Women in the Arts Winter/Spring 2021

Winter/Spring 2021

CHAMPION WOMEN THROUGH THE ARTS dear members and friends, This spring, we reopen our doors to the public with Sonya Clark: Tatter, Bristle, and Mend, the artist’s first major career survey. The exhibition considers Clark’s central themes, such as heritage, labor, language, and visibility, which she has probed in her art over the past twenty-five years. Originally organized by NMWA for fall 2020, the exhibition was delayed due to the pandemic. Today, as the U.S. continues to grapple with COVID-19 and the deep inequalities and violence of structural racism, Clark’s art speaks volumes, advocating for clarity and transformation.

While I hope that many of you will be able to experience Clark’s work in person, NMWA is also sharing her art online and in print. To engage from home, visit our website to view an online exhibition, and mark your calendar for a Fresh Talk on April 18. You may also purchase the catalogue, which includes imagery of all the works on view and new texts—an original poem, a recent Q&A with the artist, and more—that illuminate key aspects of her art.

Also this season, we debut an innovative online exhibition, Reclamation: Recipes, Remedies, and Rituals. Conceived as a virtual experience that elevates traditions around food, nourishment, and healing, Reclamation features content submitted by the public alongside work by nine interdisciplinary artists who activate their own kitchen tables.

Finally, in the Teresa Lozano Long Gallery, Mary Ellen Mark: Girlhood features images by Mark (1940–2015), one of the most respected documentary and portrait photographers of her generation. The exhibition is made possible thanks to a recent donation of more than 160 of the artist’s photographs by the Photography Buyers Syndicate. I am inspired by this group of donors and their love of photography, and we are grateful for their generosity toward NMWA and many other art institutions.

My sincere thanks, too, to you, our members and supporters, for your steadfast commitment and enthusiasm for NMWA.

Susan Fisher Sterling The Alice West Director

MUSEUM INFORMATION

WOMEN IN THE ARTS

1250 New York Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20005

Winter/Spring 2021 Volume 39, no. 1

PUBLIC TRANSIT

Women in the Arts is a publication of the National Museum of Women in the Arts®

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Alicia Gregory

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On the cover: Sonya Clark, Cotton Candy Flower (detail), 2016; Sugar and cotton pods, 3 x 10 x 10 in.; On loan from the artist; © Sonya Clark; Photo by Taylor Dabney Director’s photo: © Michele Mattei

Contents

“Through thread and needle, you can capture stories. . . . Textiles [are] a way of understanding who we are culturally.”

SONYA CLARK, PAGE 8

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Mary Ellen Mark: Girlhood

Mark created documentary photographs and portraits of individuals often living outside of mainstream society, capturing her subjects with empathy and candor. hannah shambroom //

FEATURES

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Sonya Clark: Tatter, Bristle, and Mend

Clark transforms everyday objects through a vast range of fiber-art techniques, reworking concepts and materials to address race and visibility, explore Blackness, and redress history. kathryn wat and hannah shambroom

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Reclamation: Recipes, Remedies, and Rituals

In a participatory online exhibition, artists activate their kitchen tables, recontextualizing connections among art, women, nourishment, and healing. melani n. douglass

// DEPARTMENTS

2 Arts News 4 Culture Watch 6 Education Report 7 Dedicated Donors: Charter Members 14 Calendar 18 Recent Acquisitions: Hung Liu 28 Supporting Roles 29 Museum Shop

Arts News 2

WINTER/SPRING 2021

DANIEL SCHWARTZ PHOTOGRAPHY

Abigail DeVille, Light of Freedom, 2020; Welded steel, cabling, rusted metal bell, painted mannequin arms, painted metal scaffolding, and wood, 156 x 96 x 96 in.

In Memoriam We mourn the passing of pioneering artist, feminist, and museum patron Nelleke Langhout Nix (known professionally as Nelleke Nix), who died on January 18. Born in 1939 in the Netherlands, Nix moved to the U.S. in 1968.

She created and taught art and organized initiatives in support of women artists. Nix once wrote, “I came to believe women artists were not in control of their own future but that their destiny was controlled by a male-oriented society. I decided to try to make a difference.”

For decades, Nix maintained a studio for her printmaking and mixed-media work on Mercer Island, Washington, and she was a member of SOHO20 Gallery, New York. The museum owns four of her artists’ books—one created expressly for NMWA’s collection. These poetic volumes express her reflections on subjects as varied as the phases of the moon and her childhood during the Second World War. In addition to her artistic achievements, Nix was a passionate supporter of the museum. She and her husband, Ernst Langhout, were founding members, and she was a longtime member of the NMWA Advisory Board and founder of NMWA’s Washington State

PHOTO BY ANDY ROMER

Momentary in Bentonville, Arkansas, March 25–September 26, 2021, and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., October 15, 2021–April 17, 2022.

Committee. In a landmark gift, she donated a collection of correspondence related to the life and work of Frida Kahlo (1907–1954). The Nelleke Nix and Marianne Huber Collection: The Frida Kahlo Papers consists of letters, postcards, clippings, and other materials, comprising a key collection in NMWA’s Betty Boyd Dettre Library and Research Center.

NMWA Director Susan Fisher Sterling says, “I can’t say enough about Nelleke. She understood so much about the world and about art and was a mentor to me. I loved her stories about the early days of feminist art, her joyful laugh and lively intelligence. Her dedication to NMWA was a gift to us all. She will be greatly missed.”

Light of Freedom For New York City’s Madison Square Park Conservatory, artist Abigail DeVille created a public sculpture, Light of Freedom (2020), that speaks to the current pandemic and movement for racial justice.

Grounded by the words of Frederick Douglass (“If there is no struggle there is no progress”), the work makes reference to the Statue of Liberty’s torch and the scaffolding that surrounded it during construction in the late 1800s. Light of Freedom honors the first enslaved Africans who helped build New York City, critiques the promise of “liberty and justice for all,” and celebrates the ways that struggle can lead to change.

DeVille’s work is going on tour: it will be on view at The

Winner’s Circle Many foundations and nonprofits have enlarged or expanded their giving during COVID-19, extending new support to artists. In October, Chicagobased nonprofit 3Arts awarded its new $50,000 Next Level/ Spare Room Award to visual artists Hu’o’ng Ngô, Folayemi Wilson, and Amanda Williams.

In November, Anonymous Was A Woman (AWAW) announced its 2020 awards to women-identifying artists over forty years of age, who each receive unrestricted grants of $25,000. The recipients—D.Y. Begay​, Linda Goode Bryant​, Barbara Chase-Riboud​, Elena Del Rivero​, Chitra Ganesh​, Karen Gunderson​, Virginia Jaramillo​, Claudia Joskowicz​, Karyn Olivier​, and Juana Valdés​ —work in mediums including painting, performance, photography, and film. In 2020, AWAW also awarded an additional $250,000 in emergency grants to 159 women affected by the pandemic.

In February, multidisciplinary artist Keijaun Thomas became the inaugural winner of the $10,000 Illuminations Grant for Black Trans Women Visual Artists, given by the nonprofit Queer|Art. Thomas’s work in performance, multimedia installation, and poetry explores

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Patricia Piccinini, Skywhalepapa, 2020; National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, commissioned with the assistance of The Balnaves Foundation 2019, purchased 2020

It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane Patricia Piccinini’s fantastical hot-air balloon sculptures have returned to delight Australian audiences. Skywhale (2013) is joined by Skywhalepapa (2020), and the two will fly together in February, March, and April 2021 in Canberra before commencing a tour of the country. The artist is known for her sculptures of hyper-realistic, hybrid, or futuristic creatures—typified by the monumental-scaled Skywhales.

Piccinini’s work is part of Know My Name, an initiative of the National Gallery of Australia celebrating women artists.

Bidder is Better?

Artnet investigated the gender breakdown of bidders at Sotheby’s, Christie’s, and Phillips, revealing that 90% of the money generated at these auction house evening sales comes from men. Interviews with those in the trade suggest that women collectors are more interested in creating value than buying trophies, frequently backing artists early on and helping to build careers before their work hits the auction market.

Uncharted Waters The 2021 Caldecott Medal for outstanding picture book was awarded to We Are Water Protectors (Roaring Brook Press, 2020), illustrated by Michaela Goade and written

by Carole Lindstrom. Goade, a member of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, is the first Indigenous artist to win the award. Goade’s vivid watercolor illustrations and Lindstrom’s words encourage

the protection of water as a sacred resource and the celebration of Native communities.

Champion women through the arts with NMWA membership

WO M E N I N T H E A RTS

JOIN US!

© PATRICIA PICCININI

the labor of Black femmes in situations ranging from housework and hairdressing to athletic training and exotic dancing. Thomas said, “I feel an immense amount of gratitude . . . [to be able to] continue to tell our stories as Black trans people . . . to build new futures for ourselves and our communities.”

Culture Watch 4

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EXHIBITIONS

CALIFORNIA

Alia Ali: Project Series 53 and Alison Saar: Of Aether and Earthe Pomona College Museum of Art, Claremont Through May 16, 2021 https://pomona.edu/museum

© 2020 NIKI CHARITABLE ART FOUNDATION ; PHOTO : ED KESSLER

Ali’s installations and films explore identity and migration through the lens of Afro- and Yemeni Futurism. Saar’s works connect to myths, archetypes, and transformation.

ILLINOIS

Carolina Caycedo: From the Bottom of the River Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago Through September 12, 2021 https://mcachicago.org Caycedo’s multimedia works examine humanity’s relationship with nature and the unsustainable pace of global capitalism. A virtual studio visit and audio experience are available online.

NEW YORK // Niki de Saint Phalle, Tarot Garden, 1991; On view at MoMA PS1

This survey of the renowned painter features Stevens’s work from 1970 to 2010 and explores her roles as a feminist and political activist.

NEW MEXICO

May Stevens: Mysteries and Politics SITE Santa Fe March 26–June 9, 2021 https://sitesantafe.org

NEW YORK

Lorraine O’Grady: Both/And Brooklyn Museum March 5–July 18, 2021 https://brooklynmuseum.org

PHOTO BY NATHAN KEAY, © MCA CHICAGO

WINTER/SPRING 2021

Both/And is the first retrospective of feminist conceptual artist, performance artist, and photographer O’Grady. Virtual ASL and descriptive tours will be held online.

ILLINOIS // Installation view of Carolina Caycedo: From the Bottom of the River; On view

at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago

Niki de Saint Phalle: Structures for Life MoMA PS1, Queens March 11–September 6, 2021 https://moma.org More than one hundred works from Saint Phalle’s oeuvre showcase her exuberant sculpture, illustration, and architectural work.

OHIO

Laura Owens: Rerun Cleveland Museum of Art February 27–May 30, 2021 http://clevelandart.org Inspired by the theme of time travel, painter Owens collaborates with high school students to create new objects and sculpture.

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BOOKS

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PENNSYLVANIA

Intuition & Reflection: The Ceramics of Toshiko Takaezu Allentown Art Museum Through January 2, 2022 https://allentownartmuseum.org

PENNSYLVANIA // Toshiko Takaezu,

Closed Form, from the series “Ocean Edge,” 1993, On view at the Allentown Art Museum

TEXAS

Deborah Roberts: I’m The Contemporary Austin Through August 15, 2021 http://thecontemporaryaustin.org Roberts’s mixed-media works examine Black childhood through a combination of found images and painting. An image gallery is available online.

Tauba Auerbach—S v Z Tauba Auerbach’s wide-ranging curiosity—the artist delves into ideas about pattern, form, and time through sculpture, bookmaking, photography, painting, and more—is distilled in Tauba Auerbach—S v Z (D.A.P. and SFMOMA, 2020). Published ahead of a survey exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, rescheduled to late 2021 because of the pandemic, the volume is part catalogue and part artist’s book. It features Auerbach’s calligraphy as well as a typeface based on her “directional handwriting,” which fans leftward at the beginning of the book, shifts slowly upright for the middle essays, and then leans successively further rightward at the end. The result simultaneously orients and disorients (the text is legible, but takes some effort from a reader at the extreme ends; curatorial essays are placed in the comparatively upright middle sections). It also embodies Auerbach’s interest in wave forms and mirroring, referencing the rotational symmetry of the letter shapes “S” and “Z,” used in tablet weaving. Throughout, images of Auerbach’s work underscore her fascination with concepts that unite science with art. //

Elizabeth Lynch

Latinx Art: Artists, Markets, and Politics In recent years, work by Latinx artists has emerged as a strong, if undervalued, segment of the art market. In Latinx Art: Artists, Markets, and Politics (Duke University Press, 2020), scholar Arlene Dávila asks, “Why don’t we know more about Latinx artists, and why should we care?” To explore this question, she consults history, examines case studies, and conducts eye-opening interviews with artists, dealers, and curators.

Latinx Art’s brief 176 pages reveal obstacles faced by Latinx artists in the U.S., who find that collectors, museums, and dealers pigeonhole their work as too political and identity-driven or not political enough. Artists are excluded from opportunities for not fitting neatly into existing categories, often finding that the nuances of their identities are ignored. Although Dávila paints a bleak portrait of the current Latinx art market, she maintains a hopeful outlook, ending each chapter with insight into artists, dealers, and activists who are changing the conversation about Latinx art and increasing its visibility. The volume also features full-color illustrations of contemporary Latinx art and an appendix of Latinx artists everyone should know. //

Ellianie Vega

Black Futures In their introduction to Black Futures (One World, 2020), editors Jenna Wortham and Kimberly Drew write, “This is not an art book. This is not a scholarly journal. This book is a series of guideposts for current and future generations who may be curious about what our generation has [created] during a time [of] social, cultural, economic, and ecological revolution.”

The 525-page volume collects the art, essays, interviews, memes, poems, and recipes of more than 180 Black creators into a vibrant archive that asks and answers: What does it mean to be Black and alive right now? Black women artists feature prominently, including Firelei Báez, Alexandra Bell, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Cauleen Smith, Kara Walker, Carrie Mae Weems, Amanda Williams, Zanele Muholi, Lynette YiadomBoakye, and Tschabalala Self, among others. Their visions and voices take on new power when presented in this collective. The book’s design, with color-coded themes and “Related Entries” tags, encourages non-linear reading and helps readers draw connections and discover new visionaries. This exuberant record of collective memory and creativity is a testament that the Black future looks very bright. //

Alicia Gregory

WO M E N I N T H E A RTS

ALLENTOWN ART MUSEUM : PURCHASE, EDWIN SCHADT TRUST, 1996 (1996.14.2)

Takaezu’s experimental closedform sculptures embrace interconnectedness and imperfection. Defying ceramic tradition, her work suggests mystery and power.

Education Report 6

Left: During a weekly Art Chat @ Five, museum educators lead a conversation about Kiki Kogelnik’s Superwoman (1973) Below: Educators use virtual art galleries to share works and facilitate conversations with students based on Harvard Project Zero Thinking Routines

“It’s fulfilling and gratifying to learn about women artists who have been overlooked and underappreciated for years. NMWA educators Addie, Deborah, and Ashley provide a celebration of their work that is vital and uplifting.”

Art Chat participant

WINTER/SPRING 2021

Mission Possible When the museum closed to the public in March 2020, NMWA’s Education Department, like so many at the museum and around the world, had to pivot. How could the work we do—reliant on interacting with objects, in-person gatherings, and hands-on instruction—be translated to a virtual space?

These challenges opened opportunities to extend our reach, explore relationships between artworks in new ways, and build a sense of community from a distance.

Getting Chatty In May, we kicked off the series Art Chat @ Five. Originally scheduled for thirty minutes and limited to twenty people for each session, this video-chat program quickly outgrew its original parameters, expanding to forty-five minutes and forty-five people. Even with these changes, the core of the program remains the same: each Friday a group gathers for close looking and a meaningful discussion about artworks from NMWA’s collection and exhibitions.

Every week, we look forward to welcoming new and familiar faces. After more than forty Art

Chats, we’ve heard from some of our most frequent visitors about what keeps them coming back.

One participant said, “These Art Chats have brought the museum to me.”

Back to School For our school-aged visitors, we reinvented our Arts and Humanities for Every Student (AHFES) offering for the 2020–21 school year in response to our community’s need for virtual learning opportunities and digital resources. Since 2015, our AHFES “Thinking

Routine Thursday” tours have introduced more than 2,400 Washington, D.C., public and public charter school students to the museum. Building on their success, we developed Thinking Routine Thursday asynchronous resources and synchronous virtual experiences.

We focused on the themes “Art & Advocacy,” “Make a Wish,” and “Powerful Beyond Measure” to create direct connections between artwork in NMWA’s collection and third- through fifth-grade curriculum units in DC Public Schools’ Framework

for Arts Learning. Asynchronous resources provided by the museum include virtual art galleries, close looking activities, and art-making lessons. For synchronous sessions, teachers selected the theme most relevant for their students. Then, NMWA educators facilitated conversations about four works from the related virtual art gallery using methods based on Harvard Project Zero Thinking Routines. In the fall, we served more than 140 students through Thinking Routine Thursday synchronous sessions, and we’re excited for more.

Dedicated Donors 7

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CHARTER MEMBERS

extraordinary group of supporters, Charter Members, who began giving to the museum in its earliest years. They helped to build the financial foundation that allowed us to open, grow, and flourish. Today, more than 4,100 Charter Members are still active—an impressive 1,656 of whom made their first gifts before the museum opened to the public in 1987.

We contacted a few of these trailblazing donors to hear their stories.

Brooksley Born is the current member with the earliest recorded gift, in 1984, a full three years before the museum opened its doors.

Born, an attorney, recalls learning about NMWA in the early 1980s, “when I was chairing the board of the National Women’s Law Center, a nonprofit organization advocating for equal rights for women. We at the Center were delighted to learn of the founding of the museum and its commitment to recognizing the contributions of women in the arts. Both organizations were pursuing a common goal: opening opportunities for women.”

NMWA HAS AN

“Thirty-four years ago, through the generous commitment of tens of thousands of Charter Members, NMWA Founder Wilhelmina Cole Holladay’s vision of a museum dedicated to women artists became a reality.”

Christina Knowles, NMWA director of development, annual giving, and membership

Born says, “Discrimination against women in the arts has been pervasive as it has in many other spheres of endeavor. As the only major museum dedicated to championing women in the arts, NMWA is playing a critically important role.”

Charter Member Annie Lopez is an artist whose work was recently featured in Paper Routes—Women to Watch 2020.

She remembers first hearing about NMWA shortly after it opened, through a group of fellow women artists based near Phoenix. She was immediately enthusiastic about its mission: “Women just weren’t represented in museum exhibitions and collections.”

Because of the pandemic, Lopez was not able to attend Paper Routes in person, but nonetheless says, “The experience has been wonderful!

Meeting my fellow artists by Zoom has been entertaining, informative, and bonding. And, as a fourth-generation native, it’s an honor to represent Arizona. I never imagined that one day, I would show my artwork at NMWA, but at the same time, because of the museum’s mission, I never thought I couldn’t! There is such encouragement in knowing that my perspective is valued.”

Charter Member Cynthia Shewan, now living in Chicago, is proud to share that she has supported the museum “since the beginning of its existence.

I was living in Washington at the time, and I heard about it from a friend. I’ve always appreciated art, and I love

the building. I thought it was so fitting—such wonderful irony—that a former Masonic Temple, which would not have admitted women, became a building dedicated to women artists and their work.” During the pandemic, she has tuned in regularly to watch Paper Routes artist talks online, which made it a “memorable exhibition, even though I wasn’t able to attend in person.”

Shewan made her most recent donation in memory of the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, honoring her achievements on behalf of women. Shewan was pleased to learn that Ginsburg herself was a Charter Member of NMWA—a longtime supporter and an attendee at NMWA’s exhibitions, programs, and musical events.

Christina Knowles, the museum’s director of development, annual giving, and membership, says, “Thirtyfour years ago, through the generous commitment of tens of thousands of Charter Members, NMWA Founder Wilhelmina Cole Holladay’s vision of a museum dedicated to women artists became a reality. It has been my greatest pleasure to meet and speak with Charter Members from near and far. One quality they share is a great sense of pride and inspiration in being a part of the early life of the museum. We owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to each and every Charter Member.

Thank you!”

WO M E N I N T H E A RTS

Left to right: Charter Members Brooksley Born, Cynthia Shewan, and Annie Lopez

© SONYA CLARK; PHOTO BY LEE STALSWORTH

Sonya Clark Tatter, Bristle, and Mend

Hair Wreath, 2002; Human hair and wire, 13 x 13 x 2 in.; NMWA, Gift of Heather and Tony Podesta Collection

March 3– May 31, 2021 Kathryn Wat and Hannah Shambroom

Textile and social practice artist Sonya Clark (b. 1967, Washington, D.C.) transforms common objects into works that probe identity and visibility, appraise the force of the African Diaspora, and propose an amended version of history. She stitches, braids, unravels, and weaves recognizable materials such as human hair, plastic combs, glass beads, and flags.

Clark, whose work is represented in NMWA’s collection through several sculptures, has been celebrated with numerous solo exhibitions, though these typically focus on a single medium or subject within her oeuvre. Sonya Clark: Tatter, Bristle, and Mend, a midcareer survey, features approximately one hundred works of art. It is the first exhibition to consider the artist’s capacious body of work, created over more than two decades.

“The first textile art form, in my estimation, is hairdressing”

WINTER/SPRING 2021

© SONYA CLARK; IMAGE COURTESY OF BLANTON MUSEUM OF ART

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clark learned to sew from her grandmother, nicknamed “Chummy,” who was a tailor. “She is the one who instilled in me the notion that through thread and needle, you can capture stories. When I was at Amherst College, I got really interested in the way that textiles became a way of understanding who we are culturally and how textiles can tell you something about your ancestry as well.”1 Her studies at Amherst, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and Cranbrook Academy of Art—and her teachers, including Nick Cave, Gerhardt Knodel, and Anne Wilson—affirmed the power of textiles. Although Clark’s practice is based in fiber art techniques, her expressive vision is constantly reframed by a variety of materials, along with her study of history.

Madam C. J. Walker, 2008; Plastic combs, 122 x 87 in.; Blanton Museum of Art, University of Texas at Austin, Purchase through the generosity of Marilyn D. Johnson; Beverly Dale; Buckingham Foundation, Inc.; Jeanne and Michael Klein; Fredericka and David Middleton; H-E-B; Joseph and Tam Hawkins; Carmel and Gregory Fenves; The National Council of Negro Women (Austin Section); Lone Star (TX) Chapter of The Links, Incorporated; Town Lake (TX) Chapter of The Links, Incorporated; National Society of Black Engineers-Austin Professionals; Greater Austin Black Chamber of Commerce; National Black MBA Association Austin Chapter; and other donors

The Primordial Textile Much of Clark’s work concentrates on the head and hair, demonstrating her embrace of the Yoruba principle that alignment of the consciousness and spirit occurs through the head. She also observes that a strand of hair possesses a person’s whole DNA sequence, standing in for a body as well as an extended genealogy: “When there’s a human hair in a work, that person is actually in the work,” she says.2 In Hair Wreath (2002), her earliest sculpture to include human hair, Clark crafted a crown from gathered and bound strands. A decade later, she began a series of “hair necklaces.”

Hair Necklace 3 (2012), a long, dark-colored dreadlock that grays near its end, combines the hair of Clark and her mother into

a single, rolled lock, connecting their DNA and ancestry. Hair Necklace 6 (Pearls) (2014) further explores these themes of inheritance and adornment; the hair is rolled into spheres to form a long strand of pearls—a type of jewelry often passed down through generations. Clark describes her use of hair as a textile fiber or sculpting material as “a synecdoche for the presence of African American people—through our DNA, through our hair.”3

© SONYA CLARK; IMAGE COURTESY OF THE ARTIST

With a Fine-Toothed Comb “The first textile art form, in my estimation, is hairdressing,” Clark says. “When I started working with the tools of hairdressing, the tool that I picked is the most ubiquitous, the most common, the most well-known, the most average of combs.”4 In several works, Clark fastens together hundreds of small, black, plastic pocket combs to create monumental sculptures. In works like Curls (2005), Lexie’s Curl (2008), and Tendril (2009), she builds larger-than-life hair coils from a tool that cannot tame them.

In other works, Clark applies a more reductive technique to combs, trimming or snipping away individual teeth to create shade and depth that reveal patterns and images. One of Clark’s best-known comb sculptures, Madam C. J. Walker (2008), pays homage to America’s first female self-made millionaire, who built an empire of Black hair care products.

“Black plastic combs evoke a legacy of hair culture, hair and race politics, and antiquated notions of good hair and bad hair. What type of hair would be able to pass easily through these fine-toothed combs?” Clark asks.5

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Unraveling Invisibility “‘How come I don’t know this?’ That’s the question I keep asking,” Clark remarked in a recent interview,6 referring to the lesser-known Confederate truce flag (part of which is preserved at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.). Her query reflects her understanding that, when history is written, some elements are amplified and others expunged. She recently began an expansive body of work related to the obscure truce flag, a white cotton dishcloth edged with three thin red stripes that was used by Confederate troops to surrender at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, on April 9, 1865, marking the end of the American Civil War. In suturing the halves of a truce flag back together or weaving the cloth anew, she enlarges our view of history and asks us to consider how different the nation might be if that simple cloth, and its embodiment of Black Man (Invisible), 2016; Copy of Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man and glass beads, 4 x 8 x 5 in.; On loan from the artist

WO M E N I N T H E A RTS

© SONYA CLARK; PHOTOGRAPH BY TAYLOR DABNEY

Cotton Candy Flower, 2016; Sugar and cotton pods, 3 x 10 x 10 in.; On loan from the artist

surrender and the yearning for peace, were the best-known symbol of the Civil War. Clark’s evocative sculptures, prints, and performances related to the American presidency and the Confederate battle and truce flags challenge viewers to question their received beliefs about these symbols. For her performative Unraveling (2015–), Clark invites gallery and museum visitors to work with her, side by side, to carefully pull individual threads from a heavy, tightly woven Confederate battle flag.

The process manifests, Clark explains, “the slow and deliberate work of unraveling racial dynamics in the United States.”7

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PHOTO BY TAYLOR DABNEY

WINTER/SPRING 2021

© SONYA CLARK; IMAGE COURTESY OF THE ARTIST AND LISA SET TE GALLERY

Triangulation With ancestral roots in Jamaica, Trinidad, Nigeria, and Scotland, Clark explores the connections among Africa, the Caribbean, Europe, and her own family through works that allude to the sugar trade, which began in the sixteenth century. Across the Caribbean, sugar cane was planted and harvested by Africans enslaved by plantation and mill owners who sent their product to the expanding market for sugar in Europe and its colonies. Sometimes called the Triangle Trade, this centuries-long spiral of commerce and subjugation is what forced the artist’s forebears from Africa to the Caribbean region.

A recent group of sculptures incorporates sugar and gold directly. Clark creates delicate sugar flowers nestled amid dried cotton burr in Cotton Candy Flower (2016) and crowns gold Engagement Rings (2016) with “stones” of sugar.

In Gold Coast Journey (2016), she filled an ebony wood spool with 5,200 inches of gold wire, representing the 5,200 miles between Richmond, Virginia (the second-largest port for human trafficking in North America in the mid-nineteenth century), and the nation of Ghana on the west coast of Africa, an ancestral home to her maternal family and a locale rich in gold. Within these works, Clark melds desire and discomfort. Her raw materials are alluring, but they summon the crushing economic power of commodities linked to Africa, including gold, diamonds, and, most catastrophically, African people themselves.

Unraveling, 2015; Cotton Confederate battle flag, 70 x 36 x 7 in.; Courtesy of the artist and Lisa Sette Gallery

Performance view of Unraveling (2015)

Prayer Beads Clark’s beaded works, too, convey her interest in cultural continuity. Intricately woven and beaded headpieces, her earliest works from the 1990s, interpret African customs of adornment. Built from thousands of tiny, glimmering glass spheres, many of her beaded sculptures depict hands, outstretched arms, and chromosomal strands—ethereal manifestations of familial and ancestral bonds. The consecrating function of beads is embodied in Clark’s works honoring other artists.

She stitched a dense, multi-patterned tapestry of beads to

compose a portrait of South African painter Esther Mahlangu and sewed a skin of black beads around a copy of Ralph Ellison’s 1952 novel Invisible Man. Clark’s beads bar access to Ellison’s words, vivifying the writer’s central theme. Her beads might also serve to protect or sanctify his insights.

Tatter, Bristle, and Mend This exhibition affirms Sonya Clark’s prowess as a maker, historian, and visionary. Her work demonstrates not only her keen ability to expound on a subject, but also her intuitive understanding of how the present unwinds from the past and twists through to the future. In material as well as subject matter, she centers Black identity and experience in histories from which it has been forcibly removed. That liminality—Clark’s creation of images that denote humankind’s capacity to suppress but also to persevere and rise—is the formidable essence of her work. // Kathryn Wat is the deputy director/chief curator and Hannah

Shambroom is the exhibition coordinator at the National Museum of Women in the Arts.

Sonya Clark: Tatter, Bristle, and Mend is organized by the National Museum of Women in the Arts. The exhibition is made possible by The Coby Foundation, Ltd., with additional funding provided by Share

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Fund, Clara M. Lovett, the Sue J. Henry and Carter G. Phillips Exhibition Fund, Stephanie Sale, and the Lenore G. Tawney Foundation.

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Notes: 1. Sonya Clark, “Sonya Clark: 2020 ACC Fellow,” American Craft Council (video), September 28, 2020, https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=SxiijlFTwr4.

2. “Friday Arts: Sonya Clark,” PBS (video), August 23, 2012, https:// www.pbs.org/video/friday-arts-sonya-clark.

3. Transcript of “In Pursuit of the Confederate Truce Flag with Artist Sonya Clark,” produced by Monument Lab (podcast), recorded March 13, 2019, https://monumentlab.com/podcast/ in-pursuit-of-the-confederate-truce-flag-with-artist-sonya-clark.

4. “Friday Arts: Sonya Clark,” August 23, 2012.

5. Sonya Clark, quoted in “Comb Series: Sonya Clark,” http:// sonyaclark.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Sonya_ Clark-Comb-Series.pdf.

6. “In Pursuit of the Confederate Truce Flag with Artist Sonya Clark,” March 13, 2019.

7. Rachel Rogol, “Unraveling with Sonya Clark ’89,” Amherst College (news release), March 21, 2018, https://www.amherst.edu/ news/news_releases/2018/3-2018/unraveling-with-sonya-clark.

COVER TO COVER

Tatter, Bristle, and Mend Exhibition Catalogue Featuring a New Interview and Essays on Sonya Clark This catalogue features new interpretations of Clark’s art by esteemed guest scholars and artists: — Poet Nikky Finney shares her new verse, “Muniment of Hair,” offering a lyrical imagining of Clark’s creative inspirations.

— A wide-ranging conversation between Clark and historian and artist Nell Painter expands across Clark’s biography, oeuvre, and working process.

— Essayists Bridget R. Cooks, Tiya Miles, and Salamishah

Tillet each illuminate ways in which Sonya Clark blends material and process to articulate physical, intellectual, and emotional freedom.

Buy the Book: Visit the Museum Shop section on page 29 or https://shop.nmwa. org for order information.

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Published by NMWA, the catalogue Sonya Clark: Tatter, Bristle, and Mend is fully illustrated with the nearly one hundred works by Clark featured in the exhibition.

Presenting the artist’s work over more than two decades, the publication demonstrates her astute ability to revisit and rework concepts and materials over time, pulling apart threads of ideas and mending them back together to create new layers of meaning.

Calendar //

EXHIBITIONS

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KEY

Sonya Clark: Tatter, Bristle, and Mend March 3–May 31, 2021

F Free

Mary Ellen Mark: Girlhood March 3–July 11, 2021

M

Free for members

R

Reservation required at https://nmwa.org

O

No reservations required

E Exhibition-related program V

Reclamation: Recipes, Remedies, and Rituals Through December 31, 2021; Interactive online exhibition.

© SONYA CLARK; PHOTOGRAPH BY LEE STALSWORTH

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Virtual/online program (Please note that the time zone for all online programs is Eastern Time)

Sonya Clark, Afro Abe II, 2010; Five-dollar bill and thread, 4 x 6 in.; NMWA, Gift of Heather and Tony Podesta Collection; On view in Sonya Clark: Tatter, Bristle, and Mend

Julie Chen: True to Life Through June 30, 2021, in the Betty Boyd Dettre Library and Research Center; Check online for current visiting information.

Daily / Weekly / Monthly Due to health concerns related to COVID-19, on-site programs including weekly lunchtime gallery talks have been temporarily suspended. Check our online calendar for the most up-to-date information.

New York Avenue Sculpture Project: Betsabeé Romero On view through May 2, 2021

First and Third Sundays / Free Community Days

SUN 12–5 P.M. // F M R

The first and third Sundays of each month, NMWA offers free admission to the public. Enjoy current exhibitions and the collection galleries. Please note: due to capacity restrictions, advance reservation of timed tickets is now required.

Most Fridays / Art Chats @ Five

FRI 5–5:45 P.M. // F M R V

Jump-start your weekend with art! Join NMWA educators for informal 45-minute art chats about selected artworks from NMWA’s collection.

Capped at 45 participants; reserve online.

First Fridays / The Tea

© MARY ELLEN MARK/THE MARY ELLEN MARK FOUNDATION ; PHOTO BY LEE STALSWORTH

WINTER/SPRING 2021

Mary Ellen Mark, Batman and Little Barbies at the Toys “R” Us Holiday Parade, New York, 2002 (printed later); Gelatin silver print, 20 x 16 in.; NMWA, Gift of Susan and Earl Cohen; On view in Mary Ellen Mark: Girlhood

FRI 12–1 P.M. // F M O V

In this new online series, women musicians perform original work via livestream on the museum’s social media channels. Followed by a short interview over a cup of tea.

Second Tuesdays / BMA x NMWA Monthly Talk Show

TUE 12–12:45 P.M. // F M O E V

Join educators from NMWA and the Baltimore Museum of Art as they talk about art, sometimes with artists and other special guests, in this lunchtime program.

Second Wednesday and Fourth Saturday / Collection Highlights Talks

WED/SAT 5:30–6:30 P.M. / 1–2 P.M. // F M R V

During these interactive docent-led virtual talks, you will look closely and discuss artworks from the museum’s collection. Join as often as you like—content varies.

Visit https://nmwa.org for reservations, a complete calendar of events, and more information.

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March

3 / 2

TUE 10 A.M.–5 P.M. // M R E

Member Preview Day: Sonya Clark Members and a guest receive special entry to Sonya Clark: Tatter, Bristle, and Mend before it opens to the public. Limited capacity; reserve timed tickets online.

3 / 5

The Tea: Black Alley

FRI 12–1 P.M. // F M O V

PHOTO BY TRACI CHRISTENSEN, NMWA

Determined to create a unique musical elixir, Black Alley takes the finest ingredients of rock, hip-hop, and go-go to create their own sound called “hood rock.”

3 / 5

Art Chat @ Five: #5WomenArtists

FRI 5–5:45 P.M. // F M R V

3 / 6

Wikipedia Art + Feminism Edit-a-thon

SAT 10 A.M.–1 P.M. // F M R V

NMWA partners with Wikimedia DC to enrich the representation of women artists of color on Wikipedia, emphasizing women of African descent whose work is included in the museum’s collection.

3 / 7

SUN 12–5 P.M. // F M R

3 / 9

3 / 13

BMA x NMWA Monthly Talk Show: In Relation Collection Highlights Talk

Join a mini-series of online, hands-on workshops to explore the connection between art and Social Emotional Learning.

3 / 16 Virtual Happy Hour: Rosa Bonheur Birthday Celebration

TUE 5:30–6:30 P.M. // F M R V

Join us to celebrate Rosa Bonheur‘s birthday! We will make a specialty cocktail in honor of the nineteenthcentury painter, share art and stories, and explore the collection and archives for all things Bonheur.

WED 5:30–6:30 P.M. // F M R V

3 / 12

Teacher Program: Art Educators Unite—I Am!

SAT 10 A.M.–12 P.M. // R V

Free Community Day

TUE 12–12:45 P.M. // F M R V

3 / 10

Participants in the 2018 Art + Feminism Wikipedia Edit-a-thon; This year’s event will be held virtually on March 6

Art Chat @ Five: #5WomenArtists

FRI 5–5:45 P.M. // F M R V

3 / 19

Art Chat @ Five: #5WomenArtists

FRI 5–5:45 P.M. // F M R V

3 / 20

Cultural Capital: Environmental Film Festival

SAT TBA // F M O V

Enjoy a virtual screening presented in partnership with the world’s premier showcase of environmentally themed films.

3 / 21

3 / 26

Art Chat @ Five: #5WomenArtists

FRI 5–5:45 P.M. // F M R V

3 / 27

Collection Highlights Talk

WED 5:30–6:30 P.M. // F M R V

3 / 31 Shenson Chamber Music Concert: McDermott Trio with Paul Neubauer

WED 7:30–9:30 P.M. // F M R V

Artistic Director Gilan Tocco Corn welcomes the McDermott Trio, recognized for their “dazzling virtuosity,” appearing online with violist Paul Neubauer.

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Rosa Bonheur, Sheep by the Sea, 1865; Oil on cradled panel, 12 3/4 x 18 in.; NMWA, Gift of Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay; Celebrate the artist during a happy hour on 3/16

Free Community Day

SUN 12–5 P.M. // F M R

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4 / 13

TUE

4 / 14

4 / 16

PHOTO COURTESY OF TSEDAYE MAKONNEN

WED

Collection Highlights Talk 5:30–6:30 P.M. // F M R V

Art Chat @ Five

FRI 5–5:45 P.M. // F M R V

4 / 18

Free Community Day

SUN 12–5 P.M. // F M R

4 / 18

Fresh Talk: Sonya Clark

SUN 4:30–6 P.M. // F M R E V

Join us for an in-depth conversation with the artist featured in Tatter, Bristle, and Mend, exploring her mixed-media sculptures that address race and visibility, explore Blackness, and redress history.

Tsedaye Makonnen, a featured artist in Reclamation: Recipes, Remedies, and Rituals, speaks on June 6 in the program Fresh Talk: The Art of Healing

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KEY

F Free

O

M

Free for members

E Exhibition-related program

No reservations required

R

Reservation required at https://nmwa.org

V

4 / 23

4 / 24

4 / 30

SAT

4 / 2

The Tea: Omnia Azar

FRI 12–1 P.M. // F M O V

Omnia Azar is a multi-talented singer/songwriter from Michigan. Her lyrically poignant and vibrant music encompasses her love of jazz, soul, funk, R&B, and more.

4 / 2

5 / 2

Organized by the DC Art Book Collective, this curated event features small presses, artists, and makers who sell zines, books, comics, and prints.

4 / 4

SUN 12–5 P.M. // F M R

4 / 9

Free Community Day Art Chat @ Five

FRI 5–5:45 P.M. // F M R V

4 / 10 Teacher Program: Art Educators Unite— Reflections and Dreams

SAT 10 A.M.–12 P.M. // R V

Join a mini-series of online, hands-on workshops to explore the connection between art and Social Emotional Learning.

5 / 2

SUN 12–5 P.M. // F M R

5 / 7

4 / 10

Slow Art Day Conversation

SAT 1–2 P.M. // F M R V

Look slowly at selected artworks during the week and then join this virtual conversation with a NMWA educator and other art lovers to discuss the experience.

Free Community Day The Tea: MovaKween

FRI 12–1 P.M. // F M O V

Hailing from Baltimore, Maryland, MovaKween blends R&B, jazz, hip-hop, and futuristic neo-soul with a lyrical awareness.

FRI 5–5:45 P.M. // F M R V

DC Art Book Fair

SUN 12–5 P.M. // F M O

Art Chat @ Five

Art Chat @ Five

May

April

Collection Highlights Talk 1–2 P.M. // F M R V

FRI 5–5:45 P.M. // F M R V

Virtual/online program (Please note that the time zone for all online programs is Eastern Time)

Art Chat @ Five

FRI 5–5:45 P.M. // F M R V

WINTER/SPRING 2021

BMA x NMWA Monthly Talk Show: Counterstory 12–12:45 P.M. // F M R V

5 / 7

Art Chat @ Five

FRI 5–5:45 P.M. // F M R V

5 / 12 BMA x NMWA Monthly Talk Show: Making Art, Making a Living

TUE

5 / 12 WED

12–12:45 P.M. // F M R V

Collection Highlights Talk 5:30–6:30 P.M. // F M R V

5 / 12 Shenson Chamber Music Concert: Stefania Dovhan

WED 7:30–9:30 P.M // F M R V

Artistic Director Gilan Tocco Corn welcomes Ukrainian- American soprano Stefania Dovhan, who has performed at the Royal Opera House, New York City Opera, and Danish National Opera, in this online program.

Visit https://nmwa.org for reservations, a complete calendar of events, and more information.

5 / 14

Art Chat @ Five

FRI 5–5:45 P.M. // F M R V

5 / 16

Free Community Day

SUN 12–5 P.M. // F M R

5 / 20

Virtual Happy Hour: Marisol Birthday Celebration

TUE 5:30–6:30 P.M.

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FMRV

6 / 4

6 / 6

SUN 12–5 P.M. // F M R

6 / 6

SUN 4:30–6 P.M // F M R E V

Join us to celebrate Marisol’s birthday! We will make a specialty cocktail in honor of the artist (Marisol Escobar, 1930–2016), share artworks and stories, and explore the museum’s collection and archives for all things Marisol.

5 / 21

Join us for a conversation about the relationship between food, social change, and healing. Featuring Navina Khanna, executive director of HEAL Food Alliance, and Tsedaye Makonnen, interdisciplinary artist.

6 / 8

BMA x NMWA Monthly Talk Show: Pride of Place

TUE

12–12:45 P.M. // F M R V

6 / 9

Collection Highlights Talk

1–2 P.M. // F M R V

WED

5:30–6:30 P.M. // F M R V

Art Chat @ Five

6 / 10

FRI 5–5:45 P.M. // F M R V

5 / 28

WED

Collection Highlights Talk

Join us on 6/10 or 6/11 for a book club session diving into Siri Hustvedt’s The Blazing World (2014), a novel that explores themes of gender politics, perception, and fame in the contemporary art world.

6 / 2 Shenson Chamber Music Concert: Jennifer Koh

WED 7:30–9:30 P.M // F M R V

Artistic Director Gilan Tocco Corn welcomes violinist Jennifer Koh, recognized for her commanding performances, in this online program.

6 / 4

NMWA Book Club: The Blazing World

THU 5:30–6:30 P.M. // F M R V

June

Fresh Talk: The Art of Healing

Art Chat @ Five

5 / 22

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Free Community Day

FRI 5–5:45 P.M. // F M R V

Art Chat @ Five

FRI 5–5:45 P.M. // F M R V

The Tea: Artist TBA

Tune in to NMWA’s social media channels for a new episode of The Tea, where women musicians perform original work.

NMWA Book Club: The Blazing World

FRI 12–1 P.M. // F M R V

Join us on 6/10 or 6/11 for a book club session diving into Siri Hustvedt’s The Blazing World (2014).

FRI 12–1 P.M // F M 0 V

6 / 11

6 / 11

Art Chat @ Five

FRI 5–5:45 P.M. // F M R V

6 / 18

Art Chat @ Five

FRI 5–5:45 P.M. // F M R V

6 / 20

Free Community Day

SUN 12–5 P.M. // F M R

6 / 25

Art Chat @ Five

FRI 5–5:45 P.M. // F M R V

6 / 26 SAT

Collection Highlights Talk 1–2 P.M. // F M R V

Soprano Stefania Dovhan performs in the Shenson Chamber Music Series via livestream on May 12

Clark Foundation, with additional support provided by the Leo Rosner Foundation, the William Randolph Hearst Foundation, Morgan Stanley, and the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, which receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional funding is provided by the Harriet E. McNamee Youth Education Fund, William and Christine Leahy, and the Sylvan C. Coleman Trust.

The Women, Arts, and Social Change public programs initiative is made possible through leadership gifts from Denise Littlefield Sobel, the Davis/Dauray Family Fund, the Revada Foundation of the Logan Family, and the Susan and Jim Swartz Public Programs Fund. Additional funding is provided by the Bernstein Family Foundation. This project is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.

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PHOTO COURTESY OF STEFANIA DOVHAN

// Education programming is made possible by the A. James & Alice B.

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RECENT ACQUISITIONS

Hung Liu // Orin Zahra

WINTER/SPRING 2021

Celebrated California-based artist Hung Liu (b. 1948, Changchun, China) creates captivating images of downtrodden and tragic figures—courtesans, laborers, and migrants. In 2019, the museum acquired its first works on canvas by Liu, who is best known for her enigmatic paintings of historical Chinese women.

Winter with Cynical Fish (2014) is a gift from longtime patrons and members of the NMWA Advisory Board Fred Levin and his late wife Nancy Livingston, who for years have supported the museum’s Shenson Chamber Music Concert series. Levin

and Livingston were passionate about sharing Liu’s work, having supported her major retrospective exhibition at the Oakland Museum of California in 2013, and determined that NMWA acquire a significant painting by the artist. Following this gift, Liu and Turner Carroll Gallery, in Santa Fe, New Mexico, donated a companion piece, Summer with Cynical Fish (2014), in memory of Livingston. Liu said, “Fred and Nancy have supported many artists and institutions as they have supported me and my work, but more than supporters, they have been warm friends. Like so many people who know Fred and knew Nancy, I am grateful to have had them both in my life.”

Liu recalls being mesmerized by the haunting images of the beautiful women, often exploited in their lifetimes and forgotten in history.

With the museum’s substantial collection of works on paper by the artist, the addition of Winter and Summer enables NMWA to showcase Liu’s distinguished skills as painter and printmaker.

Liu reached adulthood during Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution, and she relocated to the United States in 1984 to further her art education at the University of California, San Diego. On a research trip to Beijing in the 1990s, she discovered photographs of nineteenth- and twentiethcentury courtesans, from which she derives the compelling figures in these artworks. Liu layers the portraits with symbolic motifs seen in traditional Chinese painting and murals.

For example, recurrent circles

Winter with Cynical Fish, 2014; Oil on canvas, 60 × 72 in.; NMWA, Gift of Fred M. & Nancy Livingston Levin, The Shenson Foundation in Memory of Ben & A. Jess Shenson

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Summer with Cynical Fish, 2014; Oil on canvas, 60 × 72 in.; NMWA, Gift of the artist and Turner Carroll Gallery in honor of Nancy Livingston

Cynical Fish The two new acquisitions are part of an untitled series (2012–14) composed of four paintings, each representing one season—summer, winter, autumn, and spring. Summer contains complementary colors of orange-red next to lime green, evoking the brightness and warmth of the summer months. The shorthaired woman holds a pink handkerchief, a traditional sign of propriety and decorum for women. Winter shows a cooltoned palette with lavenders and icy blues. This woman’s body is layered under bare branches with white bamboo leaves and an illustration of a scholar’s rock, a name for

small, ornamental, naturally formed stones seen in imperial gardens and scholars’ studios.¹ Each of the four paintings is a diptych comprising two panels. The wider panel in each work portrays a different young woman, whose likeness was hand-drawn from Liu’s found photographs. Liu recalls being mesmerized by the haunting images of the beautiful women, often exploited in their lifetimes and forgotten in history. The narrower panel depicts a fish with a distinct sullen expression.

The fish imagery is adapted from the paintings of the eminent Chinese artist Bada Shanren (born Zhu Da, ca. 1625– 1705), known for his expressionistic calligraphic style. Bada was born into the Ming imperial family and became a monk after the dynasty was overthrown

by Qing rulers. Owing to his bitter feelings over his fallen family status, Bada created

satirical images of birds and fish to reflect certain moods and temperaments such as sadness, anger, or, as Liu notes, cynicism.² As Bada was an elite literato in Chinese society, Liu’s pairing of his recognizable symbols of high art and culture with the poor, working-class women is her way of elevating the status of these neglected female figures.

women in all four seasons. . . .

I’d like to summon their ghost spirits, to make sure they are not forgotten. My painting them is to memorialize them.”³ Liu’s paintings greatly enrich the narrative we share with visitors to NMWA: the complex and inspiring—yet often suppressed—stories of women and art. // Orin Zahra is the assistant curator

Changing Seasons Liu’s paintings have a layered, drip-laden appearance, which she achieves by diluting her paint with linseed oil and trickling it down the surface of the canvas. The effect veils and distorts her subjects, suggesting the blurring of one’s memories over time. Yet she simultaneously preserves her subjects for posterity through her art. As the artist describes her intention for this series, “It’s my offering to honor them, and the fish can accompany the

at the National Museum of Women in the Arts.

Notes: 1. Author’s conversation with the artist.

2. Peter B. Way, “Connoisseurship versus Criticism: A discussion of a problematic painting by Bada Shanren” in Bulletin de l’École française d’Extrême-Orient, Vol. 78 (1991), 240–41.

3. Author’s conversation with the artist.

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allude to the punctuation at the end of a sentence in Chinese writing as well as to Zen Buddhist concepts of emptiness and wholeness.

PHOTO CREDIT

© LAUREN VON DER POOL

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Reclamation Recipes, Remedies, and Rituals

WINTER/SPRING 2021

Melani N. Douglass

Like any great recipe, a successful exhibition requires a combination of all the right ingredients—with acid, fat, salt, and heat— deftly executed with perfect timing.

Reclamation: Recipes, Remedies, and Rituals is an evolving online exhibition that examines food as a creative medium for visual art and a connective tool for intergenerational and intercultural experiences. It features interdisciplinary artists making use of their own kitchens; their work is presented alongside recipes, stories, and images submitted by the public.

Timing: The Power of Now Before COVID-19 arrived, Reclamation was conceived as an intimate, participatory, in-person exhibition surrounding the built elements of a kitchen—a complement to our Women, Arts, and Social Change (WASC) public programs. Since 2015, we have grown a dedicated audience through our Fresh Talk conversations that culminate in a communal Sunday Supper or Catalyst, a cocktail hour with a topic and a twist. Reclamation would be an exhibition about food, activated by people who become motivated to change the world over a shared meal.

Opposite: Lauren Von Der Pool shares a tablescape from her work for Reclamation (2020); Digital photograph; Courtesy of the artist

Acid: Energy and Artists When chemicals react, unexpected outcomes can take place.

We faced the burning reality that an in-person exhibition would present a multitude of challenges during COVID-19, and our team leaned in: we began planning an ambitious online exhibition about food.

The next challenge was selecting a group of artists to invite into this new framework. Instead of focusing on their mediums, I focused on their methods, asking myself one primary question: are they good storytellers? I was looking for visual griots—artists who weave stories into their work.

I was also looking for artists whose processes are just as creative as their final products and whose work is informed by daily living and social change.

This formula led us to an interdisciplinary cadre of creatives: djassi daCosta johnson and Sharayna Christmas are dancers who continue traditions they have learned through mentorships and intergenerational friendships. Wanda Raimundi-Ortiz and Tsedaye Makonnen pull from their rich

The website features a “Meet the Artists” section

In a pandemic, how does your creativity in the kitchen hold you together?

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heritages to tell stories about family and community history through performance and sculpture. Chef Jenny Dorsey, a former ceramicist, creates virtual reality dinners. Lauren Von Der Pool is a vocalist and celebrity raw and vegan chef. Aletheia Hyun-Jin Shin and I both produce socially engaged projects.

Maggie Pate, a fiber artist, uses food waste to create dyes.

My prompt to these visual artists, dancers, chefs, socially engaged artists, and sculptors was simple: to see the kitchen as the studio and the table as the site for art-making, anchored in nourishment. Everyone produced time-lapses, videos, and pictures. I asked, What happens there? Who shares this space with you? What’s behind the scenes? In a pandemic, how does your creativity in the kitchen hold you together? How does art balance the acid of the times?

The artists answered with widely varied creations—Von Der Pool created lush and celebratory scenes of herself adorned with abundant food, Raimundi-Ortiz documented making Puerto Rican food for her in-laws, and johnson shared intimate scenes of a dinner party, nail-painting, and tea-making. Pate mentions that during the pandemic, people have expressed interest in natural dyes just as they have in making sourdough

WO M E N I N T H E A RTS

The seismic shifts of the pandemic brought a new normal, often focused on the home, our kitchens, and the ways we nourish ourselves and loved ones. Conversations shifted to food access, safety, ritual, and comfort. It became clear that we would have to reimagine Reclamation, but suddenly, the content was not only relevant—it was central to our audience.

The time was right.

bread, paying homage to home traditions. Together, the artists’ work channels the power that can be found in kitchens, elevating nourishment and daily life to art that expresses dignity, vulnerability, freedom, and connection.

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The act of giving or receiving a recipe creates a bond between people, no matter how far apart they stand.

Salt: Welcoming More Voices What magic turned this challenging moment into a festival of recipe sharing? Strangely enough, it was the same ingredient that made the moment tense: different voices. What changed the tone of this moment was the unifying call to action.

The public call for recipes was a primary element of Reclamation. Sharing recipes is a timeless intergenerational ritual that crosses all barriers. The act of giving or receiving a recipe creates a bond between people, no matter how far apart they stand. The exhibition’s recipe archive now features more than 120 dishes, from sticky rice with Chinese sausage to biscochitos from New Mexico, to matzo ball soup, to carrot cake. Some feature photos of handwritten recipe cards and stories tracing generations, enhancing the shared experience.

A pantry section organized by Public Programs Manager Amanda Vercruysse was another critical part of the project.

Each page, dedicated to an individual ingredient, features nuggets of information about that item’s foodway and

WINTER/SPRING 2021

© WANDA RAIMUNDI-ORTIZ

© SHARAYNA ASHANTI CHRISTMAS

Fat: Enriching Engagement The idea for Reclamation originated in 2016 under the same societal division that we face today. Before the pandemic, the escalation of Black Lives Matter, or the insurrection at the Capitol, there was Freddie Gray, Trayvon Martin, Sandra Bland, and Michael Brown. Then, as now, the kitchen table was the place where people gathered to nurture each other and love our way into better times.

In 2016, the country seemed to be coming undone with the pending election. Lifelong friendships were ending. Yet, through a Facebook post, I witnessed a conversation that got people talking to each other again. The question I posed was simple: What does your family drink when they are sick?

No matter their political leanings or their racial or cultural identity, everyone had something to say about healing drinks. For some, it was a bone broth, a chicken soup. For

most, it was a hot toddy: some version of liquor, citrus, and honey heated into a soothing mix. Some added garlic. Some added a ginger or cinnamon. It was usually rum, but any liquor that could burn a little was mentioned. Through this conversation, laughing and exchanging recipes, we were reclaiming something beyond what divided us. We each had a different recipe, but the remedies did the same thing—they healed. At this moment, I realized the power of food to bring people together, and Reclamation was born.

Left: Wanda Raimundi-Ortiz presents a spread prepared for her Traditional Food Dress-Up Night for Reclamation (2020); Digital photograph; Courtesy of the artist

Above: Sharayna Ashanti Christmas prepares lamb for a dinner party for Reclamation (2020); Digital photograph; Courtesy of the artist

© ALETHEIA HYUN-JIN SHIN

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Melani N. Douglass’s daughter is 8 and Baking in Douglass’s work for Reclamation (2021); Digital photograph; Courtesy of the artist

Heat: History and Action When the opportunity came to make Reclamation an exhibition, we had a chance to create new partnerships and deepen our current connections. In addition to the Fresh Talk series, we decided to explore a bigger question of the WASC initiative: how do we move inspiration into action?

Our first remedy was to honor the hot toddy that started it all through a new program, “The Tea.” The Tea is a monthly live music series featuring women artists performing from their kitchens, followed by a cup of tea from Calabash Tea, a local woman-owned business. We added conversations with the Curative Collective, a group of community partners working at the intersection of art, food, and social change. With organizations including No Kid Hungry, DC Mutual Aid Apothecary, The Fresh Food Factory, Together We Bake, and STRŌB Apothecary, we extended the conversation and opportunities for engagement.

Join Us! Visit https://reclamation.nmwa.org to connect to the food stories of others and create your own. Reclamation will continue to evolve over the year as visitors use it. Every comment,

© MELANI N. DOUGLASS

invites visitors to add resources. The pantry also enables interconnections among recipes.

In the time of COVID-19, so many people have focused on home or supporting one other through food. The idea of sharing recipes and resources was like using salt to enhance an existing, welcome flavor.

recipe like, share, and page view will inform what the online exhibition becomes. As we plan upcoming programs, we will use this data to shape the experience, making the process more and more collaborative.

We invite you to participate in Reclamation and join us in celebrating the art of the everyday. // Melani N. Douglass is the director of public programs at the

National Museum of Women in the Arts.

Reclamation: Recipes, Remedies, and Rituals is made possible through leadership gifts from Denise Littlefield Sobel, the Davis/ Dauray Family Fund, the Revada Foundation of the Logan Family, and the Susan and Jim Swartz Public Programs Fund. Additional funding is provided by the Bernstein Family Foundation. This project is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.

WO M E N I N T H E A RTS

Aletheia Hyun-jin Shin prepares ddukbokki for Reclamation (2020); Digital photograph; Courtesy of the artist

Emine Dressed Up for Republic Day, Trabzon, Turkey, 1965 (printed later); Gelatin silver print, 20 x 16 in.; NMWA, Gift of Frieder K. Hofmann

Mary Ellen Mark

GIRLHOOD MARCH 3 –JULY 11, 2021

Hannah Shambroom

An icon of modern photography, Mary Ellen Mark (1940–2015) traveled the world documenting subjects as varied as famous actors on film sets and people living on the fringes of mainstream society. Known for her compassionate approach, Mark captured individuals’ lives and stories with empathy, humor, and candor.

Through the lens of her camera, Mark cut through social and societal barriers to champion people from all walks of life.

Mary Ellen Mark: Girlhood examines Mark’s depictions of girls and young woman living in a variety of circumstances in the U.S. and around the globe. Thanks to a generous donation from members of the Photography Buyers Syndicate of more than 160 works by Mark, the exhibition showcases approximately thirty photographs that span the breadth of the artist’s fifty-year career–from her earliest work in Turkey in the 1960s to Polaroid photographs taken at U.S. high school proms in the early 2000s. The exhibition highlights the close relationships Mark formed with many of her young subjects, whom she saw as “figures closest to the life force, whose consciences have not yet been censored by society.” 1

PHOTO BY LEE STALSWORTH ; © MARY ELLEN MARK/THE MARY ELLEN MARK FOUNDATION

WINTER/SPRING 2021

About the Artist Born and raised in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, Mark took an early interest in photography, experimenting with a simple Kodak Brownie camera at age nine. Her fascination with capturing a story on film continued into adulthood, and in 1964 she completed a master’s degree in photojournalism from the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication. The following year, Mark was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to photograph in Turkey for one year, an honor that she described as “the beginning of my life’s photographic journey.”2 Well known for her documentary-style photography as well as portraiture, Mark was a master of telling a story through a single moment. “Great documentary photography captures a precise moment in one frame. Great portrait photography captures the essence of the person or persons being photographed,” she said.3 Mark’s photographs often do both.

One of her earliest works, Emine Dressed up for Republic Day, Trabzon, Turkey (1965), depicts a young girl wearing a dress and large bow in her hair posing with one hand on her hip.

Mark encountered the image’s subject, Emine, while taking photographs in the street. After joining Emine and her mother at their house for tea, Mark photographed the girl in their courtyard. “For a portrait to work, a lot has to come together: the framing of the picture, the background, the expression, the moment,” she said. “A strong gesture, like the way the girl’s hands are placed, can make the picture work (or not).”4 Mark called this work “the first strong photograph I made.

It was a turning point for me.”5 A Closer Look Mark often took personal interest in those she met and photographed, revisiting the same places or people over the course of many years. In some instances, she formed lasting connections with subjects. Mark’s involvement with Erin Blackwell (nicknamed “Tiny”) began in 1983, when the girl was just thirteen. Mark was working on Streetwise, a project that documented children living on the streets of Seattle.

Of all the children she photographed for the project, Mark formed a particular bond with Blackwell, a teenage runaway, even offering to bring the young girl back to New York to live with her and her husband (an offer that Blackwell refused due to Mark’s condition that she attend school).

Over the next thirty-two years, Mark photographed Tiny, documenting first her difficult adolescence as a teenage sex worker and drug addict and later her adulthood as a mother of ten. For her follow-up project, Tiny, Streetwise Revisited, Mark compiled images of Blackwell and her growing family from 1983 to 2015. In J’Lisa Looks Through the Blinds (2014), Tiny’s daughter J’Lisa peers out of a window, her expression brimming with anticipation and skepticism. Streetwise Revisited was one of the last projects Mark worked on, and she and Blackwell stayed in touch until Mark’s death in 2015.

Mark met Jeanette Alejandro at the Puerto Rican Day parade in New York City in 1978. At the time, Jeanette was fifteen and pregnant. Mark photographed the girl throughout her pregnancy, and when she eventually went into labor, Mark was called to the hospital to capture the birth.6 “Photographing Jeanette was a great learning experience for me,” Mark stated. “I learned how important it is to stay with a subject . . . [and] that you can capture more intimate moments by blending into the background.”7 Mark photographed Jeanette at a pivotal stage in the girl’s life, as she matured quickly from a teenager in love into a mother. Jeanette and Victor, Brooklyn, New York (1979) depicts the young couple lying on a bed, a sweet and intimate scene that captures their love for each other and excitement for their future family. In 2018, when asked about Mark, Jeanette recalled, “When Mary Ellen talked to you, she always made you feel like you’re important too, no matter what situation you were in. . . . She knew how to come into our world.”8

PHOTO BY LEE STALSWORTH; © MARY ELLEN MARK/THE MARY ELLEN MARK FOUNDATION

PHOTO BY LEE STALSWORTH ; © MARY ELLEN MARK/THE MARY ELLEN MARK FOUNDATION

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Right: Laurie in the Bathtub, Ward 81, Oregon State Hospital, Salem, Oregon, 1976 (printed later); Gelatin silver print, 20 x 24 in.; NMWA, Gift of Susan and Earl Cohen

PHOTO BY LEE STALSWORTH ; © MARY ELLEN MARK/THE MARY ELLEN MARK FOUNDATION

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Opposite, top: J’Lisa Looks Through the Blinds, Streetwise Revisited, 2014; Gelatin silver print, 11 x 14 in.; NMWA, Gift of Frieder K. Hofmann Opposite, bottom: Jeanette and Victor, Brooklyn, New York, 1979 (printed later); Gelatin silver print, 16 x 20 in.; NMWA, Gift of Shaun Lucas

The Big Picture Frequently photographing people who lived outside of mainstream society, Mark approached her subjects with sensitivity and compassion. Many of the people she worked with were part of vulnerable and overlooked populations, and Mark captured their stories with humanity and empathy. Mary Ellen Mark: Girlhood presents photographs of girls from all walks of life, living in varied conditions around the world, united in simply being themselves while navigating their own paths through girlhood.

Hannah Shambroom is the exhibition coordinator at the National Museum of Women in the Arts.

//

Mary Ellen Mark: Girlhood, presented in the Teresa Lozano Long Gallery of the National Museum of Women in the Arts, is organized by the museum and generously supported by the members of NMWA. Notes: 1. “Exposure: Introduction,” Mary Ellen Mark website, accessed December 11, 2020, http://www.maryellenmark.com/text/books/exposure/text001_exposure.html.

2. Mary Ellen Mark, “The Photo That Made Me: Mary Ellen Mark, Trabzon, Turkey, 1965,” Time Lightbox, March 11, 2015, https://time. com/3692506/the-photo-that-made-me-mary-ellen-mark-trabzonturkey-1965.

3. “Twins: Introduction,” Mary Ellen Mark website, accessed December 11, 2020, http://www.maryellenmark.com/text/books/twins/text001_ twins.html.

4. Mary Ellen Mark, Mary Ellen Mark on the Portrait and the Moment: The Photography Workshop Series (Aperture, 2015), 12.

5. Mary Ellen Mark, “The Photo That Made Me: Mary Ellen Mark, Trabzon, Turkey, 1965.”

6. Martin Bell and Mary Ellen Mark, The Book of Everything (Steidl, 2020), 230.

7. Carrie Rickey, “Mary Ellen Mark, 75, Photographer of Humanity,” Philadelphia Inquirer, May 26, 2015.

8. Ibid.

WO M E N I N T H E A RTS

In 1975, Mark was on assignment taking behind-thescenes photos on the set of the film One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, shot at the Oregon State Hospital. While there, she encountered the women living in Ward 81, a high-security ward for women considered dangerous to themselves or others. Interested in getting to know these women and documenting their lives in the hospital, Mark and writer Karen Folger Jacobs gained permission to live in an available space next to Ward 81 for thirty-six days in the winter of 1976. Laurie in the Bathtub, Ward 81, Oregon State Hospital, Oregon (1976) shows a young patient nearly submerged in a deep, sudsy bath. Mark cropped the photograph closely around the tub, so a viewer might assume that Laurie is an average teenager taking a bath in her home. Her open, vulnerable expression provides no clue that she is institutionalized or deemed “dangerous” by the outside world. Mark took care in getting to know the girls and women living in Ward 81, revealing through her lens their private selves beyond their diagnoses.

Supporting Roles 28

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Wilhelmina Cole Holladay—Chair of the Board, Winton S. Holladay— Vice-Chair of the Board, Martha Dippell—President, Gina F. Adams— First Vice President, Susan Goldberg— Second Vice President, Sheila Shaffer— Treasurer and Finance Chair, Rose Carter—Secretary, Pamela Parizek— Audit Chair, Marcia Myers Carlucci— Building Chair, Amy Weiss— Communications Chair, Ashley Davis— Government Relations Chair, Nancy Duber—Nominations Chair, Nancy Nelson Stevenson—Works of Art Chair, Susan Fisher Sterling—Alice West Director**, Janice Lindhurst Adams, Charlotte Clay Buxton, Diane CaseyLandry, Lizette Corro, Betty Boyd Dettre, Deborah I. Dingell, Susan Dunlevy, Anjali Gupta, Pam Gwaltney, Cindy Jones, Sally L. Jones, Marlene Malek, Jacqueline Badger Mars, Juliana E. May, Bonnie McElveenHunter, Mary V. Mochary, Stephanie Sale, Julie Sapone**, Kathleen Elizabeth Springhorn, Jessica H. Sterchi, Mahinder Tak, Annie S. Totah, Sarah Bucknell Treco**, Ruthanna Maxwell Weber, Alice West, Patti White ** Ex-Officio

WINTER/SPRING 2021

NMWA ADVISORY BOARD

Sarah Bucknell Treco—Chair, Noreen Ackerman, Kathe Hicks Albrecht, Sunny Scully Alsup, Jo Ann Barefoot, Gail Bassin, Arlene Begelman, Sue Ann Berlin, Catherine Little Bert, Brenda Bertholf, Margaret C. Boyce Brown, Deborah G. Carstens, Rebecca Chang, Paul T. Clark, Amb. Maria Eugenia Chiozza, Barbara Cohen, Marcella Cohen, Marian Cohen, Robyn D. Collins, Donna Paolino Coia, Linda Comstock, Elizabeth Crane, Prof. Byron Croker, M.D., Lynn Finesilver Crystal, Elizabeth Cullen, Verónica de Ferrero, Belinda de Gaudemar, Kitty de Isola, Katy Graham Debost, Betty B. Dettre, Alexis Deutsch, Kenneth P. Dutter, Christine Edwards, Anne N. Edwards, Gerry E. Ehrlich, Elva Ferrari-Graham, Lisa Claudy Fleischman, Anita Forsyth, Lucrecia Forsyth, Rosemarie C. Forsythe, Anita Friedt, Claudia Fritsche, Barbara S. Goldfarb, Sally Gries, Michelle Guillermin, Anjali Gupta, Pamela Gwaltney, Florencia Helbling, Sue J. Henry, Jan Jessup, Alice Kaplan, Paulette Kessler, Janece Smoot Kleban, Arlene Fine Klepper, Doris Kloster, Malinda Krantz, Robin Leeds, Cynthia Madden Leitner, Gladys Lisanby, Sarah H. Lisanby, M.D., Fred M. Levin, Bonnie Loeb, Gloria and Dan Logan, Clara M. Lovett, Joanne Ludovici, Patricia Macintyre, Linda

Mann, Maria Teresa Martínez, C. Raymond Marvin, Ellen Stirn Mavec, Dee Ann McIntyre, Cynthia McKee, Fatima McKinley, Constance C. McPhee, Suzanne Mellor, Morgan Miller, Milica Mitrovich, Claudia Pensotti Mosca, Deborah E. Myers, Jeannette T. Nichols, Kay Woodward Olson, Monica T. O’Neill, Katherine D. Ortega, Margaret Perkins, Anthony Podesta, Sarah (Patti) Pyle, Drina Rendic, Helena Ribe, Barbara Richter, Elizabeth Robinson, Tara Rudman, Elizabeth A. Sackler, Stephanie Sale, Consuelo Salinas de Pareja, Steven Scott, Marsha Brody Shiff, Kathy Sierra, Ann Simon, Geri Skirkanich, Dot Snyder, Denise Littlefield Sobel, Patti Amanda Spivey, Kathleen Elizabeth Springhorn, Sara Steinfeld, Jo Stribling, Susan Swartz, Cheryl S. Tague, Judy Spence Tate, Lisa Cannon Taylor, MaryRoss Taylor, Brooke Taylor, Debra Therit, Deborah Dunklin Tipton, Sarah Bucknell Treco, Marichu Valencia, Sara M. Vance Waddell, Paula S. Wallace, Harriet L. Warm, Krystyna Wasserman, Patti White, Carol Winer, Betty Bentsen Winn, Rhett D. Workman LEGACY OF WOMEN IN THE ARTS ENDOWMENT CAMPAIGN

We wish to thank all of the supporters of the Legacy of Women in the Arts Endowment Campaign, whose generosity guarantees that NMWA will endure and forever inspire for generations to come. Although we can only list donations of $10,000 and above due to space limitations, NMWA is grateful to all donors to the endowment.

Endowment Foundation Trustee ($1 million+) Anonymous, Betty B. and Rexford* Dettre, Estate of Grace A. George, Wilhelmina C. and Wallace F.* Holladay, Sr., Carol and Climis Lascaris, Estate of Evelyn B. Metzger*, The Honorable Mary V. Mochary, Rose Benté Lee Ostapenko*, The Madeleine Rast Charitable Remainder Trust*, The Walton Family Foundation Endowment Foundation Governor ($500,000–$999,999) Noreen M. Ackerman, P. Frederick Albee and Barbara E. Albee*, Catherine L. and Arthur A. Bert, M.D., J.W. Kaempfer, Jr., Nelleke LanghoutNix*, Joe R. and Teresa L. Long, James R. and Suzanne S. Mellor, National Endowment for the Humanities, Drs. A. Jess and Ben Shenson*, MaryRoss Taylor, Alice W. and Gordon T. West, Jr.

Endowment Foundation Fellow ($200,000–$499,999) Catharina B. and Livingston L. Biddle, Jr.*, Marcia and Frank* Carlucci Charitable Foundation, Costa del Sol Cruise, Kenneth P. Dutter, Estate of E. Louise Gaudet, Lorraine G. Grace*, William Randolph Hearst Foundation, Estate of Eleanor Heller*, Fred M. Levin and Nancy Livingston*/The Shenson Foundation, in memory of Drs. Ben and A. Jess Shenson, Dorothy S. Lyddon*/Seven Springs Foundation, Marlene McArthur and Frederic V.* Malek, Victoria J. Mastrobuono*, Sea Goddess I and II Trips, Alejandra and Enrique Segura, Sheila and Richard Shaffer, Clarice Smith Endowment Foundation Counselor ($100,000–$199,999) Gina and Eugene Adams, Janice L. and Harold L. Adams, Nunda and Prakash Ambegaonkar, Carol C. Ballard, Baltic Cruise, Charlotte Clay Buxton, Eleanor and Nicholas D. Chabraja, Clark Charitable Foundation, Hilda and William B. Clayman, Julia B. and Michael M. Connors, Martha Lyn Dippell and Daniel Lynn Korengold, Gerry E. and S. Paul* Ehrlich, Jr., Enterprise Rent-A-Car, FedEx Corporation, The Geiger Family Foundation, Barbara A. Gurwitz and William D. Hall, Caroline Rose Hunt*/ The Sands Foundation, Cindy and Evan Jones, Alice D. Kaplan, Dorothy* and Raymond LeBlanc, Lucia Woods Lindley, Gladys K. and James W.* Lisanby, Lockheed Martin Corporation, Adrienne B. and John F. Mars, Juliana and Richard E.* May, Bonnie McElveen-Hunter, Irene Natividad, The Miller and Jeanette Nichols Foundation/Jeannette T. Nichols, Nancy O’Malley*, Lady Pearman, Reinsch Pierce Family Foundation/ Lola C. Reinsch and J. Almont Pierce, Julia Sevilla Somoza, Marsha Brody Shiff, Ann Simmons*, June Speight*, Kathleen Elizabeth Springhorn, Mahinder K. and Sharad Tak, Sami and Annie Totah Family Foundation, Elzbieta Chlopecka Vande Sande Endowment Circle ($50,000–$99,999) Linda Able Choice*, George* and Ursula Andreas, Arkansas Fifty, Lulu H. Auger*, Virginia Mitchell Bailey*, Sondra D. and Howard M. Bender*/The Bender Foundation, Inc., Patti Cadby Birch*, Laura Lee and Jack S. Blanton, Sr.*/ Scurlock Foundation, Anne R. Bord*, Caroline Boutté, BP Foundation, Inc., M. A. Ruda* and Peter J. P. Brickfield, Margaret C. Boyce Brown, Martha Buchanan, Sandra and Miles Childers, Mary and Armeane Choksi, Donna Paolino Coia and Arthur Coia, Margaret and David Cole/The Cole Family Foundation, Holland H. Coors*, Porter and Lisa Dawson, Courtenay Eversole, Suzy Finesilver*/The Hertzel and Suzy Finesilver Charitable Foundation, Karen Dixon Fuller, Alan Glen Family Trust, Peter and Wendy Gowdey, Laura L.

Guarisco, Jolynda H. and David M. Halinski, Janie Hathoot, Hap and Winton Holladay, I. Michael and Beth Kasser, William R. and Christine M. Leahy, Louise C. Mino Trust, Zoe H. and James H. Moshovitis, Joan and Lucio A. Noto, Marjorie H. and Philip Odeen, Nancy Bradford Ordway, Katherine D. Ortega, Margaret H. and Jim Perkins, Ramsay D. Potts*, in honor of Veronica R. Potts, Elizabeth Pruet*, Edward Rawson, Jane S. Schwartz Trust, Jack and Dana* Snyder, Judith Zee Steinberg and Paul J. Hoenmans, Susan and Scott Sterling, Nancy N. and Roger Stevenson, Jr., Jo and Thomas Stribling, Susan and Jim Swartz, Elizabeth Stafford Hutchinson Endowed Internship—Texas State Committee of NMWA, Frances and William* Usher, Stuart and Chancy West, Betty Bentsen Winn and Susan Winn Lowry, Yeni Wong Endowment Patron ($25,000–$49,999) Micheline and Sean Connery, Stephanie Fein, Sheila ffolliott, Georgia State Committee of NMWA, New York Trip, Mississippi State Committee of NMWA, Northern Trust, Estate of Mary Marvin, Breckinridge Patterson, Chris Petteys*, Lisa and Robert Pumphrey*, Elizabeth A. Sackler, Estate of Madoline W. Shreve*, Patti Amanda and Bruce Spivey, Sahil Tak/ST Paper, LLC, In honor of Alice West, Jean and Donald M. Wolf, The Women’s Committee of NMWA Endowment Sponsor ($15,000–$24,999) Deborah G. Carstens, Martha and Homer Gudelsky*, Sally L. Jones, Louise H. Matthews Fund, Lily Y. Tanaka, Liz and Jim Underhill, Elizabeth Welles, Dian Woodner Endowment Friend ($10,000–$14,999) Carol A. Anderson, Julia and George L. Argyros, Mrs. Joseph T. Beardwood, III, Catherine Bennett and Fred Frailey, Susan G. Berk, Mary Kay Blake, Booz Allen Hamilton, Lynne V. and Richard Cheney, Esther Coopersmith, Darby FoundationvJuliet De Laricheliere*, Jack J. Dreyfus, Jr.*, Patricia M. and Clifford J. Ehrlich, Mary Page and Thomas B. Evans, Lois Lehrman Grass, Anna Stapleton Henson, Alexine C. and Aaron G.* Jackson, Jan Jessup, Pamela Johnson and Wesley King, Helga and Peter-Hans Keilbach, Howard and Michelle Kessler, Ellen U. and Alfred A. King*, Jacqueline Badger Mars, C. Raymond Marvin, Clyde and Pat Dean McCall, Edwina H. and Charles P. Milner, Evelyn V. and Robert M.* Moore, Harriet Newbill, Estate of Edythe Bates Old, PepsiCo., Inc., Anne and Chris Reyes, Savannah Trip, Mary Anne B. Stewart, Paula Wallace/Savannah College of Art and Design, Marjorie Nohowel Wasilewski, Jean S. and Gordon T. Wells * Deceased (all lists as of January 15, 2021)

Museum Shop

Shop NMWA online at https://shop.nmwa.org or call toll-free 877-226-5294

The Tarot of Leonora Carrington This presentation of Surrealist artist Leonora Carrington’s recently discovered tarot deck includes a full-size facsimile and explores the significance of tarot imagery within the artist’s work. Hardcover, 120 pages. $50/Member $45 (Item #1475)

Bouquet Puzzle Ashley Woodson Bailey’s signature “florography” art is die-cut and contoured into a unique bouquet for this 750-piece puzzle. Finished puzzle approx.

25 x 25 in. $19.99/Member $17.99 (Item #31189)

Body Vases These minimalist ceramic vases celebrate the beauty and diversity of the female body.

Large (9 in. high): Brown, $35/ Member $31.50 (Item #40662) Small (7 1/4 in. high): Beige, $30/ Member $27 (Item #40661)

“Do Not Touch the Artwork” Cap Make a statement with this best-selling cap from District of Clothing. Features intricate embroidery on a vintage wash and a snap buckle with antique brass finish. 100% cotton twill. $32/Member $28.80 (Item #27218)

Ruth Bader Ginsburg Secular Saint Candle Remember the late Supreme Court justice and cultural icon with this colorful, illustrated votive. 8 in. high; $15/Member $13.50 (Item #4396)

Black Futures What does it mean to be Black and alive in our time? This vibrant anthology explores that question via the artwork, essays, memes, interviews, recipes, poetry, and tweets of Black creators. Hardcover, 544 pages. $40/Member $36 (Item #5293) WO M E N I N T H E A RTS

Sonya Clark: Tatter, Bristle, and Mend Exhibition Catalogue This fully illustrated volume features a conversation between Clark and Nell Painter, new poetry by Nikky Finney, and essays by Bridget R. Cooks, Tiya Miles, Salamishah Tillet, and NMWA curators. Softcover, 176 pages. $32.95/Member $29.65 (Item #1485)

Rachel Ruysch Face Mask Celebrate the museum’s collection with this mask featuring a detail from Rachel Ruysch’s Roses, Convolvulus, Poppies, and Other Flowers in an Urn on a Stone Ledge (ca. late 1680s).

One size. $16/Member $14.40 (Item #27401)

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1250 New York Avenue NW Washington, DC 20005-3970

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COMING SOON

Mark Your Calendar!

PHOTO BY NICHOLAS CALCOT T

Join Us Online for Programs That Bring the Museum to You

Many of the museum’s programs have moved online to reach you at home. Mark your calendar for special talks and informal chats highlighting women in the arts.

First Fridays, 12–1 p.m.: The Tea In this online series, women musicians perform original work via livestream on the museum’s social media channels. Performances are followed by a short interview over a cup of tea.

Fridays in March, 5–5:45 p.m.: Art Chats @ Five highlighting #5WomenArtists During Women’s History Month, these Friday afternoon videochat programs each focus on five women artists, encouraging participants to join the social media campaign and discover new artists and art.

Sunday, April 18, 4:30–6 p.m.: Fresh Talk: Sonya Clark Join us for an in-depth conversation with Clark, featured

in Sonya Clark: Tatter, Bristle, and Mend, who transforms simple materials, drawing out momentous narratives on race, visibility, heritage, labor, and the urgent need to redress history.

Check pages 14–17 for more information and a complete calendar for the season.

Sonya Clark, whose work is featured through May 31 in the survey exhibition Sonya Clark: Tatter, Bristle, and Mend