In The Gallery: nevertheless, she persisted: Prints by Contemporary Women Artists

  • Monday, Mar 12, 2018
Madison, Wis. (March 12, 2018) – nevertheless, she persisted: Prints by Contemporary Women Artists highlights some of the most lauded women artists of the last 40 years, addressing a broad range of subjects from social and political issues to more personal concerns and perspectives.
  • Exhibition Dates: Wednesday, March 21 through Sunday, May 13, 2018

 

  • Artists’ Reception: Friday, March 23, 5:00-7:30 pm, Edgewood College Gallery. Curator Annemarie Sawkins’ Remarks at 6:00 pm

 

  • Guest Curator Lecture: Annemarie Sawkins, Thursday, April 19, 3:00 pm, Edgewood College Gallery 

Using a variety of printmaking techniques to create powerful images are Elizabeth Blackadder, Louise Bourgeois, Judy Chicago, Sue Coe, Yvonne Jacquette, Ellen Lanyon, Nicola Lopez, Melissa Miller, Alice Neel, Paula Rego, Betye Saar, Kiki Smith, Joan Snyder and Kara Walker. Held in high regard nationally and internationally, these women have embodied the phrase nevertheless, she persisted as they struggled to be taken seriously, juggled personal and professional lives, fully expressed their political ideas and fought for gallery representation and institutional recognition.

Guest curator Annemarie Sawkins began collecting prints by women artists with the 10th Anniversary Portfolio of the National Museum of Women in the Arts. This portfolio included eight prints and inspired Sawkins to continue to add prints by other artists as she could. Her small, but very impressive collections feature some of the most widely lauded women artists from the mid-20th century up to the present. The exhibition also includes prints drawn from the Edgewood College collection by Judy Chicago and Joan Snyder.

In an accompanying essay for the exhibition, Ms. Sawkins points out the continuing effects of long-standing, deeply entrenched art world biases privileging male artists over female artists in all facets of the visual art industry and institutions. Art by women sells for less, wages are less, representation in galleries and museums is far less. For instance, a recent article notes that “only 13.7 percent of living artists represented by galleries in Europe and North America are female.” Statistics noting such inequities will accompany the prints on the gallery walls.

Edgewood College Gallery welcomes community and school groups to make appointments for guided tours of the exhibition, which runs through Sunday, May 13.

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