0:00:09.495,0:00:10.495 [INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC] 0:00:19.990,0:00:22.602 Drawing for me is a sort of meditation. 0:00:23.289,0:00:25.758 I think everything begins and ends with the drawing. 0:00:28.000,0:00:30.760 Whenever I do a project, I draw it out. 0:00:31.926,0:00:34.160 So, it's kind of a basic language, 0:00:34.160,0:00:36.661 and then I do some things in between. 0:00:39.085,0:00:41.231 It's all about collaging. 0:00:45.081,0:00:48.020 A lot of what I do as being an artist 0:00:48.020,0:00:51.135 is creating a voice for myself 0:00:51.990,0:00:55.214 because I didn't have one for so long. 0:00:59.594,0:01:02.527 In 1965, I got pregnant. 0:01:04.095,0:01:06.841 In the fifth month of my pregnancy, 0:01:06.841,0:01:08.930 I was having trouble breathing 0:01:08.930,0:01:12.140 and came down with a heart condition[br]called cardiomyopathy. 0:01:12.788,0:01:14.741 I went into heart failure. 0:01:15.700,0:01:18.990 I was under an oxygen tent [br]during that pregnancy, 0:01:18.990,0:01:20.228 in a hospital. 0:01:21.200,0:01:23.380 I was unable to walk 0:01:23.380,0:01:26.087 or to do anything for many, many months. 0:01:28.563,0:01:33.109 When you are experiencing [br]the threat of death, 0:01:33.109,0:01:35.507 you become so aware of time. 0:01:36.220,0:01:38.549 That's really a gift, 0:01:38.549,0:01:41.411 to become so sick early in my life. 0:01:42.000,0:01:44.460 It made you value the time you had 0:01:44.460,0:01:47.345 and the fact that you[br]can't really waste time. 0:01:54.611,0:01:58.990 Because so much of my illness[br]depended on breathing, 0:01:58.990,0:02:02.240 I added the sound as it was getting better 0:02:02.240,0:02:04.477 to a couple of my wax sculptures. 0:02:04.477,0:02:06.720 [PLAYBACK OF RECORDED BREATHING SOUNDS] 0:02:06.720,0:02:09.100 [VOICE FROM CASSETTE PLAYER][br]--Oh, there you are. 0:02:09.435,0:02:11.702 --I've been waiting for you all day. 0:02:12.830,0:02:15.729 --I'm so glad that you've come to see me. 0:02:16.492,0:02:18.292 --What's your name? 0:02:19.990,0:02:22.090 I took a night class at UCLA 0:02:22.090,0:02:24.621 on how you cast wax. 0:02:25.567,0:02:29.860 Since I didn't have anybody else around,[br]I cast my face 0:02:30.962,0:02:33.876 and made the wax cast from myself. 0:02:34.823,0:02:37.774 When you're so isolated, you hear more. 0:02:37.774,0:02:40.874 [RECORDED BREATHING SOUNDS] 0:02:41.390,0:02:45.733 After my breath itself, I added [br]interaction and dialogue. 0:02:46.420,0:02:48.570 To me, it was sort of like a drawing. 0:02:48.570,0:02:51.500 It was sound that extended into space. 0:02:51.500,0:02:54.028 So that became part of the work. 0:02:59.499,0:03:00.590 In the seventies, 0:03:00.590,0:03:05.480 women artists were just becoming aware of[br]how they were made invisible. 0:03:05.860,0:03:10.564 The early challenges were getting somebody[br]to show my work, 0:03:10.564,0:03:12.914 and nobody would. 0:03:13.394,0:03:15.150 Eventually, 0:03:15.150,0:03:19.190 the University of California at Berkeley [br]invited three women to have exhibitions 0:03:19.190,0:03:20.510 and I was one of them. 0:03:20.510,0:03:22.970 But they wanted to show only my drawings. 0:03:24.187,0:03:26.290 I think they thought [br]that drawings were safe 0:03:26.290,0:03:28.960 and good draftsmanship and all of that. 0:03:28.960,0:03:30.080 But along with that, 0:03:30.080,0:03:33.864 I put in a couple of my wax sculptures[br]that talked. 0:03:34.810,0:03:36.201 Within two days, 0:03:36.201,0:03:38.017 the museum closed the show. 0:03:39.185,0:03:41.120 They said, "Media isn't art." 0:03:41.120,0:03:42.750 "Sound isn't art." 0:03:42.750,0:03:46.084 And they completely closed[br]the exhibition down. 0:03:46.991,0:03:51.240 Being rejected and being made invisible by[br]the museum system 0:03:51.240,0:03:54.000 was really the best thing[br]that happened to me. 0:03:55.160,0:03:58.704 The cultural experience of[br]having your voice suppressed 0:03:58.704,0:04:01.168 has made speech, and talking, 0:04:01.168,0:04:03.000 and having a voice, 0:04:03.000,0:04:04.803 really important in what I do.