Finding Balance:

Reconciling the Masculine and Feminine in Contemporary Culture

Book of exhibition hosted by the
Houston Center for Contemporary Craft

This provocative book, which accompanies the exhibition of the same name, explores the forces that bifurcate our society along gender lines. In its quest for balance – or, at minimum, an understanding of where cultural imbalances exist – Finding 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 26 featured works range from traditional ceramics to lenticular photography.

The critical essays contained in the book 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?

Within the book, Leonard Shlain writes:

And in her introduction to the book, participating artist Charmaine Locke comments:

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.

Contributors to the book:

James Surls has been shown in national and international solo and group exhibitions and is included in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Whitney Museum of Art in New York, Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., 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. (read more...)

Kristen Loden is the Executive Director of Houston Center for Contemporary Craft.