Kay Turner is an artist and scholar working across disciplines including performance, writing, music, exhibition curation, and public and academic folklore. She is noted for her feminist writings and performances on subjects such as women’s home altars, fairy tale witches, and historical goddess figures. She co-founded “Girls in the Nose,” a lesbian feminist rock punk band that anticipated riot grrl.
Personal life Turner was born in 1948 in Detroit, Michigan and currently lives between Brooklyn, New York and Austin, Texas. Her spouse is Mary Sanger of Austin, TX.
Career
Academic/public folklore work Kay Turner received her B.A. (with honors) in Literature and Philosophy from Douglass College of Rutgers University in 1971. In 1979/1990, she earned her MA/PhD, respectively, in folklore and anthropology from the University of Texas at Austin. Her dissertation project, "Mexican American Women's Home Altars: The Art of Relationship," was the first of its kind to give serious study to home altars and vernacular altars as an aesthetic form. The subsequent book project, Beautiful Necessity: The Art and Meaning of Women's Altars (1999), is the most widely read of all of her publications, which also include books on the pop star Madonna, lesbian love letters, Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Tolkas, and on Grimms' fairy tales queerly revealed. Her research focuses on women’s studies, queer studies, and folk and contemporary art. In particular, she introduced queer theory to fairy tale scholarship with Transgressive Tales: Queering the Grimms, edited with Pauline Greenhill (2012).
Her work in folklore and performance evolved from two foundational art and performance projects of the early 1970s: Lady-Unique-Inclination-of-the Night, a feminist spirituality collective and art journal she founded in 1975 and The Oral Tradition, a lesbian music and comedy group she founded in 1972. For much of her career Turner has experimented with combining folklore scholarship and queer performance in innovative ways.
Before earning her PhD, Turner worked as the interim director of the Folk Arts Collections at the San Antonio Museum of Art from 1982 to 1984. In 1984, Kay Turner, Pat Jasper, and Betsy Peterson founded the non-profit folk arts organization Texas Folklife Resources. Turner continued on as the associate director of Texas Folklife Resources until 1991. Turner went on to work as director of the Brooklyn Arts Council's Folk Arts Program from 2000 to 2014. In 2011, she joined the board of the New York Folklore Society. Turner has published articles in journals such as Journal of American Folklore and Western Folklore."JSTOR Search Results: Search Results - Kay Turner", Retrieved 12 November 2017. As a public folklorist, Turner has researched, organized, and produced public programs, museum exhibitions, and folk music festivals. Turner served as president of the American Folklore Society from 2015 to 2018. She is also the founder and chief instigator (1989–2016) of “The Croning,” a ritual celebration of women folklorists over 50 years old held every three years at the American Folklore Society Annual Meeting.
In 2002, she became an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Performance Studies at Tisch School of the Arts and the Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality at New York University.
From 2000 to 2014 Turner was director of Folk Arts at the Brooklyn Arts Council (BAC). Turner has initiated a number of field research projects resulting in concert performances and exhibitions such as Praise in the Park: Musical Expressions of Faith; Local Eyes: Folk Photographers in Brooklyn; Williamsburg Bridge 100th Anniversary Celebration; Folk Feet: Celebrating Traditional Dance in Brooklyn; Here Was New York: Twin Towers in Memorial Images; Brooklyn Maqam: Arab Music Festival; Black Brooklyn Renaissance 1960–2010; Harborlore; Half the Sky: Brooklyn Women in Traditional Performances; Once Upon a Time in Brooklyn; and The Sweetest Song: Brooklyn Traditional Singers and Their Songs.
Turner has been the curator of various museum and gallery exhibitions including Art Among Us/Arte Entre Nosotros: Mexican American Folk Art of San Antonio, (with Pat Jasper), San Antonio Museum of Art (1986); The Art of Asking: Home Altars and Yard Shrines in the Texas-Mexican Community, Institute of Texan Cultures (1988); Local Eyes: Folk Photography in Brooklyn, Five Myles Gallery (2002); Homo Home: Queer Objects for Gay Living, Cinders Gallery, Williamsburg, Brooklyn (2006); and Here Was New York: Twin Towers in Vernacular Memorial Images, a multi-gallery exhibition of 350 photos, Brooklyn, New York.
Turner, who was president of the American Folklore Society from 2015 to 2018, has said "To be a folklorist is to be entrusted with a diverse body of critical cultural knowledge, art, and practice and to be just ornery enough to believe the world is better off if we share it out in teaching, researching, writing, consulting, public programming, advocating, archiving, and engaging with each other as members of our Society."
Awards and honors Turner was awarded with a Research Grant in Women's Studies and the Charlotte Newcombe Dissertation Fellowship by Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation in 1982. She received the Elli Köngäs-Maranda Prize in 2000. The Elli Köngäs-Maranda Prize is given to folklorists who create "superior work on women’s traditional, vernacular, or local culture and/or feminist theory and folklore." In 2013, Turner was awarded the Benjamin A. Botkin Prize. The prize honors the recipient for outstanding lifetime achievement in public folklore from the American Folklore Society."Benjamin A. Botkin Prize", Retrieved 12 November 2017. Also in 2013, Turner was inducted as a Fellow of the American Folklore Society and awarded by proclamation of the Brooklyn Borough President for her outstanding cultural service."Fellows of the American Folklore Society", Retrieved 12 November 2017. She has been the recipient of public grants and foundation support for research and performance curation/presentation from (selected): National Endowment for the Arts; New York State Council on the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, New York Council on the Humanities, Mertz Gilmore Foundation, New York Community Trust, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Emma A. Sheafer Family Trust, American Express, MetLife, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).
Performance works
Performances (1972–1977) The Oral Tradition, New Brunswick, NJ. Lesbian feminist performance group founded by Turner; Motown and Beach Boys hits re-imagined as gay girl enticements. Performances from NYC to Boston to Philadelphia and D.C. (1975–1977) Feminist Rituals as Reclamation and Revolution, New Brunswick, NJ. Research-based inhabitations of various goddess figures performed at early Feminist Art and Spirituality Conferences in New York, Boston, New Jersey. (1979) Broken Mirror: Look as You Leap. Austin, TX. Women’s Performance and Sculpture Festival at Laguna Gloria Art Museum. (1993) Yoko Ono Day: Grapefruit Redux, Noon-Midnight Marathon Re-Performance of Yoko Ono's "Grapefruit". Austin, TX. Conceived and produced by Turner as a lesbian adjustment of the original. (2008) Extraordinary Rendition, Hamilton College, Clinton, NY. One-on-one durational performance transforming the politics of “enhanced interrogation” techniques into song rendition and private secret sharing. (2009) Creating Queer Genealogies: The Spinster Aunt Project, Denniston Hill Residency Program, Glen Wild, NY (and other sites). Oral history project with artists traces their lesbian lineage from a spinster aunt, then asks them to create an expressive family tree drawing with this relative at the center. (2011–2016) When Gertrude (Stein) Met Susan (Sontag): A Literary Love Fest (2011- 2016); theatrical performances in New York, NY; San Francisco, CA; Austin, TX. (1994 and 2019). Lesbopalooza: Lesbian Performance Extravaganza (celebrating the 25th and 50th anniversaries of the Stonewall Uprising, NYC). (2020) Persephone Returns/Persephone’s Revenge, multi-media, immersive performance and workshop. Daniels Faculty Gallery, University of Toronto. Rescheduled due to Coronavirus pandemic. (2012-ongoing) What a Witch. Performance and book project exploring the witch figure in folklore, history and performance. Performances (selected): (2012) “What a Witch: Unstitching the Witch in Grimms’ Tales,” A.I.R. Gallery, Brooklyn, NY; (2014) “The Black Kiss” (with artist Mary Beth Edelson), Le Quartier Contemporary Art Center, Quimper, France; (2015) “What a Witch: Recognition.” Five Myles Gallery, Brooklyn, NY. (2016) “What a Witch: Evidence." Soho20 Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, with Kate Conroy. (2017)“Before and After: What the Witch’s Nose Knows that Andy Warhol’s Nose Can Never Know,” A.I.R. Gallery, Brooklyn, NY; (2017) “Hansel and Gretel Queered (Devouring),” OUTsider: Queer Arts Festival, Austin, TX; (2018) “Night Hags: Visitation” Parsons School of Design, The New School, NY, NY; (2018) ”Muses of Malta: Witch, Goddess, Madonna,” Fragmenta Contemporary Arts, Valletta, Malta; (2016-ongoing) “Spurning Fertility/ Smashing Tchotchkes,” Abrons Art Center, NY; University of Winnipeg, Manitoba; Austin, TX; (2019) “As the crow flies…”Kaaterskill Gallery, Catskill Mountain Foundation. (2020) Persephone’s Return/Persephone’s Revenge, multi-media, immersive performance and workshop. Daniels Faculty Gallery, University of Toronto. Rescheduled due to Coronavirus pandemic. (2024) The Double Sun with Elizabeth Insogna at Bill Arning Exhibitions. (2024) A Ritual of Recognition and Initiatory Rites at Tappeto Volante Gallery with Elizabeth Insogna. (2024) A Ritual for Exquisite Traces with Elizabeth Insogna at Princeton Day School's Anne Reid '72 Gallery.
Music (selected)
“The Oral Tradition.” Aka “Risk-Kay and the Oral Tradition” (with Nancy Dean, Joanna Labow, and Paula Schorr). (1985–1996, currently revived and ongoing) “Girls in the Nose,” band. Co-founded in 1985 with Gretchen Phillips and Betsy Peterson. (2013-ongoing) “Otherwise: Queer Scholarship into Song” band with Viva DeConcini and Mary Feaster. (2023–ongoing) "Kay Turn Her and the Pages" band with Kay Turner (vocals), Viva DeConcini (guitar), and Mary Feaster (bass). Lesbian feminist songbook band of songs written or co-written by Kay Turner.
Public folklore research and performance curation Selected public folklore performance projects conceived, curated and presented in collaboration with Brooklyn traditional artists, Brooklyn Arts Council, Brooklyn, NY:
(2003) Williamsburg Bridge 100th Anniversary: Celebrating the People’s Bridge; (2004–2010) Folk Feet: Celebrating Traditional Dance in Brooklyn; (2008) Days of the Dead in Brooklyn: Diverse Traditions of Mourning and Remembrance; (2008) Brooklyn Maqam: Arab Music Festival; (2009–2011) Black Brooklyn Renaissance 1960–2010; (2011) Once Upon a Time in Brooklyn: Traditional Storytellers and Their Tales; (2012) Half the Sky: Brooklyn Women in Traditional Performance; (2013) The Sweetest Song: Brooklyn Traditional Singers and Their Songs; (2004–2011) September 11 Remembered, (2004–2011.) Annual art and performance project for New Yorkers who survived the day culminating in the multi-media “Rethinking Memorial: Ephemeral Gestures for September 11th,” September 10, 2011.
Talks and lectures (selected, 2003-2020) (2003) "The Williamsburg Bridge: Celebrating the People's Bridge." Keynote Address, 100th Anniversary Celebration for the Williamsburg Bridge, New York City. (2004) "Thirty Years Later: The Continuing Challenge and Appeal of Interpreting Traditional Home Altars. " Keynote Speaker. Louisiana Folklore Society. Baton Rouge, LA. (2004) "Rethinking Women's Altar Traditions." Folklore Department, University of Pennsylvania.