Press about Feminists Under Forty Show
Feminists Under Forty show honors novel and neon
March 21, 2008
| Special to the Herald
BELEN, N.M. - Feminists know the name Judy Chicago. She is an artist, author, feminist and educator whose work spans 40 years. She pioneered feminist art and education through programs at California State University, Fresno, and the California Institute of Arts. In 1974, Chicago turned her attention to the history of women and created her iconic work, ”The Dinner Party.” This multimedia work was executed between 1974-1979 by hundreds of volunteers and has been seen by more than a million viewers in six countries. In 2007, “The Dinner Party” was permanently installed at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. Today, Chicago lives and works from her studio and nonprofit feminist art organization, Through the Flower, in Belen. On March 1, Chicago opened an exhibition that she juried, at Through the Flower, which is near Albuquerue. It provides a glimpse into work currently being created by young New Mexico feminist artists: Maureen Burdock, Kate Carr, Andrea Cermanski, Helen Colton, Shara Hannah Finnerman, Erin Lynn Forrest, Mikhayla Harrel, Kimberly Hargrove, Nicole Kowalski, Emily Kimball, Ashlie Maxwell, Merce Mitchell, Kelsy Waggaman and Sheila Wilson. The purpose of the show for Chicago is to encourage a younger generation to explore feminist themes through art. “By looking at the work of young feminist artists, we can see what issues are still unresolved. We see artists working in a variety of media, but they are still concerned with the body; with what it means to be a woman today; with sexual orientation; and with abuse,” Chicago writes on the Through the Flower Web site. “Although we wish that some of these issues were in the past; that we truly lived in a ‘post-feminist world,’ unfortunately, they are still with us. Until this changes, there must be spaces for Feminist art - and there aren’t enough of them.” Read the full article– http://archive.durangoherald.com/asp-bin/article_generation.asp?article_type=ae&article_path=/arts_entertainment/08/ae080321_1.htm