2019-20_GYS_OPT

45 YELLOW SPRINGS NEWS The GUIDE to YELLOW SPRINGS 2019 – 20 217 Xenia Avenue, Yellow Springs, Ohio 45387 937-767-7377 • www.yscu.org YS Federal Credit Union Your local Not-For-Profit, Member-Owned, Financial Cooperative If you LIVE, WORK, WORSHIP or GO TO SCHOOL in Greene County, you are eligible to join our Credit Union! Check out the advantages of becoming a YSCU member: • Free Checking • Business Accounts • Vehicle Loans • Money Orders • First Mortgages • Home Equity Loans and Lines-of-Credit • VISA Credit Cards • Line-of-Credit Loans • It's Me 24/7 Online Banking • Online Bill Payment • Mobile Banking with Remote Deposit • E-Statements • MasterMoney™ Debit /ATM Cards • After-Hours Loan Accommodations • Build and/or Re-Establish Credit with Special Loan Program More than 20 local women sang, danced, told stories and read poems at the final Women’s Voices Out Loud in 2015. The event was at the Foundry Theater, its third location in as many years, and also featured an exhibit of artwork by local women. Peforming original works were, from left, Angel Carter, Aurelia Blake, Irene Bedard and, as a group, Denise Cupps, Joan Chappelle, Catherine Phillips, Linda Sikes, Lisa Russell, Kim Rohmann, and, obscured, Janet Baer and Linda Rudawski. artists added more artwork, with many of the new pieces containing nudity. In the end, about half of the pieces on display contained nudity. Artists defended the exhibit by arguing that the artwork was appropriate for the show, that nudes have traditionally been part of exhibits at the gallery and that the pieces in question were not sexually explicit. “Nothing was put up there to try to harass anyone or to make a statement of ‘in your face,’” said Mellon, whose piece “After Dinner Party” depicted abstract penises and clitorises to shed light on an often-ignored part of the female anatomy. Deb Housh, an artist, art historian and art educator, said that the nude images in the show are empowering to women and that nudes are common in art throughout its history. “There is a long history and legacy of pre- senting the human figure — the body — in art,” said Housh, who added a nude painting to the exhibit and titled it, “More Nudes Please.” Bayraktaroglu said the controversial pieces were meant to celebrate women, not be sexually provocative. Dreamspinner echoed the sentiment. “We live in a culture that doesn’t honor women’s bodies,” she said. “There’s a differ - ence between sexuality and sensuality. There’s a difference between nudity and erotica.” Added artist Sharon Mohler, “Where we see goddesses, they see pornography.” The following year, after Village Council decided the works were inappropriate for public display, the art exhibit was con- fined to a small meeting room in the Bryan Center. The event’s final two years were in the Herndon Gallery and the Foundry Theater at Antioch College. Organizers said the controversy and its changing venues led to skimpier crowds.  ♦