The surprising world of erotic art
Seattle Erotic Art Festival 2010. Photo by Rob Hoekstra.While a plate of fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies cools on a table inches away from a bobble-headed toy owl named Omar, Janette Casolary, a bubbly 22-year-old artist with an easy laugh, talks about one of her pieces. That piece? A series of plaster casts replicating her female friends masturbating.
Sometimes, erotic artists can catch you by surprise.
Casolary is one of more than 170 international visual artists who will join dozens of writers, filmmakers and performers in the Seattle Erotic Art Festival May 20 through May 22 in Fremont.
Casolary started plaster casting three years ago at Western Washington University as part of a conscious effort to reclaim her body. She started by making plaster representations of her fellow “Vagina Memoirs” cast members, something she had done every year since, and has moved on to specialize in casting pregnant women.
“The power of casting and being cast is so personal,” she said. “It’s amazing because it’s so intimate. I can explore other people’s bodies, and they can explore their own, in an intimate, but not sexual, way.”
“Sure, they can think it’s hot. That’s great,” Casolary said about her Erotic Art Festival submission, “Reclaiming Our Sacred Ground.” “But, I wanted to make it clear that our bodies are sacred.”
The piece is about removing the stigma and shame that can be attached to the human body, she said. Casolary said her friends were great about posing for the piece (and, great friends are needed when creating erotic plaster casts), and ended up feeling empowered.
“There’s a lot of shame surrounding vaginas and masturbation and sexuality,” she said. “We need a reminder that our bodies are OK and beautiful. And, we need a reminder that our sexuality is OK and not inherently evil.”
That is a sentiment shared by 26-year-old Fremont artist Sarah McMenomy, whose piece “Gum Wall” will be featured at the festival.
The purpose of the festival, which is put on by the Foundation for Sex Positive Culture, is to explore sex in a way that is positive and safe and to rejoice in what people can do with what they have, McMenomy said.
“People who are into homemaking go to the Home Show, and people who love food go to Bite of Seattle,” she said. “This is the same thing.”
In another example of the surprises of erotic artists, McMenomy is an Episcopalian who frequently engages in theological musings and debates on her blog. She does not see a conflict between Christianity and erotic art, pointing to the Old Testament’s Song of Songs (“a work of erotic poetry”) or the description of Jesus as a lover by Christian mystics, such as John of the Cross and Bernard of Clairveaux.
“Despite the modern focus of much of the Christian community on sexuality, especially homosexuality and premarital sex, Christ had very little to say about human sexuality, or else he simply didn’t say anything that anyone thought was worth writing down,” McMenomy said. “So, the only actions we really have to interpret his feelings are that he did not have any qualms about befriending prostitutes.”
She said people should let their sexual actions, like all their actions, be influenced by a Christian attitude – act out of love, be honest, don’t harm others, etc.
“I think Christianity can be sex-positive,” she said. “God created us to feel pleasure and intimacy, and he wants us to rejoice in that creation.”
With “Gum Wall,” McMenomy wanted to explore the Seattle scene while striking a balance between humor and actual sexiness. The result is a watercolor of two hipsters engaging in fellatio in front of Seattle’s famous gum-centered tourist attraction.
“The idea of having oral sex in front of the gum wall – putting something in your mouth in front of a wall covered in what has come out of other people’s mouths – just made me snicker,” McMenomy said.
Casolary said what makes art erotic art can be its explicit (in both senses of the word) subject, but it can also be the tone and environment the art is created in. The intention behind a piece can be seen and felt. If that intention is to be erotic, it comes through, even if the subject isn’t blatantly so, she said.
McMenomy takes it a step further.
“If there is an intention to elicit sexual arousal, it’s erotic art,” she said. “If it succeeds in doing so, it’s good erotic art.”
Casolary said she can see the sexiness in the casts she made of her friends’ masturbating (“totally erotic”) but also in her casts of pregnant women’s stomachs.
Intention or not, though, erotic is still in the eye of the beholder, and it depends on everything from sexual orientation to personal taste, McMenomy said.
“It feels like sexuality is something that’s really specifically defined,” Casolary said. “But, it’s not.”
Casolary said she has been wanting to attend the Erotic Art Festival for years. It sounds sexy, and she is curious to see what else is out there, she said.
Even if someone is completely open to sexuality, they can always learn something new, and the festival is tailored to the taboo – things that aren’t always acceptable in the public sphere, Casolary said.
This will also be McMenomy’s first year at the festival.
“It looks like quite a party,” she said. “If you hate parties, though, you still might consider going – you’ll doubtless see some things you’ve never seen before. And, that’s usually a good thing.”
Erotic art is fairly accessible to anyone, as long as they have a libido, McMenomy said. But, prospective attendees might still want to exercise a little discretion, she said.
“It might be more of a fifth-date activity than a first-date one.”
The Seattle Erotic Art Festival takes place from noon to 2 a.m. May 20 and May 21 and from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. May 22 at Fremont Studios, located at 155 N. 35th St. Tickets are $30 for Friday or Saturday and a $10 suggested donation Sunday.
Seattle Erotic Art Festival 2010. Photo by C. Wiseman.(source:http://fremont.komonews.com)======================================================
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