How I Learned to Draw
Portland’s own Miranda July shares a sampling of current and revisited works in performance and film, including excerpts from her work-in-progress, How I Learned to Draw, a preview of new videos created for her solo exhibition, Astonisher (opening in the U.K. in October), and a sneak peak into the content of her upcoming feature film, Me and You and Everyone We Know. July promises: “This is a Portland special, local girl tells all.”
Extremely prolific as a video, performance, and recording artist, July works within a genre all her own, placing her striking observations of human emotion, isolation, interrelationships, and absurdities at center stage with overlays of sound, images, and live performance. This is her third performance with PICA, following commissions Love Diamond in 1998 and The Swan Tool in 2001.
July can be heard regularly on National Public Radio’s WNYC “The Next Big Thing.” She is also involved with several web-based projects, including www.learningtoloveyoumore.com, an interactive, task-based project that has taken July and collaborator Harrell Fletcher across the globe. July also founded and maintains Joanie 4 Jackie (formerly Big Miss Moviola), an alternative distribution system for women making films and videos that operates as a chain letter of video compilations, encouraging young women filmmakers to create and share their independent works with peers. Her recording albums include 10 Million Hours a Mile and The Binet-Simon Test, both under the Kill Rock Stars label, and recent film projects include a Sleater-Kinney music video and consultation for Wayne Wang’s feature length film, The Center of the World. In 2002, July participated in the Whitney Biennial, presenting her video project Nest of Tens and sound installation The Drifters. She regularly works as an artist-in-residence, guest lecturer, and featured artist at galleries and academic institutions far and wide, including the U.K., Japan, New York City, Taos New Mexico, Athens, Georgia, Miami, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, to name a few.
www.mirandajuly.com