Artists for Black Lives Matter art exhibit at The Projects Window Gallery in FAT Village during #artwalk

Artists for Black Lives Matter art exhibit at The Projects Window Gallery in FAT Village during #artwalk

Artists for Black Lives Matter will show our Community Sourced Panel Wall Installation as well as the art of Chire Regans and John English. We are also planning a workshop and panel discussion (TBA). This exhibit is a part of the FAT Village Artwalk. Special performance by Sonia Baez-Hernandez.

The Projects Window Gallery in FAT Village
519 NW 1st Ave
Ft. lauderdale Fl

Mission: Artists for Black Lives Matter #a4blm is a space to express yourself creatively around issues pertaining to Black Lives Matter. A4BLM combines exhibits, workshops, social engagement & peaceful awareness campaigns surrounding Black Lives Matter issues including police brutality and the loss of life due to racial injustice.

Connect with us!

• https://www.facebook.com/artistsforblacklivesmatter/
• https://www.instagram.com/artistsforblacklivesmatter/

Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/

Close up of panels within Artists For Black Lives Matter community sourced art exhibit.

Contributing artists include:

• Alana DaCosta
• Alecia Deon
• Allison Kotzig
• Andrew Martineau
• Anita Wexler
• Anthony Bacchus
• Benedicte Blanc- Fontenille
• Blanche Williams
• Bryan Cunnningham
• Carol-Anne McFarlane
• Chire Regans
• Christopher Christoboulou
• Dana E. Fitchett
• Danielle Calibird Fernandez
• Deborah Phillips
• Emperes Holley
• Evan Snow
• Gilbert Chevry Chrispin
• Jan Husar
• Janelle Fulford
• JaQuale Boss Bostick
• John English
• John McElhatton
• K S Pratt
• Kelvin Bernard
• Kendra Williams
• Kianga Jinaki
• KS Pratt
• Laura Sue Wilansky
• Laurel Oh Car Angel
• Leonor Anthony
• Leslie Mah
• Markeven Williams
• Marlet Lopez
• Mary Buhler
• Maya Amina Harrison
• Micheal Anthony Clark
• Micheal Kupillas
• Nafis White
• Nancy Caramello
• Nazbah Tom
• Niki Lopez
• Renda Writer
• Rich Wright
• Robert Liu-Trujillo
• Rolando Chang Barrero
• SafetyFirst & Deadeyes
• SeBiArt i•ma•gine | e•volve
• Sonia Baez-Hernandez
• Tara Chadwick
• Teepop
• The Milagro Center of Delray Beach
• Thomas McAvoy
• Zenon Duda

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From the opening night of #artistsforblacklivesmatter in Wynwood, Miami, March 2016.  Gallery owner Jumaane N'Namdi on the left with the#a4blm collective: Allison Kotzig, Niki Lopez, Alana DaCosta & Richard Wright and some of the contributing artists!! Over 116 panels & 43 local & national contributing Artists for Black Lives Matter photo by David iPhoto

Resurrecting Venus: The Cycle Continues art exhibit at The Amadlozi Gallery

Happy New Year!  For those still patient enough & still reading my blog, THANK YOU!!! I have a lot in store to share with you for 2017 along with many highlights of things I didn't get to post as yet from 2016.  For now, my latest is as follows:

Honored to share that I've been invited to curate an art exhibit for The Amadlozi Gallery - located at African Heritage Cultural Center.  

Resurrecting Venus: The Cycle Continues 

Curated by Niki Lopez

The Amadlozi Gallery

6161 NW 22nd Ave, Miami, Florida 33142

Wednesday, January 11th – 6pm - 7:15pm

Admission - Free & Open to the Public

The Amadlozi Gallery at the African Heritage Cultural Arts Center and The Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs proudly presents Resurrecting Venus: The Cycle Continues curated by Niki Lopez.

The group art exhibition 'Resurrecting Venus: The Cycle Continues' addresses the oppression and exploitation of women throughout history & in modern times. This exhibition is being produced in collaboration with the play "Venus" by Suzan-Lori Parks, an avant garde telling of the story of Saartjie Baartman, which opens at 7:30 the same night in the Wendell A. Narcisse Performing Arts Theatre adjacent to the gallery.

Visual artists: Sonia Baez-Hernandez, Niki Lopez, Allison Kotzig, Cat Del Buono, Morel Doucet, Carol-Anne McFarlane, Chire Oliver, Shiobann Amisial, Richard Wright and Nadine Anderson Cheng.

Performance: Alana DaCosta and (members of) Venus Rising: Women's Drum & Dance Ensemble.

About the Curator: Niki Lopez is an interdisciplinary artist, curator & activist. She is also the Founder of What’s Your Elephant  a movement using the arts to create provocative conversations around the unspoken.

The Amadlozi Gallery is in The African Heritage Cultural Arts Center, the nucleus of arts learning, training and access for Miami-Dade County’s African-American community.  The gallery is open by appointment in addition to the Opening & Closing receptions.

RSVP: http://www.resurrectingvenus.eventbrite.com

for more info: nikilopez at GMAIL DOT COM

Creative Circle Tuesdays: Allison Kotzig

Artist Allison Kotzig (Irreversible Magazine)
Photo credit: Leonardo DiTomaso for Irreversible Magazine

Name: 

Allison Kotzig

Website: 

kotzig.com  

vimeo.com/allisonkotzig/videos

What is your medium(s)?

Sex store vaginas, video

What type of art do you do?

I make feminist protest art and video that explores trance states.

What inspires you? 

Social activism for my feminist protest art and the beauty and mystery of trance states for my video work.

Art patrons L’éléphant dans la Salle art exhibit reviewing
Oh Wait We have a Better Idea - Allison Kotzig .

What pieces did you include in the exhibit "L’éléphant dans la Salle" and why? (please share some of the story behind some of the work) 

I was lucky enough to have 5 pieces in. Oh Wait, We Have a Better Idea (panels 1 and 2), Leuprolide, Pitch to Win! and You Bastard.

-Oh Wait We have a Better Idea is just a funny piece that made in response to the overwhelming horror and negativity we can all see in the world. In this piece, in the 1st panel, the babies are crawling out of a vagina and in the 2nd panel, they are crawling right back in!

-Leuprolide is a discussion of the medicalization of fertility and the way in which capitalism has taken over health care to the extent that during IVF, the woman's womb is stuffed with fertilized eggs for reasons of cost-efficiency. Leuprolide is the name of a common fetility drug. The panel shows a vagina stuffed and teeming with babies, almost like a hive.

Pitch to Win! I have a masters degree in Medieval History and really love medieval imagery, I did a series of shadow boxes using Hellmouths from medieval illustrations. I cut out the space and placed my own message inside. Pitch to Win! is about the carnival-like atmosphere surrounding male access to women's bodies. There are countless books and sites devoted to showing men how to make an effective pitch to gain access to women and sex, so I just made this piece as if it were a carnival midway game, with medieval imagery underlining the antiquated attitude toward intimacy shown by the narrow focus of "scoring" sexually.

You Bastard is another funny one. Its about being dickmatized (or otherwise sexually in thrall to another). I used the theatre-like red curtains to indicate the extreme drama of being in this situation.

Self taught or traditionally trained?  

Self-taught 

When Vaginas Ruled the Earth (detail) - Allison Kotzig

Share one thing that has impacted your work?

The way in which it is acceptable for womens' sexuality to be viewed in the media and that is through the lens of violence. Natural women's body parts are strictly forbidden (the national brouhaha over Janet Jackson's nipple showing for 2 seconds) but rapes and abuse are very common; I can barely think of a movie or tv show that does not casually feature violence against women. There is something extremely perverted and obviously very wrong with that.

Here be-monsters (detail) - Allison Kotzig

Name one thing we may not know about you or your work?

I find a lot of it very funny and not at all shocking. It is only when I bring it out to show that I realize that sometimes other people find it very controversial.

If you could change one thing in the world, what would it be?

All people and animals would enjoy equality and live beautiful lives. 

If you had access to a time machine, where would you go?

I'd rather travel interdimensionally!

Ouroboros -  Allison Kotzig

If you could give one piece of advice to an aspiring creative, what would it be? 

Don't be afraid to show your work to people! 

If you could have one super power, what would it be? 

To beam justice, light and love into the hearts of all creatures 

Social Media drug of choice? 

Facebook: facebook.com/AllisonKotzig

Allison