March Meeting

Agenda:
11am-noon
potluck/small talk

Noon-1
Introductions
1.) What have you tried this month to help center your creative practice?
2.) What have you tried this month to help educate/reach out to the community about local art (your own and others)?
3.) How have you been endeavoring to improve your allyship/how have you been working on connections with marginalized folks?
The above are a reflection of the core mission of Bluestockings, to work on our art practices, to educate the community about local art, and to maintain an intersectional feminist approach. Everyone is in a different place with each of these aspects, and for some, it may be as simple as pursuing resources to better educate yourself, changing some priorities to focus on self care, or attending a friend's art show. This is hopefully a way to both emphasize these goals for the group, and practice some personal accountability on the things you want to work on and want the group to help support you with.
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Attendance
Jillian Moore, Zen Cohen, Laura Rieskedahl, Allison Heady, Meggan Fisher, Rachel Slezak, Ariane Parkes-Perret

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Exhibition Opportunities:

• Update on exhibition from Laura Rieskedahl: Bluestockings’ group exhibition at Coe College will be in February of 2020. We will show in one gallery, and the Grant Wood Fellow will show in the other. More info on theme/format of the exhibition will be on its way.
• Members are encouraged to look into Peter Paul Luce Gallery at Cornell College in Mt. Vernon. This gallery was originally brought up as a contact by Lauren Tucci, and it is worth keeping on everyone’s radar! They offer a stipend to accepted proposals. More info about the gallery at the link: Cornell College
• Many members participated in the gallery walk event at Filmscene organized in conjunction with the UI Stanley Museum of Art thanks to Vero mentioning this at our last meeting and posting the call on our facebook group. As a result, some meaningful contacts were established with the museum.​

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Local Materials:

• Jane Wilch, the Iowa City Recycling Coordinator, has contacted Bluestockings to offer us access to a variety of materials that have been compiled for local folks to access. The list appears to change often, but cd cases, wine corks, and hardcover books were in the initial suggested list. The goal is to take materials that do not have a current recycling market and divert them as resources to members of the community. You can contact Jane at Jane-Wilch@iowa-city.org and see if she has anything of interest to you, or ask her to keep her eyes out for anything in particular.
• Relating to material sourcing, Karen Kubby, owner of Beadology, has a cache of upholstery fabric available to any interested parties as well
• Rachel Slezak mentioned curiosity in a project relating to upcycling/responsible material usage and sourcing. There is a long term possibility of a project with the city around upcycling.​

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Local Happenings:

• Vero connected me (Jillian) with Marcia Bollinger, the Neighborhood Outreach/Public Arts Coordinator, and as a result, Jillian attended a meeting on February 28th for the Arts Professional Steering Committee for the Iowa City Public Art Strategic Plan. The conversation that evening helped center a broader definition of public art and communicate the many ways it can serve a community. There are some positive changes coming with how the city has approached local art, with some increased funding potentially creating more opportunities. I would urge everyone to attend the upcoming public meeting to help keep the conversation on track for inclusive opportunities, centering local artists over art-by-committee, and also letting the community at large know just how many working artists there are who are eager to participate in the potential opportunities. The next meeting for the public will take place this Friday, March 8th at Terry Trueblood Rec Center. Link to the public event: CLICK HERE
• A chance encounter at this meeting with a member of Arts Iowa City has led to the news that a future art center may finally be in the works thanks to the group Arts Iowa City/Artifactory, and it will be really important for Bluestockings to support the fundraising that will be necessary to achieve that space. More info to come as it develops, but that is very exciting news as well.
• Made contact with OneIowa with inquiry about LGBTQIA+ inclusivity training and waiting to learn more about scheduling/cost​

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Member Updates/Suggestions:
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• Ariane P suggested we email the meeting minutes now that we are having more success with note taking courtesy of Lauren Tucci. I will look into Mailchimp as an option for this, and for now you can either catch it via the private facebook group, on drive, or on the Bluestockings site. comment below if you are not a member of the group, or on the drive. We have done our best to add new folks as they arrive, but in the event that anyone slipped through the cracks, we will get you plugged in. 
• Meggan Fisher suggested setting aside some time during meetings for those who may have a specific topic on their mind, and who may find the current structure too limiting to engage in this way. The resulting conversation yielded several good suggestions: at our next meeting we will have the potluck/open conversation time but there will be 15 minutes before the official business begins for a more pointed conversation that could be a breakaway or potentially yield multiple breakaways. Anyone interested in a specific topic could submit this to the facebook group in advance or ask that it be added to the meeting description for the event in advance. This would give a chance for those who may have overlapping research, group projects, or any other shared concerns to check in and potentially yield a better space for incubation and/or connection.
• Zen Cohen mentioned a book that could be of interest to other members: “Me and White Supremacy Workbook” by Layla Saad. It is intended as a tool for dismantling white supremacy in the self. You can read more about the book and get a copy for yourself: CLICK ME