When I was 22, attending college at Washington University in St. Louis, I took several photography classes. For my final Color Photography 2 course, I created a “Pin-Up Girl” calendar featuring myself! Ha! This was super difficult technically, because I was using a 35 mm Canon camera that I had to focus using formulaic calculations regarding the background and middle ground, and then set a timer, pose, and repeat– not knowing what I captured (if anything!!!) until I developed the film…. Super Old School! But also, as I have mentioned in previous HERstory posts, I already had an issue with the “actress/model type”, who are exactly the “sort” of women from which “Pin- Up Girl” calendars are made. So by placing my 5’3″, on the stocky/strong side- (certainly NOT the usual “Pin-Up Girl” type) – I was challenging what exactly it means to be a “Pin-Up Girl” or as I say, “A Girl For All Seasons”. This project was also inspired by Julie London’s album Calender Girl, and the photographer, Cindy Sherman’s amazing work as a self-portraitist…. Finally, there was one other ulterior motive for my creative project, and that was to convince a man (through art) to choose me instead of another woman… It is so messed up, but I was young and very much in love and also, as people like to point out, that I did “get my man”… AND, so it is true- my creative advertisement- worked, I did “get my man” for almost 22 years until… but, well that is another Fish Tale entirely!
Anyway, I made Christmas presents for my family and friends of my A Girl For All Seasons 1996 Calendar. It features 13 fabulous self-portraits of myself- complete with holiday accouterments, but also 2 poems (laminated in the finest plastic KINKO’S offers!), one by the poet/author Robert Graves, Uncalendered Love, and another, written by “Anonymous”, (spoiler alert: written by the man whom would become husband and the father of my 3 children), entitled Times’s Mistress… Calendars are really important to me – I like to keep several paper ones on hand, each dedicated to recording “time” based on different criteria that I have set… I like to cross off things and move forward in time… It’s a thing.
The Book Of Fish and Women 