ABOUT THE FOUNDER/WITNESS:
Dylan Scholinski was born Daphne Scholinski. As a young girl growing up in the Chicago suburbs, she played first base in Little League and preferred drawing to playing with dolls. When she was 15 years old she was locked up in a mental hospital, diagnosed as "an inappropriate female", and spent the rest of her high school years undergoing extreme femininity training. At 18, her insurance ran out and she was discharged.
Now 48 years old, Dylan resides in DENVER CO and is a distinguished artist, author, and public speaker . Dylan has appeared on 20/20, Dateline and Today to discuss his experiences and has been featured in a variety of newspapers and magazines. Recently his award winning book (The Last Time I Wore a Dress: A Memoir - Penguin/Putnam) was listed in the Top 10 Must Reads in Out Magazines first Transgender Issue. His work not only portrays the anguish of his hospital years but also his ultimate triumph.
Dylan is the founder/witness for the Sent(a)Mental Project : A Memorial to Suicide. He spends much of his time working in his studio, public speaking, creating zines - such as Freedom of Depression, Please Forgive Me For Judging You, Sent(a)Mental - and frequently opens his studio to a variety of at-risk youth to provide safe space to explore and discover ways of expressing and empowering themselves without bringing harm to themselves or others.
DYLAN SCHOLINSKI - CV
EDUCATION
1992 M.F.A. Painting and Printmaking, Pratt Institute, NY
1990 B.F.A. Drawing and Printmaking, St. Cloud State University, MN
AUTHOR
“The Last Time I Wore a Dress” with Jane Meredith Adams (Putnam Penguin 1997)
SELECTED AWARDS
2001 Ma Vie Rose Award - Starlight Project, LGBT Center of San Francisco
Certificate of Recognition, City of San Francisco
2000 Uncommon Legacy Award
Books For a Better Life Award
1998 Lambda Literary Award
Justice Award, National Center for Lesbian Rights:
1992 Graduate Institutional Award, Pratt Institute
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2008 2nd Annual Sent(a)Mental Project, The Other Side Arts, Denver, CO
2007 Mental (St)ealth, The Other Side Arts, Denver, CO
Sent(a)Mental Project, The Other Side Arts, Denver, CO
Freedom of Depression, Milwaukee Gay Arts Center, Milwaukee, WI
Dylan Scholinski, Isadore Gallery, Denver, CO
2005 sent(2)mental, Nevin Kelly Gallery, Washington, DC
2004 Be My Neighbor, Adams National Bank, Washington, DC
2003 Current Paintings, LSP - Whitman Walker, Washington, DC
2002 Crazy Eights, Bedrock Billiards, Washington, DC
The Last Time I Wore a Dress, Source Theatre, Washington, DC
2001 Out of (dis) Order, Lexington Club, San Francisco, CA
Journal Series – Paintings, SF Public Library: Harvey Milk, San Francisco, CA
2000 What's all the LOCO motion, Galleria Artista, Portland, OR
Mr. Sister, Foothill College, San Francisco, CA
Daphne Scholinski - New Works, UC Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA
1999 Freedom of Depression, Quotidian Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1998 The Last Time I Wore a Dress, Lawrence L. Hultburg Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1997 SENT (a) MENTAL, Lawrence L. Hultburg Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1996 Unauthorized Autobiography, Lawrence L. Hultburg Gallery, San Francisco,
Home Less, Josie’s Cabaret Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1995 Out the Institution, Red Dora's Bearded Lady, San Francisco, CA
MonuMental Manhattan, Josie's Cabaret Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1994 Strange Familiar, B.B. Gallery, New York, NY
1993 Nothing Personal-II, The Brecht Forum, New York, NY
1992 Nothing Personal- A Painting Installation, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY
1990 Recent Painting and Drawings, Kiehle Visual Arts Center, St. Cloud, MN
1989 Mixed Media Drawings, Kiehle Visual Arts Center, St. Cloud, MN
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2007 Guest Check, The Other Side Arts, Denver, CO
Voices, The Other Side Arts, Denver, CO
Tranny Road Show 2007, International traveling tour in multiple cities
The Potato Show 2007, The Other Side Arts, Denver, CO
2006 Tranny Road Show 2006, International traveling tour in multiple cities
Showing Pride, GLBT Center, Washington, DC
Strong Work Hot Topics, PG County Community College, PG County, MD
2005 The Human Abstract, Wohlfarth Galleries, Washington, DC
Wear Me Out, ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives, Los Angeles, CA
2004 Artomatic: 2004, Artomatic, Washington, DC
On The Line : Machines, Maps, and Memory, MAP, Baltimore, MD
Pride 2004, Velvet Nation, Washington, DC (including painting live on stage)
E1: Contemplating Process, Transformer Gallery, Washington, DC
2003 Valet Parking Garage, Adams Morgan, Washington, DC
New Arrivals, DCCD, Washington, DC
2001 Art Explosion, Art Explosion Gallery, SF, CA
2000 Open Studios, Art Explosionj Gallery, SF, CA
1999 Trans-Pride, Castro Theatre and Gallery deLaraza, SF, CA
1997 Made in the USA, Lawrence L. Hultburg Gallery, SF, CA
Mind, Body & Soul, The Women’s Building, SF, CA
1996 Out Loud & Proud 1996, The Bridge Gallery, SF, CA
Criminal Minded, 848 Community Space, SF, CA
WHISPERS: 1, Gallery on the Rim, SF, CA
WHISPERS: 2, Soundscape Gallery, Santa Rosa, CA
1995 UNCENSORED, SOMAR Gallery, SF, CA
(Art) Word (Art), Trojanowski Gallery, SF, CA
Pride Freedom and Responsibility, Fetterly Playhouse for the Arts, Vallejo, CA
1993 Points of Dark, Puck Gallery, NY, NY
1992 Women on Earth, Granary Books Gallery, NY, NY
1990 24th Annual Juried Art Show, Kiehle Visual Arts Center, St. Cloud, MN
1990 The Other Foot in the Door Show, The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, MN
SELECTED FEATURE ARTICLES
San Jose Mercury News, Village Voice, Elle Magazine, Harper’s Bazaar, Utne Reader, Chicago Reader, London Times, Out Magazine, The Advocate, Time Out New York, Dallas Morning News, Philadelphia Enquirer, People Weekly, San Francisco Chronicle, LA Times, Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, Spin, USA Today, Sacramento Bee, Off Our Backs, Curve, Washington Post, Girlfriends Magazine, Westword, The Onion, The Washington City Paper, The Progressive, GayWired
SELECTED TELEVISION
20/20 : ABC – Dateline : NBC – TODAY : NBC - Good Morning America : ABC – World News Tonight : ABC - In the Life : PBS TV – The Leeza Show : NBC - Northwest Afternoon : Seattle – WB20 : San Jose – First Cut : NBC – Sex TV : Canada
SELECTED PUBLIC SPEAKING
NGO Forum at the Fourth World Conference on Women: Beijing , China
50th Anniversary of the United Nations: New York, New York
Georgetown University - UC Santa Barbara - USC - Michigan State University -
UC Santa Cruz - American University - San Francisco State University - Hope College - UC Berkeley - Bates College - George Washington University - St. Olaf College - Chatham College - Hamline University - University of Pittsburgh - Washington State University - University of Massachusetts - Mankato State University of Colorado - University of North Carolina - University of Oregon - UC Berkeley
no more barbies c.2006 by dylan scholinski
DYLAN SCHOLINSKI - ARTIST STATEMENT
I paint for my survival and myself. Time and again, I have realized that without my art, I would likely be dead.
At the age of 15, primarily because I lacked signs of being a 'heterosexual female,' I was labeled 'mentally ill' and confined to a psychiatric ward. I lost over three years of my youth. I consider all of my art to be autobiographical. I tell stories about my life: what I am thinking, feeling, experiencing; creating a sort of map of living and breathing emotions. I rarely hold my breath in a painting. Unlike in real life, where the simple process of breathe, the literal proof of my own existence, poses a daily challenge. The content of my paintings deals with the experiences I had leading up to and during my years in the hospital and continues on to reflect the struggles I face being transgender, gay, human, as well as an ex-mental patient.
My purpose in my work is to encourage the sympathetic indulgence of emotions, which most are ashamed to give way to in their own lives; to try to get people to feel things and to help to reacquaint them with themselves. As much as it is personal, my art is also a social commentary: as a society, we view the emotional world as an oversimplified dichotomy, seeing emotions as either "good" or "bad." We all spend outrageous amounts of time and energy trying to rid ourselves of the "bad," and I believe that in doing this we can never truly experience the "good" and that it is only once we learn to embrace the full spectrum of emotions that we will fully experience our lives, ourselves, and each other. We often find it hard to tolerate those with full emotion because it reminds us of all we don’t feel ourselves. It holds up a mirror that we see as ugly, self-indulgent, and pitiful. What we rarely admit is that it is ourselves that we see, a side that many of us have fought very hard to leave behind. In my work I am attempting to be this mirror by showing myself. It is my hope that once you get in touch with these emotions in yourself that then you may identify them in others and as a result we will have better understanding, compassion, and tolerance of each other and all of our differences.
I don't think in terms of gay/straight, male/female; who is more over this way or that way. I believe that if we just came to terms that we are all both, it wouldn't matter, and we would begin to see ourselves in everyone. I have painted most of my life, but it is only in the last 10 years that I have realized my place as an artist. I have been to school, read books, looked at art; and just like when I was 13 looking for myself in magazines, I have found it hard to see myself here. Where is the individual's passion, life, and emotion? Where is the truth in painting today? If it is true that art saves lives, as it has mine, then the truth must be shown; and my individual goal is to be as honest as I can be.
