Dr. Weida's research examines the intersections between textiles and feminism in many art movements.
Picture this: Walking down a quiet street in upstate New York, you come upon an abandoned gas station with a pair of decommissioned gas pumps out front. The sight is ordinary, except that every surface of the station and pumps has been covered with squares of different fabrics and colors, all quilted together. What you’ve come across is 鈥淭he Gas Station Project,” a work of art meant to explore power structures and the world’s reliance on fossil fuels. It’s the fruit of a collaboration between dozens of artists worldwide, who are all part of the International Fiber Collective (IFC).
Altered text from In a Country of Mothers, White Oleander and Are You My Mother?, 2011
鈥淎ctivist craftwork stands at the forefront of a new political language, with all its possibility to build community and creativity. 鈥�
Working alongside the IFC to document, analyze and contribute to the collective’s digital outreach was Courtney Lee Weida, EdD, associate professor and director of graduate . 鈥淭he Gas Station Project” meshed naturally with Dr. Weida’s long-standing interest in fiber feminism. 鈥淚 think feminism should be interdisciplinary and intersectional,” she said. 鈥淚 approach it as an artist and female maker who is still learning from women’s traditions of the past as well as contemporary artistic innovations.”
Rapunzel, 2013
Dr. Weida’s research examines the intersections between textiles and feminism in many art movements, including the Pussyhat Project protests of President Donald Trump’s inauguration and The Exquisite Uterus Project, which encourages artists to make art inspired by the uterine form. Since craftwork has traditionally been the domain of women, Dr. Weida sees a natural connection between textiles and feminism鈥攐r 鈥渃raftivism.”
Dr. Weida’s interest in feminist art, however, is not limited to craft arts. In 2018, she contributed a chapter to the essay collection聽Jessica Jones, Scarred Superhero聽(McFarland), which received the Popular Culture Association’s 2018 Susan Koppelman Award for best anthology in feminist studies in popular and American culture. In the chapter 鈥淔rom the Hellmouth to Hell’s Kitchen,” Dr. Weida analyzed the television series聽Jessica Jones听补苍诲听Buffy the Vampire Slayer聽through a feminist lens. She believes these shows are important parts of a larger feminist project in the age of #MeToo and #TimesUp.
鈥淏oth shows explore gender around psychological issues of extraordinary strength and of human frailty,” Dr. Weida said. 鈥淎nd both shows emphasize very deep female friendship.” The eponymous heroines of聽Jessica Jones听补苍诲听Buffy聽find support, motivation and empowerment in their strong female networks.
Altered encyclopedia, 2010
Yet Jessica and Buffy still struggle to persevere in the face of the overwhelming problems confronting contemporary women. Indeed,聽Jessica Jones聽is 鈥渞evolutionary” because the show presents 鈥渞ape as told and defined by survivors, substance addiction and recovery, lesbian sexuality and domestic violence, abortion following sexual assault, and various women’s responses to post-traumatic stress disorder.”聽Buffy鈥攖hough very much a creature of the 1990s with its whitewashed cast鈥攁lso explores queerness, sexual assault and addiction in surprising ways.
These shows do not shy away from depicting the consequences of the injustices their heroines face, either. Dr. Weida points to the ambivalence Jessica and Buffy feel about their strength, their morality and their place in the world鈥攊nvestigations of female power that resonate deeply with her students and offer much-needed diversity in superhero world. 鈥淚f we conceptualize superheroes as fictional leaders, role models or even unlikely educators, these representations matter,” Dr. Weida said.
Dr. Weida’s current research maintains her focus on new intersections of art and feminist activism, from superhero shows’ examinations of motherhood to further collaborations with fiber artists. 鈥淎ctivist craftwork stands at the forefront of a new political language,” she writes in her chapter in聽Makers, Crafters, Educators: Working for Cultural Change聽(Routledge 2018), 鈥渨ith all its possibility to build community and creativity.”
Toes. Stoneware. Ongoing.