by Hilary Sloin
56. The irony here is that deSilva knew next to nothing about Christianity. Half-Jewish, half-Italian, she had a secular upbringing. She’d been raised without any religious beliefs, had experienced God in only the most superficial manner—e.g., tripping on the sidewalk and being told by her mother that God was punishing her for some childish transgression. There was no basis for the sort of nihilistic rebellion of which she was accused.
57. Wallace, Charlotte. Editorial. New York Times, New York City, 1985.
58. DeVaine, Paul. The Accidental Rebel: Controversy in the Work of Francesca deSilva. New York: Little, Brown, 1996, page 56.
59. In response to Christian opposition to the painting, demonstrations were held in New York City by an organization called the Pacific Islanders Coalition (PID). The group claimed that CAWD’s objections to the painting had less to do with incest than abject horror at an implied connection between the Virgin Mary and a Chinese-American girl.
60. Dialo, Lucinda. “Counterstrokes of Violence: How Society Informs Women’s Art.” Caleidoscope, A Journal of Feminist Art, Winter, 1995.
61. The sale of this painting to Berman and Patton, well-known New York collectors, disintegrated. Birds, Everywhere, never sold, was destroyed in the fire. The spooky work depicted a nuclear family lunching on fried chicken, seated, one beside another, on the sole picnic bench in a serene, manicured suburban park. On all sides are gray water and a heavy pink sky. Perched in the treetops and covering the surface of a large gray rock, unseen by all but one daughter who gazes fearfully at the trees as she bites down on a chicken leg, are throngs of crows. For discussions of this work, consult Paul DeVaine (Metaphors and Madness. Chicago: ARTBooks, 1994) or Cynthia Bell (Lesbians in Oil (Atlanta: Amazon Press, 1991).
62. DeVaine, Paul. “Spare, Bold, Defiant—The Gender-Neutral Paintings of Francesca deSilva.” art, October, 1987.
63. Letters to the Editor, art, December 1987.
64. Ibid.
65. Warhol, it must be remembered, was not a painter.
66. Grosjean, Jean. “Francesca deSilva: An American Painter in the Dark”. BRUSHSTROKES, Canada, Montreal, 1988.
67. Reilly, Michael. “Conversation with Francesca deSilva—Painter, Agitator, Reluctant Rebel.” Village Voice, 1989.
68. Village Voice, “Conversation with Francesca deSilva—Painter, Agitator, Reluctant Rebel,” Michael Reilly, 1987.
69. In 1990, after founding San Francisco’s pro-sex publication LICK, Wall wrote an article about her summer romp with deSilva called “The Stone Goddess of Truth.” She later self-published a slim account of their affair (à la Peggy Caserta’s lewd tell-all volume about Janis Joplin, Going Down with Janis) titled Suburbia Upended, under her own imprint, boundandgagged books, San Francisco. Here, she asserted that Francesca deSilva used her painting as a means of avoiding intimacy and that the artist was, unadmittedly, a stone butch—i.e., one who provides sexual pleasure but does not want to be touched.
Author’s note: Other evidence controverts this.
70. Both Bunyan and Reality Has Intruded Here were created on materials rescued from the excavated property of an elderly woman, Mrs. May, of whom deSilva was very fond. Like Evelyn Horowitz, Mrs. May had a talent for mahjong and cards; but unlike Evelyn, Mrs. May was a lesbian. After the woman’s death, her property and the 150-year-old house where she’d lived since childhood, were leveled and developed for condominiums.
71. Bell, Cynthia. The Butch Is Back. Santa Cruz: Labrys Press, 1995.
72. “Deconstructing deSilva.” Illustrated Gent, January 1990, page 52.
73. deSilva’s use of language-as-image was unprecedented in her work and thought to have been a tribute to Jean-Michel Basquiat. The word BABE here acts as metatext, commenting on the sexist paradigm responsible for creating the legend of Paul Bunyan and embellishing it with all the attributes coveted by the hearty American male, including access to the nubile female, or “babe.” “What is the word babe in modern American culture?,” asks Dialo in Artful Deviation: An Examination of Gender Treachery in Woolf’s Orlando and deSilva’s Bunyan. “An epithet. A term of endearment. A woman’s name. A cheap cologne. It is a female-identified word, implies a familiarity, or, conversely, perhaps conjointly, devaluation. deSilva’s choice to omit the blue ox as an image, but to instead paint its name, draws our attention away from the friendly figure of the story, into semantics, and the folktale’s more disquieting themes.”
74. Clara Feinstein. “Much Ado About Mediocrity—The Whitney’s Retrospective of Francesca deSilva.” The New Yorker.
75. Dialo, Lucinda. Artful Deviation: An Examination of Gender Treachery in Woolf’s Orlando and deSilva’s Bunyan. New Haven: Yale University Press 1995, page 346.
76. Dorff, R. Randy. “The Queering of Machismo in the Eurocentric Folk Legend.” A Multi-Cultural Reader. Harvard University, April 12, 1994. Note: The ox, which popularly conjures a huge creature of boundless strength, actually refers to any of several members of the bull family (e.g., yak, buffalo, bison, gaur) and is most accurately defined as “a castrated, domesticated bull, used as a draft animal.” [Webster’s New World Dictionary; Third College Edition.]
77. Ibid.
78. Ibid.
79. Hamil’s term has been popularized, its meaning expanded to describe an insatiable appetite for voyeuristic prattle.
80. Hamil, Phillip. “Live Fast, Die Young, Watch the Vultures Feed.” Vanity Fair, April 1993, page 112. Author’s note: Some might say that Hamil’s prophecy has been realized.
81. Dialo Lucinda. Women Paint! New York: Little, Brown, 1991, page 162.
82. Jones, May and Particip, Ann. Creativity in Female Siblings—The Case for Eugenics. Chicago: Mind and Matter, 1994, page 211.
83. Dialo, Lucinda. “Counterstrokes of Violence: How Society Informs Women’s Art.” Caleidoscope, A Journal of Feminist Art, 1994.
84. Dialo, Lucinda. Message of Conflict: Homophobia and the Lesbian Artist. San Francisco: Labrys Press, 1995, pages 72–87.
85. The authors define this as “a merging of personae unmitigated by physical distance.” Jones, May and Particip, Ann. “The Inexplicable Painting: the Phenomemon of Sororal Symbiosis as the Basis for Stylistic Inconsistencies in the Final Work of Francesca deSilva.” Genetics: The Journal of Science and Humanity, Vancouver, BC, Canada, 1990.
86. Bell, Cynthia. “Dyke Envy: The Latest Heterosexual Pasttime.” Culture Shock, New York City, 1994.
87. Dialo, Lucinda. Editorial: “The Psychologization of Art.” ArtNews, Summer 1995.
88. Bell, Cynthia. “Dyke Envy: The Latest Heterosexual Pasttime.” Culture Shock, New York City, 1994.
89. Village Voice writer Reilly, raises an outré, tongue-in-cheek, and yet compelling possibility (see “We Like Our Lesbians Angry, Please . . .” Village Voice, 1992). Why would deSilva be rushing, he muses, if she did not know the house would be burned down? Isn’t it possible that she escaped the charring inferno and is living (à la Jim Morrison and Elvis) in Buenos Aires, painting wall size canvases for cheap hotels?
Author’s note: It is not impossible. While it appears that deSilva’s remains were crushed under the weight of the fallen house, and while evidence confirms an extant fourth corpse, it cannot be definitively proven that the corpse was, indeed, Francesca deSilva’s.
Hilary Sloin is a novelist, short fiction writer, essayist, and playwright. Her work has been published in many small journals and anthologies including Parting Gifts, character i, Notes, Phoebe, and Lesbian Love Stories I and II. Art On Fire has been an almost-winner many times: It was a finalist for the Heekin Foundation Award, the Mid-list Press Competition, the Dana Awards, and The Story Oaks Prize. It received a grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, and was mistakenly awarded the non-fiction prize in the Amherst Book and Plow Competition. She has been a resident at the Cottages at Hedgebrook and the Dorset Colony House, and during the ’80s and ’90s her plays were produced in major cities across the country. She lives in the hil
ls of Western Massachusetts with Pluto, her tiny Jack Russell Terrier, and has a side business acquiring, restoring, and selling antiques.
Acknowledgments
Art on Fire, which for years was known by the toothy title The Unfinished Life of Francesca deSilva, took a long time to write and an even longer time to find a publishing home. Along the way so many people read and critiqued my various versions of the manuscript, kindly pointing up the places where I had swerved into a cement pole, that I cannot possibly name everyone here—much as I’d like to. I know and remember enough to thank the Cottages at Hedgebrook and the Dorset Colony House for giving me space and time to write and for helping me develop the discipline and work ethic required to complete a long project. The immortal Val Clark was the biggest champion I have ever had. For years, novelist and poet supreme Susan Stinson and Bywater author Sally Bellerose were astute and patient readers, excellent friends and fellow mischief-makers. We worked hard and played hard and this book would not have come to completion without them. Meryl Cohn and Mary Beth Caschetta propped me up when I had pretty much thrown in the towel. My cousin, Harry Gold, a staunch critic who, I am sad to say, is no longer with us on the planet, loved this book and told me he was certain I had “it”—words every writer longs to hear from a discerning source. Meredith Rose provided hours of intelligent and challenging conversation about the writing life and whether it was, in the end, worth the trouble (the jury is still out). Barb Hadden strutted into my world one day and, with her paint-smattered clothes and killer smile, seemed to be the materialization of my adored character. This was scary and fascinating and made me open the pages once again to see if I could do anything more to help the manuscript see the light of day. Finally, I feel I have been rewarded for something good I did along the way by the arrival of Revan Schendler’s friendship. Her brilliance and generosity astonish me and I find she is often all the audience I need.
I’d like to thank Bywater Books for publishing Art on Fire and taking a chance on material that was a little out of the mainstream—even the lesbian mainstream.
I only wish my mother were still here to see me finally get published. She couldn’t believe there would be a cover and everything!
Bywater Books
THE GIRLS CLUB
Sally Bellerose
“In her debut novel, Bellerose deftly tells the story of Cora Rose, Marie, and Renee LaBarre, a trio of working-class sisters in small-town Massachusetts who are best friends, mortal enemies, and forever loyal to each other. . . . A fast-paced, well-written tale with characters who will linger in the reader's memory long after the final page is turned.” —Publishers Weekly
“Bellerose moves these wonderous creations of hers through the ordinary pitfalls of life, showcasing their heartbreaks, their triumphs, and their shame with equal assurance. The Girls Club is an incredible book—not just for girls, but for everyone.” —Out in Print
“Winner of the Bywater Prize for Fiction, this first novel provides an intense study of human frailty and hope; sure to appeal to readers who enjoy literate coming-of-age and coming-out fiction.” —Library Journal
“Bellerose's warm novel embraces the concept of sisterhood with propulsive gusto” —Book Marks
Print ISBN 978-1-932859-78-2
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RED AUDREY AND THE ROPING
Jill Malone
Winner of the Bywater Prize for Fiction
“A wonderfully impressive writing debut.”
—Sarah Waters
Fight or flight? Jane Elliott has tried both. Surfing, letting the waves take her. Teaching Latin, clutching at its rules to feel safe. Safe from a lover, safe from her friends, safe from her mother’s death—and her guilt. And now she lies in a hospital bed, alone.
Set against the landscapes and seascapes of Hawaii, this is a story of one woman’s courage and her struggle to find a balance between what she desires and what she deserves. Gripping and emotional, Red Audrey and the Roping is also a remarkable literary achievement. The breathtaking prose evokes setting, characters, and relationships with equal grace. Splintered fragments of narrative come together to form a seamless suspenseful story that flows effortlessly to its dramatic conclusion.
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A FIELD GUIDE TO DECEPTION
Jill Malone
Winner of the Lambda Literary Award
“A Field Guide to Deception is beautiful, essential reading.”
—Out in Print
“Malone is back with another story that takes us deeper into the shadowy depths of the mind and heart with every twist of its plot . . . keeping the reader rapt all the way to the unforeseeable conclusion.” —Jane and Jane Magazine
The day the kid fell in the river—that was the moment for Claire and Liv. The first inkling of a possibility of something to pull them together.
But sometimes the possibility of love is too much to bear. As opportunities slowly unfurl like the petals of a flower, Claire and Liv negotiate love’s challenges as well as its rewards. And on one terrible winter night, they confront the true cost of loving.
Print ISBN 978-1-932859-70-6
Ebook ISBN 978-1-61294-003-8
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Bywater Books
VERGE
Z Egloff
Winner of the Bywater Prize for Fiction
“Verge has heart and wit and intelligence.”
—Emma Donoghue, author of Room
“Verge is powerful, quirky, and fresh.”
—Alison Bechdel, author of Fun Home
Claire has three goals: to stay sober, to stay away from sex, and to get into film school. A drunken affair with her professor’s wife means she might just have blown all three at once. Stuck without the camera she needs to complete her course work, she turns to Sister Hilary at the community center for help. Sister Hilary has a camera to lend, but the price is recruiting Claire as a reluctant volunteer. The only trouble is, Claire’s more attracted to Sister Hilary than to helping out. Claire ought to know there’s no future with a nun, but can’t this two-timing, twelve-stepping, twenty-something film freak get a chance at happiness?
ISBN 978-1-932859-68-3
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SHAKEN AND STIRRED
Joan Opyr
“What a great read! Character, story, dialogue—it's a trifecta of a page turner.” —Kate Clinton, author of I Told You So
“Opyr is a master of mixing light and dark—of telling a story about family dysfunction, alcoholic rage, and life without a lover with laugh-out loud panache.” —Book Marks
“It’s a wonderful novel” —Out in Print
Poppy Koslowski is trying to recover from a hysterectomy, but her family has other ideas. She’s the one with the responsibility to pull the plug on her alcoholic grandfather in North Carolina. So she’s dragged back across the country from her rebuilt life into the bosom of a family who barely notice the old man’s imminent death.
Plunged into a crazy kaleidoscope of consulting doctors, catching fire with an old flame, and negotiating lunch venues with her mother and grandmother, Poppy still manages to fall in love. Because nothing in the Koslowski family is ever straightforward. Not even dying.
Print ISBN 978-1-932859-79-9
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r call 734-662-8815
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Bywater Books represents the coming of age of lesbian fiction. We’re committed to bringing the best of contemporary lesbian writing to a discerning readership. Our editorial team is dedicated to finding and developing outstanding voices who deliver stories you won’t want to put down. That’s why we sponsor the annual Bywater Prize for Fiction. We love good books, just like you do.
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