Artist on Fire: The Films of Joyce Wieland

One of Canada’s most prominent and influential female artists, Joyce Wieland (1931-1998) is long overdue for a re-evaluation of her visual art and her stunning film work in the United States. Along with her then-husband Michael Snow, Wieland was a major figure of the New York experimental film scene in the 1960s, but although her work sometimes corresponded with the concerns of “structural film,” her playfulness and overt political concerns set her apart from other major filmmakers of the period. A powerful feminist voice that celebrated the domestic and the feminine, and a Canadian whose work sought to illuminate specific elements of a national identity, Wieland was often misunderstood or ignored by American critics. This retrospective of her film work begins tonight with a selection of her short films including the gorgeous Water Sark (1965, 16mm, 14min), the poignant Handtinting (1968, 16mm) and the playful Rat Life and Diet in North America (1968, 16mm, 16min).