arts // no. 8 theotherpress.ca Empowering women in ‘Ladies-Not- Waiting: Las Meninas and CenTauress’ » Artist Suzy Birstein explores women’s roles in historical art Cheryl Minns Senior Columnist Ihe Ladies-Not-Waiting: Las Meninas and CenTauress exhibit is currently on display at the Amelia Douglas Gallery. It features ceramic sculptures, oil paintings, and collages by Vancouver artist Suzy Birstein. The exhibit explores the way females have been represented in artwork over the centuries, from ancient mythology to the women who serve royalty. “I think it might resonate with students in terms of thinking about art history,” she said to the Other Press. “Like, how does something that’s historical make sense in a contemporary way?” Birstein explores historical women’s roles in her Las Meninas (Spanish for “The Ladies-in-waiting”) sculptures and paintings, especially in her title piece, Ladies-Not-Waiting after Velazquez—a reimagining of Diego Velazquez’s famous 1656 Las Meninas painting. Velazquez’s Las Meninas features Velazquez as a painter painting the portrait of the king and queen while the princess is tended to by her ladies-in-waiting. In Photo of Suzy Birstein and her painting Ladies-Not-Waiting after Velasquez Birstein’s oil version, she changes the painter to her own self-portrait, and the princess and ladies-in-waiting are painted images of her Las Meninas series sculptures. Her four doll-like Las Meninas sculptures in the exhibit are three- dimensional and two-sided, with different appearances on the front and back. Birstein said they are inspired by the characters in Velazquez’s painting, as well as personal connections. A particularly personal piece for Birstein is Harlequin Zsa Zsa, which has a Las Meninas series character on the front in a fancy dress and that same character on the back in a harlequin dress with multi-coloured diamonds, holding two young girls who represent Birstein’s twin granddaughters. “The piece is called Harlequin Zsa Zsa because my granddaughters call me Zsa Zsa, like Zsa Zsa Gabor,’ she said during her artist talk on September 24. The Las Meninas sculptures also make an appearance in a few of Birstein’s eleven oil paintings on display. “I decided I wanted to paint, and I thought my sculptures would be the best Photo of 'CenTauress: Ayanaar CenTauress' and ‘Las Meninas: Younger than Springtime’ by Suzy Birstein Whatever it takes... » An analysis of Manny Santos’ from ‘Degrassi: The Next Generation’ Sonam Kaloti Arts Editor WwW: all crushed on a total douchebag at one point or another. The extent to which we will get them to pay attention to us varies. However, one iconic character in TV history pulled a full 180 and got attention from the entire world due to her efforts: Manny Santos. Manuella (Manny) Santos, played by Cassie Steele, is a main character in Degrassi: The Next Generation from season one until the end of season nine. Initially, Manny is the sweetheart sidekick to Emma Nelson (Miriam McDonald). Manny is cutesy, dimpled, and shy. However, once her desires begin to take shape, she is determined and ready to change. Her character progress begins with her joining of the Spirit Squad led by Paige Michalchuk (Lauren Collins), the “Queen Bee” of Degrassi High. Manny then goes on to fall for Craig Manning (Jake Epstein) but is harshly rejected after their first date. Then arrives Sulley, a shallow soccer player from a rival school, who catches Manny’s eye. Manny goes on to ask Paige if she thought Sulley could be attracted to her, to which Paige responds that Sulley isn't into girls like her, but that she could name ten guys that Manny would be cute with. This started a fire in Manny who took Paige’s advice into her own hands, later saying, "I wanna be hot! Not cute. Not adorable. HOT!" Manny then came to school wearing the most iconic outfit to grace our early 2000s TV screens: a visible blue rhinestone- bejeweled thong under low-rise tight jeans and a promiscuous top, causing her to be ogled at by the entire school. This also earned her the reputation of “school slut.” Although, through all of Manny’s rollercoasters of relationships, obsessions, thing to paint. Lots of the paintings are portraits of the sculptures,” she said. In her artist talk, Birstein explained that her Las Meninas sculpture and painting series were somewhat inspired by her trip to Barcelona, Spain, where she saw Pablo Picasso’s Las Meninas series of paintings, which feature his version of the characters in Velazquez’s Las Meninas painting. The paintings also include portraits of her ceramic sculpture series, Cen Tauress. The three CenTauress sculptures in the exhibit are female centaurs with the head, torso, and arms of awoman— stylistically similar to her Las Meninas sculptures. Birstein said the CenTauress sculptures are inspired by the mythical horse stories she heard in Greece and India during her travels, as well as the idea of someone being able to save one’s self. “Tt’s like the fairy tale myth of waiting for your knight in shining armour. This is about being your own knight in shining armour,’ she said, referring to the female centaurs not needing a knight with a horse to escape their situation. “It’s about feeling empowered,” she said. The exhibit also features three collages Photo of 'Me and My Shadow' by Suzy Birstein fights, and drama, she posed as a fantastic role model. No, she is not necessarily someone whose footsteps should be followed—but she is someone who has made big mistakes and learned from them and got past them. She also fought for herself and her own dignity when nobody else did. In an interview with Elle, Steele said, “T think everybody wants to feel sexy and attractive and Manny Santos embodied what it meant to be bold at that age when you're discovering your sexuality and youre discovering who you are—I feel like she symbolized that.” Personally, I believe that being in high school is the worst. Your hormones are going wild, you're making terrible decisions—whether they be rebellious or just plain stupid—and youre trying to figure out who you are and where you fit into the world, whilst surrounded by viciously judgemental peers. of abstract dancing figures made from oil and paper on canvas. “The collages are kind of autobiographical. They are made up of images of my sculptures, images of my paintings, and images of my travels,” she said. Birstein credits part of her inspiration to the great artists who came before her who had similar influences. “T realized there were artists I’m really inspired by, like Picasso and Modigliani, who were drawing upon the same sources as I was from different cultures of the past,” she said. “In Amedeo Modigliani’s sculptures, you can see the Cambodian influence. I’ve been to Cambodia, and some of my works have Cambodian references.” Most of the sculptures, paintings, and collages in the exhibit are for sale by Birstein. Ladies-Not-Waiting: Las Meninas and CenTauress will be on display until October 26 at the Amelia Douglas Gallery on the fourth floor of the Douglas College New Westminster campus. Admission is free, and gallery hours are 10am to 7:30pm Monday through Friday, and nam to 4pm on Saturdays (they are closed on Sundays). Photo of paintings and collages by Suzy Birstein All Photos by Chery! Minns Degrassi has always been aimed at tackling real-life issues that teenagers face that often have a stigma around them. With its controversial topics, the show is asking: if we can’t talk about it on TV, then how are we ever going to deal with it in real life? Another of Manny’s episodes, “Accidents Will Happen,” has her face an unwanted teenage pregnancy at 14, butting heads with the would-be father about their game plan (he wanted to keep it), and eventually getting an abortion. This episode was banned in the US for two and a halfyears. Yet it opened up an important and crucial conversation—as many Degrassi plots do—with the purpose of normalizing these big issues so we can expose teenagers to solutions which can simplify their lives (especially useful when everything feels like the end of the world.) Cue: “Whatever it takes I know I can make it through!”