PURCHASE
THE BOOK
"Damselfly Chair" This elegantly minimal chair with its spare, thin lines and "bare bone" whitewashed aesthetic appears fragile, uncomfortable and severe, like the anorexic body and psyche. Body dysmorphic disorder and the actual diminutive size of the patient are symptoms indicated by the slightly exaggerated size of the chair. Burned into the surface of the wood are patterns of counting marks and obsessive numbering, to represent the repetitive trappings of calorie consciousness, weight and measurement. Wood burning is also a slow, labor-intensive process that "beautifies" through a kind of violence, requiring steadfast determination; it also parallels the often concurrent self-injury compulsion referred to as "cutting."
Welcome to the
Waiting Room Project,
a creative collaboration examining women's health and health care through aesthetic, scientific, cultural, political and literary lenses. The project includes the traveling, mixed-media art installation The Waiting Room: lost and found; the exhibition catalogue and essay collection A Waiting Room of One's Own ; public events, community collaborations, workshops and lectures; and you.
In The Waiting Room: lost and found, a mixed-media installation combining sculpture, sound and image, the medical waiting room provides a psychologically rich conceptual framework. This is the place where people wait to interface with the medical system, where patients are processed before testing, diagnosis, consultation or treatment begins.
A series of distinct tableaus, each centered on a hybridized chair composed of found and sculptural elements embodying a particular health issue, evoke the waiting-room environment. Lost and/or found items of specifically designed, ambiguously functioning clothing suggest inhabitants past and future. Visitors sit adjacent to each sculptural chair on blank, unaltered chairs, where they may listen to recorded interview excerpts and sound compositions of intimate and expanded perspectives for each health issue.
Anorexia
Bulimia
Depression
Breast Cancer
Dementia
Domestic Violence
Want to book the exhibition? The Waiting Room: lost and found is scalable and modular in form.
Because of this, one or more specific tableaus and installation elements may be booked separately.
The Waiting Room: lost and found is constantly evolving. In-depth information about existing tableaus and up-to-date information about new ones may be found at the exhibition website .
A lesbian beats her partner. A restaurant server with bleeding ulcers skips a doctor visit to keep a third job. A cancer patient and her husband laugh over a coping mechanism named Scar Titty.
A black woman feels cautious around a white pharmaceutical rep. A four-year-old girl worries about getting fat. A public-health advocate exorcises the ghosts of her childhood illness. A woman who used to be a man thrills in her first mammogram.
The American women's-health experience cannot be tied up neatly with a pink ribbon.
That experience, at once public and personal, comes into view through The Waiting Room Project , a national collaboration inviting discourse among all whose bodies have intersected the social, cultural or political paradigms of Health. A Waiting Room of One's Own documents that discourse through color images of a provocative traveling art exhibition and related community interactions, as well as through sixteen original essays by scholars, health-care professionals, artists and writers. Those essays--commentary, research articles and personal narrative
--compose a literary response to the timely, crucial questions raised by The Waiting Room Project.
Principal Artists
Marguerite Perret , associate professor of art and design at Washburn University in Topeka, is a multi-media installation artist who explores issue-based, interdisciplinary connections among art, science and medicine through institutional and professional collaborations. She has exhibited widely with a number of invitational and solo projects and has been commissioned to create large-scale, site-specific temporary public artworks. In addition to a variety of artist residencies and project grants, Perret has received support to travel internationally to document natural history and medical museum collections as part of an ongoing study of how we represent and consume nature and our own bodies.
Bruce Scherting is director of exhibits and design at the University of Kansas Biodiversity Institute Natural History Museum, in Lawrence, Kan., and teaches in the museum studies graduate program. Previously he worked on major installation projects at the Field Museum and the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago and the Museum of Natural History at the University of Iowa. Scherting also is a mixed-media installation artist who works collaboratively with Perret.
Stephanie Lanter , full-time ceramics instructor at Emporia State University in Emporia, Kan., has exhibited her ceramic, fiber and mixed-media sculpture nationally. In addition to completing three-year visiting artist/teaching positions at Wichita State University and Washburn University, she has been awarded residencies at the Red Lodge Clay Center (Montana), The Anderson Ranch (Colorado), The Archie Bray Foundation/Jentel (Montana/Wyoming) and the Mendocino Art Center (California). Her reviews have been published in journals such as Ceramics Monthly and Ceramics: Art and Perception . She received an MFA from Ohio University in 2002.
Robin Lasser is a professor of art at San Jose State University in California. Her photographs, video, site-specific installations and public art have been exhibited in Buenos Aires, Rio De Janeiro, New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Japan and the Czech Republic. Her work has been featured in numerous books and periodicals, most recently Rebecca Solnit's Storming the Gates of Paradise: Landscapes for Politics . The former Fulbright Scholar spent nearly a decade with collaborator Kathryn Sylva on an expansive creative project entitled Eating Disorders in a Disordered Culture . Lasser lives in Oakland, Cal., with her husband and son.
Editor
Sarah Smarsh is a freelance writer and assistant professor of English at Washburn University in Topeka, where she teaches creative nonfiction writing. Smarsh has written for The Huffington Post and Kansas City's The Pitch and in 2010 published two books on Kansas history. She holds an MFA in nonfiction writing from Columbia University, as well as degrees in journalism and English
from the University of Kansas.
Writers
Annie Choi is the author of Happy Birthday or Whatever: Track Suits, Kim Chee and Other Family Disasters , a memoir that deals in part with her mother's breast cancer. She was born and raised in Los Angeles's San Fernando Valley. A graduate of the University of California-Berkeley and Columbia University, Choi lives in New York City.
Rachel Goossen is a professor of history at Washburn University with teaching and research interests in U.S. social history, women's history, peace history and Mennonite history. She currently is writing a history of the protest movement against war toys in America from 1940 to 1980.
Inge Hansen is a staff psychologist and Coordinator of the Weiland Initiative for Gender and Sexual Identity Issues in Student Health at Stanford University's Vaden Health Center. She previously ran the relationship-violence treatment and intervention program at the San Diego LGBT Community Center. She received her BA from Bryn Mawr College and her doctorate from the California School of Professional Psychology.
Reinhild Kauenhoven Janzen , a Germany native who has made Kansas her second home, is a professor emerita of art history at Washburn University. She has published in the areas of the Northern European Renaissance, African art, Mennonite art and visual culture, and on the twentieth-century American artist Albert Bloch. Janzen developed and taught courses on art and health at Washburn University and has given numerous public and scholarly presentations on this topic, including for the Society for the Arts in Healthcare.
Gina Kaufmann is a freelance writer, editor, storyteller and broadcast journalist. In the early 2000s, she wrote a popular art column in Kansas City's alternative weekly paper and, more recently, she co-hosted a daily talk show for public radio. Kaufmann also has been involved in the New York-based Heeb magazine and Heeb Storytelling series and has published art criticism in ArtNews and Lemon magazine. She holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of British
Columbia.
Crystal Y. Lumpkins is an assistant professor of strategic communications at the University of Kansas. Lumpkins specializes in public relations, broadcasting and health communication. Her primary research interest is investigating the impact of religion and spirituality in health communication targeting minorities and underserved populations.
Natabhona Marianne Mabachi is a research instructor and a Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Family Medicine Department at the University of Kansas Medical Center. She received her undergraduate and masters degrees in the United Kingdom and, after working in advertising, obtained a PhD in communication studies at the University of Kansas. Her research has focused on health messaging in relation to HIV/AIDS and behavior change among Africans in the Diaspora. Originally from Kenya, Mabachi is interested in addressing health disparity issues both locally and internationally.
Stephanie Mott is the founder and executive director of Kansas Statewide Transgender Education Project, vice-chair of Kansas Equality Coalition and vice-moderator on the Metropolitan Community Church of Topeka board of directors. Mott is the author of My Long Walk Home: A Transsexual Journey and writes a column on transgender topics for Liberty Press .
Sharon Sullivan is an associate professor of theater and women's and gender studies at Washburn University. She is particularly interested in the intersections between art and activism, and her current research focuses on modern slavery. When she's not teaching or designing costumes, she spends her time on ten acres with her partner, three dogs, two cats, twelve chickens, fifteen guineas, four ducks and father-in-law.
Patty Tenofsky is a board-certified general surgeon specializing in minimally invasive breast biopsies. Her interests include comprehensive breast care, rapid diagnosis and treatment of breast diseases. Tenofsky is certified in breast ultrasound by the American Society of Breast Surgeons and is a member of the American Society of Breast Surgeons and the American College of Surgeons. She is a faculty member at the Kansas University School of Medicine-Wichita and currently practices at Wichita Clinic in Wichita, Kan.
The Waiting Room Project reaches far beyond the art installation and book. Its wide dialogue has encompassed community art workshops, oral histories, "think tanks" of women from various disciplines, a theatrical production, performance art and more.
The Waiting Room Project connects with communities through hands-on creative workshops, oral-history gatherings and other events led by principal project contributors. Many of the resulting artworks, stories and responses are integrated into The Waiting Room: lost and found art exhibition.
2009
Washburn University, Topeka, Kan.
St. Catherine University, St. Paul, Minn.
Salina Art Center Warehouse, Salina, Kan.
Salina Art Center Warehouse, July 7, 2010
Salina Art Center Warehouse, July 18, 2010
Salina Art Center Warehouse, July 24, 2010
Washburn University, Topeka, Kansas 2009
St. Catherine University, St. Paul, MN November 6, 2010
Tick Tock
TICK TOCK is an original one-act play by Marcia Cebulska following a group of women in a medical waiting room as they move from solitary, anxious boredom to exuberant song and dance. Directed by Darren Canady and choreographed by Eleanor Goudie-Averill, TICK TOCK was written to debut at the opening of The Waiting Room art installation.
(Use bar at right to scroll for principals' bios)
Playwright Marcia Cebulska ’s stage plays have been produced at The Georgia Repertory Theatre, HERE (NYC), the Phoenix Theatre, Frontera at Hyde Park, Fremont Centre Theatre, The Theatre Building of Chicago, Fusion Theatre and elsewhere. Marcia has received the Dorothy Silver Award, the Jane Chambers International Award, Kansas Arts Commission and Indiana Arts Commission Master Artist Fellowships, “Best Historical Film” (Traildance Film Festival) and numerous other honors. Her NOW LET ME FLY , commissioned for the national celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Brown v. Board decision has been performed at over 5,000 venues internationally from Topeka to Turkmenistan. A production of NOW LET ME FLY was filmed for a French documentary entitled BLACK CLAY. TOUCHED, about the life of William Inge, was commissioned for the 25th anniversary of the William Inge Theatre Festival at which it premiered. THROUGH MARTHA’S EYES, for which Marcia wrote the screenplay, was aired nationally on PBS. Her plays have been chosen for development by the Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, Sundance Playwrights Lab, the William Inge Theatre Festival and Shenandoah Playwrights Retreat. She has been playwright-in-residence at The University of Georgia, Mary Anderson Center for the Arts, Marion College and The William Inge Center for the Arts. Marcia attended Barnard College and Columbia University School of the Arts. She is a member of The Dramatists Guild and is a Fellow of the Center for Kansas Studies. Marcia currently is working on a stage play entitled THE BONES OF BUTTERFLIES and THE GREENSBURG PROJECT (working title), a collaborative theater piece with the William Inge Center and Cornerstone Theater.
Director Darren Canady hails from Topeka, Kan. His play False Creeds was named the winner of the Alliance Theater's Kendeda Graduate Playwriting Competition and was also
workshopped at the O'Neill Playwright's Conference in 2006. False Creeds was also a
finalist for the Abingdon Theatre Company’s Christopher Brian Wolk Award and the
Goldberg Prize in Playwriting. His ten-minute play He Was Mine but Then You Took
Him received a production at NYU and competed at the Region II Festival of the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. He Was Mine... was also a finalist for the Actors Theatre of Louisville's 2006 Heidelman Playwriting Award. Another play, Brothers of the Dust, has received recognition in the Lorraine Hansberry Playwriting Competition, the Theodore Ward Prize for African-American Playwriting, the James W. Rodgers Playwriting Competition and will be produced by Congo Square Theatre in Spring 2011. How Theo Changed His Name, an opera for which Darren provided the libretto, was premiered through the Pittsburgh (PA) Symphony Orchestra. His work has been seen at the Quo Vadimus Arts’ ID America Festival, the Fremont Centre Theatre, Chicago’s Congo Square Theatre, and the BE Company. Darren holds a BA in Creative Writing from Carnegie Mellon University and an MFA in Dramatic Writing from New York University. He was a 2006-7 fellow in the Juilliard School's Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program, and is currently a member of Primary Stages’ Dorothy Strelsin New Writers Group. He is also a member of the Old Vic Theatre’s Old Vic New Voices Network, where he participated in the 2010 T.S. Eliot US/UK Exchange. He currently teaches playwriting at the University of Kansas.
Choreographer Eleanor Goudie-Averill , a 2007 MFA Dance Performance graduate of the University of Iowa, currently directs the Stone Depot Dance Lab (www.stonedepotdancelab.wordpress.com) and dances for McArthur Dance Project and Group Motion Dance Company in Philadelphia. Her choreography has been shown NYC, Philly and throughout the Midwest, and she was recently a selected artist for Dance New Amsterdam’s RAW Material. Ellie is currently adjunct faculty in Modern and Ballet at Temple University and has served as Visiting Assistant Professor of dance at Bucknell University and Artistic Director of the University of Iowa Youth Ballet. She began her training at Ballet Midwest in Topeka, Kan., and holds a BFA in dance from the University of Kansas. Along with performing, choreographing, and improvising she loves teaching dance to people of all ages and jumping for joy! NYU and competed at the Region II Festival of the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. He Was Mine...was also a finalist for the Actors Theatre of Louisville's 2006
Measuring Time in the Waiting Room
Measuring Time in the Waiting Room is an ambient performance inspired by The Waiting Room Project, written by Waiting Room primary artist Marguerite Perret and directed by Sharon L. Sullivan. It's a contemporary interpretation of the Greek Fates as they might present in a contemporary doctor’s' office.
Director Sharon L. Sullivan is an associate professor of theater and women's and gender studies at Washburn University. She is particularly interested in the intersections between art and activism, and her current research focuses on modern slavery. In addition to directing Measuring Time in the Waiting Room , Sullivan contributed the essay "Look at Us: Women and Performance Art" to A Waiting Room of One's Own: Contexts for The Waiting Room Project .
Performance images coming soon.
UPCOMING EVENTS
IN THE WAITING ROOM
Part of the national dialogue surrounding the Waiting Room Project
CLOSING EVENT
A discussion with the project contributors of The Waiting Room.
Friday March 16, 2012: 6:30-7:30 PM
Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library
1515 SW 10th Avenue, Topeka, KS 66604
INFORMATION: 785-580-4515
Join the artists and collaborators of the Waiting Room exhibit for a conversation about the ideas and issues related to this community-based and continually evolving project. Time for questions, answers and ideas about The Waiting Room.
MIXED MEDIA MILAGROS WORKSHOP
Saturday February 25, 2012: 1-3 PM
RESERVATIONS: 785-580-4515
A Milagros Workshop organized by Marguerite Perret and Stephanie Lanter will be held Saturday, February 25 1-3pm in Marvin Auditorium. Participants will have the opportunity to create one or more Milagros, or exvotos, to keep or contribute to the project. Milagro is the Spanish word for miracle.
BOOK RELEASE:
PERFORMANCE, PANEL AND PARTY
Friday, January 27, 2012
5-9 p.m.
Lawrence Arts Center
940 New Hampshire Street
Lawrence, KS 66044
www.lawrenceartscenter.org
785-843-2787
•5-9 p.m. / Final Fridays reception featuring selected works from the Waiting Room art exhibition and cash bar (Main Lobby)
• 6-7 p.m. / Live performance of Measuring Time in the Waiting Room, directed by Sharon L. Sullivan (Upper Lobby)
• 7-8 p.m. / Discussion panel (Theater) moderated by Kansas City culture critic and book contributor Gina Kaufmann featuring book editor Sarah Smarsh, assistant professor of English, Washburn University, and art editors Marguerite Perret, associate professor of art, Washburn University, and Stephanie Lanter, ceramics instructor, Emporia State University, with selected contributors:
-Inge Hansen, psychologist and coordinator, Weiland Initiative for Gender and Sexual Identity Issues in Student Health, Stanford University
-Reinhild Kauhoven Janzen, Professor Emerita of Art History, Washburn University
-Natabhona Mabachi, post-doctoral research fellow, University of Kansas Medical Center
-Stephanie Mott, executive director, Kansas Statewide Transgender Education Project
• 8-9 p.m. / Reception celebrating book and all contributors (Main Lobby)
EXHIBITION:
OPENING, PERFORMANCES AND WORKSHOP
January 13 - March 16, 2012
Alice C. Sabatini Gallery
Contact: Sherry Best, Director
785-580-4515
•Friday, January 13, 5:30-8:30 p.m. / Opening Reception and Live Performances
-6 and 7:30 p.m. / Debut of Tick Tock, playwright Marcia Cebulska's
short play written in response to The Waiting Room
Project
-Ongoing / Debut of Measuring Time in the Waiting
Room, an ambient performance directed by Sharon L. Sullivan,
associate professor of theater and women's and gender studies at
Washburn University. Performed by Arissa Utemark, Samantha Heath
and Ashley Vaughan.
•Saturday, January 14 / More Opening Events
-2p.m. / Artists Talk
-11:30 a.m. and Noon / Performances of Tick Tock,
Marcia Cebulska's short play written in response
to The Waiting Room Project
•Saturday, February 27, 1-3 p.m. / Mixed-Media Milagros Workshop (free and open to the public)
COROLLARY EXHIBITONS, through March 16
-Collection of Milagros/Ex-votos created by artists and community members (library rotunda)
-Objects from the library's collections related to local history and mental-health (entry gallery)
•6-7 p.m. / Live performance of Measuring Time in the Waiting Room, directed by Sharon L. Sullivan (Upper Lobby)
•7-8 p.m. / Discussion panel (Theater) moderated by Kansas City culture critic and book contributor Gina Kaufmann featuring book editor Sarah Smarsh, assistant professor of English, Washburn University, and art editors Marguerite Perret, associate professor of art, Washburn University, and Stephanie Lanter, ceramics instructor, Emporia State University, with selected contributors:
•8-9 p.m. / Reception celebrating book and all contributors (Upper Lobby)
Created by artist Marguerite Perret in 2009, the Waiting Room Project involves principal artists and creative partners across the United States. Learn more about them at the above tabs.
Sincere thanks to those who have provided resources and support to The Waiting Room Project.
Washburn University / Topeka, Kan.
Kansas Arts Commission
National Endowment for the Arts
Salina Art Center / Salina, Kan.
Center for Kansas Studies / Washburn University
St. Catherine University / St. Paul, Minn.
Ragdale Foundation / Lake Forest, Ill.
Alice C. Sabatini Gallery of the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library
Department of English / Washburn University
Mabee Library / Washburn University
