Event Will Showcase Art by Women

HUNTINGTON BEACH — “I believe women’s voices and their art have been kind of erased and ignored,” says Jill Long, who has organized a presentation of visual and performing arts by women to be held today at the Edison Community Center.

“Lavender Underground,” which will feature emerging Orange and Los Angeles county artists, begins at 4 p.m. with an exhibit and sale of visual art and crafts. A program of performance art, contemporary rock, acoustic and folk music and stand-up comedy will begin at 7:30 p.m.

Long, who works at a Costa Mesa insurance company, says she’s an “art groupie” who wants to provide women with a venue to express their creativity. She has co-produced a play in Los Angeles and staged a similar women’s event in Huntington Beach in October.

Performance artist Kelly Fitzpatrick, a UC Irvine student who presented her work last year at Scotland’s Edinburgh Festival, will perform a new 10-minute piece about political correctness, she said.

“When the media uses that term--which it constructed--it oversimplifies the concerns of oppressed peoples and categorizes complex human issues into a trend or simple statement,” Fitzpatrick said.

“Lavender Underground” begins today at 4 p.m. at Edison Community Center, 21377 Magnolia Ave., Huntington Beach. $15. (714) 540-5698.