Category Archives: Female Power Project

Female Power Project, perSISTERS designs

use PRIVILEGE to sow JUSTICE

USE PRIVILEGE to sow JUSTICE for Eleanor Roosevelt, perSISTERS print in the Female Power Project

Current design for Eleanor Roosevelt

[The] recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world …

from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a milestone document in the history of human rights. Drafted by representatives with different legal and cultural backgrounds from all regions of the world, the Declaration was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris on 10 December 1948 as a common standard of achievements for all peoples and all nations. It sets out, for the first time, fundamental human rights to be universally protected and it has been translated into over 500 languages.

Anna Eleanor Roosevelt (October 11, 1884 – November 7, 1962) was an American politician, diplomat, and activist. She was the longest-serving First Lady of the United States, having held the post from March 1933 to April 1945 during her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s four terms in office, and served as United States Delegate to the United Nations General Assembly from 1945 to 1952. President Harry S. Truman later called her the “First Lady of the World” in tribute to her human rights achievements.

Eleanor and Franklin’s marriage was always complicated, and she resolved to seek fulfillment in a public life of her own. She persuaded Franklin to stay in politics after he was stricken with debilitating polio in 1921, and Roosevelt began giving speeches and appearing at campaign events in his place. Following Franklin’s election as Governor of New York in 1928, and throughout the remainder of Franklin’s public career in government, Roosevelt regularly made public appearances on his behalf, and as First Lady while her husband served as President, she significantly reshaped and redefined the role of that office during her own tenure and beyond, for future First Ladies.

Though widely respected in her later years, Roosevelt was a controversial First Lady at the time for her outspokenness, particularly her stance on racial issues. She was the first presidential spouse to hold regular press conferences, write a daily newspaper column, write a monthly magazine column, host a weekly radio show, and speak at a national party convention. On a few occasions, she publicly disagreed with her husband’s policies, including the decision to intern Americans of Japanese descent. She advocated for expanded roles for women in the workplace, the civil rights of African Americans and Asian Americans, and the rights of World War II refugees.

Following her husband’s death in 1945, Roosevelt remained active in politics for the remaining 17 years of her life. She pressed the United States to join and support the United Nations and became its first delegate. She served as the first chair of the UN Commission on Human Rights, and oversaw the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Later she chaired the John F. Kennedy administration’s Presidential Commission on the Status of Women. By the time of her death, Roosevelt was regarded as “one of the most esteemed women in the world”; she was called “the object of almost universal respect” in her New York Times obituary.

Adapted from Wikipedia

Black Lab Makery, Come and see this, Female Power Project, What I'm Making

The Woman Who Gave Birth to Herself

I didn’t want to do a piece on Frida Kahlo when I started the #FemalePowerProject because it seemed to me that her work and her life have become kitsch and thus a minefield of meanings. I was urged by more than one advisor to proceed. But really, it wasn’t until that crazy election and the up-cry of female pain it elicited that I was able to frame my thoughts around the potent triumvirate of pain, anger, and creativity that Kahlo’s life exemplifies—that many women artists’ lives exemplify. Women’s experiences really are different from men’s, but still the male is seen as the universal. Here in our work female artists are showing that women’s experience is just as universal as men’s, and maybe more so, since there are more females in the world. The other is the self. The words on the shawl translate into English as “Here I have painted myself, Frida Kahlo” from her painting, “Self Portrait with Loose Hair” (1947). Design references: Tehuantepec textile designs; Kahlo’s imagery of drops (tears, milk) and binding ropes; floral hair ornaments; her eyes and brow.

I have a few of these shawls for sale in poly chiffon for $125. They measure about 3 feet by 7.5 feet. This design is also available on stretched canvas at 55 inches x 22 inches for $300 free delivery from the fabricator. You can contact me directly or find these shawls at Black Lab or Femme Fatale DC. There is a version on canvas for sale now at Femme Fatale. Look at the sidebar on this page for information on how to contact me or visit these locations.

“The Woman Who Gave Birth to Herself” shawl design honoring Frida Kahlo. Created by Leda Black (Creatrix), the work is part of the #FemalePowerProject Click on the image to enlarge.

Defining, Female Power Project

Phenomenology of Message

What the Female Power Project is meaning

I am an artist and I have an art business. These are intertwining occupations, obviously. There is making, and there is making ABOUT making. Art is, among  other things, a mode of communication in itself. The object itself communicates. At the most fundamental level this is an interaction between an object and a viewer’s nervous system. An artist doesn’t have to be there when this happens. In fact, the artist is often—or almost always—absent when the communication happens. However, because I have a public studio—Black Lab—I often see people interacting with the objects I have made. This is part of the “Laboratory” aspect of the place where I make stuff. I don’t think I could make things without this kind of laboratory right now. Without this place my art production would be extremely slow, because communication, for me at least, needs to be tested in the world outside my head. So the business, the making about making, is also the art.

I have a long background in graphic design. This field has almost always been separate from fine art. Good design is supposed to communicate, visually and verbally, as quickly and precisely as possible—but not through direct and literal statements. Designs have to be persuasive and to that end they need to rely on culture-based associations and desires, and universal needs. Graphic design sells something through visual and verbal stories. These stories should have a natural narrative structure: this, then this, so this. This is the message.

I’ve realized that this website, this blog you are reading, is a poor design for the art business, although it maybe is okay as a document of art production. It has been created through time as the work is being made. I start out presenting my work here before I entirely know how to talk about it. I throw this content into the world before I know what the narrative structure, the “business story,” should be. This is probably true of many artists: I make something, and I’m thinking in a certain mode about what I want to say with the object, or how to externalize a particular image that has stuck in my head, then I make it, and the object turns around and starts talking to my own nervous system. Then I figure out what the object really means, or could mean, and what it is for, especially when I get to see other people interacting with it. For example, the perSISTERS prints: at first I called them “Positive Protest Principles Posters.” That was essentially their message. This made sense from the perspective of the development of the work. But then later I thought of a better name with which to approach the work after it already existed for a while.

I thought of writing about this here because I’ve just been rewriting the promotional postcard I have for the Female Power Project. This is a card with my contact info, studio location, photos of some works, the logo for the project, and a short description. The short description is the hard part. I first rewrote it because I adapted it for the display of my Female Power Project works at Femme Fatale DC, a pop-up shop for women-owned businesses. When I rewrote it, I thought, THIS is what I really want to say about this work, THIS is the message. Then I thought, I’m running out of the postcards, I should update and reprint those too. So I looked at what I had rewritten, and realized, no, not exactly, that’s not what this project is really about! I need to rewrite. Again. There’s a rushing of thoughts and ideas, but the words have their own flow, and sometimes, almost always really, these two processes just don’t line up right. The message is very slippery for me. That is what I am saying here: the message is slippery. Any message.

Here is the most recent iteration of the Female Power Project message. I would not be surprised if I change it again in a month.

Imagination is the Seed of Power
Female Power Project Shawls, Scarves, and Pins
perSISTERS Prints, Posters, Cards, and Stickers
Inspired by the powers of human and divine females, I have created these objects to represent a person as well as her attributes and message—or power—in words and images. The perSISTERS series reminds us of the positive actions women use to improve all of our lives. Because of the history of women’s oppression, these actions are often heroic and are messages we should celebrate. The shawls, scarves, and pins allow us to wear, and virtually to embody, the powers of exalted females. Women’s experience is human experience.

Here is an expanded version of the story I tell when people ask me how I came up with the Female Power Project and the perSISTERS prints. I’m going to use bullet points to break it down:

  • In 2015 I decided to make some shawls with Catholic themes because the Pope was visiting the neighborhood of my studio.
  • I made one with a dove image and another based on the iconography of the Virgin of Guadalupe—the Catholic image that I liked that I was most familiar with from growing up in New Mexico. I thought a lot about making such an image: I’m not Catholic or Latina, is it unacceptable appropriation to use this image? What is my approach to the image—is it respectful? What is the story of the image, where did it come from?
  • I made the shawl and watched someone put it on her shoulders. It seemed sort of magic, like she was wearing the Virgin’s power. I started thinking a lot about costume and dressing up and how that engages our nervous system. What an interesting thing to do with a work of art!
  • I thought that it would be interesting to make shawls about other females. I asked my friends about human and divine females they admire. From there I started with a short list: Harriet Tubman, Maya Angelou, Marie Curie, Erzulie, Malala Yousafzai. I added scarves because I could make those less expensive. It wasn’t enough to do a little research on Wikipedia and then produce something. I really wanted to visually capture something important and fundamental about these characters. Then I wrote about this process here on my blog. The writing became part of the artwork and I print out these short essays and include them in the box with the scarf or shawl when someone buys one. I give them to people who don’t buy, if they ask.
  • The graphics I made right after the Women’s March were mostly complaints. There were lots of wonderful signs at the march, but most of them were poorly designed, so I thought that was something I could contribute. I made 10×8 posters with many colors and layered images, using a technique that was relatively quick and allowed me to print the images at any size. I printed them on canvas, varnished them, and supplied pins so you could attach them to your coat or bag and make every trip into a demonstration. The style of these is the seed of the style I use in the perSISTERS. But I ran out of complaints and I got tired of complaining in my art.
  • There are women who interest me, who don’t seem like shawl people. Ieshia Evans is one of those. She became famous because of a photograph taken of her. I made other artworks about her and that image. After the election I made posters based on photos of three women who were famous for such photos. The posters seemed to be a better way than shawls to express the powers they represent. These posters are BE PRESENT (Ieshia Evans), BE BRAVE (Danuta Danielsson), and SHOW UP (Tess Asplund). This is how the perSISTERS graphics came to be, although I didn’t call them that until I was making labels and packaging for the cards and small print sets. First I called them Positive Protest Principles Posters, because they state ideas in active verbs describing how amazing women have acted in the world and what message I think they are telling us, as women.
  • I want people to be able to imagine women as powerful and competent—as leaders—as heroes and strugglers. That is what I think the perSISTERS graphics help with. I believe that one big reason why we don’t have a female president is because of a lack of imagination. That is why I said “Imagination is the Seed of Power.”
  • I was surprised at how strongly and positively some people react to the images I have made. I don’t really remember what I was thinking when I paired the image of Ruby Bridges with the meme-ing phrase “Nevertheless She Persisted.” My inspiration must be related to the potency of that photo of the six-year-old leaving her school surrounded by federal marshals. Unlike the other three I mention above, Bridges isn’t just famous for that photo. In any case, many many people love that poster and must have it for their own. It seems to fill a need. We need to imagine what it is like to be a hero.