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INTERDISCIPLINARY ARTS PROJECT GRANT PROPOSAL 2015-2016
first encounter with one’s own femininityO BJE C T S IN T H E M IR R O R A R E C L O S E R T H A N T H E Y A P P E A R
LEAD ARTISTS Meg Davis & Kathy Kelley
FACULT Y MENTOR Dr. Angela Mariani
LITE R A RY/P R I NT [Flash Creative Nonfiction Confessional Poetry + Chapbook]
TH E ATR IC A L [Movement + Staging + Direction]
+ A RT/I N STA LL ATI O N [Bodily Intervention + Installation]
PROJECT DISCIPLINARITY
PROJECT OVERVIEW The interdisciplinary grant title called to mind the fact
(or at least based on my unlimbered capacity and imaginings)
that a female can only see herself, her physical sexual specificity, with some form of reflecting
device. Gender understanding seems to be culturally constitutive and core to identity, more so than
we would like to believe possible. This interdisciplinary performative reading project collabora-
tively explores the female’s first encounter with her own femininity. It is our intent to work fluidly
between physical space (visual art/installation), textual/literary space (flash creative nonfiction
readings/confessional poetry), and liminal space (theatrical direction, movement, aural explora-
tion/interpretation) and body.
Imagine a cluster of women scattered in pairings, back-to-back, seated or standing, on oversized
raw home furnishings built from domestic thresholds (doors and windows and frames) set outdoors
in the Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts’ new courtyard. It is evening and the sun has
just set, silhouetting the four to seven pairs of distorted handcrafted chairs. A light rises on one
pairing—a seated woman reading, and at her back, a second seated she-human artifact gestur-
ally performing with a single slow ceaseless movement. The she-human artifact is functioning
intertextually with her objectness and single repeated gesture melding at a conceptual juncture
between body and text; firsts and femininity; and lived and distorted memories. The light dims as
the reading and gesture begin again more quietly, softer in both sound and movement. A secondary
pairing becomes the attentional focus as directed by an intensifying glow. An alternate reading
and performative gesture are enacted. This continues through a series of four to seven texts, each
pairing and gesture will be unique to its specific read text. At the end, with all lights dimmed, the
readers exit their seating/standing position. Still reading as they walk, they navigate to empty
(held) seats amidst the audience. The readers slowly lower their heads and voices in unison until
they can no longer be heard but their lips remain moving with their text. Simultaneously, the
she-human artifacts diminish their gestures and bow their heads as they still. The lights remain
dimmed for a few moments. Silence. The lights come up only slightly to cue the end. Readers and
she-human artifacts remain seated, heads bowed as the floor is opened for Q and A.
PROJECT
LEAD ARTISTS
MEG DAVIS. PhD Student
Fine Art: Acting + Directing + Arts Administration
Meg.Davis@ttu.edu, [603] 289-2864
KATHY KELLEY. PhD Student
Fine Art: Critical Studies + Artistic Practice, Installation Artist
Kathryn.Kelley@ttu.edu, [713] 299-8582
FACULTY MENTOR
DR. ANGELA MARIANI. Associate Professor of Musicology
and Director Texas Tech Early Music Ensemble.
AngelaMariani.Smith@ttu.edu
COLLABORATING FACULTY | LITERARY TEXT JUROR & CHAPBOOK
DR. KATIE CORTESE.Assistant Professor of English, LITERARY JUROR.
[Creative Writing], Fiction Editor, Iron Horse Literary Review, and the author of the
forthcoming flash fiction collection Girl Power And Other Short-Short Stories.
Katie.Cortese@ttu.edu
DR. JENNIFER SNEAD.Associate Professor of English, LetterPress Lab
CHAPBOOKS Collaborator. Research interests within the field are print culture,
religion, and popular literacy. Jennifer.Snead@ttu.edu
BUDGET REQUEST
$2,280
first encounter with one’s own femininityO BJE C T S IN T H E M IR R O R A R E C L O S E R T H A N T H E Y A P P E A R
If juggling multiple awesome projects the following could be reduced from our budget without major detriment to project
*WITHOUT CHAPBOOKS $1,655 OR WITHOUT FANCY LIGHTS + CHAPBOOKS $1,255
IMAGES RIGHT PAGE [influence] Ann Hamilton. Object/Body Series. 1984-88. IMAGE LEFT PAGE [project visual artist ] Kathy Kelley. i dissolves these fabricated seatings. 2012.
SHE-HUMAN ARTIFACT + GESTURE Female artists, dancers, actors, musicians will be
used for the She-human gesturing artifact. This woman will be color simpli-
fied and coordinated with her reading partner. Based on the text there will either be a simple
bodily intervention and/or gesture developed and implemented. If relevant, the gesture may be
aural. The team of lead artists will collaboratively develop the gestures and bodily interventions.
The bodily interventions will be influenced by the body object relationship of the visual artist,
Ann Hamilton’s Body Object series [images included] and artists working in a similar vein. The
single gesture established from the text will be performed slowly and repetitively.
INSTALLATION OF PAIRED DOMESTIC FURNISHINGS will be
built from deconstructed doors, windows
and their frames. See image samples. Each pairing will be matching but vary in scale—one
oversized, one undersized, but differ from text to text. The lead artists will collaboratively de-
sign the furnishings/set designs. The lead visual artist will fabricate these with assistance from
other students. Materials, where possible, will be harvested from the Lubbock domestic waste
stream. The installation will be installed in the LHUCA courtyard. It will be on view prior to the
performance during the April 2016 First Friday Art Trail. Participating artists will disseminate
postcards promoting the performative reading.
domestic thresholds F A B R IC AT E D F R O M H A R V E S T E D D O O R S
SITE LHUCA CAMPUS OUTDOOR COURTYARD situated between the Main, Clay and
Grafitti buildings. A list serve serving a professional community of 10,971
writers will be the primary vehicle/web site to promote the open literary call for original
texts, as recommended by TTU Creative Writing Faculty. Additionally the call will be posted on
Glasstire.com and other local art sites. https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/crwropps-b/info
DATE April 2016. The performance will be coordinated to occur along with the TTU
Women’s Conference. The installation for the performance will be pre-in-
stalled so that it is on exhibit for April’s First Friday Art Trail with signage and participating
artists promoting the mid-April reading/performance date via post cards.
AUDIENCE TTU’s CVPA and literary community, Women’s Conference
attendees, and local community. The structural portion
of the installation, the set, will be up for April’s First Friday Art Trail and thus will reach a broad
audience of art visitors.
femininity INSTALLATION/PERFORMANCE
HERE
first encounter with one’s own femininityO BJE C T S IN T H E M IR R O R A R E C L O S E R T H A N T H E Y A P P E A R
TEXTS THE TEXTS OF FLASH* NONFICTION OR CONFESSIONAL POETRY will be
secured through a juried open call. These will be new writings devel-
oped specifically for Objects in the mirror are closer than they appear: first encounters with
one’s own femininity. Dr. Katie Cortese, the juror, will select four to seven works from the open
call. Female PhD students, from TTU’s Creative Writing and the Theater programs, will be re-
cruited as the readers. Male readers will be used if it is relevant to one of the selected texts. The
costuming will be minimal in detail. The color will be established by the text. As is artistic habit,
there is a high probability for either an all flat black or white palette in costuming, despite an
inclination for Barbie Pink.
* Flash = 750 words or less
CHAPBOOKS. A SHORT RUN (40) of chapbooks will be created post-performance.
The lead artists will coordinate with the TTU Letterpress Studio faculty for
the printing the books. Design will be lead by Kathy Kelley. Participating literary, performative
and documentary artists, as well as participating faculty, will each receive a copy.
DOCUMENTATION Performance will be digitally [video + still] documented.
IMAGE ABOVE Reading/Performance site Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts. IMAGES LEFT/RIGHT [project lead visual artist, sample work] Kathy Kelley.
ies by preparing me for operating with budgetary constraint, complexities of assembling theatrical
functions outside of the university setting, multifaceted production service (lighting, marketing,
development coordination, directing, actor training, and application of interdisciplinary theory),
and interpersonal coordination. Again, there is no substitute for practical experience or for inter-
personal and interdisciplinary collaboration in meaning-making, and I would be grateful for the
support that would make this collaboration possible.
KATHY KELLEY, PhD Student, Fine Art Critical Studies and Artistic Practice
Kathryn.Kelley@ttu.edu, [713] 299-8582
Embedded in gender-linked study, skimming historically seminal texts on language, gender, po-
liteness and power, plus subsequent studies, I am straddling domains while dipping my toes into
linguistics, discursive, psychometrics, socio-psychologic, and feminist ideologies. Needless to say,
I have fallen into this pool, lapping with a plethora of theories. I am drowning, but am not that
interested in coming up for air.
Late fall 2014, I ran 74 female and 86 male visual artist essays through two separate comput-
er-assisted language analysis programs. I was also introducing myself to gender language theorist,
Robin Lakoff and Deborah Tannen. Though I don’t yet know statistics (enrolled for this fall) , as an
artist I am used to hunting for patterns and anomalies. And in the analysis of the first run of texts,
both exist. Compared to the general public normatives, the female artists more generally adhere
to Robin Lakoff’s noted male-linked language habits. Yet, compared to the normatives of DICTION7
[drawn from presidents, politicians and journalists for the last 50 years = predominately male] the
artists’ gender differences roughly correlate with the male/female disparity introduced by Lakoff.
I can easily conclude (with theorists) that gender-linked language is contextual. Gender-linked
language is not my primary dissertation direction, yet gender cannot be ignored as a variable.
I am enjoying the heck out of this research immersion. So with my head swimming with gen-
der-linked notions, all I could do was laugh at the female implications of the grant theme—Objects
in the Mirror are Closer Than They Appear. I codified my scatological humor with an addendum to
the theme—First Encounters with One’s Own Femininity. From there, I envisioned how I might meld
my research and need to occasionally dry off standing with both feet on my artistic ground.
The interdisciplinary parameters fit smoothly with yearnings I have had toward combining text,
installation and movement. I have collaborated before with visual artists, this would break new
ground in the arena of movement and performativity. Meg Davis from our VPA cohort group,
seemed a perfect fit. So we’ve joined to beginning fleshing out the initial vision and moving it
toward realization. I am grateful for someone knowledgeable in movement, direction and who has
had actual courses in gender theory. We are mutually excited about where this project might lead
and how it will inform each of our practices.
I also initiated with Dr. Cortese and Dr. Snead of the English department. Both are excited to col-
laborate on this project—Cortese as literary juror for texts and Snead with gender ideology and
letterpress chapbooks. I have also met with our awesome faculty mentor, Dr. Mariani, for project
review and perspective. When I sat down across from her, it was then that I realized I hadn’t con-
sidered the aural. Her very presences introduced the potential of a musical gesture.
Along with coordinating with our faculty, I see my role as mutual collaborator with Meg to envision
installation, body interventions and gestural components and then taking the lead with fabrica-
tion and site specifications.
RESEARCH/BIOS FOR LEAD ARTISTS
MEG DAVIS, PhD Student, Fine Art Acting/Directing + Arts Administration
Meg.Davis@ttu.edu, [603] 289-2864
For the purposes of this project, I will contribute my knowledge and skills as playwright, director,
and acting coach in addition to the skills and theories I have studied in my interdisciplinary courses,
specifically feminist studies. Any practical production experience is an invaluable part of theatrical
scholarship, and this specific project will provide experiential context for feminist theatre practices
and an opportunity to learn about the process of integrating feminism, a long-time personal schol-
arly interest, into tangible art. I will be collaborating with Kathy Kelley by developing feminist form
in the actresses we work with, piecing together tableaus that elicit feminist utopias or dystopias
to demonstrate modern testimonial renderings of interactions with the feminine, with womanhood,
and with the embodied feminine self. Additionally, we will work through more practical production
issues, such as the orchestration of lighting and sound, casting, rehearsal structures or calendars,
rehearsal and performance space coordination, etc.
As an Acting/Directing and Arts Administration student, I hope to use this experience as an ed-
ucation opportunity regarding marketing and space coordination. I hope to gear my dissertation
towards a comparison of theatre organizations, specifically those that operate in historically under-
served communities. My goal is to accomplish this comparison by serving in internship capacities
at one theatre in any underserved community outside the state of Louisiana and compare that with
internship experiences at a theatre of similar outreach goals in the greater New Orleans area. Any
experience working in an unfamiliar space with a devised process will be of huge benefit to my stud-
IMAGE [lead fabrication artist, sample work] Kathy Kelley.
TIMELINE
MAY 2015• Develop text for literary open call
• Review text with juror, Dr. Katie Cortese
JUNE 1– SEPT 15, 2015OPEN LITERARY CALL FOR WORKS
• Submit/Send open call to online services;
email call to selective individuals
• Coordinate with Tricia Earl (patricia.a.earl@ttu.edu)
of Women’s Studies for promotion at Conference
• Coordinate with Linda Cullum to
finalize dates for LHUCA courtyard
• Submit material for event calendars—
English Department Reading Series,
Women’s Conference, CVPA, Theater Department,
Art Department, and local community
OCT 15, 2015• Jury submissions. Select works.
If > 200, lead artists preread will screen
submissions to assist juror
• Send out notices of selection
• Live and breathe each text, allowing them to lead
gestural and spatial considerations
• Recruit readers and object/person performers
• Recruit videographer and two photographers
• Disseminate texts to readers, performers, and
documenters
• Coordinate with Letterpress Lab faculty to get on
their spring course syllabus
NOV 2015• Introduce group to big picture/goals/imaginings
• Unpack texts with readers and performers and docu-
menters; impromptu rehearsals
• Collaborative reader/performer team
experimentation with first impressions of text
• Work out two-person team for each text – reader
and performer
• Two coordinating together—reread and explore ges-
ture and possible metaphorical (sideways thinking)
artifact/relationship to body
• Each pairing presents their tentative reading gesture
• Group digests, brainstorms and provides feedback
DECEMBER 2015• Lead artists adapt plans for specific gestural and
object/person artifact manifestation for each text
from initial full team experimentation
• Confirm/reminders for publishing event
calendars. Add artists’ names to literature
• Define and reserve lighting equipment
• Reserve seating/chairs from LUCHA
JAN – FEB 2016• Build/fabricate necessary artifacts
• Design promotional postcards
• Build initial web presence
• Fabrication
• Rehearsals
• Beginning working out visual content for chapbooks
• Print promotional cards
MARCH 2016• Installation of structural portions
• On-site rehearsals
• Design sandwich board announcing performance for
April First Friday Art Trail
• Resolve lighting
• Continue visual content for chapbooks
APRIL 2016• Readers and performances and artists attend First
Friday Art Trail
• On-site rehearsals
• Reading/Performance Event
• Collect any outstanding purchase receipts
• Begin grant follow-up paperwork
MAY 2016• Finalize and work letterpress lab on chapbooks
• Disseminate chapbooks
• Send out thank you notes—faculty, LHUCA, press,
participating artists/documenters, etc
• Submit grant follow-up paperwork
JUNE 2016• Refine/redesign web presence based on chapbook
• Disseminate link to participating artists and faculty
PROJECT BUDGET STAGING/INSTALLATION COSTS Wood [if doors are unavailable for refuse harvest]
Supplies for bodily interventions [to be determined by forthcoming literary texts]
Hardware
Safety devices to secure outdoor installation (guy-wire and anchors)
Electric cords [BORROW]
Light board + lights [RENTAL]*
LITERARY + CHAPBOOK COSTS* Three month account with www.Submitable.com
Chapbook cover weight paper
Chapbook text weight paper
Chapbook Misc [wood for original plates + thread]
Literary awards for selected work*
PROMOTIONAL COSTS Print/large format postcards vista print
Sandwich Board [wood]
if juggle multiple awesome projects the following could be reduced from our budget
without major detriment to project
*WITHOUT CHAPBOOKS $1,655 WITHOUT FANCY LIGHTS + CHAPBOOKS $1,255
225
150
50
100
0
550
90
175
400
50
400
70
20
TOTAL $2,280
IMAGE [lead fabrication artist, sample work] Kathy Kelley.
first encounter with one’s own femininityOBJECTS IN THE MIRROR ARE CLOSER THAN THEY APPEAR
INTERDISCIPLINARY ARTS PROJECT GRANT PROPOSAL 2015-2016
IMAGE [lead fabrication artist, sample work] Kathy Kelley.
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