Practice of Pleasure

Joanna Frueh (1948-2020) was a performance artist, writer, scholar, and teacher. For more than twenty-five years, she performed one-woman shows throughout the United States and abroad. She was Professor of the Practice of Art at the University of Arizona and Professor of Art History Emerita at the University of Nevada, Reno. Her authored works include Swooning Beauty: A Memoir of Pleasure; Monster/Beauty: Building the Body of Love; Erotic Faculties; and Hannah Wilke: A Retrospective.

• Editorial Introduction: A Correspondence with Critical Intimacy – Marsha MeskimmonIllustrationsEditorial NoteFiguresINTRODUCTIONPART ONE: PRACTICES OF BODY AND MINDI ResponsivenessThe Performer as a Work in ProgressPresentnessThe Honesty of a “Provocateur” and an “Iconoclast”Perceptions from a Discerning BodyLovestruck Play and Lovestruck UnionsBeing AphroditeBeauty, Economy, and NecessityDress/HabitsPsychoanalysis and PsychotherapyYoga (with Some Words about Bodybuilding)Everyday LifeA Time Defined by HoneyII ReadingHow I Used to ReadHow I Read NowA Very Select Bibliography from 2004–2010 with Some CommentsIII Theory: In Behalf of MusesWhy I Love the BoysTwo Pearls and Many KissesBless You, Boys, I Wish You WellIV Conversation: SalonsAssumptionsBe Perfect Be Perfect Be Perfect With MeThe Ultimate Tenderness of ResurrectionThe Efficiency of PeaceNot Driven AnymoreThe Exceptional PersonWild Sacred SpaceDreaming the World into BeingPART TWO: THE RESULTS OF PLEASUREV PerformingPerforming and Re-Performing: Debuts and TransformationsReadings and PerformancesAudio and Video PiecesPhotographyThe Activity and Experience of Performing, from Seductiveness to Comedy and Specialness to SerenityVI Performance Texts, 2005–2010A Flowering of Vision 2005Maiden Elder 2006The Sphinx Unwinds Her Own Sweet Self 2007Goddess of Roses 2007Sexual Advances 2009The Dark Lord and His Wily Mistress 2009I AM Desire 2010