Queer Chicago artist, teacher and disability activist Riva Lehrer is set to debut her latest show, "Mirror Shards"—featuring mixed-media drawings and paintings as well as standalone portraits, including her two-year collaboration with graphic novelist Alison Bechdel—with an exhibition and reception at Printworks Gallery, 311 W. Superior St., Friday, Dec. 2.
Lehrer—whose work has been shown at the Chicago Cultural Center, the United Nations, the Smithsonian Museum and many other locations—is also a visiting artist and lecturer across the United States and Europe; an adjunct professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago; and will be a visiting artist at Northwestern University's Department of Medical Humanities in 2012.
Of "Mirror Shards," Lehrer said, "This is actually a combination of different projects. ... One part is a series of works looking at how animals ... become these go-to places with our imaginations when we are having difficult times," and will show through portraits of friends in animal guises.
Along with the exhibition, excerpts from Charissa King-O'Brien's documentary The Paper Mirror (which chronicles Lehrer's collaboration with Bechdel to create her portrait) will be shown at Access Living, 115 W. Chicago Ave., Dec. 1. The evening will also feature a performance by Liz Carr, a stand-up/sit-down comedian and host of a podcast called Ouch! made by and for disabled people on the BBC.
Lehrer and Carr met each other for the first time when Carr traveled to Chicago in 2006. Carr also noted that they have mutual friends since the disability arts world is a tiny one, even internationally.
Carr will be doing a performance that reflects Lehrer's portrait of her (this portrait has been a couple of years in the making and will be shown at the exhibition) as well as a little bit of her Ouch! show that includes audience participation and discussion. Carr said of her upcoming performance and her portrait, "I can't wait. I've performed in New York but that's about it in the U.S. so I'm really excited. ... I was astounded by what I saw when, a few months ago, Riva emailed me the almost finished stills of my portrait. It's a huge honor to have your portrait painted by Riva. ... I loved it and really felt she'd done justice to me."
"I was immediately charmed by her," said Lehrer of Carr going on to praise Carr's work and queer activism. When talking about Carr's portrait Lehrer said she wanted to get at Carr's edginess using Christmas tree lights as a bondage tool that gradually turns into barbed wire at the bottom of the portrait.
As for Bechdel, she said she rarely collaborates with anyone "so it was interesting to work with Riva. At first, I didn't want to participate beyond posing for her. I just wanted her to do whatever she wanted, and I'd sit there, but Riva doesn't work like that, and eventually I got caught up in thinking about the narrative of the piece with her."
This is not the first encounter Lehrer and Bechdel have had. Bechdel remembered, "I met Riva at Women and Children First Bookstore. I was there doing a reading once, many years ago, and afterward this woman came up and handed me a little pencil portrait she'd done of me. And it was pretty good! A couple years later, I was there for another reading, and there was Riva again, sketching. I think we went out for coffee that time, and she showed me her studio and I was blown away by her stuff."
Lehrer had been a fan of Bechdel's work for many years and when they met they began to talk as peers and this is when Lehrer asked Bechdel to pose for her. "She was incredibly patient and generous ... the fact that she posed for me at all is really pretty amazing ... she gave of herself and didn't have to and I want to publicly thank her," said Lehrer.
King-O'Brien said her film follows Lehrer over the year it took her to create Bechdel's portrait. "I had just met Riva through a mutual friend a couple months before Riva told me about her latest portrait and I said that could be a great short film. ... I can remember the moment very clearly when Riva gave me the go ahead. ... She and Alison would allow me to videotape their 2nd photo shoot," said King-O'Brien of the genesis of her film.
When King-O'Brien started the project she found both artists at an interesting point in their careers where they were both turning to subjects outside their typical themes. "I began wondering how they got to this point and what made them change direction," said King-O'Brien, adding, "The film captures a conversation between the two artists and documents Riva working on the portrait. Two years later the film concludes with Alison viewing the portrait up close and Riva interviewing Alison."
This is not the first time that Lehrer has been in front of the camera. However, she said it "is difficult. ... When you grow up having a physical disability you are very apt to have a fraught relationship with what you look like. ... It will never get easy but I think that ... I'd rather try than not."
Mirror Shards will run Dec. 2-Feb. 4. The Dec. 2nd opening reception will take place from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. and is free of charge. More information about the gallery and Lehrer's event can be found here http://www.printworkschica
