An eclectic, multi-genre artist, Aysha Quinn's career has spanned a broad range of the dramatic and media arts - modeling, acting, and video and performance art. Early on, in N.Y.C, she acted and supported herself as a runway and fitting model (along with a 6-month stint as the backroom waitress at Max's Kansas City). She relocated to L.A. and after a couple of years of acting and entertainment industry day jobs (Assistant to Gene Levitt at "Project UFO" and Assistant to Wally Amos while he was managing artists), she bought a black and white, 1/2" reel-to-reel video portapak and began shooting documentary lifestyle tapes in Venice, CA. She entered the arena of video art, pursuing her career as a tapemaker and expanding into video performance and sculptural installation. She emerged as one of the strongest and technically solid videomakers in the Southern California performance genre. Her early concerns for the environment and holistic processes as subject matter have proven her one of the forerunners of the era of ecofeminism.
While living in Park City, Utah, she was instrumental in the development of the Utah Media Center and a major force behind the inclusion of video in the U.S. Film & Video Festival (now the Sundance Festival). She continued her working relationship with the international arts community, while maintaining involvement with Utah theater and television. After moving to upstate N.Y., she held adjunct faculty positions at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's Dept. of the Arts, teaching both Acting and Video Art, and at SUNY Purchase Dept. of Visual Arts), as well as participated in many artist-in-residence/visiting artist programs in secondary schools in N.Y. and in universities nationally. Additionally, for two years, she was the Communications/Cultural Specialist at Hospitality House Therapeutic Community in Albany where she created innovative therapeutic programs for drug addicted youth. She continues to work as an advocate for children's rights.
A great deal of her art work has been highly involved with intermedia. A major retrospective of her video work and video/computer graphic paintings was held at VideoBrasil in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Quinn's work displays deep personal social and spiritual concerns in work that combines free-flowing, improvisational camera work with state-of-the-art post-production technology, computer manipulated imagery and computer graphics. These concerns are at the forefront of her continued work with Native American issues through her involvement with New York State Iroquois and other indigenous peoples.
The mother of two adult daughters and grandmother of two, Quinn once again resides in New York City where she pursues her acting career and continues to work in video and performance/commentary.
SELECTED ART RESUME:
Grants & Awards:
Emily Harvey Foundation Residency, Venice, Italy 2017
Public Television Finishing Funds Grant (Leaf Mask) 1989
Public Television Finishing Funds Grant (The Prom) 1987
NEA Production Grant (Nomads) w/ J. Sturgeon 1986
NEA & AFI Media Arts Fellowship 1983
Winner, Utah Short Film and Video Festival 1983
Utah Arts Council Grant (Video) 1982
KUED TV Finishing Funds Grant 1980 (Spearhead)
KUED TV Finishing Funds Grant 1980 (5th Chamber Information)
Solo Exhibitions, Installations, Performances (selected):
State University of New York College at Purchase, (Retrospective), 1989
Chariot Chamber Too, 3-ch. Video/Installation, Proctors Too, Schenectady, NY 1988
Festival Fotoptica "Videobrasil'88" (retrospective), Museu da Imagern e do Som, Sao Paulo, Brazil, 1988
East End Arts Gallery, (2 person), Riverhead, Long Island, NY, 1988
"Electronic Arts Performance Series", RPI, Troy, NY 4/87
L.A. Louver Gallery, (premiere NOMADS), Venice, CA 1/87
Fragments. a Video/Performance w/ computer graphics, UC Video, Minneapolis,
Minnesota & Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, 10/86
Fragments, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 1985
Chariot Chamber. 3-channel Video/Installation, coll. w/J. Sturgeon, Visual Studies Workshop, Rochester, NY 1985
Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art, (2 person) 1984
Anthology Film Archives, Evening of Performance and Tapes, Millennium Theater, NYC 10/84
Long Beach Museum of Art, Samech, "Haunted Womanhouse", Video/Performance, 1983
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Bing Theatre), NO EARTH/NO EARTH STATION, 1983
"Satellite Transmission and Video Performance", School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 1983
NO EARTH/NO EARTH STATION, 2 Intermedia Arts Festival, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 1982
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL. (Visiting Artist/Lecturer), 1980
The Chicago Editing Center, Chicago, Illinois (Visiting Artist/Lecturer), 1980
The Lamentations of Isis. a Video/Performance in a neon & laser environment, Vanguard Gallery, 6/78
Los Angeles, CA, and L.A.I.C.A. (L.A. Institute of Contemporary Art) 5/78
Shed Your Skin or Die, Video/Performance/Installation, (collab. W/M.J. Kwan) Betty Marvin's Space, Venice, CA 5/2 & 5/9/77
Group Exhibitions, Screenings, Performance (selected):
"Axe Man Returns" (Gary Lloyd) Cal State Channel Islands, video tape and real time interactive LA-NYC via skype with Gary Lloyd 3/14
"Dialog With Pop" Spaceworks at The Tank,NYC (videos & video/computer paintings) 4/04
"A Raucous Evening of Max's Kansas City Storytelling", Max's KC Foundation, in association with Cross Path Culture 6/02
"Experiences in Love and Not Love" (Performance) La Mama La Galleria, NY, NY 2/93
"Good Stories Well Told" (Traveling Show) Independent Curators, New York, Curated by Robin White 1992; Burnaby Art Gallery Burnaby, BC; Fullerton Museum Center; University of Nebraska; Vancouver Art 1992. Humboldt State, Arcadia, California; Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Foruin; Univ. of Florida, Gainsville; Dalhousie An Gallery, Halifax N.S.; Davis Museum, Wellesley College, Wellesley, Mass.; London Regional Art and Historical Museum, London, Ont; Rotunda Gallery, Brooklyn; Stedman Gallery, Rutgers Univ. 1993
"A Fete of Women", New York State Museum, Albany, NY, 1989 Gallery, Vancouver, BC; Long Beach Museum of Art; San Diego Museum of Art; Taft Museum of Art - Cincinnati 1992
"Native American Video & Cultural Festival", Downtown Community Television Center, NYC, '91
Institute of Contemporary Art, "Histories: Video Art", Boston, Mass., 1988
"Three Rivers Arts Festival", Carnegie Institute Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA, 1988
"Women in the Directors Chair", 7th Annual Womer~s Film & Video Festival, Center for New TV& Facets Multimedia, Chicago, Il, 1988
"Too Hot To Handle (Some Like It Hot)" Washington Project for the Arts, Wash. D.C., 1987
"Lively Arts" Fresno Arts Center & Museum, Fresno, CA 1987
"New Technologies of Art" Univ. of Utah, Salt Lake City, 1985
"Video Biennale Wien" Museum Moderner Kunst, Vienna, Austria, 1985
"U.S. Film and Video Festival" Park City, UT, (Video Art), 1984
"Video; A Retrospective, LBMA, 1974-1984, Part 11" Long Beach Museum of Art, 1984
Boston Film & Video Foundation, Boston, Massachusetts 1984
"At Home" Long Beach Museum of Art (curated by Kathy Huffman), 1983
California College of Arts and Crafts Oakland, CA 1982
"Videotapes uit Los Angeles, California", De Appel, Amsterdam, Holland 1979
Intermedia Art Center, Bayville, Long Island, NY 1979
Exploratorium, San Francisco, CA 1978
The Kitchen, New York, NY 1978"Airwaves and Stars", Exploratorium Gallery, California State University at LA, 1978
Cablecasts/Broadcasts:
WNET (PBS) Take Back America '92. June, 1992 - NYC.
Planetary Issues Network, Manhattan Cable - regular contributor 92/'93
WQED (PBS) Take Back America '92, April, 1992, Pittsburgh, PA
WMHT (PBS), Leaf Mask 1990
"Image Union", WTTW - PBS, Chicago, Illinois 1988 & 1989
"TV MIX", Live Interview & tape viewing, Channel 11, Sao Paolo, Brazil, 1988;
WMHT (PBS), The Prom 1987 "Our Town TV"
PBS, WMHT interview & NOMADS 5/87
NOMADS Troy Newchannels 3/31/87
"Night Light TV", Manhattan Cable, (selected tapes of A. Quinn) 1986
"Artist in Television Conference", Interactive Satellite Video/Performance (collaborative with Gary Lloyd and I. Sturgeon), Iowa City-Los Angeles, Univ. of Iowa, Iowa City 1982
Theta Cable, Channel 3, Los Angeles, California 1979 & 1977
Cablecast, Long Beach Museum of Art, Los Angeles, Long Beach and Santa Barbara, CA 1977
Selected References:
THE ART DOCKUMENTS: AXMAN RETURNS; SUIT SHREDDED. Carl Davis 3/21/14
FEMINISM & DOCUMENTARY, D. Waldman & J. Walker, pgs. 97, 98, 109
MADE IN BRASIL, Arlindo Machado, pgs. 221, 428
INTERMEDIA, Hans Breder, p. 278
PERFORMANCE ANTHOLOGY, Carl Loeffler, Darlene Tong, pgs. 500, 506, 510
POSTMODERN CURRENTS. Art and Artists in the Age of Electronic Media. Margot Lovejoy'89, p.241
HIGH PERFORMANCE. #37 5187, "Video Poetics: A Contemporary Survey", Michael Nash, pp.66-73
AFTERIMAGE. V. 13, #410/85, "1 Say I Am: Feminist Perf. Video the 70's" Chris Straayer, pp.8-12
HIGH PERFORMANCE. V.9 #1 '86, "Chariot Chamber" (Quinn/Sturgeon) by Robert C. Morgan, p.93
DIE INTERNATIONALE VIDEO BIENNALE. Wien, Austria, April 1985, p.30
VIDEO: A RETROSPECTIVE L.B.M.A.. edited by Kira Perov, pgs. 46, 47, 78, 84, & 95.1984
HIGH PERFORMANCE. Feb. 1984, "Infinite Transition", by Michael Nash
ART WEEK 10/83, V. 14 #32, p. 16 "Perf. Art and Technological Consciousness", by Jackie Apple
L.A.I.C.A., "The Artist and Television", #35, Winter, 1983
ART COM. Jan. 19 83, "U.S. Film and Video Festival"
L.B.M.A.VIDEO "Television Art", Jan.-Feb. 1983, Vol 3, # 1, by Lewis Mc Adams, pp. 1-2
ART COM. "Performancist", Issue # 19, Fall 1982, By Carl Loeffler, pp.20-22
JOURNAL, (L.A.I.C.A.), Feb.-Mar, 1980
ARTWEEK. Vol. 10, #25, July 1979
Teaching & Visiting Artist Experience:
Adjunct Faculty, Visual Arts, S.U.N.Y.-Purchase '91-92
Adjunct Faculty, Arts Dept., Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst, Troy, NY 1987-91
Communications & Cultural Specialist, Hospitality House Therapeutic Community, 1988-89
"Women's Empowerment Through Video" (workshop), A Fete of Women, New York State Museum, 1989
Artist-in-the-Schools Residence (NYSCA) 1989
Visiting Artist/Lecturer, Museo Nacional de Artes, Plasticas y Visuales, Montevideo, Uruguay, 1988
Visiting Artist Lecturer, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1988
Visiting Artist, California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA, 1/87
N.Y.F.A. 'Artist in Residence', Scotia, NY, 1986-87; Plainedge, L.I., NY, 1985-86
Visiting Artist, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Video Department, Fall 1985, SAIC, Performance Department, Winter 1983
Visiting Artist, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, 1984
Visiting Artist, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 1983
Visiting Artist/Lecturer, Colloquium, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 1982
Curator, On Line-Off Line, Utah Media Center, 1982
McCarty Agency, Instructor, "Video Acting Workshop", 1981
Related Experience:
Video Consultant: Rape of the West Village 2013
Panelist: Dialog with Pop, Spaceworks at The Tank, NYC, 5/04
Fine Arts Coordinator and Video Editor for Seconding The First, Town Hall, NYC produced by The Creative Coalition,11/98
Acting Director, Video/Multi-Media Area, Department of Arts, Rensselaer (RPI) 1990
Panelist: Raindance Foundation 20th Anniversary (Video Pioneer Panel) The Kitchen, NYC
Actress: SAG/AFTRA, stage, motion pictures, television
Technical & Communications Coordinator, U.S. Film & Video Festival, 1983, Park City, Utah
Asst. to the Producer, "Project UFO", Mark VII, Ltd., Los Angeles, CA
Communication Coordinator, Century City Laser Arts Project, Los Angeles, CA
Co-founder and Cultural Liaison, Venice Theatre of Performing Arts, Venice, CA
Active in Native American issues since 1979: Utah, Arizona and New York
Produced, directed, edited The Longhouse Tapes in conjunction with the Six Nations Iroquois Museum, Onchiota, NY
Collections:
Netherlands Media Art Institute (De Appel)
Smithsonian
Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires, Argentina
The Lincoln Center, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Anthology Film Archives, New York, NY
Six Nations Indian Museum, Onchiota, NY
Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, Massachusetts
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, L.A., CA
Getty Museum (from Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, CA)
UC Berkeley Libraries, Berkeley, CA
Harvard University Library, Cambridge, MA
Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, CA
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA
New York University Library, New York, NY
New York Public Library System, New York, NY
Utah Media Center, Salt Lake City, UT
Sun Valley Arts Institute, Ketchum, Idaho
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Arts Dept., Troy, NY