"Art & Feminism in the 21st Century II "
July, 2002

co-hosted by Linda Vallejo, Artist

"Art and Feminism in the 21st Century"" is a salon dedicated to to an evening of sharing and dialogue.

Our guest list included:

Catalina Huerta, collector
Judi Jordan, writer and director
Gloria Orenstein, artist
Rhonda Robles, occupational therapist & representative of the Acjachemen
Susan Suntree, writer and historian
Espi and Lucy Valverde, collectors
Jan Williamson, co-executive director, 18th Street Complex, Santa Monica
Peggy Dobreer, actress, poet and writer

Susan Suntree Presenting Poetry to Salon Guests

Art and Feminism in the 21st Century II
Group listening to presentation

Writer and historian Susan Suntree

Rain River Wetlands by Susan Suntree

RAIN ON GRASSLAND

Earth swirls her blue skirts             on long slim legs of rain Rain slicks down the Live Oak leaves             softening the soil                          for grassland seedlings  Rain hollows the mountain sandstone                                     and purls in the creek beds Rain soaks to bedrock               and flows downhill underground                                                 until  the fault-shift ground breaks and a shock of sunlight                                                                         glazes the water.

RIVER

The Los Angeles River twisted green with willow, sycamores, wild roses once moved the city mountains:                                     Santa Monica, Santa Susana, Verdugo, San Gabriel                         in a rain-water sluice             flooding soil layers, making land for backyards. The wild old river shifted courses. The new river: cool cement gray, 20th century-style Destination: San Pedro,                         assigned by engineers                                      who thinned fat river wallows                                      trimmed curious meanders                                                 to a swift lean channel                                                 that gets downstream fast                                                                                      without distraction. A good hard working river carries detritus:                         shopping carts and plastic supermarket bags                         emptied, burst open, buried upside down waste water from a treatment plant rain water run off the roadways mountain springs and streams                                      flow into culverts                                                 pour into the river. Rain in the river still soaks to bedrock where the cement breaks             waters willow roots where it finds them                         carries river birds on its back. River still flows to wetlands,                                                        cocooning in green amniotic shallows, Reworked by roots and fish, worms, sea birds, and sunlight             before diving under waves                         into the Pacific's deep blue.

WETLANDS

Ballona Creek softens                                      spreads open                         swallowing the sea And the sea unties the shore             to take the rivered water. A delta of yes! A muddy basket                                woven of reeds                         bird wings  beer cans                         white plastic bags shredded by now                                     to lace and the frogs' gravelly song slipped through nets slung under the bridges             where a day's catch clogs the waterway                         and the poisonous                                                 drift of petroleum             gleams on the surface                                                 like a grasshopper's wing. Settled into the Ballona Valley                                     a long flat wetlands breathes its tidal breath                         from the dry uplands                                                 deep into the bay's dark current:                         fresh water--salt water                                     fresh water--salt water                                                 fresh water--salt water. A Great Blue Heron suns in a Eucalyptus tree and the small, rare Green Heron                                      lands and folds its wings                         in a forgotten slough beside Lincoln Blvd. where the tide water rolls in              under the roadway                                      through a pipe that was never sealed and spills over a cement wall                                        to drench the salt bush                                                                         and the wetland sedges. The tide-and-creek soaked ground                                     won't forsake its nature and the sea won't leave it alone,                                                 slowly ruining metal tide-gates                                                             with its salt scissors.

Critic and educator Gloria Orenstein

Gloria Orenstein received her Ph.D. in 1971 from NYU, a Masters in 1961 from Radcliffe, and a BA in 1959 from Brandeis. She is a tenured professor in the Deptartment of Comparative Literature at University of Southern California, where she also works in Gender Studies. She has previously taught at Douglass College ofRutgers University, and organized the NYC Women's Salon in the 1970s. She is active in the field of ecofeminism, and has published numerous articles on literature, art, ecofeminism, shamanisn and religion Her books published include Multicultural Celebrations: The Paintings of Betty LaDuke (1993), The Reflowering of the Goddess (1990), Reweaving the World: The Emergence of Ecofeminism (1990), and The Theater of the Marvelous: Surrealism and the Contemporary Stage (1975).

Actress, poet and writer, and jeweler Peggy Dobreer

Peggy Dobreer is a California native who began her career as an experimental performance artist.  Recently she began to translate her love for impoverished dance/dialogue into spoken word.  Last summer she started reading at the Unurban Cafe and the Midnight Special Bookstore.  Her poems and articles have been published in Wordwright's, Innervisions, and the Contact Quarterly. A mother, teacher and community activist, she develops education materials and facilitates workshops for the Center for the Advancement of Nonviolence.  She has co-authored one book, 64 Ways to Practice Nonviolence , which can be investigated at:
www.nonviolenceworks.com

THREADFISH by Peggy Dobreer

We are thermodynamic
unstable trilogy

You are blue cohosh
beechdrop and squaw root

I am one square knot
over-handed and common
for your liking

We are threadfish
in her presence
one too many for a pair

We are slapdash
and hawkeyed with
each other

You are incandescent
burning slow holes
into our crowns

No longer your queen
of the ocean cremated and
trapped in an earthen-capped urn

copyright 2004 Peggy DoBreer

A sampling of Peggy DoBreer's fine jewelry

Co-executive director of the 18th Street Complex Jan Williamson

Jan Williamson has been Co-Director of 18th Street Arts since 1995. She developed and managed the Residency and Arts Education Programs up until last year. Currently she is concentrating on bringing new financial support to the Complex as a whole and laying the groundwork to convert the Complex facility into a model of ecologically sustainable buildings. Over the last five years she has collaborated with artist Susan Suntree on "EWALA' (Earth Water Air - Los Angeles) an annual perfomance trek she and Suntree founded which honors the Los Angeles River watershed. She is also a founding member of the eco-political street theatre troupe, FrogWorks. Recently she was appointed to serve on the Arts Commission for the City of Santa Monica. She has nine years experience as a curatorial assistant, registrar and preparator for several small art and historical museums in California. Prior to her position at 18th Street, she was Director of Operations for four years at the GeoSphere Project, a for-profit environmental and education exhibitions company.

Anne Pearson and Friend

Occupational therapist, Acjachemen Nation representative, and Sacred Sites California member Rhonda Robles

Linda Vallejo and Rhonda Robles present prayer cirlce for salon guests

Our guests included:

Catalina Huerta, collector
Judi Jordan, writer and director
Gloria Orenstein, artist
Rhonda Robles, occupational therapist & representative of the Acjachemen
Susan Suntree, writer and historian
Espi and Lucy Valverde, collectors
Jan Williamson, co-executive director, 18th Street Complex, Santa Monica
Peggy Dobreer, actress, poet and writer