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Ride Like A Girl: Loud And Proud With Carytown Bicycle Co.

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When women cyclists struggled to find gear without making special orders, the women behind Carytown Bicycle Co. took the situation into their hands — and made their own.

When Emma Troy, a mechanic at Carytown Bicycle Co., first started going on group rides, she felt like she had to be someone she wasn’t in order to fit in.

“For the longest time, there were not a lot of women to ride with,” Troy said, “In order to fit in with the guys and ride with them, I had to not ride like a girl. I had to bro up.”

Troy constantly made jokes at her own expense, and at the expense of women, because she felt like that was what she had to do to fit in with the men she rode with. Once she met other women who cycled, she realized she was going against what she had long stood for.

“I was like, ‘Whoa, I have been embracing toxic masculinity,’” Troy said, “and have been against what I stand for as a woman athlete. You don’t have to put down other women to be a cyclist. There is a space for us here in this industry — we just have to be loud about it and be proud about it. There’s a kit now that says it.”

The kit, designed by Troy and her fellow Carytown Bicycle Co. mechanic Erin Shahan, is a set of gear made specifically for women cyclists called Ride Like A Girl. The Ride Like A Girl custom kit will come in two colors, and includes a jersey and cycling bibs with the Ride Like A Girl logo on it.

The idea for the kit came from a couple who were regular customers at the store. One of them was getting more serious into triathlons, and needed better athletic equipment.

Photo: Emma Troy and Erin Shahan of Carytown Bicycle Co, by Julia Raimondi

“She was the kind of customer you had to convince that she was worth the equipment she needs,” Shahan said. “A lot of women feel like they aren’t worth it since they aren’t professional athletes.”

Around a year and a half after Shahan started business with the couple, one of them told Shahan he saw a pair of Sailor Jerry socks that had “Fight Like A Girl” written on them, and suggested a similar design might make a cool t-shirt. They changed the phrase to “Ride Like A Girl,” and the doodling and brainstorming with Troy began.

“I came up with the doodle and it’s been tag-teamed with Erin,” Troy said. “We designed it, and Specialized [a popular bicycle clothing company] has a custom design vault, and they do mountain bike jerseys.”

This wasn’t Troy’s first time designing a mountain bike jersey. At Virginia Commonwealth University, Troy designed a mountain bike jersey for her senior thesis in graphic design.

After a draft for the design was created, Shahan sent it to group she rode with to gauge whether they were interested. They were. 

A lot of cycling shops don’t stock many women’s wear options. The apparel they do stock, Shahan said, tends to be cheap, or only includes one or two high-end items. If a customer wants something else, the typical response from most stores is that it has to be special ordered. As a result, many female customers have complained about not owning any women’s jerseys.

It’s a complaint Shahan knows well herself. “Every other jersey I have is a men’s jersey,” Shahan said. “It wasn’t just the offering of this custom kit we were able to push for — it was to be able to offer a range of products for women to shop.”

The kit was designed by Troy and Shahan intentionally without any input from male employees. “It was just us two — we wanted to leave the men out and do it ourselves,” said Shahan. She wanted to pursue it on her own time because she enjoyed working on it, and she didn’t care what male employees thought of their design project.

A couple of co-workers raised questions about why mechanics designed the project, rather than their brand marketing specialist, Shahan said, but another male employee quickly explained it to them.

“He told him, ‘It’s because he’s not a woman,’” Shahan said. “It made me feel good, because I didn’t have to say it. They’re picking up what we’re putting down.”

Image: Ride Like A Girl Gear, Carytown Bicycle Co.

Shahan and Troy also feel that awareness of women in cycling is rising in the industry in general — not just at their store. Bell Joy and Trek have been increasingly promoting female cyclists, and Specialized has been designing more women’s gear.

“The [cycling] industry is starting to realize that women have always been there,” Shahan said. “We are a viable market.”

The Ride Like A Girl kit will be ready by the end of November, in time for the holiday season. In the meantime, Shahan and Troy will keep helping diversify Carytown Bicycle Co. with their monthly women’s takeover of the Short Pump location.

During the takeover, only female employees staff the store for the day. This started after Shahan realized she missed working with other women.

“Emma and I were the only two women on staff for a while,” Shahan said. “Then we had a nice pop of female part-time staff that were hired on. It was nice to call other shops and talk to other women, and it was nice to work together.”

At a staff meeting, Shahan made a joking request that all the female employees from the different store locations get an opportunity to work together. Afterwards, one of the partners who owns the store texted her and told her they wanted to actually make it happen. Shahan then collaborated with Troy and the scheduling staff, and got the women’s takeover started.

Both Shahan and Troy enjoy the women’s takeover days because they feel more like they’re working with a team, rather than working by themselves alongside others doing the same. The women’s takeover has become a safe space, where Carytown Bicycle Co’s female employees can talk candidly about personal aspects of themselves — such as their menstrual cycle — without feeling uncomfortably aware of being the only woman in the shop.

“When the entire staff is female, customers notice it, and are willing to point it out,” Shahan said. “Not maliciously; no one has been demeaning about it. Women definitely notice it — they don’t always say something, but there’s definitely a little bit of relief that comes off a lot of women to see an entirely female staff.”

The women’s takeover takes place on the last Sunday of every month at Carytown Bicycle Co’s GreenGate Shopping Center location. Pre-order options for gear from the Ride Like A Girl kit can be found on Carytown Bicycle Co.’s website. 

Top Photo: Emma Troy and Erin Shahan of Carytown Bicycle Co, by Julia Raimondi

Reports to National Sexual Assault Hotline Jump 147 Percent

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Yesterday’s testimony by Professor Christine Blasey Ford about being sexually assaulted by Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh was a testimony to the bravery and courage of survivors everywhere. A sympathetic, articulate, and well spoken individual, Ford highlighted the deep trauma and pain that victims of sexual assault bear everyday.

Alternately, Kavanaugh and the Republican men on the Senate Judiciary Committee demonstrated a complete lack of empathy for women who have experienced sexual assault. And according to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN), there are 321,500 victims of rape and sexual assault in the US each year – one every 98 seconds.

Despite the cold reception she received, one of the unintended consequences of Ford’s testimony yesterday was the empowerment of women to come forward with their stories and reports of sexual assault. As millions of women listened to Ford detail her experiences, then listened to Kavanaugh and the all male Republican squad gnash their teeth, wail, and defend allegations of sexual assault, women started calling the National Sexual Assault Hotline in record numbers to detail their own experiences.

Time Magazine has reported that the hotline saw a 147 percent increase in calls yesterday, “compared to a normal workday.” The obvious correlation? The testimony of Ford. RAINN asserts that when sexual assault is in the news-cycle, there is always a concomitant spike in reports. However, yesterday’s numbers exist outside of anything which might be deemed normative; more so, given the fierce defense of Kavanaugh that took place on the Senate floor.

There are now three allegations of sexual assault and misconduct against Kavanaugh, the last being alleged by Julie Swetnick, who claims that the judge and his friends would get women drunk so they could be “gang raped.” The Senate Judicial Committee has announced that it will vote today on the fate of Kavanaugh, in what has been one of the most politically outrageous episodes of our hyper-partisan times.

*RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Hotline can be reached at: 800.656.HOPE (4673)

 

Pretty Powerful: The History Of Richmond Women In Fashion

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Like the garments they’ve made and worn, the relationship between women and fashion is deeply interwoven with the history of Richmond. A new exhibit at The Valentine Museum, “Pretty Powerful: Fashion and Virginia Women,” explores the individual stories of these designers and the women who wore their clothing.

The exhibition contains garments from the 19th century to the current day. Speaking to Kristen Stewart, curator of the exhibit, RVA Magazine got a behind the scenes look at some of the fashions worn in Richmond through the years and how women have shaped and evolved that industry.

Courtesy Jay Paul/Richmond magazine

“In Richmond and elsewhere, milliners and dressmakers were one of the first woman to serve as independent business owners and entrepreneurs,” Stewart said. She learned this from reviewing archival copies of the Richmond Times-Dispatch and the Richmond Inquirer and reading the classifieds.

Stewart said the women used the language of entrepreneurship in their ads, presenting themselves as experts, rather than in the “subservient language that we often see with people presenting themselves as a service provider. They’re making themselves the sought after quantity.”

One of the women featured in the exhibit, Sarah Sue, was a prominent Richmond milliner, who created some of the most vibrant and creative hats from silk, straw, flowers, lace, and ribbon inspired by her trips abroad. Sue worked for the largest department store in the south, Miller & Rhoads, from the early 1930s until her retirement in 1973. Stewart described her as a world traveler, adding that she would “justify that travel as inspiration and pull her themes from her experiences.”

Courtesy Jay Paul/Richmond magazine

Among the exhibits is Sue’s hat collection, “The American West: Land of Enchantment”, released in the fall of 1970. The hats in this collection capitalized on a growing interest in world fashion, bringing new elements to American hat design.

The interest in world fashion turned Richmond into a melting pot of various influences from far away and close to home. Contemporary designer Carter Johnston, who launched Grove Avenue women’s clothing boutique CCH Collection in 2012 with her sister Alston Daigh, took her inspiration from the women closest to her.

Stewart said that Johnston’s pieces “were inspired by the style [of her] family members,” adding, “CCH Collection was actually named after her grandmother Catherine Claybourne Hall.”

In comparison, designer Ottie Windmueller took inspiration from far off lands and shared that love of travel with future generations of designers. Windmueller served as chairwoman of VCU’s department of Fashion Illustration and Costume design, now The Department of Fashion Design and Merchandising, from 1965 to 1976. Stewart said, “Her main innovation was the practice of traveling with design students, taking them to Europe and New York for inspiration. She’d also bring in talent from those places to come in and speak to students,” something that was highly unusual but now is standard practice. Windmueller was a world traveler and a refugee from Germany during World War II, something that Stewart thought inspired her unusual approach as a professor.

Western interest in foreign designs also benefited foreign designer, Stewart said, pointing to Hanae Mori. Stewart described her as “one of the earliest Japanese designers to work in the Persian tradition selling to a western market.” In 1965, Mori presented her first collection in New York titled ”East meets West”; in 1975, she showed her collection in Paris.

In many circumstances, women’s skills transcended their race and social status. Franny Criss was one of these success stories, according to Stewart. “Franny Criss was an African American dressmaker who grew up in Richmond. She started as a seamstress who traveled home to home, as many did,” Stewart said, before she became successful enough to open a business on Leigh St.

Criss’s fame grew quickly, and she worked with high-end clients white and black. Stewart ascribed her success to the wealth she built in Richmond, which even let her purchase a townhouse in Harlem near Madam C.J. Walker, the first millionairesses in America.

Courtesy Jay Paul/Richmond magazine

Throughout the whole exhibit, pieces showcasing the journey and achievements of Richmond fashion designers and wearers are on display. One garment in particular, an Anne Klein skirt suit, speaks to the contemporary age of female leaders and entrepreneurs. Stewart said it was on short-term loan from Dress for Success Central Virginia, a program that helps local women with professional clothing to improve their position. After the show, it will be returned to the nonprofit for the women they help, Stewart said. “We are very excited to have a physical representation of that mission and we feel that that mission fits the narrative of the show very well,” she added.

The design and organization of the show are remarkable in showcasing significant garments from the past and present. It is easy to get lost in the fantasy of how these innovative women worked to make the fashion scene both in Richmond and internationally what it is today. The work of Sarah Sue, Ottie Windmueller, Franny Criss, and many others can be seen at the “Pretty Powerful: Fashion and Virginia Women” exhibit now until it closes on January 27th, 2019.

Cover image courtesy Fabric Department in St. Luke’s Emporium, 1905 Graphic reproduction, V.88.20.22, Independent Order of St. Luke Collection.

Other photos courtesy Jay Paul/Richmond magazine.

Intersectional Wonder Women Art Show Aims to Inspire & Empower Tonight at The HofGarden

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This evening, celebrate women with an art show at The HofGarden, a benefit event for Safe Harbor, a Henrico County-based nonprofit that serves survivors of human trafficking and sexual assault. The show centers around the theme of Intersectional Wonder Women, creating a space that stresses inclusivity and the diversity of experience and identity.

“When women support women, amazing shit happens,” said Sylvia Mallory, owner of Girl Gang Media and a founder of the event. “We have a beautiful show. I’m really excited to share it with Richmond.”

Ashley Loth – Untitled – $300
Ashley Loth – Untitled

The project is eight months in the making and began largely as a response to the 2016 election. It is a direct action for change, an effort that started small but grew into a project with an extensive team, more than 20 featured artists, and a long list of sponsors. Mallory said it’s a completely, 100 percent donated event. The community came together to put on the show without any prior funding.

“I should say it surprised me, but it really didn’t. Everybody wanted to pitch in any way they could,” said Mallory.

Among those who joined the project is Kortenay Gardiner, a community organizer for the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy, who has become a key team member and chairperson of the show. “It’s really important with where I work, with Safe Harbor, and even our theme, to envision a better world,” said Gardiner.

I sat down with Mallory and Gardiner on the third floor of Richmond’s all-women coworking space, The Broad. Everything there is women made, created, and conceptualized—from the light fixtures to the art, to the books on shelves. Even the music playing over the speakers features all female artists.

It’s a primer for the event to come, and though the space is modern and comfortable, with enough aesthetic appeal to be the “after” shot on a home renovation show, it’s a reminder of how few spaces exist exclusively for women.

Deja Belardo – Sanity – $300
Deja Belardo – Sanity

Mallory and Gardiner emphasize that this is not just a show to promote women, but to promote inclusive representation of all women, embracing a diversity of race, age, religion, and sexual orientation. That’s where intersectionality comes in.

“Intersectionality is an analytic framework. It tries to look at the interlocking system of power, and its impact on the most marginalized,” said Gardiner. “It’s about the challenges we share, along with the differences.”

“It’s about awareness, recognizing your privileges, and moving to action,” said Mallory. “Sometimes the best course of action is to provide space and get out of the way.”

Intersectionality has been a buzzword these last few years, and it’s a crucial step in resetting the assumptions that are often made about feminism. Feminism that is exclusively about white, cis, straight women, isn’t feminism, and the Intersectional Wonder Women art show is a testament to that. Like The Broad, like the Rihanna playing over the speakers and the passion with which Gardiner and Mallory speak about the event, it carves out a space that says ‘I hear you, I’m here. I’ve got your back.’

Mahari Chabwera – Grace Of Yemeyah

The HoF is donating their venue for the night, and each $10 ticket will go directly to Safe Harbor, while each art sale offers a 20 percent direct donation. There will be gift baskets available to win in a drawing that is comprised of almost $4,000 worth of donated goods and services from around the community.

Richmond artist Virginia Strobach donated all of her services–including the illustration of the event poster–and her art, as well. Women-matter donated “Face Behind the Mask” for the drawing, a piece valued at $2,000 by Kraft Art.

The art varies from $25 to $16,000.  “There’s a nice range, and there’s accessibility to everything. The average price of work is about $250-300,” said Mallory.

The work itself is diverse, ranging from multimedia, paintings, illustrations, ceramic work, and photography. “Every time I look at them, I fall in love with each one over, and over, and over,” said Mallory.

Jon "Sketch" Achelpohl – She Has Fight – $200
Jon “Sketch” Achelpohl – She Has Fight

A favorite of hers is Rebecca Whitson’s piece “don’t grab me by the pussy,” a mannequin donning a necklace of bloody tampons. Mallory said that’s a work she wants to spend some time with, especially because of the dialogue it creates. “It felt like I was re-traumatized all over after a self-admitted rapist was accepted and put into office.”

Rebecca Whitson – Don't Grab Me By The Pussy – $325
Rebecca Whitson – Don’t Grab Me By The Pussy

Mary Maupai, development director at Safe Harbor, agreed that show starts an important conversation.

“Each person’s story is really unique, and that’s obviously shown through the artwork that the artists are going to be exhibiting tomorrow night,” said Maupai.  “We are all phenomenal women in our own right.”

Safe Harbor plays a huge role in deepening that dialogue in the community through advocacy, education, and support.  “We provide everything from shelter, counseling, court advocacy, hospital accompaniment, children’s counseling, adult counseling, support groups, and…outreach and education in the community,” said Maupai.

Box office hit Wonder Woman dropped in 2017 as the team was voting on the theme, and while the three of us agreed that we love the movie–it’s hard to resist an island of Amazons, after all–this art show exists to further the social narrative the film introduced.

It’s not tied to any arbitrary hetero plotlines, lack of women, or racial erasure.  “The intersectional part of Wonder Women is reclaiming it,” said Mallory.

Nickolai Walko – Ophelia – $700
Nickolai Walko – Ophelia

“It’s to correct for the erasure of black women in the movie, in the media. Changing it. Centering it a little bit more around us, balance,” said Gardiner. “I want someone to see the superhero within- indestructible no matter what happens. You have the ability and the possibility to overcome.”

The show is about a community of women, a community of people. Gardiner and Mallory say they have Intersectional Wonder Women to thank for their friendship. Maupai, who has been working closely with the team to plan the show, said the same thing: she wouldn’t have met these women, formed these connections and had these conversations any other way.

“Hopefully some of those conversations will not only happen tomorrow night, but they will be carried home and will start a deeper dialogue about the way we perceive each other, how we treat each other, and honor in each other’s story and journey,” said Maupai.

The Intersectional Wonder Women Art Show takes place tonight, May 2 from 7-11 pm at The HofGarden on West Broad Street. You can buy tickets here.

Photos By: Intersectional Wonder Women Artshow

Thousands Showed in Richmond for the One Year Anniversary of the Women’s March

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An estimated two thousand people descended on Carytown in Richmond today, joining demonstrators from all over the US to mark the one year anniversary of the Women’s March; the largest single day protest in U.S. history. Last year, more than 3.5 million people protested in marches across the globe, spearheaded by the Women’s March on Washington DC. This Saturday, only a day shy of the one year anniversary, Richmond came out in droves for the Women’s March RVA, a grassroots effort created to affirm Richmond’s humanity and demonstrate a conscious resistance against hate, bigotry, and the oppression of the marginalized.

Photo by LS

“We want America to be kind again,” said Mary Leffler, an occupational therapist at Hanover Public Schools, the woman behind the RVA anniversary march’s inception. When Leffler started the Facebook group this December, she had no idea if the march would even get off the ground. But by the day of the march, the group had over three thousand members.

Given the current political climate, Richmond marchers united in their cry for social change even though different individuals came with different agendas. Yet according to Leffler, the unifying message is clear, “We’re still here and we’re not going anywhere.”

As thousands of people marched in Richmond, Roanoke, Williamsburg, and Norfolk, attention turned away from the nation’s capital, where far fewer people were expected than the year before. According to Monica Morris, a well-known community organizer and one of the three event planners, this does not indicate the death of a movement. Rather, it is the product of a shift from national organization to more local grassroots mobilizing.

Photo by AM

Morris, one of the organizers of the DC march last year, chose to march in Richmond this year instead. While the Women’s march was a catalyst for a new generation of advocates nationally, they’re now turning their attention back home and focusing on local issues.

This focus on local Virginia issues was a leading theme for the anniversary of the Women’s March. From support for the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) – an amendment first introduced in US Congress in 1923 – to the ascendency of women in Virginia politics following November’s election – and the protesting of anti-women bills in the current session of the General Assembly – Richmond women and their allies came out to Carytown to make a change that ultimately starts at home.

As the crowd marched from one end of Carytown to the other; they were joined by Governor Ralph Northam and Abigail Spanberger, the former CIA Operations Officer running for Congress in Virginia’s 7th district.  The crowd overwhelmed sidewalks and streets, drowning Carytown in cheers, noisemakers, and an eclectic mix of call-and-response chants – turning the shopping district into a wall of noise and banners.

Photo by LS

Liz Holland, a marcher decked out in her pink pussy hat and an armful of signs said that even though she was at the DC march in 2017, this year she wanted to participate locally.

“I feel like this last election showed us that what happens locally matters a great deal to prevent what happens nationally from having too huge of an impact negatively on our country,” said Holland.  “We have to fight it from the ground up. That’s the place to start.”

Another marcher, Roselle Clarke, was also in DC last year, but said she believed that the key to moving Virginia in the right direction is to keep the momentum building in Richmond. As a member of Liberal Women of Chesterfield County (LWCC), Clarke said that they help to get candidates into office. “Taking ownership for our own backyard seems to be the best approach today.”

Photo by AM

Caroline Ross, Clarke’s friend of 50 years, said they have been doing activism for as long as they’ve known each other. “It’s depressing to have to repeat some of them over again, but we also feel like there is an opportunity here for our daughters and our grandkids to understand that we can’t take things for granted,” Ross said. “Silence doesn’t work.”

A majority of the attendees were sporting signs supporting the ERA, a consistent theme throughout the march.  One group, led by Eileen Davis, a frontrunner of the organization Women-Matter, hoisted an original banner from the 1970s. The fight to pass the ERA, an amendment to the US Constitution designed to guarantee gender equality, has been a decade’s long slog. Donna Granski, another march attendee, said she has been working on passing the ERA since 1978.

Photo by AM

“That’s a long time,” said Granski. “But every year we’re getting closer to the finish line.” 

The cause has transcended generations and was on display today. One large ERA banner was supported by a long line of women, many of them young women. Each of them said they were excited to be there, especially with a turnout even bigger than expected.

Morris said that the rise of women in Virginia politics, “most decidedly came out of the march.” Last year some were motivated by comments made by male politicians, the last boost they needed before they themselves ran. “I think it’s a lot of pent-up women energy,” said Morris. It had to go somewhere.

Photo by LS

The Commonwealth has seen many changes for women over the past year. Democrats swept state-wide elections last November, cementing an all blue down ballot ticket, including the election of Governor Ralph Northam who marched in Carytown today. Before 2017, only 17 women made up the 100 seats in Virginia’s House of Delegates. But because of the progressive sweep last November, 28 women are now seated, the most in Virginia’s history. Among them is Danica Roem, the first transgender lawmaker in Virginia; Dawn Adams, the first open lesbian in the House; Elizabeth Guzman and Hala Ayala, the state’s first Latina delegates; and Kathy Tran, Virginia’s first female Asian-American delegate.

The Women’s March was an “awakening” for many women throughout Virginia, starting a conversation that continues today. “That’s what is happening in homes, in businesses, everywhere,” said Morris. “Women are finding their voice. They’re realizing they’re not alone and they feel justified in saying what is right.” 

This conversation helped to spark the #METOO movement which exposed a culture of sexual misconduct pervasive in the US. It was a product of women raising their voices, finding an avenue for expression and defiance.

At the march, Morris said that’s what she’d heard over and over again: “I thought I was the only one. I thought I was alone.”

While last year’s Richmond march brought in a crowd of around a thousand people, this event far surpassed the previous year. If  2017’s Women’s Marches were the start of a movement, then the 2018 Richmond march exists to energize a new generation of activism.

Photo by LS

“No minds are changed by this,” Morris said. “It’s the people marching who get enthusiastic, excited, who come in and become new activists.” Yet amongst the energy and enthusiasm of The Women’s March RVA was the community effort to organize such a meaningful event.

“There may be an assumption that a team of professional organizers are behind this event,” said Rachel Scott Everett, a local creative director and graphic designer. “In reality, it’s just a handful of regular Richmonders who are volunteering their time, skills and connections and looking to the community to spread the word and come together.”

No matter what happens in 2018, women in Richmond made their voices heard today. After a contentious year in national politics, Richmond women have returned home to start organizing locally to make a difference. How this will play out over the course of the next year remains to be seen, but one thing is for sure, no one will ever take the women of the Commonwealth for granted.

Photos by Landon Shroder (LS) and Allison MacEwen (AM)

Richmond artist depicts the ‘everyday woman’ with East Coast mural tour

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A blinking neon light hanging on a dingy building near South of the Border in South Carolina flashing the words “Girls, Girls, Girls!,” would conjure up some negative images for most women, but ended up being inspiration for Emily Herr’s latest project.

“It was so weird to see that, so sad, out in the middle of nowhere at South of the Border,” the RVA muralist said. “But if you don’t really have anything to do with that world, or if you don’t really think about it, and take it out of context, it’s so happy…and I just loved that.”

Since June, Herr, of Herr Suite, has been painting Richmond women all around the city in small scale murals on houses, businesses, and public spaces, in an effort to change media depictions of women as one-dimensional objects and one beauty standard.

Photo by @girlsgirlsgirlstour

Tomorrow, Herr, along with Sarah Apple of Lucky Signs RVA, will roll out in their multi-colored mobile art studio truck to embark on their “Girls! Girls! Girls!” tour to paint murals of as many real, everyday women as they can up the East Coast all the way to Burlington, Vermont.

“We have a partner who is going to let us paint the back of his thrift stop and the building next door and do the same sort of thing as the Sheppard and Broad Street one; take a bunch of images of local women and interweave it with the whole Girls! Girls! Girls! thing,” Herr said. “The goal is on the way up, we’ll be propositioning people on the way up to try to as much as we can.”

DSCF6740.jpg

Herr, a 2013 VCUarts graduate, has been painting murals for over nine years and done work for local businesses such as Sugar & Twine, Welcoming Walls, Gather on Broad, and Halcyon Vintage.

In January, she began the mission of her “Girls Girls Girls” motif with a mural of neon-colored women of all races, ages and shapes on Sheppard and Broad streets with the words “Girls Girls Girls” painted boldly across the wall. The artist’s goal is to steer away from the stereotypical depiction of a woman in a magazine, ad, or even fine art in some cases.

“There’s images of women everywhere all though advertising, that’s talked about a fair amount, ‘advertising fucks up body image’, but also art,” she said. “Fine art is very ‘oh the beauty of the female form’ and that’s an excuse for a piece of art and you don’t see that with male bodies. “

“You also don’t see that with all these other kinds of bodies, it’s not ‘oh the beauty of the female form’ if she’s 50 pounds overweight…so that’s bullshit and the art world definitely hides behind that.”

For her Sheppard and Broad mural, Herr put a call out on Facebook for pictures of everyday women that people love and want to see reflected just the way they are.

“That’s my goal is to show real actual women and everything that entails, you’re not perfectly groomed, you’re not necessarily happy, not necessarily sexy, and then also, better representation of people of different body types, different races and skin colors and also, ages and disabilities is what I would love to move this towards,” she said.

Coming from an illustration background, Herr said it was important for her, as well as other female artists, to reflect diversity in their work.

“There’s a huge push from female illustrators to make better representation of everybody in their work, like, be more conscious about who you’re drawing and when, and don’t just use your default body types and lifestyles,” she said.

With this tour, Herr has put out another call for pictures of women pushing for more diversity.

“I want you to be honest, I want you to send me a picture of somebody you know and you think is a cool person,” Herr said.

Ahead of her tour, she’s painted murals at Studio Two Three, Bon Air non-profit Girls for a Change, Campire & Co., and Endeavor Studios’ “Wet Walls” show.

Photo by @girlsgirlsgirlstour

She’s hoping to make stops specifically in D.C., New York, and Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts and make “Girls! Girls! Girls! More of a long-term project.

“I’m hoping for this to be ongoing…like I guess I imagine the tour being perpetual,” she said. “I would hope to paint murals that make people appreciate the actual humans around them a little bit more, see them in a new way, that’s what I’m working towards.”

Girls! Girls! Girls! tour kicks off tomorrow, Sat. July 15 .To submit a picture of a girl, email [email protected] or tag or direct message @herrsuite or @girlsgirlsgirlstour.