Kkelley mdavis objects in the mirror proposal email versions

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

[email protected], [603] 289-2864

KATHY KELLEY. PhD Student

Fine Art: Critical Studies + Artistic Practice, Installation Artist


FACULTY MENTOR

DR. ANGELA MARIANI. Associate Professor of Musicology

and Director Texas Tech Early Music Ensemble.

[email protected]

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.

[email protected]

DR. JENNIFER SNEAD.Associate Professor of English, LetterPress Lab

CHAPBOOKS Collaborator. Research interests within the field are print culture,

religion, and popular literacy. [email protected]

BUDGET REQUEST

$2,280


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


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


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


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 ([email protected])

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


first encounter with one’s own femininityOBJECTS IN THE MIRROR ARE CLOSER THAN THEY APPEAR

INTERDISCIPLINARY ARTS PROJECT GRANT PROPOSAL 2015-2016


Documents

Kkelley mdavis objects in the mirror proposal email versions