Storme Webber

{{short description|American two-spirit interdisciplinary artist}}

{{Infobox artist

| name = Storme Webber

| image = Seattle - Washington Hall reopening - Storme Webber 01 (27339228521).jpg

| caption = Webber speaks at the reopening of Washington Hall in 2016

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| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1959}}

| birth_place = Seattle, Washington, United States

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| nationality = American

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Storme Webber (born 1959) is an American two-spirit{{cite news |url=https://museumofnonvisibleart.com/interviews/storme-webber/ |work=Museum of non-visible art |title=Storme Webber |first=Brainard |last=Carey |date=November 7, 2018}} interdisciplinary artist, poet, curator, and educator based in Seattle, Washington. She is descended from Sugpiaq (Alutiiq), Black, and Choctaw people.

In 2019, she was named a Seattle Living Legacy for building global awareness of the LGBTQ+, indigenous, Two Spirit, and Black populations of Seattle through her art, poetry, performances, and multimedia exhibits.

Early life and education

Storme Webber was born in 1959 in Seattle, Washington, in Pioneer Square, formerly known as Seattle's "Skid Row".{{Cite web|url=https://fryemuseum.org/exhibition/6645/|title=Storme Webber: Casino: A Palimpsest|year=2019|website=Frye Art Museum|url-status=live|access-date=November 9, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191109220102/https://fryemuseum.org/exhibition/6645|archive-date=November 9, 2019}} Her bisexual Black Choctaw father from Texas met her Sugpiaq (Alutiiq) mother there at the Casino, one of the oldest gay bars on the West Coast.{{Cite news|url=https://www.seattleweekly.com/arts/storme-webbers-stories-of-survival/|title=Storme Webber's Stories of Survival|last=Carley|first=Christy|date=August 9, 2017|work=Seattle Weekly|access-date=November 9, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191109220048/https://www.seattleweekly.com/arts/storme-webbers-stories-of-survival/|archive-date=November 9, 2019|url-status=live}} Webber credits her Sugpiaq (Alutiiq) grandmother from Seldovia, Alaska for "starting her 'on the road of life{{'"}}.{{Cite web|url=https://www.ciri.com/shareholder-spotlight-storme-webber/|title=Shareholder Spotlight: Storme Webber|date=June 21, 2016|website=CIRI|url-status=live|access-date=November 9, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191109220047/https://www.ciri.com/shareholder-spotlight-storme-webber/|archive-date=November 9, 2019}} Webber's grandmother raised her, teaching her how to read before she went to school, and how to appreciate music.

When she was 11 years old, Webber left her family and entered the foster care system. Due to her advanced academic and creative arts skills, Webber qualified for summer program at Lakeside School. After participating in the summer program for two years, Webber received a full scholarship to attend the school full-time. Webber came out as a lesbian at 16 years of age; as a teenager she organized a social group for lesbians of color which made her mother—who had come out as lesbian at the same age—very angry because she did not want her daughter to have a hard life.{{Cite news|url=https://newsmaven.io/indiancountrytoday/archive/ancestors-know-who-we-are-two-spirit-black-indian-storme-webber-sOAa_Kq-CEyJ3t9zlm6WGw/|title=Ancestors Know Who We Are: Two Spirit Black Indian Storme Webber|last=Navoti|first=D.A.|date=June 17, 2016|work=Indian Country Today|access-date=November 9, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191109220048/https://newsmaven.io/indiancountrytoday/archive/ancestors-know-who-we-are-two-spirit-black-indian-storme-webber-sOAa_Kq-CEyJ3t9zlm6WGw/|archive-date=November 9, 2019|url-status=live}}

Webber graduated from Lakeside School in 1977, then moved to New York City to attend The New School. In 2015, she earned her MFA in Intermedia Arts from Goddard College in Plainfield, Vermont.{{Cite web|url=https://www.goddard.edu/blog/february-2017-community-news-and-events/|title=February 2017 News and Events|year=2017|website=Goddard College Community News and Events|url-status=live|access-date=November 9, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191109220047/https://www.goddard.edu/blog/february-2017-community-news-and-events/|archive-date=November 9, 2019}}

Career

Webber entered the art, poetry, and performance scene in New York City during the 1980s, where she displayed her first works in galleries in New York and San Francisco. In 1989, she published her first poetry collection Diaspora. In that same year, Webber also contributed work to Serious Pleasure, a lesbian erotica anthology published by Sheba Feminist Press in London, England.{{Cite web|url=https://archive.mith.umd.edu/womensstudies/ReferenceRoom/Publications/about-sheba-press.html|title=About Sheba Feminist Press|date=n.d.|website=Sheba Feminist Press|url-status=live|access-date=November 9, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190824125828/https://archive.mith.umd.edu/womensstudies/ReferenceRoom/Publications/about-sheba-press.html|archive-date=August 24, 2019}}

In 2007, Webber established Voices Rising: Northwest LGBTQ Artists of Color to create a safe, welcoming, nurturing community of LGBTQ artists of color in Seattle to brainstorm, create, perform, and raise awareness of marginalization and systems of oppression in the larger society.{{Cite web|url=https://www.voicesrisingseattle.org/mission-index-impact|title=Voices Rising QTPOC Artists: Mission|year=2018|website=Voices Rising QTPOC Artists|url-status=live|access-date=November 9, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191109220048/https://www.voicesrisingseattle.org/mission-index-impact|archive-date=November 9, 2019}} The community maintains an active Facebook page to promote its events and related news articles.{{cite web |url=https://www.facebook.com/voicesrisingsea/ |title=Voices Rising – Northwest LGBTQ Artists of Color |date=February 16, 2018 |website=Facebook.com |quote=Voices Rising:LGBTQ of Color Arts & Culture was founded in 2007 by Storme Webber. VR is an incubator/respository/nurturer of QPOC art. Voices Rising is fiscally sponsored by Shunpike. ... Shunpike is the 501(c)(3) non-profit agency that provides independent arts groups in Washington State with the services, resources, and opportunities they need to forge their own paths to sustainable success. |access-date=November 24, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180619151515/https://www.facebook.com/voicesrisingsea/ |archive-date=June 19, 2018 |url-status=live }}{{Primary source inline|date=November 2019}}

Webber has received recognition for her multimedia works Blues Divine (2014) and Noirish Lesbiana (2014). Blues Divine is an ancestral mix tape which combines a book of poetry with an audiobook read by Webber. Her museum exhibit Casino: A Palimpsest (2017) combines archival photographs and storytelling with an art installation to record the history of The Casino, one of the oldest gay bars on the West Coast,

as told and experienced by her family.

Webber has also produced and performed multiple solo theater works such as Buddy Rabbit, Noirish Lesbiana: A Night at the Sub Room, and Wild Takes of Renegade Halfbreed Bulldagger.{{cite web |url=https://www.wanawari.org/storme-webber.html |title=Storme Webber: Home of Good: A Black Seattle Storyquilt |publisher=Wana Wari |access-date=November 24, 2019}} These performances have earned acclaim in England, the Netherlands, and Germany.{{cite web |url=https://www.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2009/11/16/courage-is-going-from-failure-to-failure-without-losing-enthusiasm |title=Courage Is Going from Failure to Failure Without Losing Enthusiasm |first=Jen |last=Graves |date=November 16, 2009 |work=The Stranger |access-date=November 24, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191105172518/https://www.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2009/11/16/courage-is-going-from-failure-to-failure-without-losing-enthusiasm |archive-date=November 5, 2019 |url-status=live }} She has also been highlighted in documentaries including Venus Boyz, Hope in My Heart: The May Ayim Story, What's Right with Gays These Days?, (Living Two Spirit), and international performance tours.{{cite web |url=https://fryemuseum.org/calendar/event/6706/ |title=Uncollectable Treasures: Performance with Storme Webber and Ernestine Hayes |date=September 28, 2017 |publisher=Frye Art Museum |access-date=November 24, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191125073438/https://fryemuseum.org/calendar/event/6706/ |archive-date=November 25, 2019 |url-status=live }}

Webber currently teaches creative writing at the University of Washington.

Publications

Books

{{cite book | last = Webber | first = Storme | title = Diaspora | location = New York, New York | date = November 9, 1989 |oclc = 50074983}}
{{cite book | last = Webber | first = Storme | year = 2014 | title = Blues Divine | publisher = RiverShe Collective Arts | isbn = 978-0692378687 |oclc = 922935207}}

Contributions to anthologies

{{cite book | editor = Sheba Collective | year = 1989 | title = Serious Pleasure: Lesbian Erotic Stories and Poetry | location = London | publisher = Sheba Feminist Press}}
{{cite journal | journal = The Popular Front of Contemporary Poetry: Anthology | location = London | editor-first=Paul | editor-last=Beasley | date = November 9, 1992 |publisher=Apples & Snakes|oclc = 27443684 | title = Storme Webber}}
{{cite journal | journal = Black Women, Writing, and Identity: Migrations on the Subject | editor-first= Carol B. | editor-last= Davies | location = London | publisher = Routledge Press |date= November 9, 1994 |oclc = 468346305 | title = Storme Webber}}
{{cite journal | journal = Voices Rising: Celebrating 20 Years of Black Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Writing | editor-first= G. Winston | editor-last= James | year = 2007 | location = Washington, DC | publisher = Redbone Press | title = Storme Webber}}
{{cite journal | journal = Jack Straw Writers Anthology | editor-first= Donna | editor-last= Miscolta | volume = 13 |date= November 9, 2009 | publisher = Jack Straw Productions|oclc = 827624014 | title = Storme Webber}}
{{cite journal | journal = Cornbread, Fish and Collard Greens: Prayers, Poems & Affirmations for People Living with HIV/AIDS | editor-first= K. Abif | editor-last= Khafr |date= November 9, 2013 |oclc = 857850585 | location = Bloomington, IN | publisher = AuthorHouse | title = Storme Webber}}
{{cite journal | journal = Yellow Medicine Review |date= Spring 2018 | title = Storme Webber}}

Exhibits

2017: Casino: A Palimpsest

Performances

"Buddy Rabbit"
2010: "Wild Tales of a Renegade Halfbreed Bulldagger"{{Cite news|url=https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/cd-forum-presents-artists-new-work-in-2-night-series/|title=CD Forum presents artists' new work in 2-night series|date=May 13, 2010|work=The Seattle Times|access-date=November 9, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191109220046/https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/cd-forum-presents-artists-new-work-in-2-night-series/|archive-date=November 9, 2019|url-status=live}}
2014: "Noirish Lesbiana"{{Cite web|url=https://sheswithmeseattle.wordpress.com/2014/09/12/noirish-lesbiana/|title=Noirish Lesbiana [Blog post]|date=September 12, 2014|website=She's With Me: A Feminist Survival Guide to Seattle|url-status=live|access-date=November 9, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191109220047/https://sheswithmeseattle.wordpress.com/2014/09/12/noirish-lesbiana/|archive-date=November 9, 2019}}

Film appearances

Webber has appeared in the following films:{{cite web |url=http://www.stormewebber.com/about/ |title=About – Storme Webber |website=stormewebber.com |access-date=November 24, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191125073436/http://www.stormewebber.com/about/ |archive-date=November 25, 2019 |url-status=usurped }}

1997: Hope in My Heart: The May Ayim Story{{cite web |url=https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/12357133 |title=Hoffnung im Herz = Hope in my heart: müdilche Posies May Ayim |access-date=November 24, 2019}}
2001: Black Russians (narration){{cite book |title=Black Russians |oclc=700421671 }}
2002: Venus Boyz
2009: What's Right with Gays These Days?
2009: Living Two Spirit

Awards and recognition

2009: Jack Straw Foundation Writer{{Cite web|url=http://www.jackstraw.org/programs/writers/WritersForum/09/index.html|title=The Jack Straw Writers Program|year=2009|publisher=Jack Straw Cultural Foundation|url-status=live|access-date=November 9, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171206063554/http://www.jackstraw.org/programs/writers/WritersForum/09/index.html|archive-date=December 6, 2017}}
2012: Patricia Van Kirk Scholarship, Pride Foundation{{Cite web|url=https://pridefoundation.org/2012/06/degrees-pride-foundation/|title=Six Degrees of Pride Foundation|last=McClain|first=Tiffany|date=June 5, 2012|publisher=Pride Foundation|url-status=live|access-date=November 9, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191109220047/https://pridefoundation.org/2012/06/degrees-pride-foundation/|archive-date=November 9, 2019}}
2015: James W. Ray Venture Project Literary Award{{Cite web|url=https://artisttrust.org/awards/james-w-ray-venture-project-awards/?award_year=2015|title=James W. Ray Venture Project Awards|year=2015|website=Artist Trust|access-date=November 9, 2019}}
2017: Raynier Institute & Foundation, Frye Art Museum Grant{{Cite web|url=https://fryemuseum.org/images/docs/2017_Annual_Report_Final_181210_Web.pdf|title=Storme Webber: Casino: A Palimpsest|year=2017|website=2017 Annual Report Frye Art Museum|url-status=live|access-date=November 9, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191109235057/https://fryemuseum.org/images/docs/2017_Annual_Report_Final_181210_Web.pdf|archive-date=November 9, 2019}}
2017: City Artists Funding Program: Seattle Office of Arts and Culture
2019: Named "Seattle Living Legacy" by Seattle Civic Poet Anastacia-Renee{{Cite web|url=https://artbeat.seattle.gov/2019/05/24/civic-poet-honors-our-literary-living-legacies/|title=Civic Poet honors our Seattle Living Legacies [Blog post]|last=Lindsay|first=Erika|date=May 24, 2019|website=Art Beat Blog (Office of Arts & Culture)|url-status=live|access-date=November 9, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191109220047/https://artbeat.seattle.gov/2019/05/24/civic-poet-honors-our-literary-living-legacies/|archive-date=November 9, 2019}}