As part of the lead-up to SWAN Day on March 28th, I've been talking with female artists about their craft and relationship to the conventional art scene. This week I got a chance to interviewRine Boyer, a painter based in Chicago whose new "Conversations" series explores the often unnoticed gestures and body language that contribute to human interaction and sometimes lead to miscommunication.

Rine recently became a member of Arc Gallery, an internationally recognized exhibition space that has been an integral part of the Chicago art scene since its inception in 1973. Founded during the women’s movement as an alternative to the mainstream gallery system, ARC is one of the oldest co-ops of its kind in the country.

Being a non-profit, woman artist-run cooperative, ARC continues its feminist tradition by providing exhibition opportunities for professional and emerging artists working in all media based on excellence of artwork, without discrimination toward gender, race, age, class, physical/mental ability, sexual, spiritual or political orientation.
What made you want to join ARC as opposed to other organizations?
I was drawn by the community of a group of artists who are serious about their art. I also liked that there is an exhibition space the group maintains - it meant that the group was engaged in the Chicago art scene along with their individual artistic pursuits. I didn't focus on the fact that it's an all women collective but I do enjoy being around a group of women.

Do you identify yourself as a "woman artist" as opposed to just an artist or is that even an important distinction?
I don't necessarily think of myself as a woman before I think of myself as an artist, but my gender is still an important part of who I am. Feminism is in an interesting place right now where professionally we aren't any different from men. But it is not so much a part of my art as it is a part of my life.

Have you had any experiences in the art world that made you feel like you may have been discriminated against because of your gender?
Nothing comes to mind. Many of the shows I participate in seem to have an even distribution of men and women.

What are you working on at the moment?
My work for the past few years has been a study of how people interact with one another. In my latest series (which will be displayed at the ARC next February) I'm focusing on the composition of people interacting. I've cropped very close into the body where the communication is most apparent. In many paintings it's the hands and arms that are doing most of the talking, not the face as one might think. Along with the gesture I was also interested in capturing the little miscommunications that happen everyday. For each painting I invented a plausible conversation and then put slightly differing little icons on each character's skin/clothing to show how the same idea can be interpreted differently.

What's next for you and ARC?
In June we have the juried exhibition called Bearing Witness: Art as Social Action which will be about artwork that is made to express a social issue that may be inspired by personal, interpersonal or society events. We'll have some lectures and a film screening. The juror is Barbara Fish who is a professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Illinois and the Graduate Art Therapy Program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago which is an interesting background for the show. She is really engaged in the topic - I'm excited to see the work she picks. I'm also looking forward to seeing Hyun ja Shin's work in person which we will be showing in July. Her work engages the gallery space in an interesting and modernist way while being quite simple and beautiful.

Paintings by Rine Boyer "On the Dish Over There" and "What a Cute Dog!" used with permission from the artist.

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