Mary Beth Volker

00 49 157 8853 3920

Yoga Instructor, Personal Trainer, Videographer, Singer-Songwriter

Pannierstrasse 13, Berlin 10967, Deutschland

mbvnow@googlemail.com

Mission Statement:

I was born in California in 1979, and have been an artist and comedian ever since. I left California in 1997, and have been traveling the world making crazy art projects ever since. I have found my new home in Berlin, and currently my performance work is taking center stage. In all of my artwork I am interested mostly in removing the division between fine and folk art, trashing this idea of "high and low" or camp vs. conceptualism, because the construction of the critic restricts creativity in the artist and even the possibility of full, self directed enjoyment for the viewer. Although my first aim is purely aesthetic: to create beauty and to make people laugh, in truth, all my work needs to be both philosophical and completely silly,  smart but ridiculous, to balance on the edge of self reflection and self exposure and confident playful unselfconsciousness.

In the past I have used a lot of trash as art materials as a way of re-using it, and also as a statement on the state of the environment and my wish to protect it. In my visual artwork I portray people and landscapes, because the earth and its peoples are the most beautiful subjects to me. Similarly, after transitioning to video, I am drawn to working with non professional performers, and all of the work has a documentarian aspect to it, recording the queer scene in Berlin and the artists and queers that make this city such an amazing, vibrant community and canvas for me. The Choreography and Art Direction for the Berlinquents also embodies these ideals, working with unpretentious performers to create work that is both playful and political. I strive to make our performances and the choreography accessible to both the dancers themselves and the audiences. The idea is to watch the show and feel inspired to dance! Not to attempt to  impress the audience, to make them think "wow, I could never do that.", but to inspire them to move their own bodies for fitness and fun.  Musically, I have finally found my voice, and  after a lifetime of singing I am composing for myself and accompanying myself on guitar. I love singing so much, and hope that the joyful  quality I strive for in all mediums comes across in my songs. Please listen to my record, the 13 Bitches who Busted my Balls. It was well received on my world tour 2010.

I am serious when I say that.

Resume in German

Professional Experience:

• 2011-Present Completed Certified Yoga Teacher Training at Yandara, in Baja Sur, began teaching classes and workshops and working with personal clients
• 2010-Released my first album, "The 13 Bitches who Busted my Balls", autobiographical conceptual comedy. A world tour followed with dates in the U.S.A., Canada, Australia, Thailand, Cambodia and Germany
• 2010-Videographer and Editor for The Medium, at The English Theater Berlin for the Berlin International Opera Company
• 2009-Director, Videography and Editing, Ten Tiny Dances, a short film of ten solos performed around the city by ten different dancers on a small stage. Each dancer created her own movement and chose the music and location
• 2009-Videographer for La Boheme, Nuekoelln Opern
• 2008-2010 - Songwriter, guitarst and singer for Awesomeness in Disguise, my two piece band
• May 2008 - Director and  live VJ performance of self generated video for "missTcommunication", Two short oprettas presented by The Long Song,  in The English Theater, Montreal, Quebec
• 2007-2009 - Teacher, hip hop dance for adults, Hundred-Sided Die artist collective montreal, quebec, including creating choreography and rehearsing dancers for performance at Pride Parade, the Oslo Queer festival, and La Sala Rosa, Montreal, Quebec
• 2005-2006 - Teacher, Hip hop dance, SUNI afterschool program, Portland, Oregon. Taught weekly hip hop dance lessons, created age appropriate choreography and led rehearsals for four yearly recitals
• 2002-2006 - City Fusion, an arist collective that arranged and threw exhibition events twice yearly in commercial or industrial spaces 

 Selected Exhibitions:

• Studio Fusion September 2002, Aprill 2002,September 2003, May 2003, October 2004, March 2005, August 2005, April, September 2003, May 2003,October 2004, March 2005, October 2006
• Brooklyn Art Walk  Decemeber 2004, 5, 6
• Portland Open Studios 2006
• Hip Chicks Do Art, Group Show, 2005, Portland, Oregon
• Solo Show at Zimmerman Community Gallery 2006, Portland Oregon
• Live Painting Party, montreal quebec
• McGill Arts Week, Fridge Door Gallery, Montreal, Quebec
• Mile End Gallery, "What's next?" Group show, Montreal Quebec
• Hundred Sided Die Open Studio Weekend

Short Films:

• Ten Tiny Dances
• The Divine Travesty
• the fun between your legs
• i fucked your girlfriend
• you've got a friend 
• die L wert
• manners
• the divine travesty

Screenings:

• 48 Hour Nuekoelln 2010
• May 2009 VJ Exhibition
• Entzaubert 2006, 2007, Berlin, Germany
• Out Festival 2008, Los Angelos, California
• Ladyfest, 2007, 2008, Berlin, Oslo, Zagreb, Olympia, Seatlle

Awards and Grants:

• Congressional Medal of Honour for Outstanding Early Achievement in the Arts, 1995
• Scholarship to Jumpstart Art program, Oregon State University, 1996
• Eric Portman Scholarship for music and arts, Portland Community College 1998
• NIA residency in St. Croix, US Virgin Islands, 2005
• Painting residency at the Takt gallery, Berlin, 2007
• NIA dance residency, Tenerife, 2009

PUBLIC ART projects:

• Ten Tiny Tanzes, shoots of solos and one group dance performed on a tiny stage I built and pulled around the city bhind my fixie, to the locations chosen by the dancers
• "The Divine Travesty" Public Performances of dance routines and improvised dance on the streets, subways and the shops of Berlin, all caught on video
• The SUV ticketing: I passed out 5000 tickets in one evening with a team of volunteer artist and activists. We ticketed autos for gross pollution as political street art. 2005
• The Parking Garage Project: I was able to turn a multi-floor parking structure into a concert hall by inviting motorists to come, and all play one part of the Flaming Lips "Parking Garage" from their car stereos 2004
• The Shadow Project: Traces tree shadows on the street each hour to record the earth's rotation, interviewed and photographed all interested passerbys, Berkeley 1997

EDUCATION:

• 200 Hour RYT Registered Yoga Teacher, Yandara, Todos Santos, Baja Sur, Mexico
• Undergraduate study in Fine arts at Academy or Art College, San Fransisco, California
• California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland, California
• Multi-Disciplinary Studies, McGill Universtty, Montreal, Quebec