Apple Obscura (2022) is a seasonal interactive sculpture on the grounds of the Charles Macdonald Concrete Museum (Centreville, NS, Canada) and a Curated Project in Rocjfod Square at Art in the Open (Charlottetown, PEI). Visitors may engage with the outdoor sculpture and experience an upside-down view of their surroundings by peering through a giant inflatable apple-shaped camera obscura which is suspended from a tapered ladder and is removable. The sculptural piece features Vitis riparia (a.k.a. riverbank or frost grape), a vine indigenous to North America, planted at the foot of a handmade 18' spruce ladder as well as a mended ash splint picnic basket. Apple Obscura is part of Onya's ongoing research and creation for Apples & Oranges: Unearthing the Roots of Introduced Fruit to North America. Apples & Oranges traces pathways and impacts of settler colonial agrarian pathways in Nova Scotia and California.
Apple Obscura was co-designed with Pneuhaus and was created in collaboration and consultation with Earl Smith and Carolyn Landry.
Follow the project on Instagram: @applesorangesproject #applesorangesproject
I acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, Arts Nova Scotia, Lunenburg Foundation for the Arts, and in-kind donations from The Charles Macdonald House of Centreville Society, Atlantex Creative Works, Noggins Corner Farm, Foote’s Farm Market, and Baked Inn Bakery and Eatery.
Wooden apple ladder, removable inflatable TPU coated nylon camera obscura, electric diaphragm pump, tube, ropes, clips, mended ash splint picnic basket, and riverbank grapevines.
Detail of mended ash splint picnic basket, and riverbank grapevines installed at the foot of wooden ladder.
Detail of an upside-down view from inside the Apple Obscura of surrounds.
Wearable camera obscura created during the Outdoor School residency at Banff Center for Arts and Creativity, Treaty 7 Territory in Banff, Alberta, Canada.
I acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts for this project.
Interactive performance at Cave and Basin National Historic Site in wearable camera obscura (light blocking fabric, cardboard and found objects with convex lens).
Photo courtesy of nicole kelly westman
Interactive performance at Banff Center for Creativity in wearable camera obscura (light blocking fabric, cardboard and found objects with convex lens).
Photo courtesy of the artist
Ceramics sculptures (terra cotta with underglaze) created at Vermont Studio Center residency, 2017.
All photos courtesy of Natalja Kent
The 2017 Avest Award was created by Onya Hogan-Finlay with Phranc and an ad hoc selection committee through the Animating the Archives: The Woman’s Building A Metabolic Studio Special Project in Archiving Fellowship. The 2017 Avest Award is a one-time accolade in honor of the legacy of the Los Angeles Woman’s Building “Vesta Awards” (1982-1991). The Woman's Building was a non-profit arts, education center and feminist hub that was active from 1973-1991. Over 100 women, representing a wide range of influential artists, writers, musicians and activists received “Vesta Awards” from the Woman’s Building between 1982-1991 including Betye Saar, Judy Baca, Lily Tomlin, Eleanor Antin, Phranc, Ray Eames, Judy Chicago, Terry Wolverton, Congresswoman Maxine Waters and many more.
2017 Avest Awards recognize ten contemporary women artists and arts collectives for their creative contributions to communities in Southern California. Awards were presented to recipients on the evening of June 3rd, 2017 at Avenue 50 Studio in Los Angeles, CA. The Award carries the unusual prize of a limited edition miniature paper vest and a letter-pressed certificate.
2017 Avest Award Winners
Alice Bag - Music
Ami Motevalli - Education
Everything is Medicine - Education
Imani Tolliver - Literary Arts
Las Lunas Locas - Literary Arts
Lynn Harris Ballen - Media
Michelle Papillion - Community Activism
ProjectQ - Community Activism
taisha paggett - Dance
Women’s Center for Creative Work - Community Activism
Letterpress certificate and limited edition, artist multiples (craft paper, ink, wooden stand, digital print tags).
Installation with Phranc through Animating the Archives: The Woman’s Building A Metabolic Studio Special Project in Archiving Fellowship at Avenue 50 Studio, Los Angeles.
Photo courtesy the artist
Sophia Rivera and Karineh Mahdessian of Las Lunas Locas, Alice Bag, Kate Johnston and Sarah Williams of Women's Center for Creative Work (WCCW), taisha paggett, Madin Lopez of Project Q, Olivia Chumacera or Everything is Medicine, Lynn Harris Ballen, Imani Tolliver, Michelle Papillion, Amitis Motevalli and Onya Hogan-Finlay.
Photo courtesy Angela Brinskele
Letterpress certificate printed on the original Woman's Building Vandercook letterpress at The Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena, CA
Installation with Phranc through Animating the Archives: The Woman’s Building A Metabolic Studio Special Project in Archiving Fellowship at Avenue 50 Studio, Los Angeles.
Photo courtesy the artist
projet Mobilivre-Bookmobile project is a bilingual (French and English), art gallery and library on wheels that traveled across the USA and Canada from 2001-2005 in a retrofitted, 1959 Airstream trailer with annual collections of artist books, zines and independent publications. Along the way, myself and project organizers gave talks, hands-on bookbinding, skill-sharing and media literacy workshops to students of all ages at youth drop-in centers, galleries and schools. The Bookmobile project, which I am a founding member of, was lead by a collective of 20 members based in Montréal and Philadelphia and was realized by a broad network of artists, writers, social justice groups and countless inspiring individuals. Bi-national tours and The Bookmobile Book were made possible by grants from Canada Council for the Arts, Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec and through Kickstarter backers, individual in kind donations. Selected bookworks and ephemera from the Bookmobile project are in the collections at Artexte in Montréal, Canada.
Edited by Courtney Dailey, Onya Hogan-Finlay and Leila Pourtavaf
Book design by Cecilia Berkovic
The Bookmobile Book chronicles the history and impact of bilingual (French and English) touring exhibition, projet Mobilivre-Bookmobile project. The publication brings together the voices of many people that contributed to the project with tour stories, photos, comics and artwork by Sonja Ahlers, Ginger Brooks Takahashi, Peter Burr, Andy Cornell, Melissa Kramer Cresswell, Bita Mary Eslami, Sarah Evans, Sean Hemmerle, Hannah Jickling, Anna Leventhal, Lisbeth Pelsue, Mariev Robitaille, Catherine St-Amand, Oana Spinu, Mary Tremonte, Julia Hainer-Violand, Adam Wallacavage, and Rebecca Watt. The book features photos of bookworks in the collection and writing by Jon Davies, Andy Cornell & Lauren Jade Martin, Isabelle St. Amand, Catherine St. Amand, and Lauren Crahan & John Hartmann
The Bookmobile Book is available for purchase at JustSeeds.org
Interior retrofit courtesy Freecell Architecture with custom printed textiles by Rebecca Watt.
Photo courtesy the artist
Photo Adam Wallacavage
Photo courtesy M-C MacPhee
Impossible Piece: What Would Lee Lozano Do?, documents a performance in the context of a women-only cultural event. The yellow sign that appears in the project and installation reads, “What Would Lee Lozano Do?”, a reference to the pioneering conceptual artist Lee Lozano, who famously decided to boycott women. In Lozano's own words, her life was dedicated to “total personal and public revolution,” to the pursuit of a new kind of social order. For her, this ultimately included refusing all contact with women for nearly thirty years, until her death. My performance stages an encounter between Lozano’s approach to liberation with another contemporary model for feminist utopia—collective separatism.
Installation with hand painted sign and video (5:28 minutes) features The Lee Lozano Song, by Onya Hogan-Finlay, performed by Onya Hogan-Finlay, Kim Kelly and Tara Jane O’Neil.
Installation with hand-painted sign and video (5:28 mins) in After My Own Heart, at Oakville Galleries, Oakville, Ontario, Canada.
Photo courtesy Oakville Galleries
Single-channel video (5:28 minutes) featuring The Lee Lozano Song by Onya Hogan-Finlay, performed by Onya Hogan-Finlay, Kim Kelly and Tara Jane O’Neil.
Photo of video still courtesy the artist
Installation with limited edition calendar, stop motion animation and copy of archival letter from Knot Dykes Publications in Coming After, a group exhibition curated by Jon Davies at the Power Plant (Toronto, Canada).
Periods 2012 Calendar features 13 months of photo-collages created with images gleaned from dozens of gay and lesbian homoerotic and social justice calendars dating from 1984-2011 from ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives. Calendar codesigned with Meredith Bayse.
All photos courtesy of the artist
Digital offset print (Cover)
Photocopy of letter installation with stop motion animation and Periods 2012 Calendar in Coming After exhibition, The Power Plant (Toronto, ON, Canada).
Digital offset print (detail)
Original photos from "On Our Backs Sex Calendar", Blush Entertainment Group, San Francisco, CA, 1989 (photo collage credit Shari Cohen), and "A Lampoon: Lookin' Bad", Women of Palo Alto, Smiker & Decich, Palo Alto, 1984 (photo collage credit Susan Dudemhoeffer).
Digital offset print (detail)
Original images from "Women Friends", The Crossing Press Feminist Series, New York, 1984 (photo collage credit Katie Niles), and "South Seas Island Men", Honolulu, Hawaii, 1986 (photo collage credit Richard Souther.)
Digital offset print (detail)
Original images from "On Our Backs Lesbian Sex Calendar", Blush Entertainment Group, San Francisco, CA, 1998 (photo collage credit Honey Lee Cottrell), and "Firefighter USA", Faces Facts Int'l, Westwood, CA, 1984 (photo collage credit Ed Allen and Associates).
Digital offset print (detail)
Original images from "Carry It On: 1986 Peace Calendar", Syracuse Cultural Workers, Syracuse, NY, 1986 (photo collage credit Jan Phillips), and "PS I Love You Calendar", AID Atlanta Campaign '85, Atlanta, GA, 1986 (photo collage credit Manny Rubio).
Digital offset print (detail)
Original images from "1993 Days Together: In Celebration of Gay and Lesbian Families", 1993 (photo collage credit Unknown, and "Manhunt Singapore", 1993 (photo collage credit unknown).
Digital offset print (detail)
Original images from "1991 California Lifestyles: A Gay Women's Calendar", Emerging Women Publications, San Diego, CA, 1991 (photo collage credit Beth Deuble), and "Beauty of Black Men", In the Black Productions, Beverly Hills, CA, 1994 (photo collage credit Sinden Collier).
Digital offset print (detail)
Original images from "1993 Days Together of Gay and Lesbian Families", 1993 (photo collage credit Geoff Manasse Photography), and "Annual Man Calendar, 1987" (photo collage credit Jim French).
Digital offset print (detail)
Original images from "Peace is a Human Right", Syracuse Cultural Workers, 1992 (photo collage credit Dennis DeLoria), and "Rear View", Landmark Calendars, Sausalito, CA, 1987 (photo collage credit unknown).
Digital offset print (detail)
Original photos "Among Women", 10% Productions, Beverly Hills, CA, 1996 (photo collage credit Tom Bianchi), and "Cop Cakes: Beefcake with a Badge", 1986 (photo collage credit Robert Reiff).
Digital offset print (detail)
Original images from "The Leather Community", Primal Urge, 2004 (photo collage credit Ray Conser, Mark Holmes), and "For the Men in You: A Gallery Calendar for Safer Sex", West Hollywood Cares, West Hollywood, CA. 1991 (photo collage credit unknown).
Digital offset print (detail)
Original images from "The Strength of Women", Crossing Press Feminist Series, NY, 1985 (photo collage credit Darleen Joyce, and "Colt Classics", Studio City, CA, 1992 (photo collage credit unknown).
Digital offset print (detail)
Original photos from "Romance", 10% Productions, Santa Monica, CA, 1998 (photo collage credit Sunny Bak), and "Cheeks", Playgirl Press, New York, 1984 (photo collage credit unknown).
Digital offset print (detail)
Original photos from "The Men and Women of LATA", Los Angeles Tennis Association, 2001 (photo collage credit Todd Brunelle), and "Chippendale", Los Angeles, CA, 1996 (photo collage credit unknow).
Photo collage from tableau vivant event created in collaboration with LGBTQIA2S+ community members and friends of ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives at the USC Libraries (Los Angeles, CA). Under/Cover is a limited-edition offset poster inspired by Bob Damron's 1965 men’s travel guide (a.k.a. The Address Book) and commissioned for a dustjacket of the Pacific Standard Time catalog, Cruising the Archives: Queer Art and Culture in Los Angeles, 1945-1980, edited by David Evans Frantz and Mia Locks, 2011. Co-designed with Meredith Bayse.
Cruising the Archives is available for purchase from ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives website.
Digital offset print (Inside)
Photo courtesy of Meredith Bayse
Digital offset print (Outside)
Photo courtesy of Meredith Bayse
The Third Leg is a collaboration with Ginger Brooks Takahashi, Onya Hogan-Finlay and Logan MacDonald.
In 1985, residents of Gayside, a small town in Newfoundland, Canada, voted to rename their hometown ‘Baytona’ subsequent to homophobic harassment. Inspired by this story, and mindful of the climate of social prejudice during the 1980s AIDS crisis, The Third Leg locates another Gayside through print, installation and public engagement in the Welcome to Gayside exhibition and poster.
All photos courtesy of the artists
Limited edition, doubled-sided, off-set newsprint poster (16”x24”), created by The Third Leg and printed in collaboration with Cecilia Berkovic. Featured in LTTR trans-feminist journal and documenta 12 magazine No. 2 LIFE!
Installation with banners, party favors, free condoms and video screening by The Third Leg at Eastern Edge Gallery in St John's, Newfoundland, Canada.
Installation detail of banners, by The Third Leg at Eastern Edge Gallery in St John's, Newfoundland, Canada.
Limited edition zines, buttons, and silkscreen printed posters and hankies by The Third Leg.
Multimedia exhibition at Gayle and Ed Roski MFA Gallery, University of Southern California, Los Angeles in 2011. My work in this project responds to, and is presented in juxtaposition with, archival objects on loan from ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives. Exhibition design with Brooke Woosley and We Are Matik. The exhibition is the subject of Jack “Judith” Halberstam’s essay “Unfound” published in Cruising the Archive: Queer Art and Culture in Los Angeles, 1945–1980, edited by David Evans Frantz and Mia Locks (2011).
Digital print
Photo courtesy of Meredith Bayse
Photo courtesy of Joshua White
Digital print honoring transgender activist and philanthropist, Reed Erickson. Print production courtesy Astek Inc.
Photo courtesy of We Are Matik
Photo courtesy of Joshua White
Framed object on loan from ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives.
Photo courtesy of We Are Matik
Objects, copy of "Visa Versa: America's Gaysets Magazine" (1947-1948) by Lisa Ben, and ACT-UP placards on loan from ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives. Video projection of 1998 interview between Donna Smith and Edith Eyde (a.k.a. Lisa Ben) with Chuck Rowlands (78:15 minutes).
Photo courtesy of We Are Matik
ACT-UP placards on loan from ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives.
Photo courtesy of Joshua White
Detail of oil on canvas board paintings on loan from ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives. Self Portrait by Jim Highland (1951), Tom by John McAlister (1976), and Nat Johnson by John McAlister (1976).
Photo courtesy of Joshua White
Card (3.5"x2") from records at ONE Archives Gay & Lesbian. Design by Meredith Bayse
Photo courtesy of the artist
Design by Meredith Bayse
An artist pontificates on the tropes, anxieties, and expectations of the contemporary female artist.
Request password to view on Vimeo.
Single-channel video (9:00 minutes)
Photo (video still) courtesy of the artist
Collaborative installation of artists' multiples, co-curated with Hannah Jickling, Paige Gratland and Onya Hogan-Finlay for Gender Alarm (2008), at La Centrale Galerie Powerhouse, Montréal. The project traveled to Vancouver in 2009 where it was supported by the UBC Gender Performance Project and VIVO Media Arts Center as satellite programming during WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution exhibit at the Vancouver Art Gallery.
The After Party includes artist multiples by Ridykeulous, Karen Frostitution, Tara Azzopardi, Rayne Baron and Paige Gratland, Suzie Smith, Onya Hogan-Finlay and Sandy Plotnikoff, Deadpan Design, Alex Marché, PG Thing Co., Caitlin Livingston, Hannah Jickling, Melissa Levin, Jeanine Oleson, Rachael Shannon, The Third Leg, Shawna Dempsey Lorri Millan and JD Samson.
Display designed and fabricated by Kim Reichman.
Photo courtesy of the artist
Installation detail
(Photo: courtesy the artist)
Interactive audio/visual, chai-yok steam spa with soundtrack by Tara Jane O'Neil and projection in U-Haul truck. Video features footage compiled from VHS collections of the June Mazer Lesbian Archives (Los Angeles) and from videos sourced online. Collaboration by Onya Hogan-Finlay and Kim Kelly.
Digital print by Onya Hogan-Finlay and Kim Kelly.
Photo courtesy of the artists
Interactive chai-yok spa with a soundtrack score by Tara Jane O'Neil (TJO) and video projection in U-Haul truck. Collaboration by Onya Hogan-Finlay and Kim Kelly.
Photo courtesy of the artists
Video (8:05 minutes) complied from VHS collections at the June Mazer Lesbian Archives and footage sourced online. Collaboration by Onya Hogan-Finlay and Kim Kelly.
Request password to view on Vimeo.
Photo still courtesy of the artists
Watercolor on paper, 24"x24"
Photo courtesy of the artist
Installation of collaborative freestanding paintings, acrylic on oriented strand board, 4’x8’, with Jorge Mujica of Creative Arts Coalition to Transform Urban Space (CACtTUS). Exhibited at Other Places art fair (OPaf) at Angels Gate Park, San Pedro, CA, and Billie Jean King Main Library, Long Beach, CA.
Photo courtesy of the artist
Detail of limited edition letterpress books printed by Bullhorn Press with "Disco Nap" by Onya Hogan-Finlay and Kim Kelly in Chapters: Book Arts in Southern California at the Craft and Folk Art Museum, Los Angeles, CA.
Photo courtesy of Darin Klein
Watercolor on paper, 9"x12"
Drawing created for Herstory Inventory, a collaborative project by Ulrike Müller. Prompted by the discovery of an inventory list describing feminist T-shirts that Müller at the Lesbian Herstory Archives in Park Slope (NY), she invited over 100 artists to create drawings that respond to an assigned description of a T-Shirt, such as "Pile of naked women intertwined in a sexual pose." Drawings have been exhibited at the Brooklyn Museum, Kunsthaus Bregenz, (Austria) and appear in the Herstory Inventory: 100 Feminist Drawings by 100 Artists (2009–2012) publication, available on Dancing Fox Press.
Photo courtesy of the artist
Watercolor on paper (9"x12")
Photo courtesy of the artist
Watercolor on paper (18'x18")
Photo courtesy of the artist
Ink on paper, 16"x16"
Photo courtesy of the artist
Ink on paper, 8.5"x8.5"
Photo courtesy of the artist
