The Squirrelly Girls came about in my first year of grad school at VCU. Ginnie Baer, Melanie Christian & I were looking for a creative outlet that was not weighed down in academic, “gallery-driven”, elitism. We decided to make “Floats” & throw a parade down the school hallways. The response was enthusiastic (read: everyone had a good time & wanted more). The concept has evolved through the years, but we continue to lean more towards “throwing an art party” than curating the sort of exhibit associated with a Chelsea gallery diva.

I usually choose a theme, sometimes a color, select people to create “food-as-art”, gather people together for some kind of performance (music, performance art, etc.), & invite artists to participate. When the Squirrelly Girls are gathered together for the day of the exhibit/party -we are never quite certain what the outcome will be. Melanie has described it as “Like waking up on Christmas morning, & finding all those presents under the tree”. It usually works as a very cohesive whole, because of the theme & color guidelines.

When exhibits travel out of town, I put someone else (there) in charge of getting it together; & it takes on a new life. “Supercell” traveled from Richmond, VA to Columbus, OH; where Ginnie took care of securing a gallery & all the other necessary details. When the exhibit traveled on to Wichita, KS; Kristin Beal-Degrandmont took charge & even organized a very fabulous “Art Pride Parade”.

The images here only represent a limited view of what the event really “was”.
You have to be there to experience it.
*If you are interested in participating in a future SG event, or have a space you’d like us to invade; please contact me.

First Parade
First Squirrelly Girl Event (School parade)
Orange Elevator Rave
Held in the VCU School of the Arts industrial elevator. Orange art, clothing & food. The elevator was traveling from floor to floor, & outside the door (on each floor) was music, art, & other creative festivities.
Illuminated Winter Holiday Parade
The Squirrelly Girl Winter Holiday Illuminated Parade Open to anyone to participate, the criteria was: A self-illuminated “thing” that you could walk, push, fly, pull, or carry down the street. The parade went down Broad Street (the sidewalks of the gallery district) after sunset. It had snowed that day, so we invited a strong boy to lead the parade…with a shovel.
The Squirrely Girl Wedding
With grad school almost over, I was afraid that the Squirrelly Girls would not continue on. I decided to do a “wedding as vows to keep the SG’s going after graduation”. I proposed; gave Melanie a hand-made (crappy) ring, threw a surprise bachelorette party (during graduate seminar class with Rob Pruitt), & planned the event. The color theme was aqua. All boys wanting to participate in the performance were required to wear aqua dresses. I wrote vows (ala Dr. Seuss), & secured 2 priestesses to read them at the ceremony. It was a performance piece, with a reception following. The reception area had aqua food & drinks, aqua art, a group of musicians performing, & the usual toasts to a great future.
Squirrel-o-Rama
We brought the outdoors-indoors with this exhibit. Each participating artist contributed to a “landscape”.
Supercell
When meteorological systems are ripe for a very severe storm, you have a supercell. The multi-media exhibit interpreted all types of bad weather.