Jerri Allyn is a feminist performance and installation artist and educator based in Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...

. Allyn earned an MA in Art and Community from Goddard College

Goddard College

Goddard College is a private, liberal arts college located in Plainfield, Vermont, offering undergraduate and graduate degree programs. Goddard College currently operates on an intensive low-residency model...

 in Plainfield, Vermont

Plainfield, Vermont

Plainfield is a town in Washington County, Vermont, United States. The population was 1,286 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Plainfield is located at ....

 and also attended The Feminist Studio Workshop at the Los Angeles Woman's Building

Woman's Building

The Woman's Building was an non-profit arts and education center located in Los Angeles, California, in the United States. The Woman's Building focused on feminist art and served as a venue for the women's movement and was spearheaded by artist Judy Chicago, graphic designer Sheila Levrant de...

.

Allyn was active in the Feminist Art Movement

Feminist art movement

The feminist art movement refers to the efforts and accomplishments of feminists internationally to make art that reflects women's lives and experiences, as well as to change the foundation for the production and reception of contemporary art. It also sought to bring more visibility to women within...

, co-founding multiple feminist performance groups in the 1970s and 1980s. The first of these was "The Waitresses

The Waitresses (artists)

The Waitresses were a collaborative feminist performance art group that formed in 1977. The group consisted of artists that also worked as waitresses in Los Angeles, California. The group was active from their inception until 1985.-History:...

," co-founded with Anne Gauldin in 1977. All of the members of the group were waitresses, and through their often comedic performances, they explored the cultural perception of women as nurturers as well as what labor conditions were like for women in the service industry. The group performed in restaurants and other public spaces and on one occasion formed The All-City Waitress Marching Band to perform in a parade. Along with Nancy Angelo, Anne Gauldin, Cheri Gaulke and Sue Maberry, Allyn was a founding member of Sisters of Survival (SOS), an anti-nuclear weapons group that sought to bring artists, activists, and citizens together. SOS carried out a project in 1983 called "End of the Rainbow, involving performance events in both the United States and Europe and culminating in an exhibition at Franklin Furnace

Franklin Furnace

Franklin Furnace, also known as the Franklin Mine, is a famous mineral location for rare zinc, iron, manganese minerals in old mines in Franklin, New Jersey, USA. This locale produced more species of minerals and more different fluorescent minerals than any other location...

 in New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 from November 20-December 24, 1983.

In her 1977 performance piece "Cancer Madness," Allyn grappled with her mother's cancer, her grandmother's madness, and her own health fears prompted by this family history. She performed in bed in her studio, which she had transformed to look like a hospital. The work was interactive in that viewers came to the space to support Allyn and help her heal. In 1979, Allyn was part of the group that developed and performed Terry Wolverton

Terry Wolverton

Terry Wolverton is an American novelist, memoirist, poet, and editor. Her book Insurgent Muse: Life and art at the Woman’s Building, a memoir published in 2002 by City Lights Books, was named one of the “Best Books of 2002” by the Los Angeles Times, and was the winner of the 2003 Publishing...

's play "An Oral Herstory of Lesbianism," described by fellow artist and participant Cheri Gaulke

Cheri Gaulke

Cheri Gaulke is a visual artist most known for her role in the Feminist Art Movement in southern California in the 1970s and her current work on gay and lesbian families...

 as a work "collaboratively created out of the life stories of 13 lesbians."

Allyn also creates interactive installations that transcend the boundary between art and life and that are integrated into public spaces. She works with whatever medium seems best suited to the situation and the environment and has worked in media as diverse as billboards, artists books, and audio formats.
Her interactive sculptural installation, with soundscapes by Helene Rosenbluth, “A Chair is a Throne is a Freedom Fighter’s Camp Stool,” is about resolving conflicts creatively. This work premiered in New York Public Libraries in 2002 and was sponsored by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.
She has created two commissioned works for New American Radio, "American Dining: A Working Woman's Moment" (1989), and "Angels Have Been Sent to Me" (1991).

Allyn has previously worked as Director of Education and Public Programs at the Bronx Museum of the Arts

Bronx Museum of the Arts

The Bronx Museum of the Arts is a cultural institution located in the New York City borough of The Bronx. The museum focuses on contemporary and 20th century works created by American artists, and it has hosted exhibitions of art and design from Latin America, Africa and Asia...

, Founding Director of ACT: Artists, Community and Teaching at Otis College of Art and Design

Otis College of Art and Design

Otis College of Art and Design is an art and design college in Los Angeles, California.The school's programs, accredited by WASC and National Association of Schools of Art and Design, include four-year BFA degrees in illustration, fine arts, graphic design, architecture, landscape design, interior...

, and is now the Director of Programs at Venice Arts in Venice, California.

Selected Awards

• Rockefeller Foundation Residency at the Study and Conference Center in Bellagio, Italy
• Lila Wallace Readers Digest Residency, in Oaxaca, Mexico
• Joan Mitchell Foundation grant
• New Genres Fellowship, National Endowment for the Arts
• Media Grant, New York State Council on the Arts
• Artist in Residence, Yellow Springs Institute, Yellow Springs, PA

Selected bibliography

• Marbury, Donna, “Chairs Become Throne for Peace in Art Exhibition,” The Columbus Post, Dc 30’04
• Perron, Wendy, “If the Chair Fits (or Challenges) Settle In and Listen,” Sunday Arts & Leisure, New York Times, Jn23’02
• Hogarty, Ellen,“Artist Jerri Allyn,”City Folk Morning Program, Arts Feature, 90.7 WFUV Radio, NY,Ap9’02
• Fuller, Diana & Daniela Salvioni. Parallels & Intersections: Art/Women/California 1950-2000, UCBerkeley Press, 2002
• Pou, Alyson, “Exploding the Model: On Youth & Art,” Public Art Review, Vol 9#2, Spr Sum 1998 p4
• Lacy, Suzanne, Ed, Mapping the Terrain: New Genre Public Art, Bay Press 1995,
• Lippard,Lucy. Pink Glass Swan: Selected Feminist Essays on Art, New Press 1995
• Dworkin, Norine, “Jerri Allyn: Angels Have Been Sent to Me,” High Performance Magazine, Fall ‘91 p56
• Atkins, Robert, “Sketchbook: Jerri Allyn’s Angels Have Been Sent to Me,” Village Voice',' May 28 ’91
• Brown, Betty Ann & Arlene Raven. “JAllyn,” Exposures: Women & Their Art, New Sage Press, 1989
• Howell, John, “Jerri Allyn,” Artforum, Apr. 1988 p144
• Carr, C, “Art on a Raft, Politics to Go,” Village Voice, Dec 8, 1987 p116
• Burnham, Linda, “Jerri Allyn: Apron: A Covering Worn in Front to protect,” Artforum, Nov. 1981, p89