This provocative book, which accompanies an exhibition of the same name, explores the forces that bifurcate our society along gender lines. In its quest for balanceor, at minimum, an understanding of where cultural imbalances existFinding Balance draws upon literary discourse and the works of eleven internationally acclaimed artists: Jim Baker, Robert Brinker, Monica Chau, Linda Girvin, Jody Guralnick, Pamela Joseph, Charmaine Locke, Brad Miller, Brian Reid, Barbara Sorensen, and James Surls. The twenty-six featured works range from traditional ceramics to lenticular photography.
The critical essays by James Surls, Charmaine Locke, and noted author and scholar Leonard Shlain evoke a series of questions: Has the gender imbalance of our era been resolved? What are the implications of a patriarchal society on contemporary culture? What role does the artist play in advancing discourse and reconciliation?
Curator Surls has selected artists whose works are evocative in their diversity of scale, medium, and motivation. Collectively they expand the boundaries of the conscious and unconscious, equalizing the balance of opposite forces.
James Surls has been shown in national and international solo and group exhibitions. His works are included in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Whitney Museum of Art in New York, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
Charmaine Locke is a nationally recognized artist both in group and solo exhibitions. As a sculptor, she has been inspired by social issues, architecture, and nature. She was founding director of Amazing Space and has served on the board of directors for the Aspen-Snowmass Council for the Arts, as well as Tomorrow's Voices in Carbondale, Colorado.
Leonard Shlain is the author of three critically acclaimed, national best sellers: Art and Physics: Parallel Visions in Space, Time, and Light; The Alphabet Versus the Goddess: The Conflict Between Word and Image; and Sex, Time, and Power: How Women's Sexuality Shaped Human Evolution.
Kristen Loden is the Executive Director of the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft.