SPOOKY BOOBS uses art, language, and design to visualize the trivialization of women’s experiences. Situating themselves within the history of women’s arts activism, they examine the presence and power of misogynistic language within our culture, draw attention to the prevalent language that continues to foster resentment and disrespect towards women, and critique the patriarchal systems that continue to perpetuate sexism. The work is manifested as art installations, performances, printed material, social media campaigns, and social interactions.
SPOOKY BOOBS (est. 2014) has shown their work in solo exhibitions and group exhibitions nationally. Their work was included in the 2018 Wisconsin Artists Biennial at the Museum of Wisconsin Art and the 2019 Wisconsin Triennial at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art. They have been featured in MS Magazine and Brava Magazine. They have presented on their work and feminist activist art at the Women’s Caucus for Art conference and as visiting artists to Delta State University in Cleveland, Mississippi and the University of Wisconsin-Madison in Madison, Wisconsin.
SPOOKY BOOBS is a collaboration between Amy Cannestra, J Myszka Lewis, and Maggie Snyder.
Amy Cannestra recently wrote that her work reminds her of being 17 and breaking up with her first boyfriend in a local Burger King. She couldn’t help but laugh. She was not laughing at him, but more at the uncomfortable tension and awkwardness of the situation. Through video and sculptural installation, Cannestra creates uncomfortable situations and masks them with twisted humor and gore.
Milwaukee, Wisconsin / AmyCannestra.com
J Myszka Lewis uses print media, photographic images, textiles, and embroidery to create work that engages with themes of awareness, certainty, familiarity, and labor. Although ranging from representational to abstract, her work uses repetition to consider aspects of the tensions between the industrial and the individual.
Madison, Wisconsin / JMyszkaLewis.com
Maggie Snyder is a conceptual artist and media producer. Her work is situated between play and violence, the sublime and the chaotic. She is interested in asking questions about the self, the Other and about abjection, and focuses on framing the process as a critical and necessary discourse for discovery.
Longmont, Colorado / maehymn.com
Solo Exhibitions
2022 (Title TBD), University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh Art Gallery, Oshkosh, WI
2021 Girls Just Want To Have Fun, Trout Museum of Art, Appleton, WI
2019 The Pervasive Curse, Crossman Gallery, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, Whitewater, WI
2018 The Pervasive Curse, Arts + Literature Laboratory, Madison, WI
2016 The Patterns’ Vicious Influence, 5 & J Gallery, Lubbock, TX
2015 The Patterns’ Vicious Influence, Overture Center for the Arts, Madison, WI
2015 LOUD & CLEAR, Hi/Lo Gallery, George L. Mosse Humanities Building, Madison, WI
Group Exhibitions
2020 Indiana Green 2020, Between Two Galleries, Var Gallery, Milwaukee, WI
SECURA Fine Arts Exhibition, Trout Museum of Art, Appleton, WI
2019 Wisconsin Triennial, Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Madison, WI
2018 From Her Perspective, Firehouse Art Center, Longmont, CO
Wisconsin Artists Biennial, Museum of Wisconsin Art, West Bend, WI
2017 Our Daily Armor, Virago Gallery, Seattle, WA
Speaking Out: Art & Politics in Words, North Seattle College Art Gallery, Seattle, WA
NASTY, presented by Gutfreund & Cornett Art, Arc Gallery, San Francisco, CA
FemFest, Groovy Dog Gallery, Milwaukee, WI
2016 I Witness: Activist Art and Social Movement Politics, Heuser Art Gallery & Hartmann Center Gallery, Bradley University, Peoria, IL
The Patterns’ Vicious Influence, 5 & J Gallery, Lubbock, TX
Vision: An Artist’s Perspective, presented by Gutfreund & Cornett Art, Kaleid Gallery, San Jose, CA [*catalogue]
Space Jam Reading Room and Lounge, Mission Creek Festival, Iowa City, IA
Being Her Now: Feminine Identity in the 21st Century, Salisbury University Gallery, Salisbury, MD
2015 Spooky Boobs Collective: Print Media, Print and Resist, The Bubbler, Madison, WI
Artist Talks & Performances
2021 Visiting Artist Talk, Graduate Seminar in Collaboration in the Arts, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI [*SB]
2020 Panel Presenter, Women and Gender Studies Consortium Conference, Madison, WI
Panel Presenter, Women’s Caucus for Art Conference, Chicago, IL
Visiting Artist/Guest Lecturer, Visiting Artist Colloquium, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI
2019 Visiting Artist Talk, Arts for Social Change seminar, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI
You Have the Right to Remain a ___., Performance, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, Whitewater, WI
2018 You Have the Right to Remain a ___., Performance, Arts + Literature Laboratory, Madison, WI
2017 Visiting Artist Talk, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI
You Have the Right to Remain a ___, Performance, Delta State University, Cleveland, MS
Art and Activism, Visiting Artist Talk, Delta State University, Cleveland, MS
2016 The Patterns’ Vicious Influence, Performance 2, Gallery II, Overture Center for the Arts, Madison, WI
2015 The Patterns’ Vicious Influence, Performance 1, Gallery II, Overture Center for the Arts, Madison, WI
The Patterns’ Vicious Influence, Gallery Talk, Gallery II, Overture Center for the Arts, Madison, WI
Spooky Boobs: A Scary Story of Art and Activism, Visiting Artist Talk, Gender Studies Seminar, Delta State University, Cleveland, MS
Loud & Clear, Gallery Talk, HI/LO Gallery, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI
Awards & Grants
2018 2018 M List: Innovation in the Arts honoree, Madison Magazine, Madison, WI
Artist Publication Fellowship, Peripheral Vision Press, Issue No. 8
2016 Dulce Professional Development Fund, Delta State University, Cleveland, MS
People’s Choice Award, I Witness: Activist Art and Social Movement Politics, Bradley University, Peoria, IL
Special Recognition Award, selected by juror Michelle Nye of SFMOMA Artists Gallery for Vision: An Artist’s Perspective, Gutfreund & Cornett Art, San Jose, CA