The Dittmar Gallery hosted more than just art connoisseurs Thursday night as Indian music, women “walking like egyptians” and calls of “vagina, vagina, vagina” filled the small art space at Norris University Center.
The gallery, in conjunction with Women’s Coalition, sponsored three events Thursday to “give women and men, if they come, an idea that it’s okay to be whatever size you are,” said Elizabeth Kendall Matthews, the art services coordinator and graduate assistant for the gallery.
Matthews said the events, collectively named “Love Your Body Day,” were necessary because society forces women to conform to unrealistic physical ideals. The event focused on a three-artist show, titled “Imperfect Beauty,” on display at the Dittmar until Feb. 9.
For a half hour, Debra Grall, Davida Schulman and Sigrid Wonsil answered questions from a 20-person audience concerning their works that portray overweight, old and physically disabled subjects.
“It’s about body image and people who aren’t pretty being invisible,” said Wonsil, who primarily paints people she met in her 15 years as a registered nurse, many of whom have suffered physical trauma from serious illnesses.
“We thought it was our job to make those people visible,” she said.
Schulman, tired of starving herself and bothered that women “can’t be who they are,” said she decided to get “comfortable” in her own body and explore the female artist’s place in society by painting herself.
“I decided I would reveal myself, as I was, to the world,” Schulman said of her choice to paint nude self-portraits in bright colors on large canvases.
“I thought it was a nice twist to explore issues like dignity instead of idealism, sensuality instead of sexuality,” said Erin Cramer, an Elgin, Ill., tour director and Wonsil’s art student.
Before the presentation, Middle-Eastern dance instructor Gwen Aubrey gave a free belly dancing lesson to about 30 women.
Although many women said belly dancing made them “feel muscles they forgot they had,” several participants enjoyed tying silk scarves around their hips and pretending to “stoke a giant, magical soap bubble” with their hands.
“I loved it,” said Barbara Putta, an Evanston lawyer. “And I’ve seen it referred to more recently as a feminist exercise. I guess lots of women are flocking to it.” Aubrey currently teaches a Wednesday night belly dancing mini-course at Norris.
Nell Haynes, president of Women’s Co, said belly dancing instruction went along with the event’s theme.
“I think belly dancing is an art form that uses the body but doesn’t necessarily require a really skinny, tight, toned body,” said Haynes, a Communication senior.
The evening ended with excerpts from “The Vagina Monologues,” a play Women’s Co will present Feb. 15 at Pick-Staiger Concert Hall.
Sara Doran, a Weinberg sophomore who performed the “Hair” monologue, said the show helps women accept their vaginas, which will help them be more accepting of their bodies in general.
“If you can come to terms with your vagina, the rest of it is just a short step,” Doran said.
