In the Article:
Arts fest
to WAM and wow
By Jessie Rolph
The Daily Iowan
October 12, 2001
Reprinted with permission of The Daily Iowan © 1996.
Kira T. Little Sky hopes she can bring her individual flavor to it.
The intermedia artist plans to show her video artworks at an all-women's
festival Saturday night at Lou Henri, 630 Iowa Ave.
Little Sky and 40 to 50 other local artists will come together for WAM!!!
Womanifesta 2001. It will be an evening of music, spoken word, and art,
with the artists showing off their talents, building community, and celebrating
women in art.
"It encapsulates the whole idea of getting a broad range of women
creators to show off their talents and to have fun doing it in sort of
a creative, festive atmosphere," said Matthew Harris, an event organizer
and manager of Lou Henri.
A visual-art opening, which will include pottery, bookbinding, jewelry,
and other genres, will begin at 5 p.m. Performance art will take the stage
from 8-11:30 p.m. The performance section will include short sets from
various musicians, poets, performance artists, and fiction writers. The
music will include folk, country, blues, European classical, and funk.
Disc jockey Cat Moore will finish off the night.
The show is open to all ages, with no cover charge during the art opening.
Those who stay for the performance art will be charged a cover: $9 with
buffet, $5 without.
WAM!!!
History
Harris came up with the conception of WAM!!!, which stands for Womyn,
Art, and Music. Lou Henri has hosted many performances in the past, he
said, and he thought it would be good to start an annual festival. As
he thought of what group of people would be most involved, he realized
it would be women.
"I tried to think of what sort of collective of people would get
most in to this and would have something unique to say," Harris said.
"In this town, I thought the best group for me to do this
with would be female artists."
The organizers, which also includes Laura Crossley, who came up with the
name Womanifesta, and Anna Ullerich, who is currently painting a mural
on the north wall of Dulcinea, 2 S. Dubuque St., said they expect a large
turnout.
"We're gonna be swamped," Ullerich said.
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A Special Atmosphere
Most artists, approximately half of whom are either university students
or alumni, will stay after their performances to talk, with some artists
possibly selling their work.
Harris said the festival should create a special atmosphere for conversation
and for people to make connections with other people.
"I think that any aspiring female artist should come just to be inspired,
to learn and to see the wide variety of forms you can get into, and to
meet some people and talk to them about it," he said.
Joyelle McSweeney, a recent graduate of the Writers' Workshop, will present
her poetry at Womanifesta. She said she looks forward to seeing the variety
of genres, pieces, and approaches at the festival.
"Women's art is strong and various," she said. "Anyone
who attends this type of event also participates in it, by affirming and
adding to the strength of the community."
E-mail DI reporter Jessie Rolph at:
[email protected]