Updated: Jan-28-2007

Influence, diversity celebrated in two exhibits at LVAM

Kristen Peterson
LAS VEGAS SUN

She's a mother. She's a showgirl. She's a full-figured redhead in a red dress, lounging gracefully on a couch.

She's a survivor of Auschwitz-Birkenau, her eyes framed by the deep lines in her face. She's a silhouette against the sky in a photo titled "Slavery Hymn."

She's young, old, contemplative, proud, jubilant, in motion with eyes closed or pensive with body folded.

She is one of many women featured in "Essential Dimensions," an exhibit of artwork about women mostly by women, on display through May 22 in the Studio Gallery at Las Vegas Art Museum.

The work for the exhibit, one of two at the gallery by Women of Diversity Productions, was contributed by artists of all backgrounds and provides a glimpse into the lives of women, telling their stories.

"It's mainly women artists depicting how they define being a woman," sculptor Denise Duarte said while looking around the juried exhibit. "If you look at all the women, none are the Barbie doll-type figures or the glorified airbrush art of women."

"These women have flesh. They have life."

Duarte, who put together the exhibit to which more than 40 women and two men have contributed, said she was astounded by the volume of work representing many different facets of women in sculpture, oil, acrylic and mixed media, glass, textile and porcelain works.

"It makes a statement," she said. "The female figures are treated different by the female artists than they are by the male artists."

Of Roberta Baskin Shefrin's bronze sculptures, she added, "Her bronze, when you look at them, have a powerful emotion. I have never seen men portray women this way. Here, she's got actual flesh, she's got a belly. She's got thighs."

The other exhibit, in the Theatre Gallery at LVAM, is "100 Years of Influence: The Role of Women in Shaping the First 100 Years in Las Vegas," a historical celebration of women, past and present, who have contributed to Las Vegas throughout the decades.

Its "Wall of Women" features photos and short biographies of 256 women. Women's organizations are highlighted in separate displays, and video kiosks show interviews of prominent and not-so-prominent women in Las Vegas.

"There are thousands and thousands of women who made a difference," said Marlene Adrian, co-founder and president of Women of Diversity Productions Inc. "We have women from many cultures, different religions, movements -- gay and lesbian, civil rights, homeless. They are famous and in the shadows. The purpose is to show women's contribution -- something that made an impact on someone: the person who started the Hispanic parade, the people who founded We Care, the first African-American dealer on the Strip, the person who founded P-FLAG.

"They are the firsts and the founders."

100 years

Adrian, 71, is a documentary filmmaker and an activist whose idea for "100 Years of Influence" originated, or rather erupted, last year when she was a member of a cultural arts commission for the city's centennial celebrations.

"I listened and I thought, 'Nobody's talking about women. Nobody's mentioned a word about women,' " Adrian said.

So Adrian did what she does and began researching women of Las Vegas by exploring Special Collections at UNLV and at the Nevada State Museum and Historical Society. Some women came forward themselves. Other names were submitted. The women will be featured on four sections of a textile.

In the six hours of interviews with women, visitors hear from Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev.; Sen. Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas; businesswoman Selma Bartlett; University Regent and former County Commissioner Thalia Dondero; former resort owner Judy Bayley; former club owner and civil rights advocate Sarann Knight Preddy; arts advocate Cindy Funkhouser; and gay and lesbian advocate Anne Davis Mulford.

"Every time I interviewed someone I (realized) the awesomeness of the women, the things they did," Adrian said. "All the things that we never read about in reference to history. Sometimes it was something philosophical, or they talked about their life. All the stories were unique. The linkages between these women was just phenomenal.

"Always they go unrecognized," Adrian said, explaining why she wanted to focus solely on women. "Women in general are less apt to seek the glory than men."

Adrian met with Paiute women, black women, lesbians and Hispanic women, newcomers to Las Vegas and early activists who are now seniors. She filmed all but two of the interviews.

Women working

In the "Essential Dimensions" exhibit, the artwork is created by professional and amateur artists and art instructors who live in Nevada.

The work, varying from abstract to figurative by such artists as Shefrin, Leslie Rankin, Diane Eugster, Delores Nast, Teresa Teste and Karen Wheeler, shows the diversity of women.

"It says that women are part of society, that we contribute in every aspect of life and that our contributions are validated," Duarte said. "It's important to provide role models. Young women do need to have role models."

Artist Leslie D. Rowland used an antique ironing board to create the piece "Well-Behaved Women Rarely Make History," rife with an assortment of clever sayings from celebrity women and is lined on the edges with names and titles of successful women, including Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y.; late Prime Minister of Israel Golda Meir; late painter Elaine de Kooning; and late Nobel Prize winner Gertrude B. Elion.

Laurel MacDonald depicted four female musicians, each caught in their own rhythm, in pastel. Daniel Pearson submitted an ink drawing of a woman leaning against a pristine kitchen counter.

Leslie Rankin submitted a glass panel, "I Can Be," and Grace Ann Morgan submitted a multimedia piece called "The Strength of the Family," which celebrates generations of women.

Realtor Elaine Cory's "Evening Soiree," depicting the voluptuous woman on the couch, is an example of the work Cory likes to create -- figurative work that uses vivid color and captures romance and serenity.

"I do a lot of women with women, women in the garden, women interacting. I'm trying to create a serene, relaxed mood," Cory said. "I never have thin women. I have healthy women."

Shefrin's sculptures capture women of all shapes and sizes. In "No Exit," a sensual woman stands with a robe open, her natural breasts and belly exposed and her face saddened.

"My women are more melancholy," said Shefrin, a 76-year-old artist who began working in art at age 30 and got serious in her 50s. "I think there's a lot more valleys than peaks in life."

Of the women's natural shapes, Shefrin said, "That's how I'm built and that's how my daughters are built. I think so many artists tend to try to make the perfect woman. That's not really where a woman's beauty is. It comes from within.

"When I was watching the Academy Awards every woman had the most perfect bodies and teeth. These women dedicate their lives to having perfect bodies and that doesn't do a thing for their soul or what's inside of them."