Sharon Cheslow (born October 5, 1961) is an American musician, composer, artist, writer, photographer, educator, and archivist. In 1981, she formed
Chalk Circle,
Washington, D.C.'s first all-female punk band.
She has since become an accomplished artist who works between different mediums, mostly sound-based.
[Hornreich 2002][Hornreich 2008]
Biography
Cheslow was born in
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
. She has a B.A. in
Intermedia Arts from
Mills College
Mills College at Northeastern University is a private college in Oakland, California and part of Northeastern University's global university system. Mills College was founded as the Young Ladies Seminary in 1852 in Benicia, California; it was ...
, attended graduate school in
Music
Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...
at
California Institute of the Arts
The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a private art university in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of both ...
, and completed a
Master of Library and Information Science
The Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS), also referred to as the Master of Library and Information Studies, is the master's degree that is required for most professional librarian positions in the United States. The MLIS is a relativ ...
degree from
San José State University
San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a public university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the oldest public university on the West Coast and the founding campus of the California State University (CSU) sy ...
. She has worked or taught at Mills College's Olin Library,
Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
,
Bay Area Video Coalition
BAVC Media, previously known as the Bay Area Video Coalition (BAVC), is a nonprofit organization that works to connect independent producers and underrepresented communities to emerging media technologies. It was founded in 1976 in San Francisc ...
,
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
,
University of California, Santa Cruz
The University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz or UCSC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Cruz, California. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of California syste ...
, and California Institute of the Arts. As a pioneer on many levels, she has collaborated with numerous musicians and artists. Her work crosses boundaries and addresses subject/object relationships.
Early years
Born in Los Angeles, Sharon Cheslow grew up in the Jewish area near
Wilshire and Fairfax in a
Reconstructionist Jewish family.
[Gibbon 2008][Cheslow 2008 p. 3-11] In an introduction to an interview with her mother for ''Interrobang?! Anthology on Music and Family'', Cheslow wrote that her maternal great-grandmother emigrated from
Kolomea
Kolomyia, formerly known as Kolomea ( ua, Коломия, Kolomyja, ; pl, Kołomyja; german: Kolomea; ro, Colomeea; yi, ), is a city located on the Prut River in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast (province), in western Ukraine. It serves as the admini ...
(in present-day Ukraine) and had a professional violinist father.
Cheslow's mother graduated from
UCLA
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...
, became a teacher, and was an
American civil rights movement
The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the United ...
advocate.
Her family moved to the Washington, D.C. suburbs in 1967 after Cheslow's father, a
Caltech
The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...
graduate, got a job with the
U.S. Department of Transportation
The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT or DOT) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is headed by the secretary of transportation, who reports directly to the President of the United States and ...
.
They first moved to
Silver Spring, MD
Silver Spring is a census-designated place (CDP) in southeastern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, near Washington, D.C. Although officially unincorporated, in practice it is an edge city, with a population of 81,015 at the 2020 cens ...
and then to
Bethesda, MD
Bethesda () is an unincorporated, census-designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland. It is located just northwest of Washington, D.C. It takes its name from a local church, the Bethesda Meeting House (1820, rebuilt 1849), which i ...
where she experienced
antisemitism
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
.
Cheslow listened to
rock and roll
Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from Africa ...
and was influenced by her parents' love of music, especially
folk
Folk or Folks may refer to:
Sociology
*Nation
*People
* Folklore
** Folk art
** Folk dance
** Folk hero
** Folk music
*** Folk metal
*** Folk punk
*** Folk rock
** Folk religion
* Folk taxonomy
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Folk Plus or Fo ...
protest music
A protest song is a song that is associated with a movement for social change and hence part of the broader category of ''topical'' songs (or songs connected to current events). It may be folk, classical, or commercial in genre.
Among social mov ...
– one of Cheslow's earliest memories is of listening to her parent's
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
records.
As a young child, Cheslow started singing and playing guitar, as well as taking photographs.
D.C. bands and publications
Cheslow was influenced by the
Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developme ...
,
Yoko Ono
Yoko Ono ( ; ja, 小野 洋子, Ono Yōko, usually spelled in katakana ; born February 18, 1933) is a Japanese multimedia artist, singer, songwriter, and peace activist. Her work also encompasses performance art and filmmaking.
Ono grew up i ...
,
Patti Smith
Patricia Lee Smith (born December 30, 1946)
is an American singer, songwriter, poet, painter and author who became an influential component of the New York City punk rock movement with her 1975 debut album '' Horses''.
Called the "punk poe ...
,
The Slits
The Slits were a punk and post-punk band based in London, formed there in 1976 by members of the groups the Flowers of Romance and the Castrators. The group's early line-up consisted of Ari Up (Ariane Forster) and Palmolive (a.k.a. Paloma R ...
,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks were an influential American no wave band, based in New York City, who formed part of the city's no wave movement.
Background
Lydia Lunch met saxophonist James Chance at CBGB and moved into his two-room apartmen ...
, and
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
.
Her first band Chalk Circle, as guitarist, grew out of her friendships with Anne Bonafede, Henry Garfield (later
Henry Rollins
Henry Lawrence Garfield (born February 13, 1961), known professionally as Henry Rollins, is an American singer, writer, spoken word artist, actor, and presenter. After performing in the short-lived hardcore punk band State of Alert in 1980, Rolli ...
), and members of the
Teen Idles
The Teen Idles were an American hardcore punk band formed in Washington, D.C. in September 1979. Consisting of teenagers Nathan Strejcek, Geordie Grindle, Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson, they recorded two demo sessions and the 1980 '' Minor Distur ...
and
Untouchables around late 1979/early 1980.
They shared a love of
Bad Brains
Bad Brains are an American rock band formed in Washington, D.C. in 1976. Originally a jazz fusion band under the name Mind Power, they are widely regarded as pioneers of hardcore punk, though the band's members have objected to the use of this ...
and California punk. When the
D.C. hardcore scene became more macho and male-dominated, Chalk Circle didn't fit in and were put down for being all girls.
[Klein 1997] But they got support from
art punk
Art punk is a subgenre of punk rock in which artists go beyond the genre's rudimentary garage rock and are considered more sophisticated than their peers. These groups still generated punk's aesthetic of being simple, offensive, and free-spiri ...
bands such as
Half Japanese
Half Japanese is an American art punk band formed by brothers Jad and David Fair around 1975, sometime after the family's relocation to Uniontown, Maryland. Their original instrumentation included a small drum set, which they took turns playi ...
and
Velvet Monkeys
Donald Gene Fleming (born September 25, 1957) is an American musician and producer. Besides fronting a number of his own bands, ( Velvet Monkeys, B.A.L.L., and Gumball) Fleming has produced Sonic Youth, Screaming Trees, Teenage Fanclub and H ...
.
Cheslow attended
University of Maryland
The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...
and first learned about
feminist theory
Feminist theory is the extension of feminism into theoretical, fictional, or philosophical discourse. It aims to understand the nature of gender inequality. It examines women's and men's social roles, experiences, interests, chores, and feminist ...
through
film studies
Film studies is an academic discipline that deals with various theoretical, historical, and critical approaches to cinema as an art form and a medium. It is sometimes subsumed within media studies and is often compared to television studies.
...
classes with
Robert Kolker
Robert Kolker is an American journalist who worked as a contributing editor at ''New York Magazine'' and a former projects and investigations reporter for Bloomberg News and ''Bloomberg Businessweek''.
He is the author of ''Lost Girls'', a ''Ne ...
.
These experiences led Cheslow to examine and write about the role of women in music.
Cheslow stated, "My main goal was to write about music from a female perspective, and that included writing about the fact that female musicians weren't taken seriously."
Her first
fanzine
A fanzine (blend word, blend of ''fan (person), fan'' and ''magazine'' or ''-zine'') is a non-professional and non-official publication produced by fan (person), enthusiasts of a particular cultural phenomenon (such as a literary or musical genre) ...
was ''If This Goes On'', co-published with
Colin Sears
Colin Sears is an American drummer who has performed in Bloody Mannequin Orchestra, Dag Nasty, The Marshes, Rumblepuppy, Grave Goods, Bloodbats, Los Vampiros, Thundering Asteroids! and currently Handgun Bravado and The Valley Floor. He wa ...
from 1982–83, before joining Sears' band
Bloody Mannequin Orchestra Bloody Mannequin Orchestra were an influential early 1980s punk band from Bethesda, MD. They formed around a small, but active, scene at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School and were part of the larger D.C hardcore community.Andersen & Jenkins 2001 p. ...
(BMO).
BMO combined
hardcore punk
Hardcore punk (also known as simply hardcore) is a punk rock music genre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots can be traced to earlier punk ...
with
noise rock
Noise rock (sometimes called noise punk) is a noise music, noise-oriented style of experimental rock that spun off from punk rock in the 1980s. Drawing on movements such as minimal music, minimalism, industrial music, and New York hardcore, a ...
,
no wave, and
improvisation
Improvisation is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. Improvisation in the performing arts is a very spontaneous performance without specific or scripted preparation. The skills of impr ...
, and their recordings came out on
WGNS
WGNS (1450 AM broadcasting, AM) is a radio station based in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, United States. The call letters are an acronym representing the phrase, "Good Neighbor Station". The station covers Murfreesboro, Tennessee proper as well as the ...
. ''If This Goes On'' featured an early
Minor Threat
Minor Threat was an American hardcore punk band, formed in 1980 in Washington, D.C. by vocalist Ian MacKaye and drummer Jeff Nelson. MacKaye and Nelson had played in several other bands together, and recruited bassist Brian Baker and guitaris ...
interview. It also featured an interview with
The Raincoats
The Raincoats are a British experimental post-punk band. Ana da Silva (vocals, guitar) and Gina Birch (vocals, bass) formed the group in 1977 while they were students at Hornsey College of Art in London.
Signed to the label Rough Trade, the ...
. Along with doing bands and zines, Cheslow had a radio show on
freeform station
WMUC-FM
WMUC-FM (90.5 MHz FM) is the student-run non-commercial radio station licensed to the University of Maryland in College Park, Maryland, broadcasting at 30 watts. It is a freeform radio station staffed entirely by UMD students and voluntee ...
.
With
Cynthia Connolly
Cynthia Connolly (born 1964) is an American photographer, curator, graphic designer, and artist.
Career
Connolly graduated from Corcoran College of Art and Design. She worked for Dischord Records and d.c. space in Washington, DC. In 1988, she p ...
and Leslie Clague, she compiled the seminal
photographic
Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed ...
punk
oral history
Oral history is the collection and study of historical information about individuals, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews. These interviews are conducted with people wh ...
book ''Banned In DC: Photos and Anecdotes from the DC Punk Underground (79-85)'' in 1988, which documented the early 1980s Washington, DC hardcore punk scene.
The book included flyers from Cheslow's punk flyer collection and some of her photographs, as well as photographs and flyers from Connolly, Clague, and others such as
Lucian Perkins and
Glen E. Friedman
Glen Ellis Friedman (born March 3, 1962) is an American photographer and artist. He became known for his activities within rebellious skateboarding and music cultures. Photographing artists Fugazi, Black Flag, Dead Kennedys, Circle Jerks, Minor ...
.
Cheslow's first issue of ''Interrobang?!'' was published in 1989 with a
Nation of Ulysses
The Nation of Ulysses was an American punk rock band from Washington, D.C., formed in spring 1988 with four members. Originally known as simply "Ulysses," the first mark of the group consisted of Ian Svenonius on vocals and trumpet, Steve Kron ...
interview. Cheslow was also in a one-off project with
Fugazi's Joe Lally.
A retrospective
Chalk Circle release, "Reflection", came out in 2011 on Mississippi Records and Post Present Medium.
California years
Bands
Cheslow moved to
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
in 1990, continued to collaborate with musicians in D.C., and was an influence on
Bikini Kill
Bikini Kill is an American punk rock band formed in Olympia, Washington, in October 1990. The group consisted of singer and songwriter Kathleen Hanna, guitarist Billy Karren, bassist Kathi Wilcox, and drummer Tobi Vail. The band pioneered th ...
and
Bratmobile
Bratmobile was an American punk band from Olympia, Washington, active from 1991 to 2003, and known for being one of the first-generation "riot grrrl" bands. The band was influenced by several eclectic musical styles, including elements of pop, ...
.
In the 1990s she was in
indie rock
Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...
bands
Suture (with Dug E. Bird of
Beefeater and
Kathleen Hanna
Kathleen Hanna (born November 12, 1968) is an American singer, musician, artist, feminist activist, pioneer of the feminist punk riot grrrl movement, and punk zine writer. In the early-to-mid-1990s she was the lead singer of feminist punk band B ...
), Red Eye (with Tim Green of
Nation of Ulysses
The Nation of Ulysses was an American punk rock band from Washington, D.C., formed in spring 1988 with four members. Originally known as simply "Ulysses," the first mark of the group consisted of Ian Svenonius on vocals and trumpet, Steve Kron ...
), and The Electrolettes (with Julianna Bright, later of
The Quails
The Quails were an English indie rock band that formed in Teignmouth, Devon in 2006. Comprising vocalist and guitarist Dan Steer, guitarist Max Armstrong, bassist Sam Banks and drummer Chris Prentice, the band released one studio album – ' ...
). Her recordings came out on
Dischord Records
Dischord Records is a Washington, D.C.-based independent record label specializing in punk rock. The label is co-owned by Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson, who founded Dischord in 1980 to release ''Minor Disturbance'' by their band The Teen Idles. ...
,
Kill Rock Stars
Kill Rock Stars is an independent record label founded in 1991 by Slim Moon and Tinuviel Sampson, and based in both Olympia, Washington, and Portland, Oregon. The label has released a variety of work in different genres, but was originally know ...
, and her label Decomposition. She played guitar and bass and was a singer and songwriter for all three bands, although Hanna was the main vocalist and lyricist for Suture. Suture performed at the
International Pop Underground Convention
The International Pop Underground Convention (or IPU) was a 1991 punk and alternative rock music festival in Olympia, Washington. The six-day convention centered on a series of performances at the Capitol Theater. Throughout August 20–25, ...
in
Olympia, Washington
Olympia is the capital of the U.S. state of Washington and the county seat and largest city of Thurston County. It is southwest of the state's most populous city, Seattle, and is a cultural center of the southern Puget Sound region.
European ...
in August 1991.
Publications
Cheslow's experiences with
riot grrrl
Riot grrrl is an underground feminist punk movement that began during the early 1990s within the United States in Olympia, Washington and the greater Pacific Northwest and has expanded to at least 26 other countries. Riot grrrl is a subcultur ...
, while in Suture during 1991–92, inspired her to compile a list of women involved in punk that recorded from 1975 to 1980. For an
Experience Music Project
The Museum of Pop Culture or MoPOP is a nonprofit museum in Seattle, Washington, dedicated to contemporary popular culture. It was founded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen in 2000 as the Experience Music Project. Since then MoPOP has organized ...
Riot Grrrl Retrospective oral history interview in 1999 she said, "There's this whole history out there...And it's not just punk music. It's in rock 'n' roll, it's in jazz, it's in blues, it's in experimental and avant-garde classical music; in every one of these genres, women's history is lost. Women are seen as an 'other.' In the mid-1990s, Cheslow published her comprehensive list of these late 1970s punk women in ''Interrobang?!'', and it became available as an online list.
The list was also influenced by
Lenny Kaye's compilation LP ''
Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965–1968'',
Judy Chicago
Judy Chicago (born Judith Sylvia Cohen; July 20, 1939) is an American feminist artist, art educator, and writer known for her large collaborative art installation pieces about birth and creation images, which examine the role of women in history ...
's art installation ''
The Dinner Party
''The Dinner Party'' is an installation artwork by feminist artist Judy Chicago. Widely regarded as the first epic feminist artwork, it functions as a symbolic history of women in civilization. There are 39 elaborate place settings on a triangul ...
'', and
Lucy Lippard
Lucy Rowland Lippard (born April 14, 1937) is an American writer, art critic, activist, and curator. Lippard was among the first writers to argue for the " dematerialization" at work in conceptual art and was an early champion of feminist art. S ...
's book ''Six years: the dematerialization of the art object from 1966 to 1972''.
''Interrobang?! #2'', published in 1994, also featured an interview with Cork Marcheschi of
Fifty Foot Hose
Fifty Foot Hose is an American underground rock band that formed in San Francisco in the late 1960s, and reformed in the 1990s. They were one of the first bands to fuse rock and experimental music. Like a few other acts of the time (most notabl ...
. In 2000 Cheslow edited an anthology on music and transcendence as ''Interrobang?! #4'' which featured writings contributed by
Pauline Oliveros
Pauline Oliveros (May 30, 1932 – November 24, 2016) was an American composer, accordionist and a central figure in the development of post-war experimental and electronic music.
She was a founding member of the San Francisco Tape Music Cente ...
,
Maggi Payne
Maggi ( or ) is an international brand of seasonings, instant soups, and noodles that originated in Switzerland in the late 19th century. The Maggi company was acquired by Nestlé in 1947.
History
Early history
Julius Maggi (1846–1912) ...
, Nicole Panter,
Public Works
Public works are a broad category of infrastructure projects, financed and constructed by the government, for recreational, employment, and health and safety uses in the greater community. They include public buildings ( municipal buildings, sc ...
, Niko Wenner (of
Oxbow __NOTOC__
An oxbow is a U-shaped metal pole (or larger wooden frame) that fits the underside and the sides of the neck of an ox or bullock. A bow pin holds it in place.
The term " oxbow" is widely used to refer to a U-shaped meander in a rive ...
), Marc Kate (of
I Am Spoonbender
I Am Spoonbender is an American/Canadian multimedia group formed in San Francisco in early 1997 by composer/multi-instrumentalist/producer Dustin Donaldson, with Brian Jackson and cub guitarist Robynn Iwata (a.k.a. 'Cup', who joined halfway thro ...
),
Allison Wolfe, and others. Cheslow edited and published the book ''Interrobang?! Anthology on Music and Family'' in 2008, with contributions by
Cynthia Connolly
Cynthia Connolly (born 1964) is an American photographer, curator, graphic designer, and artist.
Career
Connolly graduated from Corcoran College of Art and Design. She worked for Dischord Records and d.c. space in Washington, DC. In 1988, she p ...
,
Pauline Oliveros
Pauline Oliveros (May 30, 1932 – November 24, 2016) was an American composer, accordionist and a central figure in the development of post-war experimental and electronic music.
She was a founding member of the San Francisco Tape Music Cente ...
,
Ian MacKaye
Ian Thomas Garner MacKaye (; born April 16, 1962) is an American musician. Active since 1979, he is best known as the co-founder and owner of Dischord Records, a Washington, D.C.-based independent record label and the frontman of hardcore punk ...
,
Alan Licht
Alan Licht (born June 6, 1968) is an American guitarist and composer, whose work combines elements of pop, noise, free jazz and minimalism. He is also a writer and journalist.
Biography
Licht was born in New Jersey in 1968. His earliest mus ...
,
Jean Smith
Jean Isabel Smith (born 1959) is a Canadian writer, painter and the lead singer of the Vancouver band Mecca Normal.
Career Music
Smith co-founded Mecca Normal with bandmate David Lester in 1981, while the two were working together at a Vancouv ...
,
Anna Oxygen
Anna Jordan Huff is an American multi-media artist, composer, producer and actress best known by her stage name Anna Oxygen. After starting her music career as a member of the Space Ballerinas, a synthpop group then based in Olympia, she reco ...
,
Bill Berkson
William Craig Berkson (August 30, 1939 – June 16, 2016) was an American poet, critic, and teacher who was active in the art and literary worlds from his early twenties on.
Early life and education
Born in New York City on August 30, 1939, Bil ...
,
Kevin Mattson
Kevin Mattson (born 1966) is an American historian and critic. Mattson received his B.A. from the New School and his Ph.D. from the University of Rochester. For several years he ran the Walt Whitman Center for the Culture and Politics of Democracy ...
,
Liz Allbee,
Matthew Wascovich,
Erika Anderson
Erika Marie Anderson is an American film and television actress best known for her role as Greta in '' A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child'' (1989) and subsequently the actress Selena Swift in the television series ''Twin Peaks'' (199 ...
,
Janet Sarbanes Janet Sarbanes is an author and a professor of creative writing and cultural studies. Her books ''Army of One'' and ''The Protester Has Been Released'' are collections of short fiction. She has published numerous essays on art, aesthetics and commun ...
, and Sara Wintz.
She is a contributor to
Thurston Moore's book ''
Mix Tape: The Art of Cassette Culture''.
Coterie Exchange and other collaborations
While studying
intermedia
Intermedia is an art theory term coined in the mid-1960s by Fluxus artist Dick Higgins to describe various interdisciplinarity art activities that occur between genres, beginning in the 1960s. It was also used by John Brockman to refer to work ...
arts at
Mills College
Mills College at Northeastern University is a private college in Oakland, California and part of Northeastern University's global university system. Mills College was founded as the Young Ladies Seminary in 1852 in Benicia, California; it was ...
in the music department, Cheslow began performing and exhibiting
experimental music
Experimental music is a general label for any music or music genre that pushes existing boundaries and genre definitions. Experimental compositional practice is defined broadly by exploratory sensibilities radically opposed to, and questioning of, ...
,
sound art
Sound art is an artistic activity in which sound is utilized as a primary medium or material. Like many genres of contemporary art, sound art may be interdisciplinary in nature, or be used in hybrid forms. According to Brandon LaBelle, sound art ...
, and
installations. In 2000, she participated in the first
Ladyfest
Ladyfest is a Community organization, community-based, not-for-profit global music and arts festival for feminist and women artists. Individual Ladyfests differ, but usually feature a combination of band (music), bands, musical groups, performa ...
in
Olympia with her composition ''Geodessy for Guitars (for
Yasunao Tone
(b. 1935) is a multi-disciplinary artist born in Tokyo, Japan and working in New York City. He graduated from Chiba University in 1957 with a major in Japanese Literature. An important figure in postwar Japanese art during the sixties, he was acti ...
)'', collaborating with sisters
Wendy Yao and
Amy Yao Amy Yao (born June 1977, Los Angeles, California) is a musician, curator, and contemporary visual artist making work in many different mediums informed by ideas of waste, consumption, and identity. She is represented by 47 Canal in New York City. ...
from
Emily's Sassy Lime
Emily's Sassy Lime (a palindrome) was an American punk rock group from Southern California. The group was formed in 1993 by three Asian American teenagers: sisters Wendy Yao and Amy Yao, and their friend Emily Ryan.
History
Emily's Sassy Li ...
in the
experimental
An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs when ...
sound installation
Sound art is an artistic activity in which sound is utilized as a primary medium or material. Like many genres of contemporary art, sound art may be interdisciplinary in nature, or be used in hybrid forms. According to Brandon LaBelle, sound art ...
performance art
Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...
Coterie Exchange project, during an art exhibit curated by
Audrey Marrs
Audrey Marie Marrs (born June 25, 1970) is an American film producer, the Chief Operating Officer of Representational Pictures, Inc. She is a former punk rock musician and co-founder of Ladyfest.
Biography
Marrs is also half-Japanese. Her mothe ...
. Cheslow's
sound collage
In music, montage (literally "putting together") or sound collage ("gluing together") is a technique where newly branded sound objects or compositions, including songs, are created from collage, also known as montage. This is often done throu ...
s and explorations are documented on the CD, ''Lullabye from the Sky'', released in 2002 on Decomposition under the name Sharon Cheslow and Coterie Exchange. It featured collaborations with Tim Green, Julianna Bright and members of
Deerhoof
Deerhoof are an American musical group formed in San Francisco in 1994. They currently consist of founding drummer Greg Saunier, bassist and singer Satomi Matsuzaki, and guitarists John Dieterich and Ed Rodriguez. Beginning as an improvised no ...
among others. The project was the audio component from sound installations she had been performing.
In 2003 ''Fan Music: Winds of Change'' was featured at
Lincoln Center Out of Doors
Lincoln most commonly refers to:
* Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States
* Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England
* Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S.
* Lincoln ...
. Her
videos
Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving visual media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) syste ...
to the tracks ''Dream/Construct'' and ''September Son'' are on two
Kill Rock Stars
Kill Rock Stars is an independent record label founded in 1991 by Slim Moon and Tinuviel Sampson, and based in both Olympia, Washington, and Portland, Oregon. The label has released a variety of work in different genres, but was originally know ...
video compilations. In 2004 she toured and collaborated with
Yellow Swans
Yellow Swans were an American experimental music band from Portland, Oregon. The duo were renowned for their improvisational approach to noise music, creating a unique experience for each live performance. They described their music as "a const ...
, Inca Ore, and Chuck Bettis.
Cheslow moved back to Los Angeles in 2005. Since then she has collaborated with
Weasel Walter
Weasel Walter (born Christopher Todd Walter, May 18, 1972) is an American composer, improviser, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and founder of ugEXPLODE Records. Walter's work has been informed by techniques and traditions of music including Av ...
, Liz Allbee, Neil Young (
Fat Worm of Error), Christina Carter (
Charalambides), and Elisa Ambrogio (
Magik Markers
The Magik Markers are an American noise rock band from Hartford, Connecticut, United States. The members, Elisa Ambrogio, Pete Nolan and Leah Quimby started the band in their basement in 2001. The band gained wider recognition after opening for S ...
).
In L.A. her collaborators have included
David Scott Stone
David Scott Stone (sometimes referred to as Sir DSS and Mr. David Ascott Stone) is an American musician who has recorded and toured with artists like The Melvins, Unwound, Fantômas, The Locust, Jello Biafra, Keiji Haino, Mike Patton, Adam Jo ...
,
Anna Oxygen
Anna Jordan Huff is an American multi-media artist, composer, producer and actress best known by her stage name Anna Oxygen. After starting her music career as a member of the Space Ballerinas, a synthpop group then based in Olympia, she reco ...
, Steve Kim (
Silver Daggers
Silver Daggers are an American electropunk/noise rock band formed in 2003. Known for combining intense, atonal music with post-apocalyptic political ideas, they form part of the circle of musicians in close affiliation with The Smell.
Discography ...
), and
Julia Holter
Julia Shammas Holter (born December 18, 1984) is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, composer, artist and academic, based in Los Angeles. Following three independent album productions, Holter released ''Tragedy'' as her first official ...
. She performs with guitar, electronics, organ, digital audio, objects, and vocals.
In 2006 and 2007 she presented the Coterie Exchange sound event ''Sonic Triptych'' in California and New York. Multiple, random sets of three performers were instructed to represent themselves through sound in order to facilitate participatory, collaborative action.
The New York version was a collaboration with filmmaker/video artist James Schneider (who directed
''Blue is Beautiful''). ''Sonic Triptych'' first premiered in San Francisco in 2002 with nine women, including
Blevin Blectum and members of
Erase Errata
Erase Errata was a band from San Francisco, California. The group favored improvisation as a compositional tool and each of their performances were a unique manifestation of established songs.
History
Erase Errata formed in Oakland, California ...
. A video of ''Duct Tape Piece,'' a collaboration with Alyssa Lee, was exhibited in Europe through
Chicks on Speed
Chicks on Speed is a feminist music and fine art ensemble, formed in Munich in 1997, after members Australian Alex Murray-Leslie and American Melissa Logan met at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts.
Though Chicks on Speed reached cult status th ...
in 2007 and 2008.
Videography
*''Dream/Construct'' on ''Video Fanzine #2'' (NTSC VHS, Kill Rock Stars, 3 October 2000, KRS300
*''While the City Sleeps'' and ''September Son'' on ''Sharon Cheslow Video Shorts'' (DVD, Decomposition, 2004, DE08)
*''September Son'' on ''Video Fanzine #3'' (NTSC DVD, Kill Rock Stars, 12 July 2005, KRS400
Discography
Albums and compilation appearances
Chalk Circle
*''Mixed Nuts Don't Crack'' compilation LP (1982)
*''Time Clock = Hole in Head'' compilation cassette (1983)
*''We Gots No Station'' compilation cassette (1984)
*''Reflection'' LP (2011)
Bloody Mannequin Orchestra Bloody Mannequin Orchestra were an influential early 1980s punk band from Bethesda, MD. They formed around a small, but active, scene at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School and were part of the larger D.C hardcore community.Andersen & Jenkins 2001 p. ...
*''Time Clock = Hole in Head'' compilation cassette (1983)
*''We Gots No Station'' compilation cassette (1984)
*''Roadmap to Revolution'' LP (1984)
*''Streetlights in the Dark'' cassette (1985)
Suture
*''A Wonderful Treat'' compilation cassette (1991)
Red Eye
*''Static Storm'' cassette (1998)
Electroletes
*''Plug Me In'' cassette (1998)
Solo, Coterie Exchange, Collaborations
*''Lullabye from the Sky'' CD (2002) with Coterie Exchange
*''If the Twenty-First Century Didn't Exist'' CD compilation (2002) with Sharon Cheslow
*''Uncertainty Rides the Waves'' CD (2004) with Coterie Exchange, KIT
*''Collaborations'' CD (2005) with
Yellow Swans
Yellow Swans were an American experimental music band from Portland, Oregon. The duo were renowned for their improvisational approach to noise music, creating a unique experience for each live performance. They described their music as "a const ...
, Inca Ore, Chuck Bettis, Jerry Lim,
Abunai!, Kris Thompson
*''Macro-Eden'' LP compilation (2006) Sharon Cheslow
*''Less Self is More Self'' CD compilation (2006) with Trebville Exchange
*''Plants That Kill'' CD (2007) with Liz Allbee,
Weasel Walter
Weasel Walter (born Christopher Todd Walter, May 18, 1972) is an American composer, improviser, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and founder of ugEXPLODE Records. Walter's work has been informed by techniques and traditions of music including Av ...
Singles and EPs
*''"Pretty Is"'' 7" EP (1992) with
Suture
*''"Special Delivery to My Heart"'' 7" single (1995) with Red Eye
*''"Octane Lies"'' 7" single (1999) with Electroletes
Notes
References
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Further reading
*.
External links
Official Website''Interrobang?!''*
The Sharon Cheslow Punk Flyers collection, 1979-1991 at Special Collections in Performing Arts, University of Maryland
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cheslow, Sharon
Living people
American contemporary artists
Feminist artists
Feminist musicians
1961 births
American multi-instrumentalists
American punk rock guitarists
American performance artists
American noise musicians
Experimental composers
American experimental musicians
American indie rock musicians
American multimedia artists
American sound artists
Women sound artists
American women in electronic music
American Reconstructionist Jews
American people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent
Jewish American artists
Jewish American musicians
20th-century American women guitarists
20th-century American guitarists
21st-century American women guitarists
21st-century American guitarists
20th-century American women singers
20th-century American composers
21st-century American women singers
21st-century American composers
20th-century women composers
21st-century women composers
20th-century American singers
21st-century American singers
21st-century American Jews