artbeats

ARTBEATS: honoring the suffrage movement

BY Lonnie Broadvalley

Joyeux Femmes I by Marilyn Charlatan Dix

I’ve been so whipped up and worn out by current events I almost forgot to celebrate anything last year. At the top of my ‘Overshadowed Celebrations’ list is the anniversary of the women’s right to vote in the U.S. The Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center has dedicated the main floor gallery space to “Raising Our Voices” and “The Legacy Continues,” two complementary shows centered on empowering women. Curator of exhibits at WVMCC, Kasey Koski writes: “Women won their right to vote in the United States 100 years ago. Much has changed since then. This exhibit will both educate and celebrate women’s voices. Our main gallery will feature a historic synopsis of women’s suffrage in the State along with the 90th anniversary show of Women Painters of Washington. We are honored to host this celebration of the female voice.”

This savvy venue has adapted right along with changing health and safety requirements, adding interactive virtual tours, instructional videos, and a video series about social justice allowing anyone to explore and learn from home. Voices” online or in person, allow yourself a little time to read and explore the art associated with a powerful and important movement. North Central Regional Library volunteer, Diane McKenzie, even set up a turn of the century style reading nook with comfy seats and stacks of literature on empowerment, environment, sisterhood, the civil rights, labor, and suffrage movements to name a few. I think this component of the exhibit is especially important, connecting diverse perspectives on the broader struggle for human rights. (Resource lists for the reading nook are available for download when you visit virtually). Juried by local artist Jan Evenhus, “The Legacy Continues: Empowering Women” is a group show featuring contemporary artists and members of Women Painters of Washington celebrating their 90th year as an organization. Bound together by theme, the exhibit includes the various styles and mediums from artists around the state. Many of the artists reference caretaking, farming, sisterhood, and a legacy of strong women as sources of inspiration and strength.

It is so important to mark the milestones that honor and celebrate the hard work of those who came before us. It is also vi-

Mural by Kasey Koski

Amber Waves by Kathie Bliss

tal to focus on the relevance of these issues with a wide lens. Historian Katherine M. Marino writes in her article titled, “The International History Of The U.S. Suffrage Movement,” “The transnational history of the women’s suffrage movement shows us that activists and movements outside the United States, and a broad range of diverse and international goals were critical to organizing for that right deemed so quintessentially American—the right to vote. It reminds us how much we in the United States have to learn from feminist struggles around the world.”

As always, if you look just under the surface of this American story of grit and victory you’ll find a subplot of racial tension and class warfare - hallmarks of a threatened democracy. Pairing an exhibit about the history of the suffragette movement with female artists celebrating empowerment and endurance is affirmation that life and art are inseparable. Art and protest are forms of self expression requiring both individual and collective participation. Removing art from its cultural context is on par with co-opting a movement to serve the oppressors - two of colonialism’s very worst habits. Creative individuals are already transforming our nation’s most recent adolescent melt down into song, rhythm, and color in works that will help all of us to better understand what we’re going through. This exhibit closes Feb. 6th - so get on it!!

WVMCC link to Raising Our Voices virtual tour: https://my.matterport.com/ show/?m=H7cEPKKHZyd

NCRL downloadable resource lists can be found on clipboards in the reading nook.

Social Justice Series: https:// www.wenatcheevalleymuseum. org/social-justice-series/ WPW website: https://womenpainters.com/

Link to Katherine M. Marino article The International History of the U.S. Suffrage Movement: https://origins.osu.edu/ article/19th-amendment-suffrage-women-vote C