Classic Films by Joyce Wieland

Joyce Wieland with camera

Los Angeles Filmforum presents

Classic Films by Joyce Wieland
At the Spielberg Theatre at the Egyptian, 6712 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles CA 90028
Special guest Lauren Howes, Executive Director,  Canadian Filmmakers Distribution Centre

Long overdue is this retrospective screening of classic experimental films by Joyce Wieland. Wieland is regarded as Canada’s foremost woman artist.  She produced an acclaimed body of work in a great variety of media, from drawing and painting to quilts and film.  Her work tended to be overshadowed in the United States by that of her husband, Michael Snow, but her cinematic explorations elude easy categorization.  She gained a unique respect for incorporating strong personal statements in her work about issues of feminism, nationalism and ecology long before it had become fashionable to do so.  Her retrospective at the Art Gallery of Ontario was the first-ever afforded a living Canadian woman artist.  She passed away almost two decades ago, and although a few of her films have appeared in scattered shows in LA since then, this is a chance to see most of her finest works in one screening.  We’re delighted to have Lauren Howes, executive director of the Canadian Filmmakers Distribution Centre, introduce the show.

Wieland was born in 1931 to English parents who emigrated to Toronto in the mid-twenties.  She lost both her parents before ten years of age and was brought up by her older brother and sister.  From 1944 to 1948 Wieland studied at Central Technical School in Toronto, where she made a lasting impression on her teachers, Doris McCarthy, Elizabeth Wynn Wood and Robert Ross.  For four years she worked as a commercial artist before becoming associated with Graphic Films, where she worked as an animator and got her first opportunity to produce short films for herself.  She had her first one-woman show in 1960, and in 1962 moved to New York, where she continued to paint and gained recognition as an experimental filmmaker.  She was married to Canadian artist Michael Snow at the time.

Living in the United States awakened feelings of nationalism in Wieland.  She returned to Canada in 1971.  That same year, her solo exhibition at the National Gallery of Canada, the first given to a living woman artist, dealt with nationalistic sentiments.  Entitled “True Patriot Love,” the exhibition was a complex, extensive development of the theme interwoven with issues of feminism, ecology and politics.  Her collages, three-dimensional assemblages, and particularly her quilts were imbued with concerns for the environment, the Vietnam war, her love for Canada, and the status and place of women in society, and sent forth a bold feminist statement long before Judy Chicago’s work.  “The Dinner Party” made feminist aesthetic popular. Joyce Wieland passed away on June 27, 1998.

Lauren Howes is the Executive Director of CFMDC. Prior to coming to CFMDC, she  was  the  Distribution  Manager  of  Video  Out  Distribution  in  Vancouver,  BC from 2002-2006. Howes has fifteen years in the not-for-profit management field.  In addition to her work in distribution, she has curated and presented screenings for  events  in  Vancouver,  Toronto,    Dublin, Hamburg,  Sao  Paulo,  Rio  de  Janeiro, Seoul, London UK, Paris,  Buenos  Aires,  Bangalore, and  was  selected  as  a Goethe  Scholar  to  participate  in  the  Living  Archive  program  at Arsenal - institut für  film  und  videokunst  in  Berlin in 2014.  Howes  currently  sits  on  the Board  of Directors  at  the  Toronto  Arts  Council  and  is  on  their  Advisory  Committee  for Visual and Media Art. She graduated from Simon Fraser University with a BFA in Film Production  and endeavors  to  make  films  when  possible,  outside  of  the demands of arts administration.

Tickets: $10 general admission; $6 students (with ID)/seniors; free for Filmforum members.
Tickets available at http://wieland.bpt.me or at the door
For more event information: www.lafilmforum.org, or 323-377-7238