A musical look at women loving women
The early 1970s was a volatile time in U.S. history, as people turned out in mass demonstrations and in other forums to demand progress on civil rights, to protest the Vietnam War, and to call for gay and women’s rights.
On Saturday, May 4, a 7:30 p.m. show at the Northampton Center for the Arts will revisit that era, with a musical celebration of women loving women that highlights the passion and drama of the gay and women’s liberation movements — featuring, organizers say, “all-original songs by women who lived it and loved it.”
Members of the New York-based Loving WOMEN Cabaret will perform “Developing Daisy,” a musical by Helen Newman and Stephanie Glickman that’s set in the present but also looks back at the events of the 1970s — coming out, forging bonds, finding love — through the perspectives of older and younger women.
The six singers and performers of Loving WOMEN Cabaret tell the story in a work that, according to press notes, “explores issues that resonate deeply with those of today, particularly the MeToo movement, as women and lesbians continue to engage in external battles against violence, discrimination, and inequality, and internal battles for self-acceptance in what can still be a homophobic world.”
Tickets are $15 in advance (www.brownpapertickets.com) and $20 at the door. For more information about the production, you can contact Helen Newman at helennewman3@gmail.com.
This weekend, as Northampton celebrates the annual Pride March and Rally, the Northampton Center for the Arts is hosting other related events in addition to “Developing Daisy,” including a talk about two pre-Stonewall era LGBTQ individuals from the Valley. More information is available at nohoarts.org.
More than an arts festival producer
Linda Post is well known as the co-founder and producer of Northampton’s venerable Paradise City Arts Festival. But the Northampton painter has long been creating her own art, too, and she’s exhibiting new work at R. Michelson Galleries in downtown Northampton through May 15.
The exhibit, “The Willing Suspension of Disbelief,” is built around a big (72” by 53”) oil painting (seen at left) of the same name, along with seven other large-scale oils. Hung alongside “The Willing Suspension of Disbelief” are printouts of Post’s blog, “Part of the Process” (lhpost.com/part-of-the-process), that show the techniques and ideas that have gone into the making of the painting, which is not yet finished.
As Post explains, “I tack a huge piece of primed linen canvas to my big studio wall when I start a painting…. Once the painting is close enough to being complete, I roll it up and bring it into the big framing workshop at the Michelson Galleries…. Don Robinson, the gallery framer, and I carefully mount and stretch the canvas. The gallery puts it on display for a few weeks, then I take it back to my studio to finish painting it.”
Post’s richly colored paintings have been shown at the Mead Museum at Amherst College, the Boston Public Library, Michelson Galleries and several other locations. Her paintings often feature women, birds, mysterious encounters, transition and a sense of mystery; her work in the new exhibit focuses on imagined landscapes, according to press notes.
There will be an artist’s reception Friday, May 10 as a part of Northampton’s next Arts Night Out. This is Post’s eighth solo show in the gallery. More information is available at rmichelson.com and lhpost.com.
— Steve Pfarrer