Competing exhibitions claw it out.
Three words.
That's all it took for Pamela Frankel Fiedler to stoke the embers of controversy within the local art community. The title of the upcoming exhibition Fiedler is directing-
Other Women: Les Refuseés from "Originals 2005"
-was both a self-deprecating nod and a defiant smirk in the face of the National Museum of Women in the Arts.
Fielder launched
Other Women
after she and hundreds of other female artists were snubbed for the NMWA's biennial exhibition
Originals 2005: A Juried and Invitational Exhibition of New Mexico Women Artists
, which begins Sept. 23 at the Museum of Fine Arts.
"The idea was that we had a lot of fantastic artists and a lot of great art that wasn't going to be included in the official show," Fiedler says. "We wanted to dispel the stigma for why artists are rejected from exhibitions. There are several reasons and talent is only one of them."
The title of the alternative show-specifically the "from 'Originals 2005'" portion-apparently didn't sit well with the NMWA. Shortly after the announcement that Other Women would be launched at the Farrell Fischoff Gallery on Sept. 24, gallery co-owner Robert Fischoff says he received a pair of phone calls from Patrice Emrie, president of the New Mexico Committee of the NMWA.
"She was unpleasant," Fischoff says. "She never directly said that they would sue me, but the insinuation was there."
Fischoff says Emrie voiced several complaints in an initial phone conversation and called back a second time on a conference call with a woman purporting to be from the NMWA headquarters in Washington, DC who suggested the organization's legal department was being consulted over the use of the Originals 2005 name. Fischoff was taken aback.
"Frankly, that's normal [to have an alternative show]," Fischoff says. "There is always a group of disgruntled artists who aren't chosen for an exhibition who launch an alternative show."
What wasn't so common, Fischoff says, was that a large organization dedicated to the arts was purportedly strong-arming a competing exhibit for co-opting its title.
"Everyone who has heard about this is shocked," Fischoff says. "This is a national organization whose sole purpose is to promote women in the arts and they were trying to intimidate a gallery hosting 25 female artists. It still boggles my mind."
Emrie acknowledges she discussed
Other Women
with both Fischoff and Fiedler but denies making any threats of legal action.
"We had a question that we needed to clarify," Emrie says. "Maybe he misconstrued it to be threatening, but there were no threats. I believe he's jumping to conclusions that aren't there…There is no controversy. We're highly supportive of the other show. I think it's a great thing."
Emrie says she only wishes she could have included more applicants in the official
Originals 2005
.
"We had around 649 women who submitted art to the show," Emrie says. "We wish we could show 649 artists but we can't."
After discussing the situation with Fischoff and Emrie, Fielder decided to edit the title of the alternate exhibition down to
Other Women: Les Refuseés
.
"[Emrie] asked me about the title and basically said that we couldn't do that," Fiedler says. "It wasn't a threat, she was quite civil, but there was an implication that we needed to change the title, or else. I wasn't happy to comply, but I figured I had to in order to protect the show."
"I have the utmost respect for the NMWA," Fiedler continues. "But I think it was wrong for them to interfere with our show and make us change the name, especially when there was no legal basis for doing so."
