Artist Highlight

MEMBERSHIP SPOTLIGHT: JACKIE HOYSTED

Membership Associate Ginny DeLacey spoke with artist Jackie Hoysted before her show Label Me: Call me a Name opens on Friday October 5 in Hillyer Art Space’s NIN9 Member Gallery. In her show, Jackie dares viewers to label her paintings which feature beautiful, but challenging, women on stark backgrounds. This experiment raises questions of gender politics and the power of labels in art as well as in everyday life. Label Me: Call me a Name opens this Friday and will be on view until October 26.

Ginny DeLacey: How did you first become interested in the importance of names and labels?
Jackie Hoysted: I had been painting these female figures for a while and assigning my own names to them. My goal was to paint women from the point of view of a woman. I saw them as strong, intelligent, beautiful figures even though some of their poses were rather provocative. One of my friends told me she thought these women were “racy,” which wasn’t my intent but it got me thinking about the power of names in art and how it can change a viewer’s perception of a work.
GD: What inspired you to allow people to assign names to your works?
JH: The idea of this show was partially motivated by the name calling that is so prevalent in political commentary like when Rush Limbaugh called Sandra Fluke a “floozy” over her support of insurance companies covering contraceptives. I’m interested to see if people will use derogatory terms to describe these somewhat challenging women or see them as strong and intelligent as I do.
Thinking back, I wish I would have included a box for viewer’s to check if they are male or female on the label cards. It would have been interesting to see if responses varied based on the viewer’s gender.
GD: Are you nervous about letting your viewer’s name you work?
JH: I’m really curious about what people will name my paintings. In previous exhibitions I gave the women names’ of famous women from mythic and historical sources but I’m excited and curious to see what other names viewers will assign to them.
GD: Do you think this experience will change the way you view your own work?
JH: It could, I’m pretty fixed in how I view my paintings but it could happen. I don’t think I will assign my own names to the paintings after the show. I want the labels will stay with the paintings. Maybe each work will have multiple titles or maybe in the end the viewer will get to complete the work and choosing which title they like best.
GD: Are the women in the paintings inspired by real women or did you use models?
JH: I used stock photographs as models, when I found ones that I liked I would purchase them. I then used Photoshop to take elements from different photographs to create a unique image. Basically I created my own models through stock photographs.
I started using stock images around seven years ago when I was making collages of images from fashion magazines. As I churned through thousands of images I found it was hard to find images of women in poses that weren’t sexually provocative.
I didn’t want to create paintings of traditional reclining nudes that are meant to be gazed on and enjoyed solely for their beauty as you would see in traditional museums like the National Gallery. I wanted to paint from a point of view that says, yes women are beautiful but they are also intelligent and strong. They’re not only objects of beauty.
GD: Can you explain the significance of the lack of context in these paintings?
JH: The absence of a background was very intentional. It’s the idea of having a painting with no context that can stand on its own. It doesn’t need props or a background to make sense because it is obvious that the subject of the painting is the figure of the woman.
GD: Do you think your Irish background has had any effect on your art or working style?
JH: No, I don’t think so. I never actually worked in Ireland. I came to the United States for work as a computer programmer and started taking courses at the Corcoran. Eventually I gave up my programming job to focus on art full time.
GD: That seems like quite a jump from a computer programmer to an artist.
JH: I moved to England from Ireland for a programming job right after my husband and I got married. As we were settling into our new apartment, I walked past an art shop and bought a book on how to draw. I had never taken an art class or done art before that point.
I don’t think it was such a big jump from computer to art though. There is a lot of creativity in computers. You have to think about how to break something down to its smallest elements while constantly thinking about how the big picture will work. I think that’s very similar to how art works.
GD: Do you have anything you want to tell viewers before the show opens?
JH: Please write your own labels. Don’t be shy, I’m so curious to see what names people assign to my paintings.

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MEMBERSHIP SPOTLIGHT: VALERIA CAFLISCH

Membership Associate Ginny DeLacey sat down with International Arts & Artists and Hillyer Art Space Member and exhibiting artist Valeria Caflisch as she was installing her show Evidences which will be on view in Hillyer Art Space’s NIN9 Members’ Gallery from September 7 to September 28.

The works in Caflisch’s Evidences were inspired by images of 19th century Italian bandit women, but they have evolved into a series that questions our associations with household tools, gender roles, politics, religion and so much more.
Ginny DeLacey: You were originally inspired by images of Italian bandit women which you found online 8 years ago. What caused you to return to these women?
Valeria Caflisch: I came across these Italian bandit women by chance and was struck by them because of their strong, challenging looks. At first glance, I noticed their traditional dress and that they were holding some sort of tool. I assumed that they were holding brooms or other household objects when in reality they are holding guns. I was shocked at myself. Even as a modern woman I immediately associated these Italian bandits’ traditional dress with domestic tools. Something about these women spoke to me so I kept them in the back of my mind so I could return to them later.
GD: How did these women influence your work in Evidences?
VC: Two years ago I started doing still lifes. I thought back to the bandit women and decided to explore our associated relationships with household tools. Just as the bandit women broke my expectations by holding weapons instead of brooms, these works break associations by making household tools seem like weapons. These works invert the idea of tools allowing mundane, domestic tools to become strange objects.
GD: How did you decide to display these works? How do you see them working together?
VC: For me, less is more when it comes to exhibiting. There are other works in this series, one featuring a garlic press and another an avocado slicer but I chose not to show them because I wanted the works here to be able to speak to each other without becoming too overwhelming or cluttered. Silence is a Women’s Best Garment was done a year before The Ice Cream Scoop, The Whisk and The Grater but it fit in the space and spoke to the other works, so I included it.
GD: How did you choose what tools to represent?
VC: I chose mostly traditional tools. I don’t think I would want to paint an electric tool. I like the older tools which contrast with some of the more contemporary materials, such as soap and expanding foam, I experimented with. For me, playing with new materials is part of the game of being an artist.
I also chose a lot of metal tools because they allow for a lot of drama. The shine of the metal allows for exaggeration. I was trained in sculpture, never in painting so I think I’m drawn to metal because it allows for great contrasts of light and dark. It’s almost sculptural in a way.
I like to explore the balance of the past and present, the contemporary and the traditional. The Ice Cream Scoop is comprised of the actual ice cream scoop in a plastic bag, traditional oil paintings of the scoop, and green foam with round holes carved out of it. The implication being that the scoop was used to carve these holes.
The name Evidences combined with the presentation of these paintings and objects is meant to mimic and make fun of television crime shows. My works are playful. They play with each other and with the viewer.
GD: So associations are important in your work?
VC: My works play with associations, especially how associations can change between countries and between people. The crime scene set up of The Whisk, The Grater and The Ice Cream Scoopmake it seem like the objects were used violently on the other material shown. People associate the whisk with the foam and assume that how the foam was made, when it reality it wasn’t. I didn’t use any of the objects shown when making this series. In The Ice Cream Scoop the holes in the foam are slightly smaller than the scoop. Once, I saw a girl studying the foam, then studying the scoop trying to measure if the scoop actually made those holes. That made me happy, to see someone questioning my work and the “evidence” that was presented as fact.
I want viewers to take time with the evidence, to decide for themselves if they believe it. In our modern world we associate things with each other and then automatically assume them to be true. The dramatic lighting and presentation of the works in Evidences automatically forces our brain to think of a crime. But I want viewers to think about what they’re seeing. You can’t actually cause harm with these tools, you can’t kill someone with an ice cream scoop.

GD: Tell me Silence is a Women’s Best Garment
VC: The phrase, “Silence is a Women’s Best Garment” is an old English proverb. I originally came across a variation of the phrase in the German. The German is much stronger and translates as “The highest value of a female is her silence.” I wanted to use this phrase in its original German, but since my audience here is American I started to look for an English equivalent. I found the English proverb, which is quieter and softer that the German but still has the same message.
Again, the work is full of associations. The strainer, when used as a tool, strains things and keeps things back just as the proverb is telling women to hold their tongues. When I was creating this work, I meant for it to be ironic. I don’t actually believe the traditional proverb which is basically saying, “Woman, shut up.”
I think most people see it as an ironic work, but once a girl came up to me at a show and told me that she agreed that we women were the only ones who could keep the silence. That’s not the meaning I originally intended, but each viewer is allowed to draw their own associations and meanings. What I think a work means and what a viewer thinks can be totally different.
I don’t want my art to be so conceptual that it can’t reach people. I want viewers to be able to connect with my art and find associations within it.
GD: And you’re open to these different interpretations?
VC: Yes. One thing that drives to produce art my love of exhibiting works. Public feedback is important to me, not because it changes my work or what I produce but because I like to hear new interpretations.
Someone once asked if I had a favorite painting. I immediately responded the painting I am going to paint. For me, art is kind of like raising children. You love you children, but at some point you have to let them go.
GD: Having lived and worked in Italy, Germany, Jakarta, Switzerland and now Washington, you are truly an international artist. Do you feel your work is influenced by everywhere you’ve lived?
VC: Absolutely. But at the same time, I’ve never lived anywhere more than five years so in a way all places are my place, and no place in mine. This has allowed me to relate more to universal ideas. Also, my age has changed my perspective. I feel I’m in the middle of my life; I can see things from a distance and focus on what’s important.
See Valeria Caflisch’s show Evidences in Hillyer Art Space’s NIN9 Gallery before September 28.
Signup to become a member of International arts and Artists by visiting our Membership website or by emailing Ginny DeLacey at membership@artsandartists.org.

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ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: JUDY SOUTHERLAND

Artist Spotlight is a weekly series that highlights Hillyer Art Space artists.
Judy Southerland is one of our Artist Advisory Committee members at Hillyer Art Space. The Artist Advisory Committee is a group of artists and art professionals who guide HAS with its programming and with this position, Judy curated our August show featuring local college artists. The show features seventeen artists from local schools such as George Washington, American, Corcoran, and MICA.
Judy became interested in curating the show because she felt it was a way to bring expose college students to the art world. “This way a great opportunity for committed students studying visual art to step into the ring in a professional way,” she said. She also felt that college artists would be an intriguing show because the students truly represent today’s society. Judy said, “Curating the show was interesting because various links developed among the works and certain themes emerged which the realities, the concerns, and the particular language of expression embraced by these students at the time in our cultures.”

In her own work, Judy is inspired by the idea of quest in western culture and how it is inspired by fear and desire. Other influences in her art include gender roles and iconic images in 16th century Northern Italian painting and action narratives in historical Japanese painting. As a result, her inspirations are translated into eye-catching mixed media works consisting of painting and screen-printing.
Judy will be featured in two upcoming exhibitions in the DC area. The first show “Vernal Migrations”, curated by Zoma Wallace, will be at the brand new DC Commission for the Arts and Humanities from September 7-December 7. The second show, “LIKENESS/Interpretations of Portraiture, curated by Twig Murray is being held at the Athenaeum in Alexandria, VA from August 11-September 23. Go check it out!

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