Women Only! In Their Studios

February 3 – April 15, 2007

Sponsored by the Ian and Miriam Rolland Foundation

Contemporary women artists who have exhibited extensively in galleries and museums in the United States and worldwide deplore how little their work is recognized by the American public. This exhibit has the potential to acquaint a larger audience with many of our great women artists. It is an eclectic assemblage of paintings, photographs, sculpture, quilts and videos by twenty women who broke through the glass ceiling, in fact shattered it, but incredibly are not yet household names. Each artist is an innovator who added distinct marks along the path of modern art—from abstract expressionism to conceptualism and appropriationsim, and everything in between. The viewer will also be invigorated by a rich modern American tapestry since our artists are culturally as diverse as the strands that make up our great melting pot. Their basic expressive means are as boldly distinctive as their cultures are different. Included are Jennifer Bartlett, Amalia Mesa-Bains, Camille Billops, Elizabeth Catlett, Linda Freeman, Ann Hamilton, Grace Hartigan, Jenny Holzer, Barbara Kruger, Elizabeth Murray, Howardena Pindell, Laurie Simmons, Faith Ringgold, Miriam Schapiro, Jaune Quick-To-See Smith, Joan Snyder, Pat Steir, Gail Tremblay, Jackie Winsor, and Flo Oy Wong.

They all share a relentless focus, with courage to embrace uncharted territory, and in vibrant autobiographical revelations we learn where they came from and where they got their near affliction to become artists, to live lives of great uncertainty battling against incredible odds. The exhibition features fifty works of art and photos of their studios, twenty faithful reflections by contemporary women artists provide first person quotes to accompany this project.

The showing here in Fort Wayne is part of a seven city national tour over a two and a half year period containing approximately fifty art works featuring paintings, sculptures, and works on paper. Women Only! In Their Studios was curated by Eleanor Flomenhaft. The tour was developed and managed by Smith Kramer Fine Art Services, an exhibition tour development company in Kansas City, Missouri.