The GLBT Historical Society unveiled its first artist-in-residence, E.G. Crichton, in a debut of her new project, “LINEAGE: Matchmaking in the Archive: a Collaboration between the Living and the Dead” at an evening reception on June 19 at the Society facilities in the Mission. The exhibit opened on June 20 and runs through October 15. “LINEAGE” focuses on bringing some of the Historical Society’s individual collections off their shelves to become visible in unexpected ways. Crichton often works within community settings and collaborates across disciplines with performers, writers, scientists, and composers, to name a few. Her work has been exhibited in art institutions and as public installations in Europe, Japan, Australia, and across the U.S. She is an Associate Professor of Art at UCSC. Crichton matches specific archives to living people who agree to develop creative responses in a variety of media. Eventually the exhibition will travel to other sites, states, and countries, and will expand to become an interactive website. The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society (GLBTHS) collects, preserves, and interprets the history of GLBT people and the communities that support them. They sponsor exhibits and programs on an ongoing basis. 

Board Member Don Romesburg explained what an artist-in-residence program is all about as a cultural in-house fixture helping to curate art. He also spoke about the museum on Castro and 18th Street, where archives of the Society have been brought and mounted for viewing by the public, with an emphasis on Supervisor Harvey Milk’s era. It is a real tourist draw, especially after the successful release of the award-winning biopic, MILK. Romesburg said what was once just a repository is now a museum where people can see all the treasures that had previously been stored out of sight, allowing only special visitors to view the contents. Now everything is extremely accessible. Crichton said she has become a fixture in the archives building for the past few months, hard at work in preparing for the exhibit. She described her matchmaking process in introducing the artists to the artifacts and letting them get to know each another, as it were, on a sort of blind date. Then she made a photo portrait of the live person next to a picture of the person who was no longer living, and displayed everything in an exhibit where visitors could read manuscripts of the artist or pick up earphones to hear the artist speak. 

That night we heard three performers display their talents live before entering the exhibit area to get the whole picture. First up was poet Camille Norton speaking about the late writer and Plexus founder, Nancy Stockwell. There is a whole story about Stockwell that visitors can discover, but the crux of her poem “Breath” is that this prairie woman suffered for years since age 11 with a toxic lung disease that made it very difficult to breathe, yet she accomplished much in her short time till she died at 59. 

There was an aria composed by Luciano Chessa inspired by the prayer writing of self-taught piano player Larry DeCaesar. Visitors will find out that DeCaesar made his living composing and playing in piano bars up and down the west coast, especially in Nevada City. Chessar, who could not attend that night, wrote an aria based on DeCaesar that was performed by male soprano Don Tatro. This manly man has the gift of a clear, pitch-perfect, high high soprano register that was so moving it sent shivers down our spines. Visitors will see the written “Prayer of an Aspiring Musician” music sheet and hear it beautifully sung over earphones by sopranist Tatro. 

The third performer, Lauren Crux, delivered a delightful 20-minute monologue inspired by Janny MacHarg, “the Tallulah Bankhead of San Francisco.”

Before starting her routine, Crux had hung a gigantic, upside down, five-foot long rubber chicken - from creepy claws to big beak – telegraphing that a large amount of her set would be humorous. Her subject was an older woman who often wrote about old lesbians with joy and humor. Crux had a very funny piece about her meeting her matched dead person as a bad blind date at first; but that turned out quite fun as her time with MacHarg’s archives progressed. I won’t give away any of the jokes, which visitors will want to read for themselves in “Dinosaurs & Haircuts.” Try not to laugh too loudly and disturb the other visitors. 

The other pairings on exhibit are as follows: a sculptural “Care Package” by Tina Takemoto for Jiro Onuma, a Japanese man who immigrated to the U.S. in 1923 and collected “Muscular Marvel” photos; an “Archival Dinner Party” by Gabriella Ripley-Phipps in honor of Sally Binford; a film by Bill Domonkos inspired by the life of World War II pilot Helen Harder; a sculptural installation by Maya Manvi inspired by the transgender desires and secret science fiction of Dodi Horvat; a written conversation between Dominika Bednarska and disabled lesbian Wry Crips theatre member Diane Hugaert; a letter from Troy Boyd to GAPA and AIDS activist George Choy; and an interactive computer work by Elliot Anderson, inspired by the life of Claude Schwob, who worked on the Manhattan Project. Each was professionally paired and photographed by Crichton. 

“We here in San Francisco are in the middle of a GLBT cultural renaissance,” Executive Director Paul Boneberg told Bay Times. “I don’t know what Berlin and Harlem were doing in the 1920s, but just look around – there’s Frameline, the Queer Arts Festival, all these multitudes of cultural activities – it’s a great time to be a queer in San Francisco!”  

Exhibit galleries are open Tuesday through Saturday, 1 to 5 p.m. The archives of the GLBTHS is one of the world’s largest collections of primary source materials about GLBT history. Filmmakers, academics, journalists, students, and others use the archives to craft truthful and inspiring representations of GLBT people. The GLBT Historical Society is at 657 Mission Street #300, (415) 777 - 5455. The Castro Exhibit is at 499 Castro Street, (415) 621 - 1107. Visit both and get yer cultchah!