About Underneath It All

Flagstaff Cultural Partners is proud to present Underneath It All: Desire, Power, Memory & Lingerie - an art exhibition featuring the work of ten women artists from all over the United States who create or use underwear as objects or topics in their work. Each artist has a vivid and personal point-of-view and talent.

Underneath It All explores many topic including: body image, sexuality, empowerment, privacy, women's roles, equality, and many others, as lingerie embodies all of these issues in our society. There are three main ideas organizing this exhibition; desire, power, and memory. These ideas are visually represented through various mediums including painting, drawing, printmaking, bookmaking, textiles, papermaking, assemblage, sculpture and collage. “Each artist has a vivid and personal point-of-view and talent,” says Diane Bronstein, who developed the concept and is one of the artists featured in the exhibition.

Bronstein says about the exhibition: “Many of the artists employ traditional craft associated with ‘women's work’; sewing, embroidery, patterns, weaving, but with an edgy, contemporary eye and results. Often, they utilize materials not associated with delicate undergarments, such as aluminum cans, paper, hair, and playing cards. Others create non-traditional representations of lingerie - as objects of memory through vintage imagery, gender statements or stark depictions.”

The exhibition is traveling around the country, being shown in galleries and art centers, the first being Minneapolis this past summer. Next is Flagstaff, followed by Massachusetts and New York in 2013.  The ten women artists featured in the exhibition include Ingrid Goldbloom Bloch, Diane Bronstein, Julie Harris, Laura Ann Jacobs, Joanne Kaliontzis, Lisa Knox, Erica Spitzer Rasmussen, Diane Savona, Miriam Schaer, and Amanda N. Simons.

In our Jewel Gallery, we are showing The Arc of Time, which is open at the same time as Underneath It All. The Arc of Time features the photography of Matthew Allred. Click here for more details.

Image: Object of Desire, by Erica Spitzer Rasmussen

:: back to top ::

The Arc of Time

Open concurrently with Underneath It All in the Jewel Gallery is The Arc of Time, an exhibition of long exposure photographs made with a pinhole camera by Utah photographer Matthew Allred.

Allred's aim is to capture the path of the sun over long periods of time, his exposures are anywhere from 24 hours long or 6 months for 1 photograph. Matthew is interested in creating images which question our perceptions.

Allred says: "Photography is far more capable of capturing the instant, and we have grown accustomed to its appearance. I like the idea that these images peel back reality to reveal the world beneath our preoccupations. The world of slow and continuous erosion into entropy, and the slow shift from season to season."

This exhibition is open from January 15, 2013 through February 16, 2013, with an opening reception on Saturday, January 12 from 6-8pm.

Image: Heliograph 11082302 by Matthew Allred

Schedule of Events

All events take place at the Coconino Center for the Arts,
2300 N. Fort Valley Road, Flagstaff, Arizona

:: back to top ::

Resident Artist, Diane Bronstein

Diane Bronstein is the curator and one of the participating artists in the "Underneath it all: Desire, Power, Memory & Lingerie" exhibit.

Bronstein creates paper "intimate apparel". Her pieces consist of nude figure drawings on 18" x 24" newsprint paper, which she then hand sews into bras, girdles, slips, camisoles and corsets. The pose of the artwork determines the size and style of the clothing.

Bronstein says: "I love the relationship between the drawings of the nudes, and the clothing. The juxtaposition of using underwear to reveal nude images reverses the order of underwear's intended use: naked skin covered by cloth." The provocative poses hint at what the wearer desires, fears, or imagines that the apparel reveals. Her pieces have shown around the country including New York City, Chicago, Denver, and regionally in New England. In late 2010, she had a solo exhibit at the Frame 301 Gallery at Monserrat College of Art, where she displayed 23 pieces of clothing on clotheslines. Diane is currently a graphic designer in Boston, MA.

Flagstaff Cultural Partners is proud to welcome Diane Bronstein as a Resident Artist during the Underneath It All exhibition. While she is in Flagstaff, Bronstein will be creating new work in our studio space at the Coconino Center for the Arts, teaching workshops publicly and in schools, and giving talks and presentations to the community. See the Schedule of Events above for events featuring Bronstein.

:: back to top ::

Virtual Gallery

The Virtual Gallery for Underneath It All is now online!

Click here to view Underneath It All

Image: Wax Nightie by Diane Bronstein

:: back to top ::

Thanks & Recognition

We are very grateful for all of those folks who have helped to make Underneath It All a success! We especially want to thank Diane Bronstein, the organizer of this traveling exhibition, and all the artists. Thanks also goes out to FCP's Arts Advisory Council, which reviews programs like this for inclusion at the Center.

Our Sponsors:

:: back to top ::