Hooray for good press!

I just got a very flattering write up in this week's SF Weekly about the Hotel des Arts show. They wrote:

Thursday 12/7

CAN'T WE JUST BE ARTISTS?

It seems as if the organizers of the Women's Art Festival are bragging about the gender of the artists involved rather than "making a space" for them. (Although such spaces are still necessary, since women are underrepresented in the art world, as elsewhere, thanks to near-Borat attitudes.) Then again, you'd brag, too, if your exhibit featured work by heavy talent like this. MariNaomi you should already know, since she's so hip with her mixed-media danger cartoons and watercolor sumo clowns. Same with Kelly Tunstall's stylized-lady paintings. But maybe you haven't heard of Rebecca Szeto, whose "Objects" series is wide-eyed and classically informed, featuring sculptures made from paintbrushes (whose bristles make wide skirts for virgins and nuns) as well as transcendent photos of indoor power lines on which she's glued blackberry thorns. Hadley Northrop's

Toulouse

Lautrec-meets-Waking Life paintings of people in cafes and Miranda Lloyd's twisty wall sculptures of arcing plants and tiny jarred animals add more treats, and then there's the work of the other 17 artists. Bonus: The show is a benefit for La Casa de Los Madres and is co-hosted by tuff soccer gang the Mad Dog Lassies.

The Women's Art Festival starts at 5:30 p.m. at the Hotel des Arts, 447 Bush (at Grant), S.F. Admission is free; call 505-4734 or visit www.sfhoteldesarts.com.

- Hiya Swanhuyser

SF Weekly Vol. 25, Number 45