In fall 2019, I sat next to friend, colleague and exceptional thinker Michelle Duster, drinking coffee and looking across the street at two gigantic murals heavily featured in Chicago’s Wabash Arts Corridor (at the time I was chief curator of WAC). The murals, which were produced under my predecessor, were fading, chipping away and their contracts had expired. Both artists who created these works had recently been accused of domestic violence against their partners. We were outraged just thinking about it. Michelle was involved in commemorating suffrage history in Illinois and beyond, and I had dedicated my work to supporting BIPOC womxn artists in public spaces. As we looked on at the decaying murals, especially in the context of the #MeToo reckoning sweeping through the art world, Michelle and I talked about the need to double down on investing in new works by womxn artists and we could do it right there on those two walls. We hatched the plan to commission a series of murals commemorating Chicago area suffragists and their stories. By 2020, even in the midst of everything shutting down due to Covid, we formed a committee and set this plan in action. Check out this page to see the first extraordinary work, and read my article in New City to learn what else happened and why we’re still seeking justice.
Podcasts podcasts! Two recent interviews.
Had such a lovely convo with the ever-inspiring Carmelita Tiu on her fiercely feminist podcast Know, Be, Raise Them.
Show description: In Ep. 19 of "Know Them, Be Them, Raise Them," we cover Monuments to Movements, the need for equitable representation in public art, subconscious messaging about girls' place in society, and each individual's right to question and change the public symbols that represent us. Click here to listen!
PLUS more fun with the ever-searching-for-a-good-story Joel Goldberg on Rounding the Bases. With audio & video interviews!
Show description: Neysa Page-Lieberman is curating a new school of thought in the house of feminist practices. She’s a champion for equality who demands a voice for the invisible laborers of contemporary art. By rejecting tradition in favor of the radical, she’s reimagining its very definition, and recreating one where the role of women is cast in high relief. Neysa Page-Lieberman is the sparkling, ambitious Co-Founder and Co-Creator of Monuments to Movements. With obsessive curiosity, she’s honoring the communal accomplishments so central to our shared identity, and forcing an evolution that is full of endless possibilities. Click here to listen! For Extra Innings on video, visit: https://bit.ly/RTBNeysa
First in-person M2M presentation at Charlotte Street Foundation
October 13, 2021
7:00 PM CDT
Monuments to Movements: In the House of Radical Feminist Practices
M2M Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director Neysa Page-Lieberman rethinks public art in her talk, Monuments to Movements, as a part of the exhibition With Liberty and Justice.
@ Charlotte Street Foundation
3333 Wyoming Street
Kansas City, MO 64111
Monuments to Movements Launches!
We are beyond excited to announce the public launch of Monuments to Movements - In the House of Radical Feminist Practices. Check out the new website, and subscribe to the newsletter so you never miss a thing!
Interview - The State of Chicago Monuments
During the height of racial injustice protests in June, I was interviewed by Kerry Cordoza, arts editor of Newcity. We discussed urgent issues around the state of public art and monuments in Chicago, and how these reckonings resonate globally. Click here for article.
Essay in Where the Future Came From
Where the Future Came From
Excited and honored to have my contribution to the Where the Future Came From project published in this groundbreaking book, edited by Meg Duguid. “Feminism in Your Face: Public Art Resistance” was a public program and transcribed interview, that accompanied Duguid’s Where the Future Came From exhibition. Alongside Sam Kirk, Meida McNeal and Gloria Talamantes, we discussed feminist artists’ experiences making art in public and their strategies for subverting bias and sustaining powerful creative practices. Click here for details.
To find the book (Soberscove Press) click here.
Feminist Social Practice Manifesto Released at CAA
Hot off the press! ⚡️The Feminist Social Practice Manifesto ⚡️ Co-written by my superstar collaborator Melissa Potter and myself, and inspired by our exhibition Revolution at Point Zero, with artists Laura Anderson Barbata, Marisa Jahn, Las Nietas de Nonó, Fem Appeal, Mierle Laderman Ukeles, Megan Young, Angela Davis Fegan. We dropped at CAA in Chicago, offering free hardcopies and digital copies. Designed by talented Ashley King, edited by visionary Meg Duguid, finessed by creative Gianella Goan. (Earlier edition was published in ASAP/Journal, John Hopkins Press, 2018.)
Stenton Dinah Monument Artists Announced
The artist finalists for the Stenton historic home’s Dinah monument have been announced; so thrilled to share that artists La Vaughn Belle, Kenturah Davis and Karyn Olivier presented their inspiring and adventurous ideas at Stenton. Community members are invited to see the artist presentations to share their feedback to help us determine the best work for the Stenton and greater Germantown community.
See these links (here and here) for press coverage by the Philadelphia Inquirer’s art and cultural critic Valerie Russ and to learn more about the artists and their ideas for commemorating Dinah.
Interview on Public Art with WBEZ
Happy to contribute to Carrie Shepard’s radio piece on the future of public art in Chicago. This important story discusses the challenges and inspirations of those of us on the front line of producing public, urban art. I was happy to invite Melanie Vazquez to contribute as well, whose gorgeous mural I curated for the Wabash Arts Corridor recently. To hear the story, click on this link and hit play.
Publication on Seeds InService in Hand Papermaking Magazing
Loved working with Hand Papermaking Magazine on my first publication with them. Thanks to editor Mina Takahashi for the invitation. My article Seeds InService: Germination the Feminist Roots of Hand Papermaking in Chicago discusses the important work of feminist art collective Seeds InService, led by Melissa Hilliard Potter and Maggie Puckett. There’s so much more to come from this trailblazing eco-feminist public art duo.
MadC in Chicago! NPL Project's first public art project. MadC's largest mural to date. Press release below, incredible video here.
Sister Cities International Mural Exchanges Kick-Off with Casablanca, Morocco
Thrilled to announce my first curatorial project with Chicago Sister Cities, kicking off in Casablanca with the incomparable Sam Kirk, and joined by renowned Moroccan artist Kalamour who comes to Chicago this fall. This is just the first Sister Cities exchange, with more to come this year. We're just wrapping up in Casa, here's the official press release.
Revolution at Point Zero Promo Video Is Here!
Melissa Potter (my superhero co-curator) and I are thrilled to share our promo video for the Revolution at Point Zero: Feminist Social Practice project. Filmmaker Phil Worfel made this quick and punchy video to share highlights from the exhibition, performances and symposium. So many amazing artists featured here. Watch and join the Feminist Social Practice movement!
So honored to be included in New City's "Art 50 2017: Chicago’s Visual Vanguard." And just as it appears, the photo shoot at Brave Lux was incredibly fun, surrounded by friends/colleagues who I am inspired by on a daily basis. Gratitude to New City for shining light on us.
Art 50 New City Chicago
First Wabash Arts Corridor Street Level Mural Launches with Cirque de Soleil
We kicked off the Wabash Arts Corridor Street Level Public Art exhibition with a mural by Gloria "Gloe One" Talamantes. The project was commissioned by Cirque de Soleil, in honor of the new show, Luzia. Just thrilled with Gloe's new work, right on Congress, and with all the press we received.
WGN Helicopter SkyCam Interview for the Wabash Arts Corridor
I had so much fun doing this interview with the WGN SkyCam team and the ever-enthusiastic Sarah Jindra. I asked one of our star WAC artists, Ruben Aguirre and WAC partner and mural sponsor Keith Giles to join us, along with some hip Columbia College students, to talk about WAC and what it means to us. Most of the mural images in this video are shot from the WGN helicopter. Loving the sky perspective of the Wabash Arts Corridor! Click here to watch.
ArtForum spotlight on Revolution at Point Zero
Melissa Potter and I were thrilled to meet Alex Fialho, writer for Artforum, who came for the Feminist Social Practice symposium and RAPZ closing reception, plus stopped by the Marisa Jahn / The CareForce performance and talk, our accompanying programs at Open Engagement. So excited that he made our work a centerpiece of his Open Engagement coverage! Click here for more.
Feminist Social Practice Symposium / Open Engagement This Friday!
So thrilled to present the first ever symposium on #FeministSocialPractice this Friday, a featured program of the Open Engagement conference in Chicago. A free half day program at Columbia College Chicago, we are featuring artists, curators, scholars, performers, activists and other radical creative producers who are leading the way in a feminist-centered dialogue about contemporary socially-engaged art. We have ONLY 20 tickets left, grab yours here:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/revolution-at-point-zero-symposium-tickets-32480347594
Revolution at Point Zero Opens This Friday
Revolution at Point Zero: Feminist Social Practice
March 10 - April 24, 2017
Opening reception: March 10, 5-8 p.m. With performances by Laura Anderson Barbata with Fem Appeal, and by Las Nietas de Nonó.
I am thrilled to open this exhibition with my co-curator Melissa Hilliard Potter at Columbia College's Glass Curtain Gallery. Revolution at Point Zero: Feminist Social Practice is the first exhibition of its kind to position the feminist art movement as the progenitor of contemporary socially-engaged art. The exhibition features women-identified, North American artists whose work focuses on radical acts of the personal and political: Laura Anderson Barbata’s Julia Pastrana: A Homecoming, including the gender-subverting, history re-envisioning burlesque performance with Fem Appeal; Marisa Jahn’s The Careforce, with a public performance choreographed and performed by activists of the domestic labor movement; Las Nietas de Nonó’s Ilustraciones de la Mecánica, participatory theatre of untold narratives about reproductive health in Puerto Rico; Megan Young’s Longest Walk, with Angela Davis Fegan, an installation of female identifying bodies in public spaces created in protest of politics as usual; and a featured recent work entitled Snow Workers’ Ballet by Mierle Laderman Ukeles, one of the pioneers of the social practice movement.
More information at Colum.edu/Revolution
Yale Radio Interview
Had the great pleasure of chatting with Brainard Carey for his Yale Radio Interviews featuring "Lives of the Most Excellent Artists, Curators, Architects, Critics." We got to discuss all my favorite things including how much fun it is to cause trouble in the art world through feminism.
The article and 30-minute interview can be accessed here.