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Cheri Gaulke – Art and Cake

September 28, 2024 - Art

Cheri Gaulke interviewing Lily Tomlin on the set of Acting Like Women, 2022. Photo by Jennifer A. Stuart.

Cheri Gaulke
Los Angeles, CA
Age 70

What keeps you excited in the studio?
Every day I dive deep into content and wrestle with how best to craft it into a form that speaks to my audience. At my core I am a collaborator and it excites me to be in conversation with other artists and the team of creative people with whom I work. Working in film-video, as I now do almost exclusively, is largely a collaborative medium and I love working with my co-writer, producers, editors, animators, and composer who amplify the quality of the final artwork.

Looking back at your trajectory as an artist, how would you say your work has developed?
My life and art were profoundly changed in 1975 when I moved from the Midwest to Los Angeles to be part of the Feminist Studio Workshop at the Woman’s Building. I was a performance artist at a time when it was an emerging medium being adopted by women largely because it was not yet defined or dominated by men. Over the past fifty years I have worked in many mediums – video art, public art, artists’ books, installation, and now documentary film. The form usually follows what I want to say and how best to say it.

What role do you think the artist has in today’s society?
At the Woman’s Building in the 1970s I learned something from art critic and historian Arlene Raven (also a cofounder of the Woman’s Building, creator of the Lesbian Art project and one of my mentors in the Feminist Studio Workshop). She defined the function of feminist art and it has been my credo ever since. “Feminist art raises consciousness, invites dialogue and transforms culture.”

What’s the most important advice you could give to an aspiring artist?
Ask yourself: what do I want to say, who do I want to say it to (or who is your audience), and what do I want them to feel or do. Perhaps most important of all – create a community that will not only support you but will help make your work better through constructive criticism.

Does age matter in art? Why or why not?
I think artists are interesting in all phases of their careers. Age has allowed me to strengthen my skills and build on my experience, and has taught me that I will never stop learning. I used to worry when I didn’t follow through on certain ideas, but I’ve observed over time that all ideas will resurface when they are ready to be addressed.

What can we look forward to from you next?
Since 2019 I have been working on my first feature documentary called Acting Like Women. It tells a deeply personal and collective story about feminist performance art and the Woman’s Building in 1970s-80s Los Angeles. We have filmed over 50 interviews with artists and scholars, have been editing since 2023, and hope to complete the film in 2025. You can learn more about it at https://actinglikewomen.com/.

Is there anything else you would like to share about being an artist later in life?
I feel like I’m living my best life. After teaching for over 30 years I was able to retire and focus all of my time and energy on my own work, such as making short films about artists and of course my feature documentary-in-progress Acting Like the Women.

https://cherigaulke.com/
https://actinglikewomen.com/
@cherigaulke
@actinglikewomen

Acting Like Women, film promotional graphic, 2024


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