Yara Clüver, associate director of Collins Living-Learner Center, played bass guitar in a band with her friends in high school in Bloomington. Her band, The Panics, emerged during the intense punk-rock scene of the late 1970s
She fondly remembers performing with The Panics for a street dance on a blocked-off street. During the show, an audience member ripped the head off the now-defunct WQAX-FM radio’s papier-mâché duck mascot and “tore it to shreds”, Clüver said. It made the news the following day.
Clüver is one of many Indiana musicians whose stories will be told at “She Shreds: From Sister Rosetta to St. Vincent,” an exhibit opening June 6 at the McCalla School in Bloomington. The exhibit celebrates the history of women, transgender and non-binary guitarists.
“It wasn’t really about musicianship,” Clüver said. “I didn’t even really think of myself as a musician. I just thought of myself as a member of a band, and that what that band signified was sort of a group — like a community of people.”
Events and Engagement Coordinator at University Collections Emily Zarse, who curated the exhibit, said she was inspired by the She Shreds Magazine which is now She Shreds Media.
“We want to really connect the present moments and show all of the women from the history that have played and done this work,” Zarse said.
University Collections collaborated with the Jim Irsay Collection, Lilly Library, Secretly Group and Girls Rock Bloomington for this upcoming exhibit.
The exhibit will feature listening stations custom built at McCalla for visitors to listen to playlists featuring several music artists on different formats such as record players. There will also be videos and music playing in the room showing a variety of media for visitors to hear from different artists and learn about their musical background.
University Collections collaborated with Lilly Library to feature a guitar from the 1980s that belonged to Wendy O. Williams, the lead singer of punk-rock band The Plasmatics.
The exhibition called for Indiana guitarists to send in photos of their favorite guitar and explain why the guitar is special to them. There will be a feature wall showing all of the stories submitted for visitors to learn more about the guitarists and their instruments.
Granfalloon, an annual Bloomington arts and music festival, continues through the exhibit’s premiere. Zarse said she is hoping to have some programming throughout the exhibition such as a Girls Rock Bloomington concert as a special event, and it will run until the end of October 2025.
The opening reception is from 4 to 6 p.m. June 6. You can register to attend the event and learn more about the guitarists and their legacy at the reception.
