White Wedding to the Snow
By: Kate Barry
I met a colleague at the Manx pub a couple months ago and she handed me a piece of paper with Annie Sprinkle’s email address on it, then she said “I think you should contact her, Annie is interested in giving an artist talk at the University of Ottawa”. I’ve been a fan of Annie Sprinkle since the mid-1990s when I discovered her feminist, pro-sex performance art work. When I was handed Sprinkles’ email address I new something fabulous was about to happen. Little did I know that what would transpire is an artist talk at the University of Ottawa, and a performance at Saint Brigid’s Centre for the Arts hosted by Galerie SAW Gallery.
The University of Ottawa’s Department of Visual Arts and Women’s Resource Centre as well as Galerie SAW Gallery and Venus Envy present:
Visiting Artist Talk: Elizabeth Stephens and Annie Sprinkle
Thursday, March 24, 7 PM
Tabaret Hall,
Room 112
550 Cumberland Street
University of Ottawa
Adventures of the Love Art Lab; Assuming the Ecosexual Position
“Together we will shift the metaphor from ‘Earth as Mother’ to ‘Earth as Lover’”
Stephens and Sprinkle will take you on a fun, inspiring journey as they show and tell about their art experiments in romance, breast cancer, radical sex education, and artificial insemination. Currently they are exploring their “eco-sexuality,” taking the Earth as their lover, and developing a new field of research they coined “Sexecology.” They’ve had ten big performance art weddings where they have married each other, and the Earth, Sky and Sea, in collaboration with hundreds of artists, academics, sex workers, gender-queer communities, and environmental activists. The Love Art Lab projects aim to instil hope, create an antidote to fear, and act as a call for action.
Stephens and Sprinkle will be performing their White Wedding to the Snow, Saturday, March 26, at Saint Brigid’s Centre for the Arts (hosted by Galerie SAW Gallery). Ceremony at 3PM, and the reception is from 4:30PM to 6:30PM. For more info about Annie and Beth’s past wedding projects: www.loveartlab.org
Elizabeth Stephens is interdisciplinary artist and activist who has explored themes of sexuality, gender, and feministic politics through art and performance for over 20 years. She is a professor in the Art Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Performance Studies at University of California, Davis.
Annie Sprinkle has 35+ years of experience in sexually oriented entertainment, education, and art. She worked as a prostitute and porn star for twenty years, and was a mover and shaker in the 80’s sex positive feminist movement. She evolved into an internationally acclaimed performance artist whose work is studied in many Universities. Sprinkle became the first porn star to earn a Ph.D.. Today she is an out “ecosexual,” committed to making the environmental movement more sexy, fun and diverse.
Tags: art blog, Artist Talk, Galerie SAW Gallery, performance