jewels, the artist is also making the human female form another commodity which can be bought and sold.  In this way, the wealth of the patron is also eroticized.  A certain amount of moralizing is happening too.  The artist wants to paint naked pictures of beautiful French women to appease the "male gaze."  But cannot unless it is a classical goddess.  Here Ingres finds a new strategy to display the nude female form under the disguise of an ethnographic image very similar to a "National Geographic" magazine.  Since these women are foreign, exotic, and somewhat barbaric it's OK to look at them as long as it's for an anthropological type of study.  Even the photographic aspect of this image supports that this is a documentary type of image.  And, if they are barbaric, we as good Christian soldiers need to go to these places and "civilize" them. In this instance, the luxury items that Ingres plays her body against happen to be the silks and ostrich feathers of the so called orient are by products of our efforts to civilize these people.  In this way the style of Orientalism is a kind of advertisement that justifies the colonization of the east.

 

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