196: The Self-Empowered Woman: Ruth Asawa

 

Dear Followers,

 

On August 6th, the celebrated artist Ruth Aiko Asawa died in San Francisco, and I'd like to share a remarkable life story with you. Born in Norwalk, California on January 24th, 1926, she was the fourth of seven children born to Japanese immigrants who worked as truck farmers in California. They grew seasonal crops--strawberries, carrots, green onions and tomatoes--but were not allowed to become U.S citizens or to own land in California.

In 1935, Asawa's third grade teacher recognized and encouraged her artistic talent, and in 1939 she won a school competition by drawing the Statue of Liberty in a contest designed to represent what it meant to be an American (2: An Early Sense of Direction). As a young girl she attended a Saturday Japanese Cultural School, where she learned calligraphy and Japanese, but whenever she wasn't at school or working on the farm she would draw. Her mother would have her work alone because she was considered "argumentative"  (5:Life is Not A Popularity Contest), but Asawa liked doing chores by herself because she could daydream.

In February of 1942, her father was arrested by FBI agents and in April the rest of the family was interned--first at the Santa Anita Race Track and then to a camp in Rohwer, Arkansas. She did not see her father again until 1948 (1: No Paternal Safety Net). During this time she graduated from high school (where she had been the art editor for the year book), and won a scholarship from the Quakers to Milwaukee State Teachers College to study to be an art teacher. To support herself during this time she worked in a leather tanning factory and as a domestic servant. In 1945, she and her sister traveled to Mexico City to study Spanish and learn more about Mexican art. To get her teaching credentials she was required to practice-teach in a school, but is told that because of the anti-Japanese prejudice there is no position for her and she will not be able to complete her degree (12: Hard Times).

She then decided to finish her education at Black Mountain College in North Carolina, where she lived for three years. During that time her mentors included Buckminster Fuller, John Cage, Franz Kline and Josef Albers (4: Supportive Someone). In 1947, she returned to Mexico and learned techniques for crocheting baskets, which for the next decade she used in her wire sculpture experiments.

At this time, she met her future husband Albert Lanier, and they moved to San Francesco where they married even though both of their families disapproved (17: Dreaming Your Own Dream). Their first home was a loft above an onion warehouse. They had six children, and more than their share of financial difficulties. Late at night and in the early mornings while her children slept, Asawa would draw, paint, experiment with paper, and make crocheted wire sculptures. She chose to work at home to be near her children (16: Intensive Motherhood).

Gradually, her work began to be recognized, and by 1966 she had been commissioned to make the fountain at Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco (pictured above). Her popularity grew, and so many commissions followed that she became known as " the fountain lady." Her sculptures are in the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and the Whitney Museum of American Art. Earlier this year one of her pieces sold at  a Christie's auction for $1.4 million (13: More Than Meets The Eye).

Asawa joined several parents to create the Alvarado Arts Workshop by bringing throwaway objects (milk cartons, egg cartons and scrap fabric) and having artists work with the students. And even though her education had been "challenged," she wanted other children to develop as creative thinkers and problem solvers (7: Magnificent Obsession).She organized the Music, Art, Dance, Drama and Science (MADDS) festival, and soon began focusing her energy on building a public high school for the Arts. In 2010, the school was named for her and is now the Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts (8: Turning No into Yes).

In 1985, she was diagnosed with Lupus, and spent a year on her recovery (12: Hard Times). Although the illness went into remission, she never totally regained her strength and died at age 87. She has received numerous awards and honorary degrees, and is widely admired for her unique abstract sculptures.

Looking forward to your comments...

195: The Self-Empowered Woman: Julia Margaret Cameron

Dear Followers,

 

 

 

I don't know about you, but when I hear the name "Julia Cameron" I automatically think of the brilliant author of "The Artist's Way," a life-changing book for any creative person. So I was surprised to learn that there was an earlier creative woman of the same name who played a pivotal role in the early days of photography. Currently, 38 of her works are on display at the Metropolitan Museum in New York City, and you all know how much I love Self-Empowered Women who were born before 1900...    

 

Julia Margaret Cameron was born in 1815, and didn't even begin taking photographs until she was 48 years old. But first, let me tell you a little bit about her life. She was born in Calcutta, India, where her father was a British official of the East India Company. Her mother was a descendant of a man who had been a page at the court of King Louis XVI, and was thought to have been one of Marie Antoinette. Julia was born into a family of celebrated beauties, but she was considered the ugly duckling of her family (6:Life Is Not A Beauty Pageant).

 

She was educated in France, but returned to India. In 1836, she traveled to Cape Town, where she met the famous astronomer Sir John Herschel, who became a life-long friend. He is considered to be the one who introduced her to a variety of photographic processes, and he also became the subject of many of her portraits (4: Supportive Someone). Julia returned to India, where she met  (and in 1838) married Charles Hay Cameron, a member of the Law Commission, who was 20 years her senior. Ten years later he retired, and the family moved to London where-- thanks to her sister, Sarah Prinsep-- Julia was able to meet a wide variety of artists and writers. After she visited the estate of Alfred Lord Tennyson on the Isle of Wight, Julia fell in love with the location, and she and her husband bought a home near Tennyson's Estate.

 

In 1857, the photographer Reginald Southey visited their home, and began teaching Julia even more about photography.  When Julia was 48 years old her daughter and son-in-law bought her a camera, and wrote "It may amuse you, Mother, to try to photograph..." During those days Julia often entertained her great-nieces Virginia Woolf and Vanessa Bell and the rest of the Bloomsbury Bunch. Julia began to get her subjects to sit for countless exposures as she carefully coated, exposed and processed each wet plate (10: The Critic Within). These long exposures led other contemporary photographers to make fun of her work because of the Pre-Raphaelite feel that they had, i.e., far-away looks, limp poses and soft lighting (5: Life Is Not A Popularity Contest.)

 

Even though many critics dismissed her work because of her "out of focus" style, Julia's work received a number of honorable mentions, awards, and she even won a gold medal at the Berlin competition in 1866 (8: Turning No Into Yes). Unlike so  many of her era, Julia was smart enough to register each of her photographs with the Copyright office and keep detailed records. She compulsively persuaded her friends and family to pose for photographs, and thanks to her we have many of the only existing shots of historically important people of her era (7: Magnificent Obsession).

       

In 1875, the Camerons moved back to Ceylon (now known as Sri Lanka) (14:Selective Disassociation), but she was not able to enjoy photography the way she had before their move. It was hard to get the necessary chemicals and pure water that she needed, and there was no way for her to market or register her work. She was cut off from her family and the large circle of creative friends she'd had in England, and even though she tried to take photographs of posed Indian people, but almost none of her work from those years survived (12: Hard Times). 

 

Julia caught a bad chill while in Ceylon and died in 1879. Seven years later her niece Julia Prinsep Stephen (Virginia Woolf's mother) wrote a biography of Cameron that appeared in the first edition of the "Dictionary of National Biography, 1886" (13: More Than Meets The Eye). And for those of you who'd like to know more about the premier female photographer of our own era, just click on this link http://marilynwillison.blogspot.com/2012/03/138-self-empowered-woman-annie.html

 

 

Looking forward to your comments...

194: The Self-Empowered Woman: Cyndi Lauper

Dear Followers,

Millions of us danced—back in the 80s—to “Girls Just Want To Have Fun” by the irrepressible Cyndi Lauper. And she deserves to be celebrated as a Self-Empowered Woman for a variety of reasons, but in particular because earlier this year she capped her long career by becoming the first woman to win the Tony Award for Best Score on her own (13: More Than Meets The Eye).

Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper was born on June 22nd 1953, and raised in Ozone Park, Queens in New York City. Her parents divorced when she was five years old, and although her mother remarried, she divorced again (1: No Paternal Safety Net).

As a little girl, Cyndi grew up listening to music at home that included Ella Fitzgerald, Judy Garland, Billie Holiday and The Beatles. By the time she was twelve, she had begun to write her own songs and play an acoustic guitar that had been a gift from her older sister (2: An Early Sense of Direction).

When young she attended Catholic school (3: Belief In The Unbelievable), but was later accepted at a special public high school for students with talent in the visual arts. She dropped out, but later earned her GED. And when she was 17 years old she left home, moved to Canada, and soon settled in Vermont where she took art classes at Johnson State College (14: Selective Disassociation).

By the early 1970s, she was back in New York and singing with a variety of bands, but she did not enjoy covering other people’s songs. By 1977, Lauper had damaged the vocal cords and had to take a year off—three different doctors told her that she would never sing again, but with the help of a vocal coach she regained her voice (8: Turning No Into Yes). Lauper had several great things going for her: she had a four-octave singing range, perfect pitch, as well as a unique vocal style and stage presence. In 1981, she met David Wolff who became her manager (and later her boyfriend), and he arranged for her to sign with a subsidiary of Epic Records (4: Supportive Someone).

 By 1984-1985, her career was red hot. She won the 1984 Best Female Video at the MTV Music Awards, was on the covers of Rolling Stone, Time, Newsweek and People magazines, and was named Ms. Magazine’s 1985 woman of the year. In 1988 , she made her debut in the comedy “Vibes” (11: Risk Addiction), and since then she appeared in a long, list of documentaries, films and television programs—including NBC’s “The Celebrity Apprentice.”

 Obviously, music would qualify as Lauper’s lifelong magnificent obsession, but her other passion has been supporting LGBT Rights. Her sister, Ellen, who gave her that first guitar, is gay, and Lauper has worked tirelessly through her True Colors Fund to raise money and awareness (7: Magnificent Obsession). Lauper was romantically involved with David Wolff for six years, and was deeply depressed when they broke up. Then she started dating a man who she admitted “was mean as hell to” her. When that relationship also ended she “felt ugly, dull and a mess. I was convinced I was through as an artist” (15: Forget About Prince Charming). In 1991 she married David Thornton, an actor who studied at Yale and Lee Strasberg’s Actors Studio. His father taught English at Harvard and at her wedding Lauper told her father in law, “Dad, don’t cry. You’re not losing a son, you’re gaining somebody who don’t speak English too good.” The couple has a teenage son, Declan, and even though she has been named as one of the 100 most important women in Rock ‘n Roll, Lauper routinely woke up at four am to drive her son to his early-morning hockey games (16: Intensive Motherhood).

It would take several long blogs to mention all of Lauper’s achievements over the past 30 years—as an actress, composer, fundraiser, live performer and recording artist! And if you can’t get tickets to see her hit musical Kinky Boots on Broadway, make sure to catch the terrific movie that inspired the play.

Looking forward to your comments…

193: The Self-Empowered Woman: Women in Our Lives

Dear Followers,

In light of the unexpected challenges I've faced  the past month, the following story (sent by my good friend Donna Agins--who flew 3,000 miles for a long-delayed visit only to see me propped up in a hospital bed recovering from surgery--and slightly edited by me) seems to be a good reminder of how important the women in our lives truly are.

A young wife sat on a sofa on a hot humid day, drinking iced tea and visiting with her mother. As they talked about life, about marriage, about the responsibilities of life and the obligations of adulthood, the mother clinked the ice cubes in her glass thoughtfully and turned a clear, sober glance upon her daughter…'Don't forget your sisters,' she advised, swirling the tea leaves to the bottom of her glass. 'They'll be more important as you get older.

“No matter how much you love your husband, no matter how much you love the children you may have, you are still going to need sisters. Remember to go places with them now and then; do things with them. And remember that 'sisters' means ALL the women...your girlfriends, your daughters, and all the other women in your life, too. You'll need other women. Women always do.”

“What a funny piece of advice!” the young woman thought. “Haven't I just gotten married? Haven't I just joined the couple-world? I'm now a married woman, for goodness sake! A grownup! Surely my husband and the family we may start will be all I need to make my life worthwhile!”

But she listened to her mother. She kept contact with her sisters and made more women friends each year. As the years tumbled by, one after another, she gradually came to understand that her mother really knew what she was talking about. As time and nature work their changes and their mysteries upon a woman, sisters are the mainstays of her life. And after more than 60 years of living in this world, here is what I've learned:

THIS SAYS IT ALL:
Time passes.
Life happens.
Distance separates.
Children grow up.
Jobs come and go.
Love waxes and wanes.
Men don't do what they're supposed to do.
Hearts break.
Parents die.
Colleagues forget favors.
Careers end.
Illness comes to visit, and sometimes it stays.

BUT...

Sisters are there, no matter how much time and how many miles are between you. A girlfriend is never farther away than needing her can reach. When you have to walk that lonesome valley and you have to walk it by yourself, the women in your life will be on the valley's rim, cheering you on, praying for you, pulling for you, intervening on your behalf, and waiting with open arms at the valley's end. Sometimes, they will even break the rules and walk beside you....Or come in and carry you out.

Girlfriends, daughters, granddaughters, daughters-in-law, sisters, sisters-in-law, Mothers, Grandmothers, aunties, nieces, cousins, extended family and friends—they all bless our lives! The world wouldn't be the same without women, and neither would I….When we began this adventure called womanhood, we had no idea of the incredible joys or sorrows that lay ahead. Nor did we know how much we would need each other. Every day, we need each other still. Pass this on to all the women who help make your life meaningful. I just did.

Looking forward to your comments…

192: The Self-Empowered Woman: Home Sweet Home

Dear Followers,

Wow! How have I ever missed writing about Self-Empowered Women! 

As many of you know, I have just returned home from an unexpected 8-day hospital stay, and I will begin sharing my online love letters to high-achieving women as soon as I dig myself out of my backlogged paperwork.

In the meantime, thank you for you calls, cards and gifts and for being so supportive to Tony--known throughout the hospital as "Mr. Wonderful."

By this time next week I plan to have a new "Introduction" ready to send your way...

191: The Self-Empowered Woman: Olympe de Gouges

Dear Followers,

It’s no secret that there’s a special place in my heart for the brave Self-Empowered Women who were born centuries ago. Today I’d like to introduce you to Olympe de Gouges, who was born in Southwestern France in 1748—I find her story of particular interest because she bravely argued for women’s rights, and (unfortunately) paid the ultimate price for doing so. Plus, it’s worth remembering that French women had to wait for the right to vote until (!) 1944, which is almost 200 years after de Gouges’ birth.

Although she was raised by a butcher and a mother who was the daughter of a cloth merchant, there was always speculation that Olympe was the illegitimate daughter of Jean-Jacques Lefranc (the Marquis de Pompignan) (1: No Paternal Safety Net). He, however, rejected her claim and many believe this was why she worked so hard on behalf of illegitimate children (2: An Early Sense of Direction).

Little is known of her childhood, but when she was 17 she “was married to” Louis Aubry, a caterer whom she didn’t really love, and they had a son, Pierre. When he died less than two years afterward (in 1770), she and her son moved to Paris, and she changed her name from Marie Gouze to Olympe de Gouges.

Three years later, she had a long relationship with a wealthy man (Jacques Bietrix de Rozieres), who was one of several men who supported—but never married—her (15: Forget About Prince Charming). Her putative biological father died in 1784, and that's when she began to write articles, essays and socially-conscious plays. During this time she began to move among the aristocracy and supposedly worked to lose her provincial accent. One of her notable works was “Zamore and Mirza,” which was an anti-slavery play that was so controversial it was renamed three times, and only performed on rare occasions (11: Risk Addiction).

She was a passionate advocate of human rights (7: Magnificent Obsession), and was an enthusiastic supporter of the French Revolution. But when “egalite” (equal rights) was not extended to women she was deeply disappointed. Even though the government would not listen to her, in 1791 she became a member of The Society of the Friends of Truth, which fought for equal political and legal rights for women. This is where de Gouges’ most famous controversial statement (“A woman has the right to mount the scaffold, so she must possess equally the right to mount the speaker’s platform”) originated (5: Life is Not a Popularity Contest).

Later that year she wrote and published “Declaration of the Rights of Women and the Female Citizen,” which was a 17-point manifesto that addressed her idea of gender equality. For example, the second “right” is “The purpose of all political associations is the preservation of the natural and imprescriptible rights of woman and man. These rights are liberty, property, security, and especially resistance to oppression.” This gender-inclusive call to action was an alarming stand for a woman of that era, especially one from the provinces (13: More Than Meets the Eye).

Her political activity seemed to anger both sides of French politics. Because she opposed Capital Punishment, she was against the execution of Louis XVI, but since the Republicans opposed any political participation by women they (like the Royalists) also loathed de Gouges. One critic even wrote that “She allowed herself to act and write about more than one affair that her weak head did not understand.”

By 1793, she was arrested, spent three months in jail, and without the help of an attorney she tried to represent herself (12: Hard Times). She was sentenced to death on November 2nd 1793, and guillotined on the next day. More recently, in March 2004, the junction of Rues Beranger, Charlot, Turenne and Franche-Comte in Paris’ Third Arrondissement was proclaimed "Place Olympe de Gouges" (8: Turning No Into Yes).

Looking forward to your comments…

190: The Self-Empowered Woman: Rachel Barton Pine

Dear Followers,



Today I'd like to introduce you to an amazing American musician, who has had more than her share of challenges, but has survived them beautifully. Rachel Barton Pine was born on October 11th, 1974 in Chicago. When she was only three years old she heard a group of older girls (who were dressed "in beautiful dresses") play violin when she and her family were at church (3: Belief In The Unbelievable). She loved the music so much that she asked her parents if she could have lessons.

Her family didn't have much money, and they were sure that her infatuation with the violin would end by the time she started kindergarten, so they rented a violin for her, and found a local teacher for her lessons. Instead of losing interest, when she was five years old she began signing her name "Rachel Violinist" (2: An Early Sense Of Direction).

As a child, she would arrange stuffed animals on the sofa, and then stand on top of the coffee table to pretend it was a stage. She would bow and then play (9: Music) for her "audience," so she never suffered from stage fright even though she was such a young performer.

By the time she was seven, she debuted with the Chicago String Ensemble, and by ten she had performed with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, which is the training arm of the Chicago Symphony. While most of her peers were in junior high school, she was receiving the equivalent of a graduate-level education. When she was 14, she was named concertmaster. Because she was homeschooled, by the time she was eleven years old, Pine was able to practice as much as eight hours a day (10: The Critic Within).

Her parents later divorced, but when she was a child her father had trouble holding down a job, so (as an adolescent) Rachel actually became the major breadwinner for the family. She took jobs playing at weddings and orchestras to earn money, and said "I put on a lot of makeup and pretended I was older then I was. I was responsible for the mortgage, the utilities, the groceries...there was so much pressure growing up like that" (1: No Paternal Safety Net). In spite of those challenges, at 17 she was the youngest violinist and first American to win a gold medal at the Johann Sebastian Bach International Competition in Leipzig, Germany (13: More Than Meets The Eye). 

When she was 20, and her career was just beginning to really take off, she was severely injured in a train accident in the Chicago suburb of Winnetka, where she taught violin lessons. As she was leaving the commuter train with her violin case over her shoulder, the door closed on the strap of her case, which pinned her left shoulder to the train. She was dragged 366 feet by the train, before she was pulled underneath and run over. One leg was severed and her right foot was mangled. When the train finally stopped passengers rushed to apply tourniquets, which saved her life (12: Hard Times).

After a number of operations, she was able to leave the wheelchair behind, and walk with a prosthetic leg; fortunately, her upper body was not hurt in the accident. Only two years after being injured, she began touring with the help of her mother (8: Turning No Into Yes). She is now married to Greg Pine, a former minor league pitcher she met at church, and he travels with her for her performances, and manages his computer business when they are on the road. 

In the music world, Pine is known for her amazing versatility. She has played with rock bands, and even performed her own arrangement of Metallica's "Master of Puppets." She is admired for incorporating orchestral versions of rock music into her coaching sessions with chamber music groups and youth orchestras.

In 2001, she started the Rachel Elizabeth Barton Foundation to help deserving young musicians as well as promote the study and appreciation of classical music, including string music by black composers. It provides grants, loans and scholarships to help cover everything from sheet music to instrument repair, travel expenses and supplemental lessons for musicians between the ages of 10 and 30. Awards are given on the basis of great musical talent and accomplishment, artistic aspirations, and serious financial need (7: Magnificent Obsession).

In stark contrast to her orchestral and heavy metal leanings, her latest album "Violin Lullabies" features work by a wide range of both well-known and obscure composers. Ms. Pine researched the unusual collection of lullabies around the world and on the Internet. The album was inspired by the birth of her daughter, Sylvia, in September 2011 (16: Intensive Motherhood).

Looking forward to your comments...