Tuesday Smillie (born 1981 in Boston, Massachusetts) is an American interdisciplinary artist based in Brooklyn, New York.[1] Her work focuses on trans-feminist politics and the aesthetics of protest.[2][3][4]

Tuesday Smillie at Participant Inc, 2018

Smillie has been recognized for her reinterpretation of protest banners through traditional craft materials.[5] Writer Johanna Fateman describes work like Smillie's Street Transvestites 1973 (2015) as "ornate, meticulously sewn and painted trans-liberation banners" that "could not get their radical point across more lovingly."[5]

Life and work edit

Smillie holds a BFA from Oregon College of Art and Craft with a concentration in Book Arts.[6]

Many of Smillie's collections take inspiration from feminist science fiction author Ursula K. Le Guin, primarily her novel The Left Hand of Darkness about gender-fluid inhabitants of the planet Gethen.[7] Smillie has held solo exhibitions at the Rose Art Museum,[8] Participant Inc,[9] and her work has been included in group exhibitions at the Rubin Museum of Art, Artists Space, Brooklyn Museum,[10] and the New Museum.[11][12] She led a Study Session at the Whitney Museum of American Art.[13] Smillie's work has been featured in several news sources of prestige including Artforum,[14] ARTnews,[2] Wall Street International Magazine[15] and The Boston Globe.[16] She was the first resident artist of the Museum Of Transgender Hirstory & Art (MOTHA).[17]

In 2016 a series of watercolor paintings inspired by LeGuin’s novel were displayed at Haverford College. The exhibition was organized by the Haverford College Libraries in conjunction with the exhibition “Bring Your Own Body: transgender between aesthetics and archives," an exhibit curated by Jeanne Vaccaro and Stamatina Gregory at the 41 Cooper Gallery in New York.

In 2018, she had two solo exhibitions and one group exhibition: "Reflecting Light into The Unshadow," which ran from 1 July until 5 August at Participant Inc. located in New York, "To build another world," which ran from 7 September through 9 December at the Rose Art Museum, and “Face of the Future," which ran through 4 November at The Rubin Museum of Art. Taking the Le Guin novel The Left Hand of Darkness as inspiration, Smillie displayed an array of textile collages and banners as well as prints and works on paper including several watercolor paintings. In "Face of the Future," contemporary artists were challenged to create artwork taking inspiration from the classical sci-fi genre as well as their own imaginings of the future. Smillie’s work was presented alongside works by Maia Cruz Palileo, Tammy Nguyen, Sahana Ramakrishnan and Anuj Shrestha.[18]

Awards and residencies edit

Awards edit

Residencies edit

Exhibitions edit

Selected solo exhibitions

  • Reflecting Light Into The Unshadow, Participant Inc. (2018)[21]
  • To build another world, Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University (2018)[22]
  • The Right Brain of Darkness, Haverford College (2016)[23]

Selected group exhibitions

References edit

  1. ^ The Editors of ARTnews (2018-10-31). "Tuesday Smillie at Rose Art Museum, Waltham, Massachusetts". ARTnews. Retrieved 2019-03-19.
  2. ^ a b c Greenberger, Alex (2018-07-26). "Tuesday Smillie Wins Rose Art Museum's Artist-in-Residence Award". ARTnews. Retrieved 2018-08-04.
  3. ^ a b "Tuesday Smillie Wins Rose Art Museum's 2018 Perlmutter Artist-In-Residence Award". www.artforum.com. Retrieved 2018-08-04.
  4. ^ Lauren, Palmer (November 20, 2015). "15 Revolutionary and Influential Transgender Artists Who Refuse to Be Invisible". Artnet News.
  5. ^ a b Fateman, Johanna (January 2018). "Fully Loaded: Power and Sexual Violence". Artforum.
  6. ^ a b "Announcing MOTHA Resident Artist TUESDAY SMILLIE". Museum of Trans Hirstory & Art. Retrieved 2018-08-11.
  7. ^ Rubin, Caitlin Julia. "Tuesday Smillie: To build another world". Rose Art Museum. Retrieved 3 March 2019.
  8. ^ "Upcoming Exhibitions | Exhibitions | Rose Art Museum | Brandeis University". www.brandeis.edu. Retrieved 2018-08-04.
  9. ^ "PARTICIPANT INC | Reflecting Light into The Unshadow". participantinc.org. Retrieved 2018-08-04.
  10. ^ "Nobody Promised You Tomorrow: Art 50 Years After Stonewall". www.brooklynmuseum.org. Retrieved 2024-01-06.
  11. ^ The Editors of ARTnews (2017-09-06). "Fall Preview: Museum Shows and Biennials Around the World". ARTnews. Retrieved 2018-08-04.
  12. ^ Swanson, Carl (21 September 2017). "This New Museum Exhibit Wants to Challenge Everything You Think You Know About Gender". www.vulture.com. Retrieved 2019-03-19.
  13. ^ "Study Sessions: Tuesday Smillie | Whitney Museum of American Art". whitney.org. Retrieved 2018-08-04.
  14. ^ " "Tuesday Smillie Wins Rose Art Museums 2018 Pearlmutter Artist-In-Residence Award". Artforum. 26 July 2018. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
  15. ^ "Tuesday Smillie: 7 Sep-9 Dec at the Rose Art Museum in Waltham, United States". Wall Street International Magazine. 1 November 2018. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
  16. ^ "Fall Arts Preview: Art Picks". The Boston Globe. 6 September 2019. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
  17. ^ "MOTHA Residency Program". The Museum of Transgender Hirstory & Art (MOTHA). Retrieved 14 May 2020.
  18. ^ "Face of the Future". The Rubin Museum of Art. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
  19. ^ a b "Art Matters Foundation". Art Matters Foundation. Retrieved 2018-08-04.
  20. ^ "Past Artists". Freehold Art Exchange. Retrieved 2018-08-11.
  21. ^ "PARTICIPANT INC | Reflecting Light into The Unshadow". participantinc.org. Retrieved 2019-03-19.
  22. ^ The Editors of ARTnews (2018-10-31). "Tuesday Smillie at Rose Art Museum, Waltham, Massachusetts". ARTnews. Retrieved 2019-04-27. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  23. ^ "Haverford College", The Shakespeare First Folios: A Descriptive Catalogue, Palgrave Macmillan, 2011, doi:10.1057/9780230360341.0193, ISBN 9780230360341
  24. ^ Leonhardt, Andrea (2019-02-25). "Art 50 Years After Stonewall: New Exhibit to Explore Legacy of..." BK Reader. Retrieved 2019-03-19.
  25. ^ "Feminist Histories". masp.org. Retrieved 12 October 2019.
  26. ^ "Face of the Future | Rubin Museum of Art". rubinmuseum.org. Retrieved 2019-03-19.
  27. ^ "Trigger: Gender as a Tool and a Weapon". www.newmuseum.org. Retrieved 2019-03-19.

External links edit