Support for Astria Suparak and The Warehouse Gallery

Astria Suparak is an awesome artist and curator who invited out our video program Daughters of Joy! down to NY state a few weeks ago. The work she has done over the last year as Director of the Warehouse Gallery in Syracuse, NY has been inspiring, contemporary and emerging artist driven. This week, we
have learned that Astria is being fired from her position. The
Syracuse arts community is stunned by this: faculty at Syracuse
University, local arts organizations, and artists in the area have
been thrilled by the great programs Astria has organized in her short
tenure at the Gallery, and feel she has contributed much to the city.
Astria is very professional in all her undertakings.
She has made strong connections in this community, and fostered great
dialogue. The only reasons we have been given for this decision, made
by Jeffrey Hoone, is that he is restructuring the Gallery to meet his
high standards. We do not know what these standards are, and feel
that The Warehouse Gallery has been very successful in bringing
important contemporary art to central New York.

If you feel comfortable in doing so, we ask you to write a letter to
the people listed below. As a member of a larger art community,
showing support for Astria and her fine work will help us to improve
arts programming in Syracuse, as well as allow Astria to continue to
contribute her talents to the art world at large. Below is an email
that is being circulated to as many people as possible. Please feel
free to send it to anyone you feel should know about this, or would
be willing to help.

You can see some of the letters that have
already been written on her behalf at http://syracuse-warehouse.blogspot.com/
-----------------
Dear All,

This past last week, I have learned that an exhibition of the social
activist artists The Yes Men, scheduled to open in November at The
Warehouse Gallery in downtown Syracuse, has been canceled by upper
management. When I inquired about the reasons for this decision, I
learned that CMAC (Coalition of Museums and Art Centers at Syracuse
University) is planning personnel changes at The Warehouse Gallery,
and canceled this show because of the anticipated lack of continuity
in the staff.

What is most alarming about this is that it appears that Astria
Suparak, the current Director of the Gallery, is being forced out. If
you feel that the work that Astria has done is valuable, please take
the time now to let others know.

I am writing to urge you to show your support now for Astria and the
programs she has organized at The Warehouse Gallery (including Come
On: Desire Under The Female Gaze, Faux Naturel, Embracing Winter, and
Networked Nature, along with various screenings and events around
town). You can do so in a number of ways:


1) write a letter to the following people:

Jeffrey Hoone, Executive Director, CMAC, jjhoone@syr.edu

Nancy Cantor, Chancellor, ncantor@syr.edu

Eric Spina, Vice Chancellor/Provost, efspina@syr.edu

Carole Brzozowski, Dean of CVPA, Brzoz@syr.edu


Please write of any personal experience you have had, either in
working with Astria, attending exhibitions and events at The
Warehouse Gallery, and/or your thoughts on its programming thus far.

Some points you could make ( I offer these only as a things to think
about):

- The Warehouse Gallery is needed space for contemporary art. The
exhibitions it has offered have been important. This is due in a
large part because of the work of its current staff.

- The programming at the Warehouse Gallery has the support of people
on campus, and in the local as well as national/international arts
community. Astria has made strong connections with different
departments on campus, with local arts groups, and with national/
international artists.

- Astria Suparak is a young curator worth supporting. She has shown
her abilities to put together intelligent exhibitions of artistic and
social importance. See http://www.thewarehousegallery.org for details.

- The Warehouse Gallery has been a significant contributor to the
"cultural capital" of Syracuse, something that both the city and
University claim as being valued.

- It is important that CMAC, and its Executive Director Jeffrey
Hoone, as a powerful cultural entity, be responsive to those who care
about the arts and be transparent about decisions.


2) Write a letter to the Editor to the following papers (include your
address and daytime phone number):

--The Post-Standard letters@syracuse.com. In the "subject box,"
please type "Post-Standard letter."
The Readers' Page, Box 4915, Syracuse 13221.
Fax : 470-3081.

--The New Times: editorial@syracusenewtimes.com
Syracuse New Times Letters, 1415 W. Genesee St., Syracuse 13204
fax: 422-1721

--The Daily Orange: letters@dailyorange.com
The Daily Orange Corp.
744 Ostrom Ave.
Syracuse, NY 13210
(315) 443-2314

3) Attend the opening reception this Thursday at the Warehouse
Gallery, from 5-8 pm, to show your support. Refreshments provided.

4) Pass this email on to anyone you think would be interested in
issues concerning the growth and appreciation of dynamic,
contemporary art in Upstate New York.

Lickety Split in Syracuse: The Daughters of Joy campaign for world domination continues...

Yeah, Daughters of Joy rocked New York state on Sunday!

The lovely Astria Suparak (shown above, in blue), curator of Syracuse's Warehouse Gallery, had invited Amber to screen DoJ in conjunction with the gallery's latest exhibition, COME ON: Desire Under the Female Gaze.

So Amber, Mike and I loaded into a ginormous white minivan rental and booted it to the US, buoyed along the way by the salty lyrics of the Boss. Our ride caught the attention of a border guard, who delayed us for a few sweaty minutes with a clumsy cat-and-mouse interrogation. Luckily, Mike was able to prove he's a film professor by providing the etymology of "cinema".

When we reached Syracuse, we left our stuff at Astria's loft (which she shares with her partner Brett Kashmere, an experimental filmmaker), grabbed some vegan chili dogs and checked out the exhibition. It was a phallic blast. There were some amazingly hot large-scale drawings of post-pubescent dude-on-dude action, which I totally covet for my bedroom. Stay tuned for Amber's report!

Then it was time to set up the screening, hosted at a perfectly-sized art venue called Spark. Director Frank McCauley was extremely hospitable -- thanks again, Frank!

As someone who doesn't consider herself a "serious" video-maker, it felt really odd to see 50-plus strangers streaming into a room where my stuff (among many other things) would be shown. At the Montreal event, a large portion of the audience had been friends of the artists. In Syracuse, the pieces had to stand on their own feet -- intimidating!

Mike and Brett

Not to mention the diversity of this new crowd -- from first-year frat-types, to mom-ish looking people, to an older man I took for a priest until his jacket came off. I think I let the hype about US conservatism get the best of me, since the crowd was very pleasant and attentive thoughout.
Anyhoo, Amber did a fantastic job revamping the line-up. The program as a whole truly seemed to gel this time around, and there were some new and engaging found-footage works. I'm a sucker for comedy, so a new submission by Joanne Balcaen showing screaming female rock fans from the 50s and 60s was one of my favorites.

I was secretly hoping for a repeat of the angry storm-out that took place at the Montreal soirée (complete with a showy return of the individual's ticket), but the most dramatic reaction this time around was a man who got very excited (agitated?) when Janet Jackson's video for If started to play during one of my pieces. It's a rousing song, I'll grant him that.

After the screening, Amber and I did a Q&A with the audience. Amber held the floor with grace and wit, while I shuffled around beside her like a big gangles, periodically trying to escape from the harsh blue spotlight. The audience spoon-fed me a few questions (again, where were the angry Republicans brandishing the Patriot Act?), and then we scampered off to drink fresh strawberry martinis. Jealous? You should be, they were delicious.

Upon return to the loft, we all spent the next few hours foot-pumping an air mattress for me to sleep on and eating luxurious snacks. Astria and Brett really snacked us good.

After a night of endless spider-filled dreams (there was a nest in my underwear drawer -- ewww! and also what???), we hit the road early, stopping off for waffles at the notorious Funk'n'Waffles, where Amber confirmed my belief that she is indeed a giraffe.

All in all, a very enjoyable trip. Thanks to all of our gracious hosts, and Mike for his patience and stamina! (Oops, that came out wrong. I meant driving stamina.)

Tune in to our future adventures, when Amber and Neetzie take DoJ to snobby Toronto...

We're on tour baby!

Experimental video and audio about sex
& American launch of Lickety Split smut zine

Sunday, Aug. 26th 2007, 8-9:30pm
@ Spark Art Space, 1005 E. Fayette St. www.sparkartspace.com
$5 suggested donation

Curated by Amber Goodwyn, with work by Kathleen K-R, Lamathilde, Nicole Koschmann, Scott Stark, Anita Schoepp, Peter Miller, Elin Gustafson, Jackie Gallant and Dayna MacLeod, and more.

Presented by Lickety Split, organized with the support of Syracuse Experimental (Film & Media Workshop) and The Warehouse Gallery, in combination with the exhibition, COME ON: Desire Under The Female Gaze.

Mature audiences only.