Holiday Story: Finding a New Lens
Category Is: Women Artists
The fall was packed. We were on a schedule (say it to yourself sch-e-dule, British like ISN’T IT SATISFYING AND HILARIOUS?!). Sister JK and I were headed abroad in a few weeks and the holiday cards had to be done before then.
I was ambitious—it would be a holiday-themed tea party. We would have top hats and blazers with blingy things and behind us would be our new bookshelves (color-coded of course) and there would be delicacies for consumption.
I even borrowed that self-heating tea pot from my boss (and ordered another different version because OPTIONS). I got the delicacies at Costco, I ordered pink and green blazers and matching (tone-on-tone) top hats. I got matching tulle and created gathered ruffle moments.
I created small blingy effects, some crocheted.
I made my Dad come over to provide muscle—he helped me get down three Christmas trees from the attic storage space and bring in lights and danglies. (A few years back Sister JR had ordered many chandelier-like danglies and we hadn’t yet used them effectively.)
The background was an amazing go:
There wasn’t necessarily a story though. The feature in this was the bookshelves (you can tell where our priorities are). Every year we try to plan sooner rather than later the holiday card story, but sometimes *spoiler alert* it just doesn’t come.
We shot the imagery, photoshopped the images, ordered the cards, and bam, the following week I was in Amsterdam. Holiday prep concluded.
They Did Not Slay
Except when I came back and saw the printed cards, I hated them. They weren’t original, they weren’t fresh, they did not slay. (Though, admittedly, we did look fabulous.)
So, the cards became something we hadn’t done before: New Year’s cards. I followed up on an idea that had been a theme for me that year: Women in art, women artists, women and marginalized peoples in art.
Most people can’t name more than one woman artist (if that), and, sorry men, you are the default. Most people think of male artists of when we say the word “artists”. So, before you feel excluded, remember that you are the default for everything. EVERYTHING is set to your preferences—EVERYTHING. So the emphasis people place on things that AREN’T you is because even though you are less than half the world’s population everything has always been about YOU. (Don’t blame other people for that. Blame your forefathers—they are the ones that set up this system.)
Anyhoo, I decided to do callouts naming four different female artists and pay homage to their styles by adding stylistic elements they were known for, like filters, to the imagery we had shot with top hats and such.
I chose four women artists:
- Yayoi Kusama
- Mary Cassatt
- Elaine Sturtevant
- Judy Chicago
My sis (the other annual holiday card stakeholder) got swept along for the ride (as per usual) and approved this adaptation.
And so, for 2023, we are serving you women-artist realness.