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Email PageSticks & Stones
September 26, 2006- November 10, 2006
Reception: September 26, 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Judith Z. Miller
National Museum of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender History
208 W 13th St"Six years ago - during one single week - three different mentally unstable men threatened me. I was walking in Park Slope, with my beloved Harlequin Great Dane, "Zuli." Each man whispered similar, violent messages in my ear.
The first man mumbled, "I'm going to kill that dog." The second patted a lump in his back pocket and stated matter-of-factly, "I see where you tie her up and I'm going to take this knife and cut her." Just one block from my apartment, the third man growled intensely, "That dog's going to die!"
I was freaked-out. Terrified. Shaking.
On the way back to my apartment, I spotted a tree branch lying on the ground. I picked it up. Clutching that stick, I walked home - dazed.
I've always loved trees. I've climbed way up into the majesty of their crowns and cocooned myself, hidden for hours, in their wise maternal safety. For many years I resided in the Maryland and Virginia countryside surrounded by old, noble trees - and I roamed the fields collecting branches and bones and stones. When I moved away in '95, I brought my collection with me to the big city.
After that third crazy-man's threat, I suddenly felt energized - compelled. I rushed around my apartment gathering up my treasured objects, grabbed my favorite knife, sat down at my kitchen table and began to carve. I wrapped a jawbone around the branch, glued shells, attached the horsehair tail saved from my career as a carriage driver - and added a clay yoni - a symbolic connection to raw female power.
When I was done, I took off all of my clothes and stood in front of the mirror gripping that bizarre and fearsome stick. My eyes were wild - a warrior's preparing for battle. I said out loud to my naked reflection: "I'm gonna be crazier than any of those mother-fu#*%$s! I'm gonna walk down the street with this stick - and it WILL protect me and Zuli!"
Why I knew that to be true, I don't know. A defiant and creative force had been triggered by my fear. Something deep inside, primal, powerful, "beyond reason" had been touched.
From that moment on, every time Zuli and I went for a walk, I carried along that wild-ass stick. And, you know what? No crazy men ever bothered us again.
From that time on - whatever my struggle or celebration - I'd carve.
Sacred Staffs: "Clit Snake" - balancing my gender identity; "Relationship" - listening closely to a lover; "Playful Watchful Eye" - opening to the unexpected
I love finding branches blown from trees by a powerful rainstorm; carrying them home, examining them - each knot and groove - each irregularity - like the lines in a human face - marks of growth or crisis. As I carve, sand, paint, I delight as their textures transform; as the tree's personality comes alive in my hands!
I craved the sense of protection I felt when I made my first stick, but it wasn't always practical to carry one (I almost poked out people's eyes in the subway!). So I "minimalized" the sticks and created necklaces - little totems, talismans, amulets - my own wearable healing art. And I began to carve practical hiking sticks too.
IllustrationRecognizing something "tribal" in my work, people often approach me on the street and ask me if the pieces I carry or wear are Native American or African. "No" I reply, "I make them myself - and I'm just a 'nice Jewish girl' from New Jersey." A failed attempt at humor, I suppose. But, on a deeper level, what I'm trying to communicate is that I believe that every human being - from any background - has access to innate, primal, creative and healing force.
Sometimes it takes a crisis to access that force.
These "SACRED STAFFS," express my fears, hopes and dreams. They reaffirm a trust in my inner guidance and a strong connection to nature. While I'm sitting quietly with a knife, the branches and I work together. The Staffs are part of my life-long wrestle to recognize and connect with my higher power.
With this exhibit, I expose to you my interior - and the spirits dwelling within. All people struggle with expressing their true nature - with crisis and balance. We, as LGBT people, share a specific struggle - to embrace the truth of who we are and have the courage to live it.
I hope these little spirits radiate healing energy towards you, that as you spend time with the Staffs, their energies resonate with a secret part of you. My greatest desire is to have this work enhance our collective dreams, helping us recognize and honor the intermingled roots that feed us all."
Judith is a self-taught artist inspired by the beauty of nature and the guiding force of her intuition. She creates primal, wearable art and sculpture, ritual staffs and hiking sticks from tree branches, stones and paint. Her designs are entirely hand-made and one-of-a-kind, using no electric tools. Judith also designs clothing, and she uses herbs and flowers as major elements in her paintings and collages. In addition to her website at www.zamo-zamo.com, Judith's work can be seen in the Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition shows www.BWAC.org, and in small galleries and boutiques.
Judith is also the Director of ZAMO!, a performing arts management and consulting company. She has represented a multi-cultural mix of world-class performers in every genre, including Grammy-nominated and Juno Award winning artists. She co-produced the "Voices" festival event "Presenting Latin Music" at the Association of Performing Arts Presenters National Conference and co-founded The Fine Line Actors Theatre (formerly Earth Onion Women's Theatre) in Washington, DC. As the company's Executive Director, Judith created, produced, taught and performed in a series of special constituency projects addressing the needs of underserved populations, including its unique Prison Project.
She consults privately and leads workshops to empower performing artists. On December 6th, 2006, the Brooklyn Arts Council will sponsor Judith's workshop "Get the Gig! - Part 1: The Artists' Promo Package."
Judith has published articles about the performing arts in The Washington Post, American Theatre and Inside Arts magazines, and she is a poet who writes about nature and the erotic.
Judith now resides in Brooklyn, NY with her magnificent Harlequin Great Dane, Zuli.
Books and DVDs related to artists in this show
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