Burn the Witch Art Show at the Empty Space Theatre - By N.L. Belardes

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When studying social trends and the cyclic waves of witchcraft hysteria in early Puritan New England, you quickly realize that someone could be thought of as a witch for merely being a single, outspoken woman who was just abrasive enough to cause minor social trouble, and just unlucky enough to cast a shadow of suspicion over herself. Maybe she was the wife of some pussyfooted schleprock and she paid the bills, then caught him drinking with the town hoochie. So she pummeled him, then spoke out, had an anxiety attack and so talked to herself in her sleep. And so he accused her of being a witch. The Devil in the shape of a woman? Just ask Carol Karlsen in her feminist 1987 treatise and declaration that a man’s oppressive world encircles the female sphere with pitchforks stabbing femininity right in the ovaries. Yes, women have been persecuted for centuries. Historical evidence supports such a notion, and misperceptions of women abound.

Bakersfield is conservative, often mindless in its territorial pissings over not just women, but the spheres of artists and women; not to mention Bakersfield has had its share of witchhunts: supposed child molesters, supposed demon worshippers, blacks, non status quo, gays, artists, etc…

I realized very recently that the Bakersfield underground art movement isn’t just about the art on the walls or the sculptures and assemblages pieced and molded and left standing in dark gallery corners. Often the art itself is in the very characters presenting, in thematic costumes, accompanying poetry, and in sweeping thought and speech that portrays a justifiable aire of rebelliousness. Acceptance of such a thematic overture as the dual-Saturday gallery show at the Empty Space Theatre, “Burn the Witch” doesn’t mean femminazis crying out and male-bashing—it may just mean a gender-oriented unity theme and art on the walls, in poetry, sculpture, photography and more.

I’m happy to state up front that said show isn’t some kind of lavish Bakersfield witch hunt left over from stacks of Bakersfield child molestation cases, or the moldy cut chapter from a steamy Edward Humes investigative revelation. It’s not about women swinging broomsticks for being called witches. Nor do they declare that as artists they are being persecuted or burned at the stake. Burn the Witch is rather a sweeping all-female gesture of self-mockery, a celebration of gender, and social acceptance of self, that for Bakersfield artists in a conservative male-oriented town, that is saying something special.

I showed up to the Empty Space with Hectic Films in tow for a new episode of Noveltown’s Zowietown, and to create a flavorful blog article that could simply capture the spirit of local female artists who don’t really want to cook witches, although simmering up the misperceptions of themselves as a tasty treat to serve, I could tell, was not beyond this group.

Yet, by the very nature of female gender group art, I could see trends in color and individual theme that spoke out with issues both feminist and non-feminist. The show is carefully curated by Jenn Williams and Jen Raven, a dazzling duo who craft groups of paintings on the Empty Space gallery wall to promote color, and abstract individual themes. In a side room are several nudes and one particularly angry hanging sculpture: a vagina that will literally eat any penetrating object alive. I found myself staring at the details and giggling at the stark razor of its femininity. Repulsive? No… alluring, yes. Angry? Not really, just plain imaginative. I had no fear of it jumping off the wall and devouring my cock, if that’s what you’re wondering. Representative of the fun self-mockery of the artists on hand, and the devilishness in which the art is presented? Yes!

Nyoka gave a great interview for Zowietown regarding one of her works that she wasn’t afraid to say emanated from artist depression. That’s the kind of honesty you will appreciate from this group of female artists. Words such as hers should draw you into a world of women, a world men often try to control, a world of feminine beauty and dysfunctional social reality—it’s a real show that will burn you if you do not go and support.

See The Accused September 9th and 16th from 2-7PM:

Jen Raven
Jenn Williams
*Nyoka*
Amber Saunders-Quiroz
Alexis Nelson
Allison Padgett
Ashley Martinez
Katie Campbell
Susan Roussel
Meladi Moret
Heather Magness
Rose Lester
Guinevere Park-Hall Dethlefson
Julie Jordan-Scott
Theresa Tate
Ashleymarie Sey DeBondt
Denise Wilson
Holly Gomez

This entry was posted by N.L. Belardes, on Friday, September 08, 2006. You can leave your response.