DATEBOOK MEDIA

MEDIA

"We want to create useful art, art that is part of our daily lives."

article by Sandra Cipriano on The Kingston Women Artists' Datebook:

  "Asked about how the concept evolved, Alana says, 'Jocelyn and I had been playing around with the idea of reproductions for a while and we decided to just do it.'  We wanted to get together with other women and get work out in print because it reaches more people. This is the first time Canadian women artists have been published in this format. Art books are placed on shelves and then forgotten. Calendars are part of our daily lives."

  The reaction of the community has been very enthusiastic, says Kapell. The Kingston Artists' Association was particularly generous and sponsored the organization. The women still had to do some fairly aggressive fund-raising, however. Their efforts included a dance at the Baby grand, and a raffle. Funding also came from the individual artists. Each woman was asked to contribute $300 to the venture. Asked how the artists reacted to that, Alana Kapell says that women were quite willing to put that much in. One woman, a student who is in debt, even said she was willing to borrow if she had to, in order to be included in this venture. It is all the more astonishing when you think that it was done on trust. None of us had a very clear idea of what the end product would be like. She also says a few men balked at the project's exclusion of male artists, calling it 'sexist'. We simply wanted to get together as women. The focus was not on excluding men.

  Nevertheless, she found the dynamics in an all-female group to be definitely different from working in a mixed group. 'The emphasis was on co-operation. We've enjoyed learning and creating together and sharing our artistic energy.' She feels optimistic about the status of women artists: 'In the past, it is true, women artists were neglected. Today, I don't think there's anything stopping us from getting stuff done. Women's art history courses are being taught more and more. Things are changing."

   They are already planning their next project in which they plan to weave a connecting theme around the individual works in the datebook. In this next project they will also have twice as many contributors. 'It will be the responsibility of each artist to sponsor another. We have grown into a tightly-knit group and trust each other's judgement."

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Kingston This Weekend Saturday November 10, 1990  Lynn Rees Lambert:

"Call it organizing your time. Beautifully."