She Bends | A film & conversation with the women in neon: Exploring the false dichotomy of art and science, the history of noble gases, the craft of neon glass blowing, and the future of neon lights | Hosted through de Young’s Virtual Wednesdays program in tandem with the Judy Chicago Retrospective
Judy Chicago: A Retrospective
The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco celebrate pioneering feminist artist Judy Chicago with a retrospective spanning from her early engagement with the Californian Light and Space Movement in the 1960s to her current body of work, a searing investigation of mortality and environmental devastation, begun in 2015. The exhibition includes approximately 130 paintings, prints, drawings, and ceramic sculptures, in addition to ephemera, several films, and a documentary. Together, these works of art chart the boundary-pushing path of the artist named Cohen by birth and Gerowitz by marriage, who, after trying to fit into the patriarchal structure of the Los Angeles art world, decided to change her name and the course of history.
Organized on the heels of the 40th anniversary of The Dinner Party’s first San Francisco presentation and opening in conjunction with the 100th anniversary of women’s right to vote across the United States, Judy Chicago: A Retrospectivepays homage to an artist whose lifelong fight against the suppression and erasure of women’s creativity has finally come full circle.
Virtual Wednesdays
Join the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco online every Wednesday at 5 pm as we celebrate artists' voices. We explore diversity, resilience, and creative spirit in the arts as we aim to highlight unique viewpoints to reframe our exhibitions and collections.
Our weekly public programs features a range of artists and community leaders from different disciplines, backgrounds, identities, abilities, and sensibilities, at every level of their careers. These artists and leaders reflect the developing programs and practices that focus on representation, inclusion, and equity in meaningful ways, engaging Bay Area audiences and beyond.
Enjoy our menu of free programming and engage virtually with the Fine Arts Museums as we work to build empathy and break stereotypes, supporting new ways of thinking about and engaging with art!
Artist Talk Featuring:
Jess Krichelle was taught neon fabrication and design by Lili Lakich and tube bending from Michael Flechtner, two of the neon community’s most innovative artists in Los Angeles. She was the Lab Supervisor for the Museum of Neon Art in Glendale, California, and is now a Neon Technician at UrbanGlass in Brooklyn, New York. She is a member of the artist collective, She Bends, the first of its kind to feature a cast of womxn identifying artists in neon. With a background in film, Jess has taken her interest in neon and has been documenting neon benders around the US for an upcoming film exploring the history, the chemistry, and the future of the neon craft. Jess has currently been working with fluorescent airbrush paints to create synthetic dreamscapes that accompany her neon sculptures as well as integrating her profound passion for science and biology into her work. Kacie Lees, artist, author, and professor in Art & Technology Studies - The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago, IL. We see her in her studio screenprinting her latest book Neon Primer, A 200-page, coil-bound educational text illuminating the hidden nature of light via the craft of neon bending. Saturated with golden footnotes sourced from exhibition catalogs, pivotal light artworks, films, etymology, and classic cultural influences such as “Schoolhouse Rock!”, this handbook has a high 90s aesthetic, chunky black and fluorescent exploded-view graphics, tear-out bending patterns, posters, and material guides that bring the text into the 3D space of the studio.
Kacie Lees is an artist, author, and professor in Art & Technology Studies - The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago, IL We see her in her studio screenprinting her latest book Neon Primer, a 200-page, coil-bound educational text illuminating the hidden nature of light via the craft of neon bending. Saturated with golden footnotes sourced from exhibition catalogs, pivotal light artworks, films, etymology, and classic cultural influences such as “Schoolhouse Rock!”, this handbook has a high 90s aesthetic, chunky black and fluorescent exploded-view graphics, tear-out bending patterns, posters, and material guides that bring the text into the 3D space of the studio.
Sarah Blood was born in the UK, she is an artist, curator, and educator. She has enjoyed an active Studio Practice Since 1999, Her work responds to the poetics of living, to beauty and heartbreak, and seeks to reveal moments that challenge our perception of vulnerability. Concerned with light and phenomenology she plays with the tension between materials, space, and the viewer.
Teresa Escobar was born In Veracruz, MĂ©xico, sutheast of the country by the Gulf of MĂ©xico. Her work in neon reflects sensual & organic shapes; she understands glass as a fragile, malleable yet powerful and hard Material.
Kate Hush is an artist, designer, and educator that has worked in the custom neon lighting and art field in New York City for over ten years. She specializes in all aspects of neon glass fabrication including but not limited to; studio setup, neon art restoration, art + sign design, glass bending, processing, shipping, and installation.
Meryl Pataky & Kelsey Issel are the owners of She Bends. Meryl Pataky is an artist & educator. Kelsey Issel is an art program designer and artist advocate. Both are based in the Bay Area.