e. marie robertson ::: art-in-progress studio

Art by Project: Une Femme d'un Certain Âge


Description:
My part of a three-artist collaborative project, Une Femme d'un Certain Âge seeks to untangle the myths from the realities of love and relationships, according to the experiences of married women. I'm currently recruiting women who would like to participate in this project. Here's how I envision the process:

Very much in the style of an old-fashioned "coffee klatch," I'll host a get-together with five to six women at my comfortable studio in Berkeley, to spend a couple of hours nibbling snacks and drinking the beverage of our choice (coffee, tea, wine, hot chocolate or ?) while discussing our experiences as married women—comparing our beliefs and expectations around married life to what we've found to the be reality. I'll make an audio recording of our general conversation, take some still photographs, and ask each participant to do a brief "video statement". (If you want to share your experiences but remain annonymous, I'm happy to work something out with you to permit you to do that).

One important point: sometimes people see the word "deconstruct" and immediately substitute "criticism." That is not my point at all—this is not intended to be a gripefest on disappointment but rather a thoughtful evaluation and presentation of your relationship-related wisdom. Just because something is an "expectation" does not mean that it is somehow invalid, and I have no personal belief that "expectations" by definition are unfulfillable or wrong, nor that experiences never mirror expectations.

Ready to sign up?

Yes! I want to participate in a coffee klatch. Please contact me and add my name to the project e-mail list.

Name:   

I am:       married       divorced        widowed        something else

My age range is:    

Preferred method of contact:
  email (please provide):  
  telephone (please provide):     best time to call?



please note that your contact information will be used only by me and only in regard to this particular project. it will not be kept "on file" after the project is completed, nor will it be shared with any other living being for ANY reason!

If you have additional questions about this project, please email me and I'll get back to you.

About Sexy Delusions:
The full project, called Sexy Delusions, looks our hopes, expectations, and experiences in love and relationships from three very different phases of "relationship life": single and dating, engaged, and married (no longer newlywed). The project seeks to deconstruct the illusions and the reality of our relationship lives and "de-illusion" ourselves by comparing our experiences with our expectations, with external and societal messages about relationship norms, and with the experiences and expectations of our peers. We hope to present this work in an exhibition somewhere in the Bay Area in late 2008 or early 2009.

Artists participating in Sexy Delusions include E. Marie Robertson, Heidi Forssell, and Lauren Usher.