This coming Saturday, July 9th, the Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery unveils our latest exhibit The Quiet Rrriot: Visual Artists from the Riot Grrrl Movement, celebrating the release of Megan Kelso's recently reissued Queen of the Black Black, and also spotlighting two other rad DIY ladies of the Northwest, Nikki McClure and Stella Marrs.
We all know how awesome Megan is, but lemme introduce you to how equally-cool Nikki and Stella are, starting with the mysterious Ms. Stella Marrs.
Anyone who's stepped into a bookstore in the last thirty years has surely seen her distinctive postcards in a rack near the registers: kitschy vintage images transposed with sharp, smart phrases. In a rare interview with Fanta-friend Everett True, Stella explains, "Why postcards?"
After college, I made hundreds of different paintings, products, and events. I never put my name on anything during that period. I preferred to think of it all as some sort of warm-up exercise for what I was really going to do. I finally settled on using my name on the back of postcards because I realized I better accept this medium by the default since I could afford to start manufacturing it. It could be educational, and I could travel and sell it on public transportation, because it was small and I didn't have a car.
Stella's work pre-dates the Riot Grrrl-era, but her bold feminist statements were echoed in the music, comics and zines coming out of her Olympia, WA neighborhood during the '90s.
In that aforementioned interview, Stella also states: If girls could just make things and see themselves reflected in what they made, and then trade it for money, that could be a window to empowerment about alternatives for economic survival. Because if you get to live outside the normal system, you just might have a chance for a different vision, which could mean ultimately an alternative voice.
An old Stella Marrs mail order catalog, from the Megan Kelso collection.
We celebrate that unique vision and alternative voice this Saturday at the Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery with original artwork on display from Stella, as well as Megan and Nikki!
The Quiet Rrriot: Visual Artists from the Riot Grrrl movement by Megan Kelso, Nikki McClure, Stella Marrs
Opening Saturday, July 9th from 6:00 to 9:00 PM
Artists talk with Megan Kelso and Nikki McClure at 7:00 PM, followed by a book signing.
Exhibition continues through August 31, 2011
Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery
1201 S. Vale Street (at Airport Way S.)
Seattle, WA 98108
206.658.0110
Open daily 11:30 to 8:00 PM, Sundays until 5:00 PM
This event is free and all ages