Who's Afraid of Feminism by Karen M. Gutfreund

Copyright 2015 by the Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Caucus for Art. The book author and each artist here, retains sole copyright to their contributions to this book. Catalog designed by Karen Gutfreund, National Exhibition Director, WCA Cover Design by: Priscilla Otani

WHO’S AFRAID OF FEMINISM?

ABOUT THE WOMEN’S CAUCUS FOR ART

The Women’s Caucus for Art was founded in 1972 in connection with the College Art Association (CAA). WCA is a national member organization unique in its multidisciplinary, multicultural membership of artists, art historians, students, educators, and museum professionals. The mission of the Women’s Caucus for Art is to create community through art, education, and social activism. WCA is committed to recognizing the contribution of women in the arts; providing women with leadership opportunities and professional development; expanding networking and exhibition opportunities for women; supporting local, national and global art activism; and advocating for equity in the arts for all. As an NGO (non-governmental organization) of the United Nations, the Women’s Caucus for Art actively supports the UN Millennium Goals. WCA utilizes art as the universal language to engage artists, NGOS, and civil society on a broad range of issues such as gender equity and environmental sustainability. As a founding member of the Feminist Art Project, WCA is part of a collaborative national initiative celebrating the Feminist Art Movement and the aesthetic, intellectual and political impact of women on the visual arts, art history, and art practice, past and present. OUR MISSION: The mission of the Women’s Caucus for Art is to create community through art, education, and social activism. We are committed to:  recognizing the contributions of women in the arts  providing women with leadership opportunities and professional development  expanding networking and exhibition opportunities for women  supporting local, national, and global art activism  advocating for equity in the arts for all

For more information visit: www.nationalwca.org P. O. Box 1498, Canal Street Station, New York, NY 10013-1498 info@nationalwca.org, Tel: 212.634.0007 www.facebook.com/groups/107511953206/ twitter.com/#!/artWCA

FROM THE PRESIDENT

At a time when many young women would not outwardly say they are feminists, it is heartening to see the Women’s Caucus for Art mount an exhibition that confronts the topic of feminism today. On every front, there remain discrepancies in the value of women’s work ensuring that the women’s movement is not obsolete. Feminism cannot become an outdated idea or a bad word; it must remain in the forefront of our minds and creative works. I cringe whenever I hear people talk about post-feminism; it gives the impression that equality has been achieved and society can move on to other causes.

There may be waves and shifting focuses over time, but there will always be a divergence and conflicts that make women’s work different. Therefore, there will always be a need for feminist discourse. What better way to deal with this but through art? It is visual and sends an immediate message. It is the means that first enlightened me about the feminist movement and women’s issues.

I would like to thank all the artists who entered this show, fearless of be outed. Catherine Morris from the Sackler Center for Feminist Art who validates that need by juroring the show; AIR for hosting the exhibition and Karen Gutfreund for creating the extended exhibition program. This has allowed the WCA to provide opportunities to our membership that go beyond the annual conference time lines and provides opportunities to show work year round that is challenging and confrontational.

Brenda Oelbaum, President of the National WCA 2014-2016

FROM THE EXHIBITION DIRECTOR We are very pleased to have collaborated with the A.I.R. Gallery for this important exhibition and opportunity to exhibit the work of self-identified women artists with WHO’S AFRAID OF FEMINISM, juried by Catherine Morris, Sackler Family Curator of the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art . Thirty-six works will be showcased at A.I.R. Gallery, with an additional eighty–three works online. WCA and A.I.R. Gallery present art from cross-generational, self-identified women artists that addresses feminism with a contemporary spin. These works incite the viewer to question the current social and political landscape, and the continuing need for gender equality. The exhibiting artists, using a variety of media, elucidate where feminism has been and where it is going, and explore feminism’s political, personal and formal contexts. With a surge of interest about the place of women in the art market and art world, with a record number of discussions throughout social media channels, WHO’S AFRAID OF FEMINISM highlights what still needs to be done to influence cultural attitudes and transform stereotypes about women in the arts. The artists in the exhibition at A.I.R. are: Shonagh Adelman, Tara Booth, Amy Cannestra, Katherine Cooksey, Julie Sinclair Eakin, Sally Edelstein, Christine Giancola, Lucy Julia Hale, Coco Hall, Maiza Hixson and Lauren Ruth (The Shaft), Kristina Lenzi, Sinan Leong Revell, J. J. L'Heureux, Sarah Maple, Sandra Matthews, Brittany Prater, Carly Ries, Trix Rosen, Cecilia Rossey, Lisa Seidenberg, Gwen Shockey, Meg Stein, Rhonda M. Thomas, Nikki Thompson, Marie Tomanova, Margi Weir, and Ellen Wetmore. So who IS afraid of feminism? A better question that baffles me is why would anyone, particularly women be against feminism? My definition for feminism is the concept that women should have the same rights, power, and opportunities as men and be treated in the same way. Seems pretty reasonable to me. The images on social media of young women holding up signs with reasons of why they are not a feminist leave me scratching my head in wonder. Where do they think the “rights” they take granted came from — if not the hard work of feminist women that came before them. Just a minor point but how about the ability for a women to have a credit card in their own name — I was nine years old when that law was enacted! Taking women’s rights for granted and not doing anything about it is a dangerous slippery slope backwards. Art can be a powerful, productive force instrumental in sparking change or critical thinking. The Women’s Caucus for Art is committed to supporting local, national, and global art activism to help us to understand what is happening in our society, who we are, where we come from and where we’re going. Women have been written out of art history and are clearly underrepresented. My goal is to change that, one show at a time, focusing on ‘female only’ shows until we see an equal playing field. The mission of the WCA is to create community through art, education, and social activism. However, over the last couple of years, I am somewhat heartened and see a general, positive shift for women in the arts and getting more exposure. I'm encouraged by the dialogue and attention the subject is getting. But there still a lot of work to do and until we are on an equal playing field I am dedicated to creating these exhibitions. So a big thank you to A.I.R. Gallery, Catherine Morris, to all the participating artists and to the Women’s Caucus for Art and the individuals that help make these shows possible. And a big thank you to Helen Obermeyer Simmons and Priscilla Otani for their invaluable help with the catalog. Now — On with the show! Karen Gutfreund Curator, Exhibition Director and Artist 6

ABOUT THE JUROR

Catherine Morris, Sackler Family Curator of the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art since 2009. At the center she has curated numerous exhibitions including 'Chicago in L.A.: Judy Chicago's Early Work, 1963-74,' 'Materializing Six Years: Lucy R. Lippard and the Emergence of Conceptual Art” (co-curated with Vincent Bonin), “Twice Militant: Lorraine Hansberry’s Letters to the Ladder,” “Between the Door and the Street: A Project Initiated by Suzanne Lacy,” “Workt by Hand: Hidden Labor and Historical Quilts;” “Kath? Kollwitz: Prints from the War and Death Portfolios;” “Rachel Kneebone: Regarding Rodin;” “Newspaper Fictions: The New York Journalism of Djuna Barnes, 1913-1919;” “Matthew Buckingham: The Spirit and the Letter;” “Lorna Simpson: Gathered;” “Sam Taylor-Wood: Ghosts;” “Kiki Smith: Sojourn;” and “Healing the Wounds of War: The Brooklyn Sanitary Fair of 1864.” She was in-house curator of “Eva Hesse Spectres 1960” and “Seductive Subversion: Women Pop Artists, 1958- 1968.”

Before taking up her position at the Brooklyn Museum, Catherine was an independent curator organizing, among other projects, “Decoys, Complexes and Triggers: Women and Land Art in the 1970s” at SculptureCenter, Long Island City, “9 Evenings Reconsidered: Art, Theatre and Engineering, 1966” for the List Visual Arts Center, MIT, and “Gloria: Another Look at Feminist Art of the 1970s” and “Food” at White Columns, New York. From 2004 until 2009 she was Adjunct Curator of Contemporary Art for the Philbrook Museum, Tulsa, Oklahoma, where she curated shows of Josiah McElheny, Lucy Gunning and Cameron Martin.

FROM THE JUROR Who’s Afraid of Feminism? While feminism remains a big bad wolf in significant pockets of American culture well into its fifth decade as a transformative social and political movement, the exhibition Who’s Afraid of Feminism? celebrates its resilience. For many of us who identify as feminist, the doggedness with which a belief in gender parity is attacked and undermined in some spheres often still comes as a shock. The death, or at least the irrelevancy, of feminism is trumpeted through some form of media on a daily basis. The persistence of the fear of feminism, like the persistence of so much antagonism towards perceptions of difference, has resulted in the development of innumerable and creative methods of resistance on the part of feminism’s supporters. Some of these methods have endured since the emergence of Second Wave feminism in the 1960s; one of the most resilient in the art world being exhibitions devoted exclusively to women artists. This exhibition is part of a linage of such shows going back decades, and while the model itself has been discounted by some as a viable tool for supporting perceptible change in the art world at large, it perseveres, and like that other feminist hotbotton topic, essentialism, it resurfaces in new ways in every generation. Its noteworthy persistence has long been of interest to me as a curator. While many female artists have fought against the reductive label “woman artist” – Georgia O’Keeffe being an early and outspoken example – the complexities of describing gendered identity in relation to artistic production has taken on a new urgency and reinforces (in my opinion) the changing but important place of feminism in 2015. As we experience a profound shift in our understanding of the fluidity of gender identity, which is one of the defining features of this historical moment, feminism endures as a vital social, political and economic necessity. Artists included in Who’s Afraid of Feminism address many of the most pressing social and cultural issues of our day – the mutability of gender constructions, marriage equity, body shaming, domestic violence, and culturally specific approaches to and priorities of feminism (this is, of course, in addition to the numerous approaches to materials and formal considerations represented). On one hand, the general strategy of the (self-identified) women only show hasn’t really changed in more than forty-five years – they are a direct response to the overwhelmingly male metrics of representation in the mainstream art world. One set of consistent criticisms of the women only shows is that they are oblique and not directly corrective; they don’t challenge the status quo by getting inside of it; they don’t interrupt the conversation driven by the male artists who have almost exclusively defined the art historical cannon in a direct effort to change it. Another is that grouping artists together solely by virtue of their self-identified gender is not curating an exhibition such much as it is an arbitrary delineating of a group of artists as a sort of social exercise. The truth is I think there has often been a great deal of validity to both these positions. So why curate Who’s Afraid of Feminism, with its broadly based premise of presenting artists whose strongest commonality is a shared belief in the power of feminism? My answer comes down to a set of pragmatic choices and a respect for the historical validity of the model. I do not want to suggest the show is a “safe space,” as that concept is increasingly problematized within a current institutional culture war characterized by an overzealous use of trigger warnings and other forms of paternalistic social policing. Rather, I believe the women who want to participate in gender based exhibitions have several primary and related goals – first, to get their work shown and second, to acknowledge their place within and the significance of the support of a specific community of which they are a part. In this context, I see an exhibition like Who’s Afraid of Feminism? 8

as the forming of a collective, a cooperative enterprise undertaken by artists agreeing to prioritize a singular goal while also supporting individual ambitions. So, like feminism, gender based shows endure, understood by the artists who participate in them as offering personal opportunities to present work as well productive occasions for community building. Who’s Afraid of Feminism? acknowledges the complicated ways we position ourselves, while also simply acknowledging artists’ pragmatic desire to share their work with the world within the context of support systems such as the Women’s Caucus for Art and A.I.R. Gallery, which continue to provide significant and necessary opportunities for women artists. I would like to thank all the artists who are participating in Who’s Afraid of Feminism? In coming together to participate in this exhibition they present their individual talents within the context of a social commitment to support each other and to offering a collective voice of social consciousness within the mainstream art world.

Catherine Morris Sackler Family Curator of the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art I would like to extend my sincere thanks to Karen Gutfreund for inviting me to work on this exhibition, she has really been a collaborator on this project, helping to shape it from the beginning and certainly making it better.

The Feminist Art Project (TFAP) is an international, collaborative initiative recognizing the aesthetic, intellectual and political impact of women on the visual arts, art history and art practice, past and present. TFAP promotes diverse feminist art events, education, resources and publications through its website and online calendar, and facilitates networking and regional program development worldwide. The Feminist Art Project brings together artists, curators, scholars, authors, teachers and other art and museum professionals across cultural backgrounds, generations and widespread locations to refocus public attention on the significant achievements of women artists and the contemporary Feminist Art Movement. TFAP National Committee: Judith K. Brodsky, Judy Chicago, Kat Griefen, Leslie King-Hammond, Catherine Morris, Dena Muller, Ferris Olin, Arlene Raven (1944-2006), Maura Reilly, Susan Fisher Sterling, Anne Swartz TFAP Honorary Committee: Norma Broude, E. John Bullard, Connie Butler, Mary D. Garrard, Chrissie Iles, Arnold Lehman, Lucy R. Lippard, Margo Machida, Cindy Nemser, Linda Nochlin, Faith Ringgold, Lowery Stokes Sims, Gloria Steinem TFAP Founding Program Partners: A.I.R. Gallery, ArtTable, Brodsky Center for Innovative Editions, College Art Association, Elizabeth A. Sackler Center, Brooklyn Museum, Institute for Women and Art - Rutgers University, Maryland Institute College of Art, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Rutgers University Libraries, Through the Flower, Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Caucus for Art TFAP PROGAMS INCLUDE: TFAP On-line Calendar and Archives aims to effect permanent change by promoting and archiving exhibitions, performance, lectures, films, and other events and publications that recognize the work of women artists, feminist content in art, feminist art practice, the impact of feminism on the art world and feminist analysis in art and art history and other cultural arenas. Artists, scholars, groups and presenters may post their national and international exhibitions, publications and programs that serve this mission on the TFAP calendar. It is free of charge to post and search the calendar. TFAP preserves all calendar listings in the TFAP virtual archives and requests physical documentation from calendar participants to add to The Feminist Art Project Archives to be held in the Miriam Schapiro Archives at Rutgers University for future scholarship on feminist art and feminist art organizations. Feminist Art Resources in Education (FARE), an online resource portal providing unlimited free public access to educational materials that utilize feminist art, theory and history to empower students, youth and adults to think critically about the social issues that shape their lives. Visitors to FARE can access curricula and teachersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; guides from proven programs that can be downloaded and adapted for use in classrooms, after-school programs, community projects, home school projects and more. FARE links to websites and multi-media resources that complement the curricula available on FARE and can be used in creating distinctive hands-on class projects. FARE also connects to a comprehensive network of art programs on women 10

and gender being implemented across the country, and provides reading resources on feminist art, current trends, significant accomplishments of women artists and topics of gender and art. TFAP Regional Coordinatorsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;TFAP supports regional networking and program development by linking from the website to over 40 national and international coordinators. Coordinators act as conduits for those needing general information or interested in being involved with a local TFAP group, and initiate programs in their areas. TFAP@CAAâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;TFAP presents a diverse set of panels, performances, gallery talks and tours that attract anyone interested in contemporary art and ideas. These events offered under the umbrella title of TFAP@CAA, coincide with the annual College Art Association conferences taking place in various U.S. cities. Through these programs, the general public, art community, and emerging art professionals gain access to cutting edge work and ideas of artists, curators, performers and scholars, up close and through a feminist lens and participate in ongoing forums for feminist issues and discussions of global art and art history. All events are free and open to the public. The Feminist Art Project is a program of the Institute for Women and Art (IWA), Rutgers University. The IWA is a unit of Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, and a center of the Office of the Associate Vice President for Academic & Public Partnerships in the Arts & Humanities.

For more information contact: The Feminist Art Project, Institute for Women & Art Rutgers University 191 College Ave, 2nd Floor, New Brunswick, NJ 08901 tfap@rci.rutgers.edu 848-932-3726 Visit feministartproject.rutgers.edu

ABOUT THE GALLERY

Advocating for women in the visual arts since 1972 MISSION STATEMENT A.I.R. Gallery is a permanent exhibition space that supports an open exchange of ideas and riskâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;taking by women artists in order to provide support and visibility. As an artist-run organization, A.I.R. fosters involvement through multiple tiers of representation: New York, National, Adjunct, and Alumnae Artists. A self-directed governing body, the organization is alternative to mainstream institutions and thrives on the network of active participants. Collaborations and partnerships with outside organizations and individuals ensure a platform informed by a diverse community and representative of broad views. A.I.R. maintains a gallery space in Brooklyn, NY and exhibits the work of hundreds of women artists each year. In addition to public open calls: Generations, the Biennial, Currents, and the Postcard Show, A.I.R. hosts many events, lectures and symposia on feminism, art and much more. Our programs engage an audience across a broad spectrum of experiences while creating a lively discourse among artists. A.I.R.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Fellowship Program For Emerging and Underrepresented Women Artists provides a year-long career development intensive for six artists each year as well as life-long support and collaboration. Since 1972, when a group of visionary women artists opened the first gallery space at 97 Wooster Street in Soho, A.I.R. Gallery has been leading the way in championing women artists, increasing their visibility and the viability of their endeavors.

www.AIRGallery.org. 155 Plymouth Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201. info@airgallery.org

ARTISTS FEATURED AT A.I.R. GALLERY

Shonagh Adelman Long Island City, New York www.shonaghadelman.com

Salon of Abundance 4mm colored crystals and marble on canvas 50 x 42 inches 2014 Thousands of tiny colored crystals and marble fragments convey a mash-up of imagery. From the “Disorderly Conduct” series, juxtaposing dissonant action, character and place, this piece, is a homage to the Russian punk rock group Pussy Riot. Bad (or badly behaved) women are ‘caught’ insouciant, romping through the opulent rooms of the Palace of Versailles and the Parisian Opera House. The glittery medium amplifies the irony and unbridled abandon of the interlopers.

Tara Booth Newark, Delaware www.tarabooth.com

Weight Video 2:29 (loop) 2015 Like many things my mother has instilled in me, she passed down her negative body image and desire to find comfort in unhealthy foods. Because of this, my work focuses on my body and how food affects me both positively and negatively. Although I have lost seventy pounds, the emotional weight remains and is subconsciously carried with me. As a young woman, I should not be ashamed of my body; I should be proud of its capability to grow and heal itself. I am not hiding in false comfort anymore and am trying to let go.

Amy Cannestra Madison, Wisconsin www.AmyCannestra.com

50 of 118lbs Bobby Pins 18 x 24 inches 2015 I remember being 17 years old and breaking up with my first boyfriend. It was so awkward that I couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t help but laugh. I wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t laughing at him, but laughing to avoid feeling the uncomfortable tension filled the Burger King. To this day, I use humor and laughter to hide in uneasy and awkward situations. This work creates uncomfortable situations by combining sexuality and gore then adds a layer of humor to mask the underlying issues of power, violence, body issues, and gender.

Katherine Cooksey Camarillo, California www.KJCooksey.com

My Crown Lipstick, glitter and paint 30 x 40 inches 2015 I do not want to have the conversation about â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;othersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; objectifying women, my conversation is situations when we choose to self-objectify. The importance placed on our physical bodies is one of the least uncontrollable aspects of our human selves. Yet, perfection is a sought after goal, this uncontrollable component causes emotional and physically insecurities within our body image. My artwork use beauty products, my own experiences and mass media to describe the confusing role of modern day women and their obsessive struggle.

Julie Sinclair Eakin New York, New York www.juliesinclaireakin.squarespace.com

Out of the Closet 1 Cotton fabric 24 x 24 inches 2014 Out of the Closet: Refashioning Power and Gender—The men’s dress shirt is interrogated for alternative meanings to the authority conveyed by this classic, enduring item of clothing. Through operations of ‘un-sewing’ and reconstructing the shirts’ collars and cuffs, the artist transgresses the order of their creation, thereby making them vulnerable to a radical reassessment. The resulting objects of desire reveal how beauty, fragility and playfulness signal an evolution from their former identity as symbols of intransigence.

Sally Edelstein South Huntington, New York www.sallyedelsteincollage.com

How Old is Old? Collage 36 x 51 inches 2012 Women and aging continues to be a stubborn barrier in our culture. We are restrained by often confining messages in the media of what it means to age as a woman in America. Our identities, expectations and sense of beauty and worth are formed, distorted and influenced by stifling stereotypes portrayed in the media and fragments of these images remain in us, internalized in childhood long before the information is relevant. This collage is a visual smorgasbord of appropriated images from mid century America popular culture.

Christine Giancola Florissant, Missouri www.christinegiancolaphotography.com

I remember Digital photograph from a film scan 20 x 24 inches 2011 These images taken on the streets of New York represent the personal as political when viewed through the lens of feminism. Taking photos on the streets in New York is a kind of awkward dance. It is risky, unpredictable, and relies heavily on instinct and intuition but when the rhythm and timing come together, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s magic.

Christine Giancola Florissant, Missouri www.christinegiancolaphotography.com

Peep Show Digital print from a film scan 20 x 24 inches 2009 These images taken on the streets of New York represent the personal as political when viewed through the lens of feminism. Taking photos on the streets in New York is a kind of awkward dance. It is risky, unpredictable, and relies heavily on instinct and intuition but when the rhythm and timing come together, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s magic.

Lucy Julia Hale Cave Spring, Georgia lucyjulia@live.com

Still Germaine: Climbing Walls to Find a Place to Practice Paper collage 6.25 x 10 inches 2015 Yet women still rise, transcending the old steep walls, summoned upwards by their soaring muses.

Lucy Julia Hale Cave Spring, Georgia lucyjulia@live.com

Still Germaine: Ongoing Wall Street Scene—Unequal Shares, Gross Domestic Product Paper collage 4.25 x 5.5 inches 2015 Still Germaine (Greer): ‘We must not look at goblin men, We must not buy their fruits: Who knows upon what soil they fed Their hungry thirsty roots?’ Christina Rosetti, 1862

Coco Hall Joshua Tree, California www.cocohall.com

Pretty Predator Drone Papier mache, paint, DIY knitted yarn 12 x 39 x 32 inches 2015 Pretty Predator Drone is a feminine play off an aggressive male approach to problem solving. A warm, mohair sweater is a motherly way of calming down a boy. Coco Hallâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work focuses on wonderful/horrible images. The sweater is a surprising and funny contrast to the horrible killer plane.

Maiza Hixson and Lauren Ruth (The Shaft) Chattanooga, Tennessee www.theshaftspace.com

A Wedding Package Single channel video 4:14 2013 The Shaft is a nomadic conceptual art project founded in a Philadelphia elevator by Maiza Hixson and Lauren Ruth. The Shaft appropriates traditionally non-art spaces for art and feminist activism. Satirizing the contemporary wedding as a commodified social spectacle, The Shaft officiates free public marriages to art and ideas in order to broaden conventional definitions of relationships and commitment. ‘A Wedding Package’ was an open call for couples to meet and marry in an assembly line fashion in front of Baltimore’s Koban Project, a defunct police substation and impotent symbol of power.

Kristina Lenzi Salt Lake City, Utah www.kristinalenzi.weebly.com

Self-portrait Posing As a Wall Street Investment Broker Prismacolor and collage on toned paper 20 x 24 inches 2015 Self distortions floating atop well-dressed men strike my funny bone. What would it be like to be a Wall Street investment broker or a male architect? I find the work thought provoking from a political and feminist perspective.

Kristina Lenzi Salt Lake City, Utah www.kristinalenzi.weebly.com

Self-portrait Posing As an Architect Prismacolor and collage on toned paper 20 x 24 inches 2014 Self distortions floating atop well-dressed men strike my funny bone. What would it be like to be an a Wall Street investment broker or a male architect? I find the work is thought provoking from a political and feminist perspective.

J. J. Lâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Heureux Venice, California www.jjLHeureux.com

Carriage Pink Photography 26 x 33 inches 2013 In a remote village of the Kamchatka Region, Russia, two different descriptions of the futures of two loved and valued small children emerge against the background of the weatherworn buildings. The choice of strollers, outside, indicated to me the parents have voiced a clear recognition that the sexual and social future of their babies will be one thing for a daughter and another for a son. This is a village of no personal wealth but the voice and vision for the children of each set of parents standout as impossibly brilliant and colorful in an other wise drab and colorless setting.

J. J. Lâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Heureux Venice, California www.jjLHeureux.com

Carriage Blue Photography 26 x 33 inches 2013 In a remote village of the Kamchatka Region, Russia, two different descriptions of the futures of two loved and valued small children emerge against the background of the weatherworn buildings. The choice of strollers, outside, indicated to me the parents have voiced a clear recognition that the sexual and social future of their babies will be one thing for a daughter and another for a son. This is a village of no personal wealth but the voice and vision for the children of each set of parents standout as impossibly brilliant and colorful in an other wise drab and colorless setting.

Sarah Maple Crawley, UK www.sarahmaple.com

Fighting Fire with Fire No2 C-Type 20 x 26 inches 2007 My early work focused on my cultural heritage. I am a Muslim with mixed white and Asian parentage, and I grew up in a small, majority white, coastal town in the south east of England. I was a Muslim, burdened with following inherited traditions, greatly at odds with the world I saw around me. My desire to comment on this led to a humorous and critically acclaimed series of works. What inspired me was the difficulty I felt I experienced as a result of this duality and how this also reflected the political situation.

Sandra Matthews Northampton, Massachusetts www.sandra-matthews.com

Daphne in 1990 / Daphne in 2014 Inkjet print 30 x 44 inches 2014 Combining photographs of people made over intervals of time, I often use a backdrop made from contemporary newspaper to reference the ‘public’ stories that accompany our own ‘private’ narratives. This image is part of a long-term project in which I explore some of the ways that individuals experience the possibilities and the limitations of their gendered bodies.

Sandra Matthews Northampton, Massachusetts www.sandra-matthews.com

Dov in 2011 / Dov in 2014 Inkjet print 30 x 44 inches 2014 I am moved by witnessing change and survival and by the lives of the people I photograph. While the people in this project are drawn from my own circle of personal relationships, their lives are shaped by global factors. Making these composite portraits over time gives me a way to engage more fully with my own historical period.

Brittany Prater Brooklyn, New York www.brittanyprater.com

Henriette Higgins Digital video 6:36 2010 I make videos that operate in the seductive manner that a television show or commercial might while also exposing some of the problems inherent in this very language. The goal is to examine narratives that are often used and repeated in popular culture.

Sinan Revell Pacific Palisades, California www.sinanrevell.com

Los Desparacedos Inkjet print on paper with frame 11 x 14 inches 2006 In my “DoppelgANGER” photographic self portraits, I staged contentious scenarios—some drawn from reality, some imagined. In re-creating famous media images and portraying every character , I showed how we are connected to each other and how we can be both victim and aggressor eg. both the police and Rodney King. In ‘Los Desparacedos Missing Women’—I imagined myself as every missing woman—Latin America, Juarez, Asia. In the same vein as ‘I am Charlie Hebdo’ or ‘Anonymous’ we can add our voices to the dispossessed ,the victims, the oppressed—but not the forgotten.

Carly Ries Chicago, Illinois www.carlyries.com

Keeper of Consciousness Archival pigment print 18 x 24 inches 2014 My subject is the experience of the female body as a point of overlapping between the biological, the sociological and the symbolic. These are photographs alighting on signifiers in the un-posed world, and the body is the interceptor of meaning. Images function as signaling mechanisms, records of perception and response to the environment of the world. Renegotiating the â&#x20AC;&#x153;subjectâ&#x20AC;? of the body, I am exploring the complexity of the body as signifier. These are images made through the lens of a female gaze.

Trix Rosen Jersey City, New Jersey www.trixrosen.com

Authentic Gender Queer Fine Art Exhibition Inkjet Paper with archival pigmented ink 12 x 18 inches 2013 From the earliest days of my career in art and photography, I have photographed strong and defiant women who bravely break taboos and re-define their cultural and sexual representation. Many of my documentary and fictional images embrace the fluidity of gender identity and explore the possibility that we each hold a myriad of alternative selves within us. Dean, the photojournalist and visual artist depicted in this portrait, self-identifies as “they,” and says: “There is nothing more courageous than being yourself in a world that tries to render you invisible in mundane and violent ways.”

Cecilia Rossey Wellfleet, Massachusetts www.cisrossey.com

Homage To Those Who Took A Stand Suitcase, encaustic paintings on mat board 35 x 14 inches 2015 “To Those Who Took A Stand” celebrates the Suffragettes and pays homage to women for their enduring fight for gender equality. As we enter a new election cycle, cynicism prevails as the money involved in the business of politics supersedes civil intent. Those who diminish the process by saying ‘my vote doesn’t count’ should remember those who were tortured, violated, and imprisoned for suffrage rights. Whether it be gun control, immigration, equal wage, or women’s rights, the power is initiated with the hard-won cast vote.

Lisa Seidenberg Westport, Connecticut www.missmuffett.com

Heresies Video 10:14 2012 A video collage work exploring the global targeting of outspoken women as depicted in a variety of historical films and news footage, and the blurring of real and fictional characters. Clips of a Joan of Arc cartoon and Pussy Riot; Hester Prynne to Nancy Grace...the work is intended as a meditation on how these images dissolve into one another and form our mental images of the female character. My work crosses the boundaries of documentary and experimental filmmaking; focusing on themes of religion and politics, particularly the politics of image-making and mass media history.

Gwen Shockey New York, New York www.gwenshockey.com

Mirror I Graphite, charcoal and ink on paper 17 x 22 inches 2010 In these pieces I consider desire and eroticism in relation to a history of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;lookingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; upon the unclothed woman. I attempt to abandon the historically passive nude for a self-aware and active nakedness. I use my own body as my primary imagery. By choosing to portray my body as fragmented, whole, or juxtaposed with itself, I contemplate my role as the viewer and artist, subject and object of my work.

Gwen Shockey New York, New York www.gwenshockey.com

Mirror VI Graphite, charcoal and ink on paper 17 x 22 inches 2010 In these pieces I consider desire and eroticism in relation to a history of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;lookingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; upon the unclothed woman. I attempt to abandon the historically passive nude for a self-aware and active nakedness. I use my own body as my primary imagery. By choosing to portray my body as fragmented, whole, or juxtaposed with itself, I contemplate my role as the viewer and artist, subject and object of my work.

Meg Stein Durham, North Carolina www.megstein.com

Untitled (Green) Dish towels, bath loofahs, kitchen caulk, food dye, baby powder, clay 12 x 18 x 12 inches 2014 I transform manufactured, household materials into evocative, biomorphic oddities that abstractly discuss contemporary female subjectivity. Using wildness, tactility and labor that references “women’s work,” my sculptures stalk tired associations with the feminine, including domesticity and sexuality. Inspired by fantasy, animals, feminism, and my memories of home, these otherworldly forms hover between dream and nightmare, mimicking known life while remaining alien.

Meg Stein Durham, North Carolina www.megstein.com

Untitled (Bumps) Pillowcase, pillow zipper, bath mats, wax, clay, popcorn 8 x 26 x 8 inches 2015 I transform manufactured, household materials into evocative, biomorphic oddities that abstractly discuss contemporary female subjectivity. Using wildness, tactility and labor that references “women’s work,” my sculptures stalk tired associations with the feminine, including domesticity and sexuality. Inspired by fantasy, animals, feminism, and my memories of home, these otherworldly forms hover between dream and nightmare, mimicking known life while remaining alien.

Rhonda Thomas-Urdang Flagstaff, Arizona www.FlagstaffFeministArtProject.com

Who’s Afraid of Big Bad Kim? Femmage -- Photograph, original handmade collage printed elements, silk fabrics, fortune cookie “fortune”, rice paper, Pearlescent liquid acrylic 20 x 16 inches 2015 Who’s Afraid of Big Bad Kim? -- is my re-hacked image of my own collage of the ‘dear one’ into a trans woman, handmade by myself in the cryptic City of Pyongyang, North Korea. Although I’ve never traveled to this site, I’ve done so in my mind’s eye. Paloma Picasso was correct when she said, “Everything you can imagine is real.” My portrayal is an example of feminist satire that specializes in gaining visual pleasure from politics. Subversive intent shows Kim strut her stuff where free speech and dissent aren’t forbidden.

Nikki Thompson Pacifica, California www.deconstructedartichokepress.com

Dodger Blues Bookcloth, Somerset paper 10 x 38 inches 2012 A little bit humorous, a little bit bittersweet, Dodger Blues tells the story of a softball player’s gender issues and the misery caused by family and friends. Throughout the five prose poems, the role of women in “men’s” athletics is addressed at the professional as well as amateur level. They tell the story of a girl trying to figure out how to be a woman, but loving what is supposed to be a man’s world. The series is a nominee for a 2016 Pushcart Prize and a runner-up in the Earl Weaver Baseball Writing Contest.

Marie Tomanova Ridgewood, New York www.marietomanova.com

Estonian House Digital print 12 x 18 inches 2014 In my work I examine and explore questions of identity through portraiture and self-portraiture. I am interested in how gender, sexuality, age, and cultural background affect our identity. In Positive Biology series I challenged the acceptance or rejection of societal norms and expectations, particularly in terms of gender identity and sexual orientation. This project also brought up questions of how one feels about oneself in the process of confronting their own identity and how it is created by self and society.

Marie Tomanova Ridgewood, New York www.marietomanova.com

Jeans Jacket Digital print 12 x 18 inches 2014 In my work I examine and explore questions of identity through portraiture and self-portraiture. I am interested in how gender, sexuality, age, and cultural background affect our identity. In Positive Biology series I challenged the acceptance or rejection of societal norms and expectations, particularly in terms of gender identity and sexual orientation. This project also brought up questions of how one feels about oneself in the process of confronting their own identity and how it is created by self and society.

Margi Weir Detroit, Michigan www.margiweir.weebly.com

I Codex II Digital ink print on rag paper 12 x 11 inches 2014 I use a computer to repeat images that I stitch together visually in order to make an appealing pattern, often resulting in tapestry-like, spatially flattened compositions. Through decorative patterning, the work of art draws the viewer into a slowly unfurling image that invites a discussion about ecology and/or sociopolitical realities of the contemporary world around us. Meaning is implied by the juxtaposition of images not stated in narrative fashion. Conclusions are left to the viewer.

Margi Weir Detroit, Michigan www.margiweir.weebly.com

We Are All Targets Digital ink print on rag paper 11 x 11 inches 2015 Last November, two of my close friends were killed in a shoot out on Detroitâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s West Side. Everyone involved was licensed to carry concealed weapons. The argument was over the occupancy of a foreclosed house. The argument over the house escalated and cost 2 people their lives and the third will spend the rest of his life in prison. This senseless violence in situations that do not require guns makes me very angry and sad. In a country that worships guns, we are all targets.

Ellen Wetmore Fitchburg, Massachusetts www.ellenwetmore.iwarp.com

The Tragedy of Rapunzel Digital photo 28 x 20 inches 2014 The tragedy of Rapunzel is that she is sentenced, as a result of her lack of virtue, to roam the wilderness in poverty with her children. I am curious about this burden of parenting that never gets reported in the classic childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s version of the tale. It takes years for that prince to find her. In this image, she is pulling the kids along in a sled using her hair, the marker of both her sexual innocence and her downfall.

ONLINE GALLERY ARTISTS

Samantha Aasen Heels, from the Sparkle Baby Series. Inkjet Photograph. 60 x 30 inches. 2014 Sparkle Baby explores gender, sexuality, and pop culture by seeking out the shifting boundary between girlhood and womanhood. It is the manifestation of my own ambivalence of the Princess-industrial-complex. Young women who seek to understand their identity through the mass media representation of women find conflicting presentations: on one hand there a trend of empowerment of women happening and concurrently women are still being objectified through degrading images while feeling a compulsion to be sexually available. My work speaks of where these who representations meet and clash. 88

Shonagh Adelman Jumpers. 4mm colored crystals & marbles on canvas. 70 x 58 inches. 2015 Thousands of tiny colored crystals and marble fragments convey a mash-up of imagery. This series, juxtaposes dissonant action, character and place. Badly behaved women are â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;caughtâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; insouciant, romping through the opulent rooms of the Palace of Versailles and the Parisian Opera House. The glittery medium amplifies the irony and unbridled abandon of the interlopers. 89

Alicia Aldama Skin Graf. Photograph. 20 x 30 inches. 2014 In todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s society, a woman must take on many identities. We have to chose which type of woman to be, and always debate if it will be accepted by everyone. I have struggled with trying to be the perfect mother, desirable wife, and the woman who I believe I am. To add to this, it seems like I am consistently being judged because of how I look. My addiction to tattoos has given people the authority to cast their judgments on me. On the other hand, I am extremely confident in my body, and my decisions on how to live my life. 90

Alicia Aldama June Cleaver. Photograph. 30 x 20 inches. 2015 In todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s society, a woman must take on many identities. We have to chose which type of woman to be, and always debate if it will be accepted by everyone. I have struggled with trying to be the perfect mother, desirable wife, and the woman who I believe I am. To add to this, it seems like I am consistently being judged because of how I look. My addiction to tattoos has given people the authority to cast their judgments on me. On the other hand, I am extremely confident in my body, and my decisions on how to live my life. 91

Anne Alexander Not The Only Fruit. Marble. 7 x 11 x 18 inches. 2005 My sculpture operates on both abstract and figurative levelsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;the forms are suggested by nature but are abstractions. Ideas come from flora and fauna, small biological specimens and the human body. This organic iconography suggests themes of germination, growth, cyclic changes, and regeneration. In this series of stone carvings, I explore sexuality from a womanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s viewpoint. The driving theme of my work is exploring and enhancing the spiritual and bodily connection to the natural world. 92

Anne Alexander Merge. Alabaster. 13 x 10 x 9 inches. 2003 The organic forms of my sculpture suggest themes of germination, growth, cyclic changes, and regeneration. In this series of stone carvings, I explore sexuality from a womanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s viewpoint. This piece expresses the sense that we all have feminine and masculine aspects within us. 93

Elaine Alibrandi Advertising 4: The Longest War. Oil and advertising photographs on canvas. 36 x 36 inches. 2013 “Advertisers” casual and outrageous use of images of gang rape, brutalization, humiliation, beating, murder, and dismemberment of women and young girls needs to be acknowledged and addressed. Women are presented as disposable commodities and stupid creatures not worth anything except their bodies. This type of marketing has become so commonplace, people hardly notice it, but if they see it all at once, it presents itself as a dangerous epidemic that affects men’s attitudes toward women and women’s attitudes toward themselves. 94

Carrie Alter Deer Diary 2. Oil on canvas. 48 x 24 inches. 2014 Anthropomorphizing taxidermy helps me visually describe the harsh mind-body duality of the female experience with a cage like mask of identity derived from social stereotypes and personal narratives. I study the human condition in its primal maturity, transparent yet intrinsically developing. Like an animal head mounted and hung on a wall, my images are ominous reminders of our own vulnerability. 95

Jung Ran Bae Project CU. Fiberglass, clay, fur, hair, plexiglass. 42 x 16 x 21 inches. Project CU is a direct challenge of the construction of femininity by the patriarchy. My work neutralizes the slang in a reclamation of femininity by giving the offensive names literal and visual translations and attempting to incite a new discourse with humor and beauty in order to rectify the status quo. Project CU is a statement of women reclaiming control over their power and sexuality by not allowing the other gender to dictate how we view our bodies. 96

Tessie Barrera-Scharaga Liminal Space (Table detail). Clay. Variable. 2011 Liminal comes from the word â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;limenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; a space under which we pass. I wanted to convey the idea that viewers could walk through the gate into my thought process. The piece alludes to the analytic activity I was involved with while trying to determine a place or a position to speak from in my capacity of art maker. The clay forms symbolize aspects of womanhood that still need analysis and investigation. They are in a dormant stage, waiting to be unbound. The gate is a metaphor for transition into a new stage of life. 97

Tessie Barrera-Scharaga Liminal Space (Pod Detail). Clay, fabric. Variable. 2011 Liminal comes from the word â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;limenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; a space under which we pass. I wanted to convey the idea that viewers could walk through the gate into my thought process. The piece alludes to the analytic activity I was involved with while trying to determine a place or a position to speak from in my capacity of art maker. The clay forms symbolize aspects of womanhood that still need analysis and investigation. They are in a dormant stage, waiting to be unbound. The gate is a metaphor for transition into a new stage of life. 98

Ali Beyer Woman Boxer #1. Mixed media on upstretched, unprimed canvas. 95 x 69 inches. 2012 Women are fierce and women are fighters. In the ring opponents are literally at war with one another and with themselves. By presenting a woman boxer engaged in a contest that has been traditionally reserved for men I am confronting the notion that women are not meant to engage in combat. Females fought for the right to vote, to serve on juries, and are still fighting for equal pay and equal representation in government. How women are viewed has enormous ramifications and Feminism is something still worth fight for. 99

Dare J. Boles Solar Mama. Paper collage. 18 x 22 inches. 2013 My work makes a social statement relating to issues confronting women and their role in society. The empowerment of women to provide a means of self support is crucial; whether in the villages of Africa, the tribes of the Middle East, or the Projects of the United States. Expressing the need to show their plight is the focus of my art through the use of paper, pattern, and texture in collage. 100

Jackie Branson Karpet (red). Used industrial saw blades, steel, carpet, cpu fans, zip ties . 31 x 48 x 2 inches. 2013 In its imagery and materials, my work is an exploration of identity and appearances. My use of saw blades (and steel) has functioned as armor, a recurring theme alongside masculine versus feminine and hard versus soft. By repurposing oriental rugs and taking a masculine object and transforming it into a feminine, decorative and domestic one, I am attempting to connect my Armenian heritage to an evolving understanding of self and surroundings, specifically as it pertains to relationships and domesticity. 101

Kathryn Burleson Athlete No. 3. Exhibition paper. 24 x 30 inches. 2015 Reflecting on feminism, I reflect on challenges I face as a female athlete. I ask myself questions such as: should I be benching more or less, do I need to be on this elliptical to burn more calories, should I run early in the morning so I do not have to at night. The goal of this project is to make visible the strength of athletes in my college community who identify as women because we encroach on male space every day when we train. We train as hard as the boys, not for superficial reasons, but to attain peak physical performance, but with elegance too. 102

Donna Catanzaro Dressed for Success. Digital collage. 20 x 16 inches. 2005 I created this piece after reading Naomi Wolf’s book “The Beauty Myth”. Each year the fashion industry generates new, bizarre styles that women feel compelled to purchase. But women who follow these fashion trends are not taken seriously and not promoted at their work. And women who don’t follow fashion trends aren’t promoted either. Meanwhile men wear the same boring suit every day and are taken seriously and promoted. Here I placed fashion models from the ‘60’s in a western ghost town where they can enjoy their fashions while they unwittingly wallow in their lack of income: “Will work for food.” 103

Donna Cleary Angler. Crocheted yarn and wire, box, stool, found plastic cap. 50 x 25 x 18 inches. 2015 My late 1970â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s-teenage-feminist-self would have been surprised by my choice to become a mother. This duality nagged me for years until I discovered Mierle Ukeles who stated that as mother and artist, everything she did or said was art, freeing herself and me from cultural paradigms. My sculptures embrace and embody a generative and inclusive process. Cyborgic forms acknowledge Donna Haraway and Terrance McKenna, fusing humanity with technology and the landscape through traditional knitting and crochet techniques. 104

Laura Collins Needle. Collage. 4 x 8 inches. 2014 A pairing of two images, my simplistic collages combine to form complex relationships. There is a tension between the images where they work together, yet continuously reject one another. It is my hope that this guides a cyclical involvement for the viewer. My research in Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s and Gender Studies has informed my art practice, which often works to challenge the objectification of the feminine form. I propose an intimate juxtaposition of pleasure against discomfort. 105

Laura Collins Fingering. Collage. 4 x 10 inches. 2014 A pairing of two images, my simplistic collages combine to form complex relationships. There is a tension between the images where they work together, yet continuously reject one another. It is my hope that this guides a cyclical involvement for the viewer. My research in Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s and Gender Studies has informed my art practice, which often works to challenge the objectification of the feminine form. I propose an intimate juxtaposition of pleasure against discomfort. 106

Liz Collins Inside Outside. Woven and cut silk, nylon, linen. 60 x 84 inches. 2015 This work is love and hate; fear and attraction; inside and outside. Objects are tethered together, suspended, raining. Gravity impacts soft material making it sag and hang, while tension tightens loose lines, and they cut through space with texture and color. My largest scale works are designed to activate space with incongruous elements and a cacophony of sensory experiences. Innate in the work is the story of violence, euphoric pleasure and pain, and visceral femininity. 107

Mary Ellen Croteau Homage to Ana Mendieta. Roofing tar paper, votive candles. 100 x 100 x 4 inches. 1992 Homage to Ana Mendieta references both her and husband Carl Andre’s work. His metal floor plates become roofing tar paper here, incised as a topographic map with her form as it indented the deli roof where she ‘fell’ to her death from their 26th floor apartment. Votive candles reference her ‘Siluetas.’ 108

Cynthia Cusick Immolate. Stoneware/porcelain, cone 6 oxidation, underglaze, acrylic, wax. 5 x 12 x 5 inches. 2013 Observation and analysis are my obsession. Nature is my respite. These artworks reference and are informed by primitive facets of form and content. I combine natural materials with abstract interpretations of life forms and the earth underfoot as a metaphor for insights into relationships, sexuality, femininity, maturity and reproduction as I travel from fertility to non -fertility. I work primarily in clay, metal and natural materials obtained or grown by me. My pieces are part commentary and part catharsis. 109

Gina Dabrowski Pears No. 1. Polymer Photogravure. 10 x 8 inches. 2013 The issues that drive my artistic practice are the personal relationships that surround me. The role strong women play drives me to explore our daily activities in order to understand the complexities in our lives. In my project Jars, I celebrate the activities of a matriarchal family as I photograph canned goods prepared by my grandmother over 30 years ago. The contents of the jars nurture our bodies. The memories become etched into a plate and made into prints. 110

Gina Dabrowski Pears No. 2. Polymer Photogravure. 10 x 8 inches. 2013 The issues that drive my artistic practice are the personal relationships that surround me. The role strong women play drives me to explore our daily activities in order to understand the complexities in our lives. In my project Jars, I celebrate the activities of a matriarchal family as I photograph canned goods prepared by my grandmother over 30 years ago. The contents of the jars nurture our bodies. The memories become etched into a plate and made into prints. 111

Rocio De Alba Faces of Love—Mother I. Archival pigment print. 20 x 24 inches. 2014 In my early twenties, my pious “old fashion” Latino parents divorced. My mother married a man nine years her junior, while my father courted many women. Baffled, I witnessed my strict marital ethics unravel. Their actions would later help me to seamlessly integrate into a “modern family”. Currently, I hold custody of my two children and share a third child with my current partner, whom has custody of his son. This type of family structure revolutionized the aesthetics of the mother prototype. Using make-up and post-production, I produced these satirical and humorous self-portraits to explore the gamut of the mother archetype. 112

Rocio De Alba Faces of Love—Mother XII. Archival pigment print. 20 x 24 inches. 2014 In my early twenties, my pious “old fashion” Latino parents divorced. My mother married a man nine years her junior, while my father courted many women. Baffled, I witnessed my strict marital ethics unravel. Their actions would later help me to seamlessly integrate into a “modern family”. Currently, I hold custody of my two children and share a third child with my current partner, whom has custody of his son. This type of family structure revolutionized the aesthetics of the mother prototype. Using make-up and post-production, I produced these satirical and humorous self-portraits to explore the gamut of the mother archetype. 113

Sue Dean Oracle. Mirror, rust, textile, comic strip, thread, and colored twine on industrial cardboard tube. 22 x 8 x 8 inches. 2014 Runway procession, wedding march, or martyrâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s walk, women are exhibited as spectacle in every culture. Their essence is usually lost. My totemic figures have a voice, even when faceless. In unsettling or whimsical ways, they provoke introspection about gender and costume and custom. In a strangely large way, these small beings present dignity and power to the world. 114

Cat Del Buono Voices. 20 video monitors with quicktime movies and sound. Variable. 2014 I use video, installation, and street art to address social and gender issues. Voices consists of 20 small monitors on which the lips of anonymous domestic violence survivors recount personal experiences of abuse. Together, the multiple voices create a symphony of unrecognizable words. Only when viewers come closer and focus on an individual screen do they become aware of the installationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s topic and the individual subjectâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s story. The necessity of this movement on the part of viewers functions as a call to action: as a society, we must not allow the epidemic of domestic violence and those who are affected by it to remain invisible. 115

Romina Del Castillo rat city. Charcoal and pastel. 38 x 50 inches. 2014 My drawings are windows into the multiplicity of realities from which each viewer can perceive and thereby conclude, as fact, their own reality through the interpretation of my art. 116

Laurie Toby Edison Kim Manri - Director Taihen, Japanese Disability Performance Troupe. Silver gelatin print. 8 x 10 inches. 2005 I met the people in the portraits through our shared community and feminist social justice work. I combine my artistic sensibility with my commitment to capture the person in the photograph: cultural, personal, environmental and physical cues, what is and is not said or communicated. Centrally, I collaborate with the person in the photograph, who makes many aesthetic choices. Combined with extensive community work, this approach encourages communication across the difficult boundaries of ‘who’ is beautiful and ‘who’ matters. 117

Alyssa Eustaquio Keeping FEMINISM Fresh. Mint chewing gum, paper, plastic sleeve and Wrigleyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s foil chewing gum wrappers. 3 x 2.5 x .5 inches. 2013 FEMINISM should not leave a bad taste in oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mouth, but for many it does. The challenge for Feminism today: communication. Previous waves are notorious for their militancy, an aggression necessary at that time in order to create change, but the reception of charged issues has shifted, prompting a need for a lighter touch. Keeping FEMINISM Fresh expresses my need to disassociate from the militancy; to debunk the stereotype of the hysteric feminist. 118

Shawna Gibbs Jackie & Shar, San Francisco. Engineer Print. Printed in halftone black and white ink on 20lb bond paper. 30 x 24 inches. 2003-2014 Unique 24 x 30 inch promotional poster from a series of photographs made during the 33rd Annual Pride Parade in San Francisco on June 28, 2003. The parade theme was “You’ve Gotta Give Them Hope!” Twelve years later on June 26, 2015 the United States Supreme Court ruled same-sex marriage legal In all 50 states. The decision was 5-4. Using Abraham Lincoln and Harvey Milk stamps, this poster is folded and mailed without an envelope via the United States Postal Service to give the piece a symbolic stamp of approval by the US government. 119

Katya Grokhovsky Disturbance. Mixed media, found objects, blankets, thread, acrylic, plaster, resin, human hair, clothes. Variable. 2015 Exploring domesticity and female desire, sexuality and pleasure, Disturbance investigates the private domain of the bedroom of a radically untidy, independent woman. 120

Mary Hamill More Pawns. Altered book, strings, paper cut-out images. 12 x 10 x 8 inches. 2012 In Medieval European chess each pawn was unique and represented a common man of a particular occupation, such as blacksmith or doctor. This work proposes an expansion of the set of possible pawns to include the under-represented half of the populace who were female. Here behind black threads that form the squares of a chessboard are Medieval images of women weaving, harvesting, milking, cooking, selling, teaching, dancing, worshipping, and nursing. 121

Kate Hampel Casual Encounters: A Month of Sundays. Video. 2 minutes, 34 seconds. 2013 Using various media, my practice examines systems of power at work in contemporary understandings of sexuality, gender, and class. Authorial ambiguity plays a central role in text and video works, leaving viewers to supply narrative content. The implied use of the first person undermines these texts with a sense of unreliability that is central to viewersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; experiences, requiring them to question their reading. Harnessing both discomfort and attraction opens a space to discuss the implausibility of human social constructions. 122

Wendy Hansen Grace II. Photocopy transfer of my original drawing on linen, conte crayon. 30 x 47 inches. 2014 It seems that the beauty in a woman’s aging face is its slow metamorphosis into a map. Decades of repetitive musings and memories become engraved upon the skin and reflected in the eyes. By selectively covering parts of the drawing, the portrait reveals a variety of emotions. Stepping up close, eye-to-eye, you can read the ‘fine print’ of her face. The woman appears to be gazing out through a woven, transparent veil, eyes fixed upon something no longer within her grasp. 123

Edith Hillinger Invisible Women 2. Mixed media collage on paper, Japanese and black paper and sumie ink. 25.75 x 23 inches. 2010 My family fled Nazi Germany when I was three. I spent the next eleven years in Istanbul. I fell deeply in love with the city, the people and the culture. When I was fifteen, my family moved to the United States. My Turkish Self-Portrait, made forty years later, shows the deep influences of the Turkish culture. 124

Edith Hillinger Turkish Self-Portrait. Water color and heat transfer photographs on paper. 22 x 30 inches. 1980 My family fled Nazi Germany when I was three. I grew up in Istanbul and saw many women who hid their faces so that only their eyes were visible due to Islamic religious rules. Even today, women living under Islamic religious rules are invisible and powerless. However, even in the US there is a great deal of invisibility. Women artists are a lot less visible than their male counterparts. 125

Sarah Elizabeth Honan Jane Doe 05.10.1991. Acrylic and pencil on canvas. 20 x 16 inches. 2014 An Unidentified woman is found wrapped in plastic on October 5th, 1991. Blink. is a collection of portraits depicting Jane Doesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;forgotten and nameless women from across the US. Blink aims to give a voice to the voiceless, to memorialize and to honor these unknown women. Each of these Jane Does come to represent every woman throughout history and across the world who has been stripped of her identity, her potential and her value. 126

Sarah Elizabeth Honan Jane Doe 14.02.1988. Acrylic and pencil on canvas. 20 x 16 inches. 2014 An Unidentified woman is found naked and brutalized on Valentineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Day, 1988. Blink. is a collection of portraits depicting Jane Doesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;forgotten and nameless women from across the US. Blink. aims to give a voice to the voiceless, to memorialize and to honor these unknown women. Each of these Jane Does come to represent every woman throughout history and across the world who has been stripped of her identity, her potential and her value. 127

Judy Johnson-Williams Thanks, N. Spero. Paper, drawing materials. 26 x 3 feet. 2011 These pieces are very different in terms of intent, media and results but they are all part of my exploration of how feminism has changed along with the times. At first, there was a lot of blood and hairy armpits, as we defined who we were. Time went on, feminism changed as we struggled to balance our careers, kids and love lives. And again time went on, and now we are focused on what was changed, what still needs work and what our role is, as there are two new generations to work alongside us. These are exciting times. 128

Ann Johnston-Schuster The Big Brother. Woodcut/digital mixed media. 10.5 x 14 inches. 2014 In my woodcuts, I endeavor to redefine personal vulnerability, not as a constraint but as a link to our humanity. The female figure in The Big Brother is an individual that has fallen victim to the physical and emotional constraints placed upon her. In a society built upon the precepts of aggression, her vulnerability leaves her isolated and forgotten. Ultimately, my artwork not only tells a story about these women but also provides a haven that protects and insulates them. 129

Sue Julien A Woman Was a Woman: Anne Boleyn. Prismacolor pencil on bond paper. 14 x 17 inches. 2014 Initiating from photographic sources, these drawings are part of a series titled A Woman Was a Woman, portraits of women who did existâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;some were famous, some were not. 130

Sue Julien A Woman Was a Woman: Tina Modotti. Prismacolor pencil on bond paper. 14 x 17 inches. 2014 Initiating from photographic sources, these drawings are part of a series titled A Woman Was a Woman, portraits of women who did existâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;some were famous, some were not. 131

Kay Kang Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s A Girl!! Korean female name on charcoal, ropes. red peppers which represent the birth of a male on the floor. 82 x 55 x 70 inches. 2001 Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a Girl!! charcoal pieces, each bearing a Korean female name, hang from hemp ropes strung between three door jambs. Dried red peppers, which represent the birth of a male, are strewn on the floor. The piece is an altered representation of the Korean custom of announcing births: When a female is born, only charcoal is attached to a hemp rope and hung outside of the front door; but when a boy is born, red peppers, signaling joy, are hung in celebration. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s A Girl!! is a celebration of the birth of a girl, which has been neglected too often in Korean customs. 132

Kay Kang Jungwhan (For The Girls). Korean female names written on charcoals embedded in sand with pumice mixture on panel. 70 pieces, each 6 x 6 x 3 inches. Jungwhan (For The Girls) consists of series of charcoal pieces on panel which I have written the names of each of my university classmates. Of these 576 women in my class from Ewha womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s University in Korea, approximately 17 % possess what are typically considered male names. This informal Korean customs is a reflection of the preference for sons over daughters and was practiced in hope for a male baby. Though it is not as widely practiced today, its legacy survives among many Korean women who today possess male names. 133

Catherine Maffioletti Dirt and Not Copper. Video. 7:08. 2014 The statement ‘the personal is political’ leads the artwork’s exploration into hysteria as a positive space for making-out the meaning of feminized narratives. Responding to Gertrude Stein’s text ‘Tender Buttons’ (from which the piece takes its title), Louise Bourgeois’ sculpture, The Arch of Hysteria’ and Clarice Lispector’s writings the artwork explores themes of women’s madness through queering self-portraiture and the trompe l’oeil in an attempt to re-interpret the nude from an active feminized position. 134

Rose Materdomini Power & Control. Digital Print. 11 x 17 inches. 2015 Contemporary images were used to reflect current political issues involving the oppression and violence against women. 135

Constance McBride Timescape XVII. Pastel on paper. 25 x 19.5 inches. 2013 The effects time has on our bodies and my evolving emotions concerning them are what drive the direction of my work. My focus on aging has been evolving for some time. I am not always happy with what I see in the mirror and camouflage what I see as flaws; perhaps behavior of the burden of growing up with a beautiful mother. Or, perhaps a combination of her influence as well as the barrage of media images presented to me as a young girl. We live in a youth obsessed society and aging women are impacted the hardest by it. I create my works using models my age and a pretty color palette to emphasize there is beauty in aging. 136

Brandi Merolla Role Reversal. Digital photograph framed in antique frame. 16 x 20 inches. 2010 By simply reversing the King Kong and Fay Wray roles, she is no longer portrayed as dominated nor victimized. The female lead takes charge and is viewed as empowered. Feminism in Technicolor. Whoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Afraid of Feminism? Not me! 137

Jennifer Mondfrans Lise Meitner. Acrylic on canvas. 18 x 24 inches. 2013 Lise is part of my series of portraits of pioneering women scientists to explore the idea of historical prominence through the active engagement of reading and memory. Each painting has a letter written to You, from the scientist. In a manner of historical fiction, the letter is personal narrative, framing her challenges and accomplishments and what her work did for science. Reading the letter, You become engaged in the making of history. History IS memory. Remembering these womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s messages from the past, You become the futureâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s history. I chose Lise to recognize her effort that led to the Nobel Prize for which she should have been awarded, had her gender been different. There was only 2 women out of the 700 hundred physicists at the time, the other woman being Marie Curie. At one point, Lise sent a letter to Marie to work with her, but Marie did not have the funds. Einstein called her, Germanyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Marie Curie, but she was an extraordinary scientist in her own right. 138

Jennifer Mondfrans Irene Curie. Acrylic on canvas. 18 x 24 inches. 2014 Iréne is part my series of portraits of pioneering women scientists to explore the idea of historical prominence through the active engagement of reading and memory. Each painting has a letter written to You, from the scientist. In a manner of historical fiction, the letter is personal narrative, framing her challenges and accomplishments and what her work did for science. Reading the letter, You become engaged in the making of history. History IS memory. Remembering these women’s messages from the past, You become the future’s history. It’s extraordinary that Irene took her mother’s theory of artificial radioactivity and made it a reality, earning her a Nobel Prize. It’s also remarkable that her husband took her last name. And the fact that the Curie family holds the most Nobel Prizes of any family in history should be well-known. 139

Laura Moore Proof #2. Pigment print. 39.4 x 55 inches. 2013 The woman by the window is a recurring portrayal of feminine identity in the arts. Presented in the traditionally feminine domain of the domestic interior, the window acts as a site of dichotomy and negotiation. Her significance rests with the collective identity she embodies. In this work I have cast myself as the woman by the window to investigate what she means now, as a symbol for the complex and evolving concept of the contemporary woman, deciphering the relationship between her internal desires and external expectations. 140

Margaret Noble This Photo Proves My Existence. Found objects and photography installation. 36 x 24 x 12 inches. 2015 This Photo Proves My Existence. Victorian portraits of unknown women purchased by the pile on EBay. They have been accumulated and arranged. Composited, they become she. But, there was a rare find in the lot of anonymity. Attestation that there is more to the story. 141

Heather Ossandon Pillow Pile. Wood fired porcelain. 5.5 x 36 x 17 inches. 2014 I moved to NJ when I was 7. In my luggage I carried the Philippine sun, the cool waters of England, and memories of flying. I found a small wooden totem of a Rapa Nui figure nestled between the baseboard heater and the faded brown carpet in my new apartment. Objects became my sense of place, my urgency, a reckoning, a way to succumb to gravity, my home. The sculptures I create are distillations of those flickering moments. Employing objects of the everyday the work becomes an external manifestation of an interior narrative. 142

Priscilla Otani Ms. Fortune. Cookies, paper, glass. 8.25 x 15 inches. 2015 Ms. Fortune is a jarful of fortune cookies that foretell what women do and donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t do in this age where feminism is considered passĂŠ and equality between sexes is taken for granted. These fortunes remind us of progress made and progress still to come in our own beliefs and interactions with others. 143

Francesca Padron Brain Washed Princess. Canvas. 36 x 24 inches. 2015 Women inequality still exists today. My art is an attempt to make it more apparent and possibly strike a chord in others to help. The subjects of my pieces are relatable to all women and their daily experiences. My purpose is to remind women that they are powerful, fearless and beautiful and they can achieve anything. I hope to ignite the feelings of unity and inspiration through my work to women around the world. 144

Dominique Palladino Life is Short, Have an Affair. Cotton. 7 x 4 feet. 2014 Simultaneously bombarded and reassured by the discomforts of sexualized convention, jockeying of power and selfindulgence through technology, my intention is to create an infrastructure to view the aftermath of the female experience. By combining traditional craft with digital-age vocabulary, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m exploring the impermanence of popular culture tropes within a technological mecca. In a paradoxical comment on our society, the time-consuming quilting process is used to memorialize a bit of pop culture that is soon to be forgotten. 145

Min Kim Park Women Photography for Green Screen. Inkjet print. 36 x 24 inches. 2013 Women Photography is fueled by an urgent quest to locate freedom amidst objectifying dislocation, forced categorizations, incomplete interpretations, stifling expectations and violent abstraction about women and photography. The work aims to expose our shared susceptibility to the normative power of media and to warn us about photographyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s complicity in such misrepresentation. With this work, she also explores photographyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s peculiar possibilities and limitations of photography as comprehended medium. 146

Brittany Prater Snow White and Narcissus. Digital video. 16 minutes, 15 seconds. 2012 I make videos that operate in the seductive manner that a television show or commercial might while also exposing some of the problems inherent in this very language. The goal is to examine narratives that are often used and repeated in popular culture. 147

Robin Przybysz Birth. Waxed linen, jute. 34 x 7 x 12 inches. 2015 We have all come from the womb and our junctures of growth are uniquely ours within the environmental direction of influences that surround us. My work speaks of renewal and liberation from the oppression of childhood trauma by redirecting my own path in restructuring the cellular makeup of my life story; it declares hope, persistence, and determination. 148

Carol Quint Iraqi Women. Sculpture of wood, and chicken bones. 17 x 17 x 14 inches. 2005 My sculpture is an archetype representing all women during wartime. Iraqi women continue to bear witness to war and crimes against humanity. They wear bone masks and stand in a field of bones. This is a reference to Ezekiel’s vision of the valley of the dry bones, a sense of time past and time present. “Thus say the Lord God; come from the winds of breath, and breathe on these so they may live.” The sculpture is a portrait of the transformation from victims to survivors. 149

Carly Ries S in Suspension. Archival pigment print. 14 x 14 inches. 2014 I explore the photographic portrait as an inquiry into empathetic encounters. My process and the resulting portraits of women are acts of reciprocity and invitations to reconsider our relationships to each other as photographer, subject, and viewer. Using the aesthetic languages of the nude and iconographic portraiture, my work is a contribution of a female gaze into the lens of art history. 150

Trix Rosen Women of the World Unite. Fine Art Exhibition Inkjet Paper with Archival Pigmented Ink. 12 x 18 inches. 1970 From the earliest days of my career in art and photography, I have photographed strong and defiant women who courageously break taboos, declare their political rights and re-define their cultural and sexual representation. How impassioned we were in 1970 when we hung a “Women of the World Unite” banner and a hand-painted women’s symbol from the top of Statue of Liberty. Twenty thousand women took to the streets of New York City that day, marking the 50th anniversary of our right to vote and the passing of the 19th amendment. It was largest march ever on behalf of women in the United States. 151

Heather Saunders and Erin Finley Riotous. Acrylic paint, marker, and thread on muslin. 40 x 24 inches. 2014 This piece is a tribute to Pussy Riot. Though the controversy surrounding the artist-collective-cum-band is charged with raw emotion, the moment captured here is one of quiet contemplation—and steely conviction. The text on the t-shirt, ‘Блаженны милостивы' translates as ‘Blessed are the merciful’ in reference to protest signage supporting the band. Since all three convicted women have been released from prison, the piece is a symbol of hope in the face of adversity. 152

Buket Savci Atature Entangled. Oil on canvas. 50 x 66 inches. 2014 My work is a visual diary exploring the longing for intimacy and desire. I create scenes mingled between pure reality and traces of interpreted memories. By integrating perception and reality I prompt viewers to identify with myself and indulge in the moments that should not be vanished. Like the fragmented pieces imprinted in our minds I recall the impulsive feelings shaped by color and triggered by suggestive and ordinary details. Objects also help to define the wonder of trust and playfulness in being each otherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s company 153

Heather Marie Scholl She was watched, but she was nothing. Wool and cotton thread on wool fabric. 4 x 6 inches. 2015 In my work I think about how weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re born into fantasies of the way life should be and the ways that comes crashing down around us. For me, this often means issues of gender and sexuality, however I find myself touching on many different mythological social constructs. These embroidery pieces are part of an ongoing self portrait project. They provide intimate insights into my mind and heart. By allowing vulnerability in these pieces they connect to a common experience of womanness that isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t tied to a particular time. 154

Amy Siqveland Healing: A Cross-Cultural Experience. Digital print. 8 x 12 inches. 2014 Jordan, 2014: Though known for its harsh environment and border tensions, the Dead Sea has special properties and people from many different backgrounds congregate together here to heal. 155

Ann Stoddard SmartSkirt (hoodie skirt). Video surveillance installation, social sculpture. 90 x 84 inches. 2015 SmartSkirt (hoodie skirt) (2015) is an interactive sculptural installation that invites the viewer to explore the relationship between his/her live screen image and political/social context. SmartSkirt watches the watchers via micro CCTV cameras, encourages empathy by reverse perspective: video monitors housed in hoodie sweatshirts conceptually reframe images of viewers in clothing that recalls Trayvon Martin. Monumental in scale, SmartSkirt is intended to evoke wired public space context and protective female presence. 156

Ann Stoddard Brew. Pencil on paper. 12 x 18 inches. 1995 In Brew, mythmaking-drawing asserts a subversive female voice unbounded by social constraints. Brew riffs on gender stereotypes, honors the goddess Oya, and projects ambiguity via drawing plus text: should the viewer believe the image—a woman whose head is topped by a volcano—or the narrator “outwardly she wore a mask of obedience and submission”? Drawing is central to my art practice as a means of visualization, experimentation, conceptual risk-taking. I employ text to add layers of meaning, point of view, and context. 157

Nette Forne Thomas The Cinderella Syndrome, The Ambiguous Ivory Tower. Watercolor inks on clay board. 21 x 17 inches. 2014 The title The Cinderella Syndrome, The Ambiguous Ivory Tower, alludes to the fairy tale of waiting for ‘my prince to come’. And the discovery that the ‘Ivory Tower’ might well become a confining abode which restricts freedom of expression and perpetuates dependence and conformity. 158

Marta V. Tornero The Recurring Obsession of the Spotless Shower. Wood, fiber, porcelain, digital photos. 44 x 22 x 12 inches. 2014 The Recurring Obsession of the Spotless Shower, seeks to find a plastic expression to sum up the pervasive frustrations of culturally ingrained domestic chores that perennially interfere with a womanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s reality. This work is part of my Domesticity Series, an attempt to explore the psychological struggles that we endure when facing established behavioral expectations. 159

Mary Joy Torrecampo Toleration. Acrylic on canvas. 60 x 36 inches. 2014 The act of looking from the point of view of a woman, which is not synonymous with a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;female gazeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, or from the point of view of a lesbian, is not a birthright, but a conscious effort to constantly question the way we see and produce pictures and realizing that the male gaze permeates most images of female nudes. By the nature of my sexuality and my exposure to existing male-produced images, do I see the female nude through the male gaze or is there a gaze that is essentially female? 160

Jen Urso What You Expected. Online infographic (screenshot, 9/5/13). Variable. 2013 I compiled a list of some expectations Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve encountered in my life. For two weeks I kept track of how many times I experienced each one of these expectations. The results were updated daily online using the online data visualization software, infogram: https://infogr.am/what-you-expected. 161

Cristina Velazquez Man Chops. Felt, yarn, fishing hooks, numbered pins, and instruction board. 15 x 17 inches. 2012 The human body is contested ground, most specifically for women who are continuously put under the vigilant lens seeking virginity. On opposition, men are sought after for their virility. This gender discrepancy has divided men from women. Although patriarchy have sustain power across in many cultures, in Man Chops spectators can place value on this manâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s body parts, therefore reversing the values and equalizing the burden. The manâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s silhouette produces a cut of meat map, a consumable to play with as a visually engaging commodity. 162

Shirley Verrette the careful manipulation of pictures to create a parallel life. Gouache on paper. 26 x 40 inches. 2015 Living between the U.S. and Turkey has provided me with a broad spectrum of women struggling for â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;rightsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; within the constraints of society, religion, politics. Richly diverse, these women share one commonality - their struggle for recognition of importance equal to that of man. Women and their struggle, past and present, Eastern and Western, are a strong part of my visual vocabulary. 163

Jenny Walker Untitled (for Anni and Josef). String cheese, tomato soup, cotton yard. 8 x 13 x 1.5 inches. 2015 My work explores psychological states of interiority, specifically examining the line between solitude and isolation. While a shadow draws across a wall indicating the passage of the day, the slow inching can be both meditative and maddening. The space becomes patterned by the shadows and the movement of light. The experience of time is both gradual and encompassing. Using slight shifts in color, form, material and texture, my work seeks to express these subtleties of experience. 164

Jennifer Weigel Collaboration with Keith Buchholz. Collage and digital collage, backed with foamcore. 9 x 12 inches. 2011 Feminism is not a women’s only movement; men have been and continue to be involved in gender equality and women’s rights. The exclusion of men and the LGBT community from feminist discourse denies feminism’s past, limits involvement and support, perpetuates inequality by drawing attention to our differences, and is off putting to many who otherwise identify with feminist ideals. Men should be able to enter feminist WCA art shows; it should be left to the juror’s discretion as to what perspectives and commentary should be included. 165

Jennifer Weigel Egalifemihumanity. Digital photographs printed from selected blog posts from www.egalifemihumans.blogspot.com. 50 x 50 inches. 2015 Feminism is not a women’s only movement; men have been and continue to be involved in gender equality and women’s rights. The exclusion of men and the LGBT community from feminist discourse denies feminism’s past, limits involvement and support, perpetuates inequality by drawing attention to our differences, and is off putting to many who otherwise identify with feminist ideals. Men should be able to enter feminist WCA art shows; it should be left to the juror’s discretion as to what perspectives and commentary should be included. 166

Jenifer Wightman Addendum. Three-color letterpress broadside on handmade paper. 12 x 16.5 inches. 2014 Designed in the style and dimensions of the 42-line Gutenberg Bible, Addendum updates the story of Genesis using contemporary science. To date, Addendum now accompanies 22 Gutenberg Bibles including the Bodmer Museum, Gutenberg Museum, Vatican, and Library of Congress. While the story of Genesis is a reasonable hypothesis of creation given the available information, we have learned much since the invention of the Press. Founded in the tradition of story telling, Addendum re-narrates the tropes of the Garden of Eden with images and text from scientific findings. 167

Karen Yee Self Portrait. Acrylic on canvas. 24 x 20 inches. 2013 This painting is from a series of self portraits journaling my experience of living with cancer. I am sitting on a throne, with a cushion to recline upon, which represents my good life. The dagger hanging precariously above me is a “sword of Damocles”, a metaphor for what it feels like having the cancer hanging over my head, posing the threat which could become a reality at any time. My red heart necklace is the symbol of my hope, showing I haven’t given up the fight. 168

Lu Zhang Keep In Touch. Ceramic (stoneware, glaze), sands. 15 x 20 x 35 inches. 2014 My ceramic sculpture is characteristic human figure. The figures are narratively related to each other. I am dealing with the relationship in ceramic project â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Keep In Touch.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; It contains two sculptures, which are a sleeping man in the wall and a naked girl sadly sits beside him. I am trying to transform my social awkwardness, physical fragility and psychological narrates through the act of making. I autobiographically sculpt the invisible parts of everyday existence into my vision. 169

Lu Zhang A Painter. Ceramic (stoneware, glaze), wire. 13 x 18 x 30 inches. 2014 My ceramic sculpture is characteristic human figure. The figures are all narratively related to each other. A Painter is one of the work in my male figure project. The sculpture is a longhaired male figure; has a face facing to the wall, but no mouth. This figure was created based on a friend of mine. Our discussion was philosophically mind blowing for me. However we quarreled terribly with each other all the time. He is an architecture teacher but always want to be a painter. 170

Directory for Online Gallery Artists

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Samantha Aasen Indianapolis, Indiana www.samanthalyn.com

Kathryn Burleson Osterville, Massachusetts www.behance.net/burl

Romina Del Castillo Long Beach, California www.rominadelcastillo.com

Shonagh Adelman Long Island City, New York www.shonaghadelman.com

Donna Catanzaro South Sutton, New Hampshire www.donnacat.com

Laurie Toby Edison San Francisco, CA, California www.laurietobyedison.com

Alicia Aldama Milpitas, California www.aldamazing.com

Donna Cleary Brooklyn, New York www.donnacleary.net

Alyssa Eustaquio San Jose, California www.alyssaeustaquio.com

Anne Alexander Windham, Maine www.annealexandersculptor.com

Laura Collins Chicago, Illinois www.lauracollinsart.com

Shawna Gibbs Claremont, New Hampshire www.shawnagibbs.com

Liz Collins Brooklyn, New York www.lizcollins.com

Katya Grokhovsky Brooklyn, New York www.katyagrokhovsky.net

Mary Ellen Croteau Chicago, Illinois www.maryellencroteau.net

Mary Hamill New York, New York www.maryhamill.com

Cynthia Cusick Irvine, Kentucky www.cynthiacusick.com

Kate Hampel Chicago, Illinois www.katehampel.com

Gina Dabrowski St. Paul, Minnesota www.ginadabrowski.com

Wendy Hansen Brooklyn, New York www.wendyhansenstudio.com

Ali Beyer Minneapolis, Minnesota www.mplscpa1.wix.com/mcpa#!ali -beyer/ciah

Rocio De Alba Middle Village, New York www.rocioalba.com

Edith Hillinger Berkeley, California www.edithhillingerstudio.com

Dare J. Boles Glen Allen, Virginia calvinboles@comcast.net

Sue Dean New York, New York www.suedeanworld.com

Sarah Elizabeth Honan Waterford, Ireland www.janedoe.ie

Jackie Branson Pawling, New York www.jsbranson.com

Cat Del Buono Brooklyn, New York www.catdelbuono.com 172

Judy Johnson-Williams Oakland, California www.judyjohnson-williams.com

Elaine Alibrandi Concord, Massachusetts www.elainealibrandi.net Carrie Alter Chapel Hill, North Carolina www.carriealter.com Jung Ran Bae Berkeley, California www.jungranbae.com Tessie Barrera-Scharaga San Jose, California www.tbsartstudio.com

Ann Johnston-Schuster Puyallup, Washington www.annjohnstonschuster.com

Priscilla Otani San Francisco, California www.mrpotani.com

Heather Marie Scholl Brooklyn, New York www.heathermariescholl.com

Sue Julien Brooklyn, New York www.suejulien.com

Francesca Padron New York, New York www.FrancescaPadron.com

Amy Siqveland Minneapolis, Minnesota www.amysiqveland.com

Kay Kang San Francisco, California www.artspan.org/artist/kaykang

Dominique Palladino New York, New York www.dominiquepalladino.tumblr.com

Ann Stoddard Adelphi, Maryland www.annstoddard.net

Catherine Maffioletti London, UK www.catherinemaffioletti.com

Min Kim Park West Lafayette, Indiana www.minkimpark.com

Nette Forne Thomas Maplewood, New Jersey www.nettefornethomas.com

Rose Materdomini New York, New York www.rosematerdomini.com

Brittany Prater Brooklyn, New York www.brittanyprater.com

Marta V. Tornero www. martatornero.com

Constance McBride Phoenix, Arizona www.constancemcbride.com

Robin Przybysz Carlsbad, California www.artintexture.com

Brandi Merolla Narrowsburg, New York www.ScenesFromTheAttic.com

Carol Quint NEW YORK, New York www.carolquint.com

Jennifer Mondfrans San Francisco, California www.jennifermondfrans.com

Carly Ries Chicago, Illinois www.carlyries.com

Laura Moore Chippendale, New South Wales www.lauramoore.com.au

Trix Rosen Jersey City, New Jersey www.trixrosen.com

Shirley Verrette New York, New York www.cargocollective.com/ shirleyverrette

Margaret Noble San Diego, California www.margaretnoble.net/

Heather Saunders and Erin Finley Astorville, Ontario. www.erinfinley.com www.artbyheathersaunders.blogspot.com

Jenny Walker Salem, Massachusetts jwalkerartist@gmail.com

Heather Ossandon Newark, Delaware www.hossandonart.com

Buket Savci Atature Long Island City, New York www.buketsavci.com

Jennifer Weigel Somerville, Massachusetts www.jenniferweigelart.com

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Mary Joy Torrecampo Orlando, Florida www.mjtorrecampo.com Jen Urso Phoenix, Arizona www.jenniferursoart.com Cristina Velazquez Palo Alto, California www.cristinavelazquez.com

Jenifer Wightman Brooklyn, New York www.audiblewink.com Karen Yee El Segundo, California www.karenyeefineart.com Lu Zhang Brooklyn, New York www.luzhang.org

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Essays, Poems and Feminist Writings

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VOICES by Cat Del Buono One in 4 women will be victims of severe domestic violence in their lifetime. Every 9 seconds a woman is assaulted or beaten. 4,774,000 women experience domestic violence each year in the U.S. Every day 3 women are murdered by a current or former domestic partner in the U.S. Eight million children witness domestic violence each year. These are shocking statistics but what really got people talking recently was the video of Ray Rice punching his fiancé in an elevator. Why is it that these numbers just make our eyes glaze over but when we see images of domestic violence, the severity of this problem starts to register? Studies have shown that humans react more strongly when seeing images versus text. If that is the case, maybe another way of raising awareness and promoting change is through the arts and media. An epidemic that affects women of all ages, races, and economic status should be our priority as a society. In 2014, more than 282,648 domestic incidents were reported to local law enforcement. New York City Domestic Violence Hotline received 87,374 calls and 11,108 requests for shelter. Our local domestic violence organizations try to help fix a problem that exists. Now we need to figure out how to stop it from happening in the first place. Since domestic violence is finally getting national attention in the media, it is critical to continue a dialogue before it is forgotten about. Art and media can help do this by reinforcing a message. Artworks that speak about the issue as well as what’s seen on TV, movies, and magazines can be a catalyst for change. And as Shedia Nelson of URGENT, Inc knows, starting young is key. She is program manager and an educator for the Rites of Passage Youth Empowerment Academy for girls. “Youth and young adults need more education regarding critical issues related to healthy relationships in a format that is interesting, engaging, and accessible.” Using visual media can make a great impact by influencing the young and creating an effective form of domestic violence prevention. My way of contributing is with my Voices project. My personal experience witnessing abuse influenced me to create a video installation that allows the public to see and hear from these women “directly.” The project started with the help of a grant from Baang & Burne Contemporary and a number of domestic violence organizations across the U.S. Twenty small monitors with the lips of domestic violence survivors speak of their personal experience with abuse. Together, the multiple voices create a symphony of unrecognizable words. Only when viewers come close to an individual screen do they become aware of the individual subject’s story. The necessity of this movement on the part of viewers functions as a call to action: as a society, we must not allow the epidemic of domestic violence and those who are affected by it to remain invisible. From July 8 to September 20 “Voices” can be seen at the Bronx Museum and will keep traveling the country. Past and future exhibits of Voices include a panel discussion with victim’s advocates, survivors, art therapists, journalists, law enforcement, and others. I believe by coming together and finding new ways to address domestic violence, we can get to the root of the issue and end the cycle.

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Thelma & Louise by Renée M. Browne We'll be violent and imperfect to the uneducated masses, Issuing out attitude for the subordinate girl classes; Flipping off authority ‘til the patriarchy crashes, We'll flash the angry men and bat our long eyelashes. We'll drive out in our T-Bird like a couple’f badasses, While I look like Cady Stanton in my boots and dark sunglasses; You'll resemble anarchy in your Esmerelda sashes, And together we'll go down in brilliant, blinding flashes.

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How To Spot a Feminist by Sally Edelstein Clutching their dusty, out of print copy of “The Misogynist Field Guide to North American Feminists,” many took to twitter at the urging of a conservative radio host, using the hashtag #HowToSpotAFeminist in pursuit of this latest sport. After conservative radio personality Doc Thompson sent out a message tweeting “Any tips on #HowToSpotAFeminist, twitter exploded with sexist tweets , the hashtag sparking an angry debate about feminism. Predictably mocking feminists as whiny, unattractive and unable to attract a man, these hackneyed tropes seem straight out of an episode of Mad Men where jokes were cracked about meetings “being bitch sessions, strictly consciousness lowering” a clear jab at the newly formed women's lib. Hunting Down a Misogynist

Now 45 years after the women’s liberation movement stormed onto the scene opening a floodgate of discourse about women’s rights, it’s déjà vu all over again. Ironically because feminist ideas are so taken for granted, few women think of themselves as feminists. Just as the right has demonized liberalism, so the backlash has convinced the public that feminists are the true American scourge. The modern aversion to the word feminism and the archaic clichés of feminists as male bashing, make-up-less, angry and non domestic are the very same stereotypes perpetuated by the media during the burgeoning women's liberation movement of the 1970's. With more dissatisfaction among women regarding huge gender disparities in pay and advancement, along with sexual harassment at work, women began to revolt. "Lib Poster" Illustration from Newsweek Magazine 3/23/70 Women in Revolt

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Women in Revolt

Women's liberation, members demand full rights for the once frail sex: A new American dream for the 70's. Newsweek Magazine 3/23/70 Photo by Howard Harrison-Nancy Palmer

Newsweek Cover March 23, 1970 "Women in Revolt" Cover Photo by Richard Ley

In 1970 as the national women's movement gathered steam, Newsweek magazine's all male management decided to put feminism on their cover, featuring a lengthy article entitled Women's Lib: The War on “Sexism.” A new specter is haunting America," it announced ominously —the specter of militant feminism. Convinced they have little to lose but their domestic chains, growing number of women are challenging the basic assumptions of what they consider a male-dominated society. Right off the bat, the magazine offers an explanation why a woman was writing this feature, a job usually best left to a man. In an age of social protest the old cause of U.S. feminism has flared into new and angry life in the women's liberation movement. It is a phenomenon difficult to cover; most of the feminists wont even talk to male journalists who are hard put in turn to tell the story with the kind of insight a woman can bring to it. For this week’s coverage Newsweek sought out Helen Dudar, a topflight journalist who is also a woman. Forever solidifying the stereotype of the feminist as unattractive, combative and a women in need of Nair, the article offered the reader its' own guide to spotting and identifying a feminist. Plunging into the movement can mean a new lifestyle,” the article explains. “Some women give up make up; a lot of them fret over whether to give up depilation in favor of furry legs; A few of them are bouncy looking lot, having given up diets and foundation garments.

1970 negative stereotypes of feminists as karate chopping, bra burning, male hating women in desperate need of shaving their legs still persist.

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Femininity vs Feminism

The image of the unattractive feminist stuck. By mocking and dismissing the way feminist activists looked and behaved, they reinforced the same notions that sometimes sexual objectification and subordination were just fine. Unless you were a saucy feminist like Germaine Greer, the media noted, a libber that even men liked with her easy charm that distinguished her from her militant sisters, you could count of being pretty lonely.

Though eager to shed many of the holdover trappings of the 1960 femininity, the backlash against feminism was filled with cautionary tales about what happens to women who are too outspoken and too much freedom. (L) Germaine Greer, an attractive Australian journalist and theorist was a major feminist voice in the 20th century who was palpable to men (R) The liberated lady could still swing to a new beat in a bra and girdle in this 1970 Maidenform Ad

You've Come a Long Way Baby "And virtually all of them in the movement light their own cigarettes and open their own doors,â&#x20AC;? the article continues. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Chivalryâ&#x20AC;? is a cheap price to pay for power, one lib leader commented. In any event the small masculine niceties now appear to liberationists as extensions of a stifling tradition that overprotects women and keeps her in her place.

Vintage Virginia Slims Cigarettes Ad 1971 Women could celebrate their own slim cigarette

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Male Chauvinist Pigs

A favorite negative stereotype was the hostile, humorless, manbashing, sexually uptight, karate-chopping libber who saw male chauvinism at every turn. Newsweek explained: Among the man things that incite movement women to fury are the liberties men take in addressing them on the street-whistles “Hey Honey” greetings, obscene entreaties. Casual annoyances to the unenlightened, this masculine custom becomes, in the heightened atmosphere of women's liberation, an enraging symbol of male supremacy reflecting mans expectation of female passivity and more important, his knowledge of her vulnerability.

Photo Newsweek Magazine March 23, 1970

“We will not be leered at smirked at, whistled at by men enjoying their private fantasies of rape and dismemberment, " announced a writer in a Boston lib publication.” WATCH OUT. MAYBE YOU’LL FINALLY MEET A REAL CASTRATING FEMALE it boldly announced. The lib view is that most girls discouraged from developing their muscles grow up soft and weak and without any defense reflexes to speak of. A little karate can go a long way in a woman's life, according to Robin Morgan, a poet a wife a mother and the designer of the movements signet- a clenched fist within the circle of the biological symbol for female. In the new feminist doctrine karate is not merely a physical or psychological weapon, It is also political if you agree that rape is a political act." Thus the karate-chopping libber became forever part of pop culture. 181

Hai Karate Hai Karate ran a campaign offering a small self-defense instruction booklet sold with each bottle of after shave to help wearers fend off women. The notion being that the aftershave would turn women into wild maniacs who couldn’t wait to attack you. “New Hai Karate is so powerful it drives women right out of their minds, That’s why we have to put instructions on selfdefense in every package." In an odd coincidence, karate was already part of the pop culture landscape in a series of ads run by Hae Karate After Shave, but here it was the man performing karate to defend himself against his sex crazed girlfriend ( or even his own wife ). Hai Karate After Shave ad 1969

Newsweek Women in Revolt Ironically, as Newsweek planned this issue on Women's Lib, they were oblivious to their own staff of women in revolt. As the rumblings of the embryonic women's movement began to be heard in 1970 , some women in the workplace began quietly grumbling too. With the help of attorney Eleanor Holmes Norton, 46 women employees sued Newsweek Magazine for sex discrimination, charging it was a segregated system of journalism that divided the work solely on the basis of gender.

Newsweek's News Hens Sue

The magazine’s well educated highly qualified women were no longer satisfied answering phones and checking facts for its male staff of writers and editors. When it came to writing they were forced to hand over their reporting to their male colleagues.

Meeting secretly, the group of women teamed up with a women's rights lawyer challenging the sex segregation jobs, becoming the first group of media professionals to sue for employment discrimination based on gender under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. The night before the issue hit the newsstands the Newsweek women sent a memo announcing a press conference. Media savvy, the women journalists called a press conference, filing the suit on March 16, 1970 the same day their magazine ran. Crowded into a conference room at the ACLU, “Newsweek's News Hens” as the N.Y. Daily News called them, held up a copy of their magazine whose brightly yellow cover reflected their own story: Women in Revolt. 182

Body by Katya Grokhovsky Gather I own this Body I bend this way Diagonally Perpendicular to your requests You whisper a half and half of a compliment It keeps me stirring and waiting Stagnating ever so slightly No, you posses none of the empathy My ornamental presence plays strongly against your will Liberty, leading the people: she sang I construct a gold platform for you to stand on I am conditioned to stay soft Women draw circles in pink skies It might be time to leave or never leave at all The past is condensed into cement Unpopular and emptied into the loneliest night Sorrow for me We scraped our tongues with scissors The end was not my fault I will be beautiful again, I promise I will be dazzling This body has stabbed itself into darkness This is MY origin of the world There has never been a man to love Bitten, scarred, my flesh is round, punished: lumps of veins, curled up in corners There, I find my violence Lied to Broken in This body is an ongoing construction site Built by men, on top of my stomach, stand the skyscrapers of my protests Overlooked, forgotten, fallen, blamed Underwater, I am adrift in a pool of thrilling regrets You are ugly, but your smile is nice Brush that dust off your lips There I am, an elderly woman, with flowing grey hair, twerking for you.

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Bay Area Women Artists Legacy Project: A work in progress by Edith Hillinger The Guerrilla Girls’ Kathe Kollwitz was recently quoted in Art Ltd. magazine: “The art world [is] controlled more and more by billionaire collectors who sit on the boards of museums and auction houses, exerting undue influence, and skewing what is being preserved for the future. . . . If things continue like this, a hundred years from now museums will be showing only the super-expensive white male version of the art of our time, with a few tokens thrown in. We need to make sure that museums cast a wider net and collect the real story of our culture.” While exhibition opportunities have increased for women, preserving their life’s work after they die has not become any easier. The demand for an artist’s work, how well she is represented in museum collections, and her sales and auction prices have a direct impact on her ability to ensure her legacy. Even among the best-known artists with international reputations, women lag far behind their male counterpartsi n creating foundations that will care for their legacy after their death. In 2010 the Aspen Institute published a study of artistendowed foundations in the United States. According to its report, 70% of these foundations are created to handle the legacy of male artists, 20% handle the legacy of women artists, and 10% deal with the legacy of artist couples. For an artist’s foundation to be viable, it must be adequately funded to care for the artist’s legacy, and museums and collectors must be interested in acquiring the artist’s work. These conditions pose a distinct challenge for women artists, whose work tends to sell for a lot less money and is less often collected by museums and public institutions. Given all the difficulties women face in creating individual foundations, my thoughts have turned to establishing a collective legacy foundation for women. A group of us have started the Bay Area Women Artists (BAWA) Legacy Project in an effort to save the contribution of women artists in the Bay Area. We now have more than thirty members, each with more than twenty years of studio practice. The BAWA Legacy Project is currently engaged in creating a website. Each woman will have her own page, with five images of her work, an artist’s statement, and her feminist history. A writer familiar with feminist art history will set the context for this group presentation on an introductory page. Once the website is in place, we plan to meet with curators from various local art museums. We hope to partner with an institution that values the preservation of women artists’ contributions and will house, exhibit, and make available for research the work of our group of artists. We believe that this is essential for a true understanding of art and feminism in the Bay Area.

Bay Area Women Artists' Legacy Project members

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“Man of the Year”

by Mary V. Judge

Isn’t it ironic that the first award in computer science was titled “Man of the Year” and it went to a woman? I’d say not only ironic, but sad. Ironic in the obvious assumption, that only a man would possess the intelligence and capabilities to contribute to computer science and sad, that in 1969 this biased assumption was woven tightly into our cultural, historic and personal fabric. When asked if “Man of the Year” offended her, Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper responded in her hell-no fashion and said she took it to mean “mankind”. Her feathers were rarely ruffled when faced with adversity; in fact it often invigorated her. In 1941, Hopper, unsatisfied with her life as a professor at Vassar, responded to the national call-to-action ignited by the attack on Pearl Harbor. Being too old and underweight, by naval standards, she was persistent and found a way in. She joined WAVES – Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service and began a career resulting in major contributions, not just for the Navy, but for all “mankind”. WWII was a war of science and women in mathematics were hired to hand calculate ballistic trajectory tables. Their titles in the Navy were “Computers” and the time it took them to calculate were quantified as “Girl Hours”. You might say that Hopper got in the computer science industry on the ground floor, but having worked on the first computer, there were no other floors. There were no manuals. There were no standards. She was second in command. Although her commanding officer and others met her with shock and dismay (that she was female), Hoppers competence, unique skills, dedication, and military rank leveled the gender bias. There is a freeing quality about the military; you don’t have to think about what to wear, what to eat or keeping a house, you do your job. This was a perfect environment for Hopper to flourish. 185

She was assigned a secret project at Harvard on the Mark I – the automatic calculator. “Gee, that’s the prettiest gadget I’ve ever seen,” said Hopper in an interview. This was not an exaggeration. Standing 51’ long, 8’ wide and 8’ tall the piece of machinery was massive and the day she showed up to work the large cover was off and the inner workings of thousands switches, relays and knobs were exposed. She could walk inside of it. As a girl she loved dismantling alarm clocks to figure out how they worked. Fortunately, for her, innovation and exploration were encouraged in her home. She grew up in a loving, upper-middle class household in New York City. Her mother, having grown up in a similar privileged and intellectual environment herself, was very intelligent, mathematically trained, articulate and outspoken especially on world politics. She told her children that in her day it was unthought-of for a girl to go onto college, but she was determined to have her two daughters do just that. Grace’s father was also educated and ran a thriving insurance business. Due to a heart illness, both of his legs were amputated. It was through his physical struggles and the realization that his life expectancy was shortened (from poor circulation), he was insistent that his daughters went to college to instill the tools needed to become independent and selfsufficient. Grace would be the exception to the rule for women of her era. But WWII did create many exceptions and unique opportunities, especially for women. The U.S. kicked into full on military mode and nearly everyone played their part. As millions of men joined the armed services, enormous opportunities opened up to women in fields that previously were billed as men’s work. Women became scientists, engineers, and held jobs in manufacturing despite the previous popular conception that they were too weak to build things. Women built aircraft, warships and tanks, they excelled in scientific and technical fields and were paid well. Grace Murray Hopper and a handful of other women found their unique niche in the military with their mathematical training, as most females in the armed forces took rank in clerical or medical roles as nurses. But what happened to millions of women when millions of men returned home? They were fired or asked to leave. Most of the jobs for women that remained were considered “Pink Collar”; waitresses, secretaries and other clerical jobs that paid much less. Or they could get married, become a homemaker, and have babies. Having consciously traded marriage and family for her career, the prospect of not doing what she loved sent Hopper into a deep depression after the war. She drank excessively. Family and friends stepped in and dissuaded her from suicide and helped her to stop drinking. And until she reenlisted in the Navy did she see purpose in her life. As the civilian tech world was quickly harboring a men’s fraternity type culture, the military once again shielded Hopper from the sexism growing stronger as Madison Avenue, Hollywood and TV were promoting women to stay at home. Along with the civilian men such as; mechanics, scientists and workers in various fields of production focused on fending off our future enemies, Hopper became a Cold War “Warrior” within the Navy. Rear Admiral Grace Hopper was a rare and unique example of women of her time. To get more insight into the cultural atmosphere of the era I turn to my family. I asked my mother who was about 20 years old when the war ended, what she remembers of women leaving their jobs after the war, she said, “Yes, they left because they had to AND there was a great sense of guilt amongst woman that they had the 186

had the veteran’s jobs. And don’t forget, men also had opportunities to go to college after the war, most of whom wouldn’t have been able to before. That furthered their advancement in society.” After hearing this, it becomes clearer to me how this sort of national pride or duty set us up for decades of sexist propaganda and the mindset of “keeping women in their place”. In my eyes, my parents were exemplary byproducts of WWII. During the war in the Navy, my father became an obstetrician and gynecologist. He said, “I wanted a field that dealt with the beginning of life rather than the end.” and he did just that. In fact, I often think that my father’s 55 year career was a contributing factor to the post-war baby boom having delivered over 10,000 babies. When I asked my mother what she had hoped to become as she entered adulthood, her response to me spoke volumes, “I wanted to marry a lawyer and Mary Kelly (her best friend) wanted to marry a doctor. We aspired to marry the man with the job we wished for. There were very few examples of women in those jobs. The closest we could get was through our husband…sad.” For college, my mother attended the Garland School of Homemaking in Boston. The aim of the school was to equip young women to become efficient homemakers. Along with meal preparation, sewing and household management, they also offered classes in the arts. Like military standards of dress and decorum, each student of Garland must always present themselves in a “lady-like” manner. She recounts, “during a music appreciation class, the teacher, a strict Yankee type, spotted my girdle-free back through the slats of my chair and reprimanded me for not wearing one.” My mother probably weighed 110 pounds, so girdles weren’t just to pull a figure in, it was expected bondage, the rules of a proper woman. I was happy to hear that she did have one “free-spirited” art teacher who took her under her wing. “I forget her name, but I assume she was married. She was the first person I had met with a hyphenated last name. She’d accompany me to the soldiers’ home in Chelsea (Massachusetts), where we’d teach soldiers to paint on silk. I loved it. I also did an internship at the Gilchrist department store. I’d deliver things to the advertising department where women were drawing the ads for the clothes. I still think things look so much better drawn than photographed, gorgeous… They offered me a job, but I hadn’t graduated yet, so I had to decline.” She graduated from Garland in 1946 and received a gold pin in the shape of, ready for this… a broom! Fortunately, after her 6th child entered school, my mother went back to college and on to receive a masters degree. She became a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and enjoyed her career for decades. I feel lucky to have been born into a time when women were fighting their way back to freedom, but unfortunately we’re not there yet. You’d think that since the first computer science award went to a woman, that women would have established a foothold in the industry. Like my mother not having female doctors or lawyers as role models, it seems that leaders in tech world are mostly men and more women are sorely needed. In 2014, 8,000 women attended the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computer Science. This is a positive turnout, but the reality is that the gender bias against women in computer related fields is taking away opportunities. The percentage of women in technology is shrinking and the establishment of more laws and legislation for gender equality in the workplace is needed and they need to be enforced. More and more articles are appearing on the misogynistic culture in Silicon Valley. In February 2015, a Stanford computer xxx 187

science major, Lea Coligado wrote on Fortune.com, “As I progressed further in my track, taking upper-level courses, I watched the number of girls in my CS classes slowly dwindle to the point that I could count 20 girls in a 100-person class on a good day (and two of them would just turn out to be men with long hair). And I began noticing all the inklings of sexism, something I’d previously thought of as media folklore.” She recounts an example: a male classmate’s jawed dropped when another guy told him he spent his summer internship at Facebook and exclaimed that he must be really smart to have nabbed that one. But when Coligado responded that she too had an internship at Facebook, this is what he said, “Oh… well then, I should have applied for that internship.” “I was floored.” said Coligado, “What did he mean by that? Why would he react so differently? I didn’t even know (him) well, so what about me could possibly make my internship at Facebook suddenly seem like a giveaway, a charity case?” Since that moment she became aware of the presence of sexism in the field. She has been told “girls don’t code because they’re, you know, artsier”. She became self-conscious that wearing dresses in a sea of tees and jeans worn by male coun terparts and her high-pitch timbered voice lead to not being heard or taken seriously in meetings. With perseverance and help from mentors, she has risen above the crippling effects of discrimination and has launched a blog, Women of Silicon Valley, which features female role models in tech. The fight for gender equality continues and the irony of Hopper’s 1969 Man of the Year award is a troubling reminder that not much has changed.

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Stop Telling My Daughter She's Pretty by Lucy Miller Robinson People love to tell my five year-old daughter that she's pretty. I don't take this personally. For some reason, the appearance of the female is fair game for casual conversation. My daughter has a unique appearance. African, Native American, European and Eastern European blood courses through her veins, and that's just what we know from our recent ancestors. Some day we will send away her saliva for the personal genome test. She has a mass of fine curls and golden brown skin from daddy, deep set almond-shaped eyes and unusual eyebrows from mommy. She is beautiful, and people love to tell her so. I venture to say all little girls are beautiful. I venture to believe this is inner-beauty filtering from every orifice of their young unadulterated love-seeking, love-seeing bodies. And it's not just the little girls who are lovely. It's the grown-up girls, too. We are stunning, every one of us an idiosyncratic blueprint of beauty. I know you know this. We hold truth in the center of our hearts. It never leaves us, even if we forget it's there. Even if we think we can't see it. But well-meaning adults, usually strangers, emphasize a young girl's appearance when they publicly praise her beauty. She is thinking: "I am pretty! They like me because I am pretty!" Tomorrow this translates to: "I must be pretty so that they will like me!" If she comes to believe that superficial beauty is an integral facet of her identity, she will suffer a crisis of self-loathing when someone makes a negative comment concerning her appearance--as they inevitably will. She was just three years-old when it happened in a blatant way by a fellow little girl who rejected my daughter's friendship on account of her hair. As her mother, I cannot erase her suffering, nor should I try. I cannot keep her in a bubble of love. Although we live in a diverse city, she is very much in the racial minority, particularly in our neighborhood and socioeconomic class. I don't want her to grow up believing that our physical bodies have any impact on our hearts, minds, or souls. My daughter has not yet entered kindergarten, but she already steals my lipstick and styles her hair. We celebrate femininity in our family, we are not afraid of the great feminine. Even so, I ask her to wipe off red lipstick before we leave the house because of the questionable attention it brings. But I don't ask her to brush her hair before we leave unless it's a special occasion. I seek the balance between caring enough and not caring too much. For self-care comes from self-love, but selfobsession comes from self-loathing. I can tell her where beauty comes from: the inside. I can tell her how good it makes me feel to look at her because I love her. I can tell her that it's okay to admire other people's hair and skin but still love her own hair and skin. But I am only one person, so I need your help, too. Please stop telling my daughter she is pretty. Because I don't want her to obsess over her appearance at the cost of her other passions and talents. Because beauty is subjective and bodies are subject to change--she changes every day. Because these comments about her appearance, day after day, harden her to beauty, turning it into something fixed rather than fluid. Finally, to the beauty beholders: don't take this personally. I am not angry. I know you want to brighten her day, but I sincerely hope you can find something else about my daughter that interests you. 189

The Ambivalence of Ambition by Priscilla Otani Years ago, during my stint in a human resource department of all-women managers, a colleague announced that she had applied for a newly created director position and had won the job. She received lukewarm congratulations from us that diluted her happiness. Behind her back, some thought she didn't deserve the job. Others said she had no sense of her place (she was a job ranking below us). Still others added that it was sneaky of her to apply for the job before it was posted. Our Senior Vice President had another view. He told us,â&#x20AC;&#x153;There is nothing wrong for a woman to have ambition.â&#x20AC;? These words have always stayed with me.

I feel ambivalent about my own ambition. I fall into the trap of thinking that if I work hard enough, if I create something extraordinary, my talent and gifts would be recognized. I am afraid to speak openly about my ambitions or successes for fear of criticism. I hesitate from naming a fair price for my services or art. The inner voice of criticism is loud. And there is behind my back, criticism that comes from other women. I am finely tuned to the undercurrent of envy behind murmurs of congratulations. It is uncomfortable and I feel vulnerable.

Detail of Ms. Fortune by Priscilla Otani

Opportunities and equality for women have advanced because of feminism, but there is still a long way to go. Until we can accept ambition in another woman and support it through mentoring and encouragement and until we can stand strong in our own ambitions, our work is not done. My piece, "Ms Fortune," is a jar full of fortune cookies that contain fortunes and misfortunes befalling women today. May they provide guidance for actions that help us overcome our ambivalence.

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Cristina Velazquez

F is for Feminism Feminism Not just another -ism like Futurism, and Barbarism but a true fight against omission Feminism utters discontent and at large a significant amount of ignorance Feminism Synonymous with girl-power with justice for all women, and many other silent Voices Silent voices are those of their children but not to be ignored is the reason for this action Feminism Is antonymous with male-hater Needed are both genders in the fight Against The disproportion of fairness against Women in this world Growing lives it is still the highest responsibility on women Feminism Compensates this action with better reflection We are all born out of a womb Art by Cristina Velazquez

Feminism To repay womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s labor to carry lives This is the greatest act of Feminism.

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Should men be allowed to enter feminist-themed Women’s Caucus for Art exhibitions? by Jennifer Weigel Over the past several years, I have regularly entered feminist-themed Women’s Caucus for Art exhibitions while collaborating with male friends and contemporaries who could not enter on their own. It bothers me that men are excluded from these exhibitions because they have been and continue to be involved in the feminist movement, and they deserve to be acknowledged. Although I understand the need for women’s only shows and venues and realize that women still struggle for recognition, I do not think that either gender should be excluded from entering an art show in a juried context. Reverse discrimination is not an ongoing solution; I think we do more to empower women archivists, artists, critics, curators, documentarians, gallery directors, historians, jurors, and scholars by funding their projects, hiring their services, and preserving and promoting their work and legacies. I firmly believe that it should be up to the juror’s discretion as to what artworks entered are accepted versus not, rather than eliminating potential entries (along with those points of view) from the onset. This is especially true when exploring more activist and socio-political themes in order to combat discrimination in either and/or both directions. And opening up such opportunities can also increase credibility and enhance viewership among wider audiences. To exclude men from entering emphasizes our differences and can reinforce the idea that women’s issues don’t affect men when in reality they affect all of us. Domestic violence, environmental issues, food supply concerns, gender identity, healthcare, rape, reproductive rights, war, water rights… these are not gender-specific issues, even if they impact women and men differently. I recognize the importance of women's shows, especially when confronting male dominated subjects like the nude figure, body and self, identity, etc. where so much focus has been placed on the male gaze for way, way too long at the expense of the female. It's essential that women's voices be heard loud and clear on these topics in particular, because we have been boxed in, shamed, silenced and stigmatized too long. But I also think it's integral to be as inclusive as possible when breaching subjects like feminism and sexism because when we aren't inclusive regarding gender inequality and movements we cause too many people to dismiss what we have to say because we are only providing one point of view. It's a difficult position to be in and the male influence, effect and involvement must be preset in order to truly open discourse on these topics and to not risk alienating both male feminists and younger women who identify with feminist values but don't see themselves aligned with the movement. We are currently living in a time of remarkable change, with gender roles being blurred and distinctions being redefined. It is my hope that we can further cast aside our differences to create more inclusive environments where everyone has opportunity to raise their voices, express their joys and grievances, and come to realize that we are truly all in this together.

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Gloria and the Automatic Choke by Margi Weir When I was a young college student, attending a women’s college in Massachusetts, I had the opportunity to pick up Gloria Steinem from the airport and escort her to the school for a speaking engagement. I was very excited at being able to meet and talk to a Feminist Icon, which she was, even back then. In those days, I was driving a Plymouth Duster. It had an automatic choke that invariably froze shut in the cold Massachusetts winters. I had learned to deal with this by opening the hood and sticking a pencil in the automatic choke so that it got more air and the vehicle would start. I was very pleased with myself for having acquired this ability to tinker with the engine of my vehicle as any man could do. So when I loaded Ms. Steinem into my car at the airport and the engine wouldn’t start, it was with great pride that I jumped out and opened the hood. The look on my passenger’s face showed that she was far less impressed with my defiant act of feminism than I was. She was, in fact, not impressed at all and seemed only concerned about getting to her speaking engagement without further incident. I was immediately able to get the engine to turn over and the car successfully started. I remember being so proud that I had demonstrated my independence and skill with an automobile to Gloria Steinem. I felt that I had earned a coveted badge of feminism that day, a badge for competence in male-dominated auto-mechanics. Even though Gloria didn’t see it that way, I felt empowered by my action. I discovered that day that what seemed like a giant step forward for one woman often might not seem like much to another. It is the importance of the action to the individual performing it that counts, not how grand the gesture. Each woman’s little step does lead down a path that adds up to a lifetime of little steps that result in greater independence for all.

Weir. Antimacassar 2. Dimensions variable, vinyl on wall or digital print on rag paper, 2012

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THANK YOU!

A big thank you to WCA and the following individuals for

their help with the catalog and exhibition!

Helen Obermeyer Simmons Helen Agnes Peace Van Dyke Brown Print with Watercolor and Collage 16 x 20 inches 2008

Priscilla Otani Foxy Wedding Installation Variable 2015

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