Riva Lehrer (born in 1958 in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

) is an American painter, writer, teacher, and speaker. Lehrer was born with

spina bifida Spina bifida (Latin for 'split spine'; SB) is a birth defect in which there is incomplete closing of the spine and the membranes around the spinal cord during early development in pregnancy. There are three main types: spina bifida occulta, me ...

and has undergone numerous surgeries throughout her life. Her work focuses on issues of physical identity and how bodies are viewed by society, especially in explorations of cultural depictions of disability. Lehrer is well known as both an artist and an activist in the field of

Disability Culture Disability culture is a widely used concept developed in the late 1980s to capture differences in lifestyle that are caused or promoted by disability. Disability cultures exist as communities of people around topics of disability. The cultures inc ...

Early life

Lehrer's early education took place at Condon School for Handicapped Children, which was one of the first schools in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

to offer a standardized education to disabled children. She had many surgeries in her early life to render her body mor
"normal"
spending a significant part of her childhood in the hospital, she got an intimate view of medicine which influenced her career as an educator and an artist. In 1980, she moved to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, where she lives and continues to exhibit her work.

Career

Lehrer’s work is focused on physical identity and disability. After moving to Chicago, she joined a group for artist’s with disabilities, and began one of her best known series, The Circle Stories. After moving to Chicago, she became aware of the works of other artists, joined a disabled artist group, and began one of her best known series:The Circle Stories. Lehrer is the curator for the Access Living Collection of Art and an adjunct professor at the

School of the Art Institute of Chicago The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) is a private art school associated with the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) in Chicago, Illinois. Tracing its history to an art students' cooperative founded in 1866, which grew into the museum and ...

. Her interest in anatomy originally led her to consider a career in medicine, but due to the lack of accommodations she soon felt this goal was unrealistic. Instead she decided on an art career where she would have more control over her schedule and where she could “prove her interests in biology and medicine”. Her works on a whole are meant to reject the idea of pity and inspire a new way of thinking about the beauty of disabilities. Lehrer's creative work has been supported through a variety of grants and awards. Awards include the 2017 3Arts MacDowell Fellowship for writing, 2015 3Arts Residency Fellowship at the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...

; the 2014 Carnegie Mellon Fellowship at Haverford and

Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh: ) is a women's liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Founded as a Quaker institution in 1885, Bryn Mawr is one of the Seven Sister colleges, a group of elite, historically women's colleges in the United St ...

s; and the 2009 Prairie Fellowship at the Ragdale Foundation. Grants include the 2009 Critical Fierceness Grant, the 2008 3Arts Foundation Grant, and the 2006 Wynn Newhouse Award for Excellence, (

NYC New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

), as well as grants from the Illinois Arts Council, the University of Illinois, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Teaching experience

Lehrer has worked at both the

and

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

Circle Stories

Lehrer began The Circle Stories series in 1997 and continued expanding it through 2004. The Circle Stories is a series of portraits of Lehrer's fellow disabled artists. The title of the series refers to the "circular" method that Lehrer employed in the creative process, "involving extensive interviews with each participant." In her work, she aims to honor the “community of disabled innovators who provide support and context for the work of redefinition of disability in the 21st century".

Other series

Lehrer's ''If Body'' series stems from the fact that people tend to visualize what they are going to look like at an older age and how that image can change over time. The pieces themselves represent her personal ideals about her body and how those ideals have changed over time. “The self-portraits of her If Body series chart this schism between the imaginary “normal” body I imagine I “should” have had, and my relationship to my subjective “actual” body". The ''Family'' series breaks the stereotype and myth that disabled people are loners. It goes on to show that people, disabled or not, form links, connections, and relationships with others. Lehrer explains “The Family drawings are an ongoing document of my own community of belonging. Some are blood relations, others are people who I consider part of my survival. They are a testament to the power that human beings have to transform each others lives”. The ''Totems and Familiars'' series are portraits that focus on people's objects of power (totems) and alter egos (familiars,) and how this iconography "helped (her subjects) through troubled times."

''Golem Girl''

Lehrer's 2020 book ''Golem Girl: a memoir'', published by

Virago A virago is a woman who demonstrates abundant masculine virtues. The word comes from the Latin word ''virāgō'' ( genitive virāginis) meaning vigorous' from ''vir'' meaning "man" or "man-like" (cf. virile and virtue) to which the suffix ''-ā ...

, was the first winner of the

Barbellion Prize The Barbellion Prize is a British literary award "dedicated to the furtherance of ill and disabled voices in writing". It is awarded annually to a writer, in any genre, who has a chronic illness or is living with a disability. The prize was founde ...

, a literary award for writers who live with illness or disability. It was also a finalist for the 2020

National Book Critics Circle Award for Memoir and Autobiography The National Book Critics Circle Award for Memoir and Autobiography, established in 2005, is an annual American literary award presented by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote "the finest books and reviews published in English." Awa ...

. In ''

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fic ...

'' it was described as "An extraordinary memoir suffused with generosity, consistent insight, and striking artwork."

Exhibits

* AIR Gallery * Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art (Ridgefield, CT), * Arnot Museum * Chicago Cultural Center * DeCordova Museum (Lincoln, MA). * Elmhurst Museum * Frye Art Museum (Seattle, WA), * Herron Gallery at Indiana University * Lafayette Museum of Art * Mary Leigh Bloch Museum * Mobile Museum of Art * Muskegon Museum of Art (MI), * National Museum of Women in the Arts (Washington, D.C.), * Printworks Gallery (Chicago) *Riverside Arts Center * Susan Cummis Gallery * United Nations (NY) * University of Notre Dame

Selected publications

Awards, achievements, and recognitions

* 2020 ·

for ''Golem Girl'' * 2017 �
Society for Disability Studies Presidential Award
* 2015 · 3Arts Residency Fellowship at the University of Illinois * 2014 · Mellon Residency Fellowship at Haverford and Bryn Mawr Colleges * 2010 · The Critical Fierceness Grant * 2009 · Prairie Fellowship at the Ragdale Foundation * 2008 · Three Arts Foundation of Chicago grant for artistic achievement * 2007 · Wynn Newhouse Award, Samuel I. Newhouse Foundation * 2006 · Wynn Newhouse Award for Excellenc
(an unrestricted grant for $50,000)
* 2001 · Carol J. Gill Award for Disability Culture, The Progress Center, Chicago * 1999 · Chicago Artist's Assistance Program Grant, Chicago Department of Cultural Affair * 1999 · Special Assistance Grant, Illinois Arts Council * 1998 · Honorable Mention, Portrait Show, Elmhurst Art Museum * 1996-97 · Arts Midwest/NEA Regional Visual Arts Fellowship Award * 1993-95 · Presidential Merit Scholarship, The School of the Art Institute, Chicago * 1994 · Scholarship, Anderson Ranch, Snowmass CO * 1993 · First Prize, Schoharie National Small Works Show * 1992 · Honorable Mention, Schoharie National Small Works Show

References

External links

Official website

External links

*Artist Websit
Riva Lehrer
*Printwork

* New House Awar

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lehrer, Riva 1958 births Living people Writers from Cincinnati 20th-century American painters 21st-century American painters American women writers Artists with disabilities American women painters 20th-century American women artists 21st-century American women artists People with spina bifida Educators from Ohio American women educators