Approximately 9 weeks remain until the arrival of my second child and my brain is officially ... mush. I am acutely aware of the fact that I am slowing down, both mentally as well as physically. What remains of my dwindling facilities are hyper-focused on all things child-related. From a purely evolutionary point-of-view, it makes perfect sense that an expectant mother will focus all of her resources, both mental and physical, on the impending birth of her child.

The irony is, of course, that I've never been busier careerwise. An essay on my art practice will appear in the 'Featured Artist' section of the Spring 2007 edition of Her Circle, a very professional "women in the arts" e-zine based in NYC. Additionally, I received a phone call two weeks ago from Anna Camilleri (a well-respected Canadian writer & performance artist), inviting me to participate on the jury of the Riverdale Art Walk. And finally, last Thursday I was the guest speaker at SUNY (State University of New York) in Fredonia. (No, I'd never heard of Fredonia, either. It's in Upstate New York about 45 minutes southwest of Buffalo). Oh yeah, and in-between all of this art-related hooplah I continue to work on my Alphabet series. Whew.

The students from the Women's Studies department at SUNY had invited me to speak about my art because apparently I'm some sort of poster-girl for contemporary feminist art -- a fact which had, until recently, eluded me. Richard, Ridley & I were treated to a pre-talk dinner and spent the night in one of the elegant bed-and-breakfast-type guest rooms of the SUNY Alumni House. As an artist who spends a great deal of time sequestered away in her studio, it's a strange and wonderful thing to be treated like a rock star on occasions such as these. I'm repeatedly surprised to learn that I act as a "mentor" or "role model" for some of the young, artistic women of today. Me, a role model? I shudder to think of it (grin).

This whole strange, wonderful experience got me thinking: who are my mentors? Well, not surprisingly, they are mostly (though not exclusively) older, established women artists. Some have long since shuffled-off this mortal coil, but many are contemporary, still-practicing artists.

1. Frida Kahlo. Mexican painter famous for her strange, surrealistic self-portraits, and her unibrow.






















The Two Fridas, 1939, Oil on canvas, 67" x 67", Collection of the Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City.

2. Cindy Sherman. American contemporary fine art photographer/filmmaker. Also created a number of staged "self-portraits". Sherman liberally sprinkles her photos with imagery culled from classic cinema (often with a French New Wave feel to them) as well as from pornography and horror films.















3. Nancy Spero. American contemporary artist who works primarily in the media of drawing and printmaking.

Elegy, Handprinting and painted collage on paper, 1983.

4. Betty Goodwin. Montreal-based Canadian contemporary artist who works in a variety of media, though I'm especially fond of her drawings and etchings. It was Goodwin's large-scale mixed-media drawings that first gave me the idea of working with Mylar as a substrate.

Moving Towards Fire, Painting, 1983.

4. Shary Boyle. It bugs me to no end that this rising-star of the Canadian contemporary art world is four years younger than I. But ya know, this girl has got the goods and works hard at her craft. She deserves every ounce of praise.























2005. Porcelain, china paint. 20cm tall. Collection of the National Gallery of Canada.

5. Attila Richard Lukacs. The still-reigning enfant terrible of the Canadian art world. Sure, he almost self-destructed on crystal meth in the Berlin gay scene, but shit can this guy paint.

Range of Motion, 1990, oil, gold leaf on canvas, 103.5 x 73 inches.