DISTINGUISHED ART SERIES MARKS 25TH ANNIVERSARY
WOMEN ARTISTS SERIES' RETROSPECTIVE EVENTS
The Mary H. Dana Women Artists Series, the oldest and longest
running series of exhibitions devoted to women's art, is celebrating
its 25th Anniversary with a trio of exhibitions, lectures,
receptions, retrospective catalogue, and a commemorative print benefiting the
landmark Series. These activities are scheduled from September 1996
through January 1997.
Founded in 1971 upon the suggestion of acclaimed artist Joan Snyder,
a Douglass College undergraduate and MFA graduate, the Series began
as a revolutionary effort to provide women artists with alternate
space in which to exhibit their work. Prior to the Women's Art
Movement, women artists were denied exhibition and professional
teaching opportunities. At the forefront of change, the Women
Artists Series has been housed in the Mabel Smith Douglass Library
since 1971 when former Library Director, Daisy (Brightenback)
Shenholm, agreed to display the works of women artists in the
library's lobby, and appointed the Series first coordinator, Librarian
Lynn F. Miller, who guided the Series and garnered recognition and
respect for women artists. In 1987, the Series was renamed in memory
of Mary H. Dana, Douglass alumna class of 1942, by her friend,
Professor Emeritus Nelle Smithers.
25 Years of Feminism, 25 Years of Women's Art, The 25th Retrospective
Exhibition of the Mary H. Dana Women Artists Series, a major
retrospective of works created by artists who have participated in
the Series over the last 25 years, will feature paintings, sculpture and
mixed media works created by 125 artists including Louise Bourgeois,
Alice Neel, Faith Ringgold, Miriam Schapiro, Nancy Spero, and Pat
Steir. The exhibition will be on view October 3 through October 30, 1996 at
the Mason Gross School of the Arts Galleries, Civic Square Building,
33 Livingston Avenue in New Brunswick. Gallery hours are Monday
through Friday 10:00 AM-5 :00 PM and weekends 3:00-6:00 PM. A
reception, celebrating the Series' artists and the retrospective exhibition,
will be held on Thursday, October 17, 1996 at Mason Gross School of
the Arts from 4:30-6:30 PM.
The Mabel Smith Douglass Library, which has housed the Women Artists
Series for the past 25 years, will display Artists' Portraits and
Statements, an exhibition of photographs of approximately 100 artists
who have exhibited in the Series. On view September 3 through
December 15, 1996, the Library is located on Chapel Drive on the
Douglass campus of Rutgers University,New Brunswick. Library hours
are Monday to Thursday 8:00 AM-1:00 PM; Friday 8:00 AM-9:00 PM;
Saturday 10:00 AM-8:00 PM; and Sunday 12:00 Noon - 1:00 AM.
Rutgers University's Special Collections and University Archives will
present Images and Documents of Feminist Contemporary Art, an
exhibition documenting the Women's Art Movement with manuscript and
archival materials given to Rutgers University Libraries,
featuring the papers of the Womens' Caucus for Art, Heresies,
Lucy Lippard, and the New York Feminist Art Institute.
Located in the Archibald S. Alexander Library on the College Avenue
Campus of Rutgers University in New Brunswick, the gallery hours
are Monday to Friday 9:00 AM-5:00 PM; Saturdays 1:00 PM-5:00 PM
(closed Thanksgiving Day and December 25, 1996 through January 1,
1997).
In conjunction with the 25th Year Retrospective Exhibition at Mason
Gross School of the Arts, a celebratory lecture, Feminist Content,
Feminist Form: American Women Artists 1966-1996, will be delivered
by Dr. Judith E. Stein, independent curator and art critic, at
7:00 PM on Wednesday, October 23, 1996 at the Civic Square Building
Auditorium, 33 Livingston Avenue in downtown New Brunswick.
A reception will follow this event. Admission is free.
Commemorating the 25th Anniversary of the Series, founder-artist
Joan Snyder has collaborated with Eileen Foti, master printer at
Rutgers Center for Innovative Print and Paper (RCIPP), to create
a limited-edition fine art print Another Version of Cherry Fall,
a woodcut, etching with chine coll=E9 to benefit the Women Artists
Series. Orders should be sent with a $500 check (pre-publication
price; after November 1, cost will be $1,000) to RCIPP, Department
of Visual Arts, Mason Gross School of the Arts, Civic Square
Building, 33 Livingston Avenue, New Brunswick, NJ 08903.
Inquiries should be directed to RCIPP, 908-932-2222, ext. 838.
During the fall semester at Rutgers, Professor and Director of
Graduate Art History Studies, Dr. Joan Marter, will once again
teach a course on Women and Art, continuing in the tradition
established in 1978 when the first course of this type was
introduced. In addition, a collection of interviews with women
artists has been published by Scarecrow Press. Lives and Works,
Talks with Women Artists, Volume II, a 336-page publication
authored by Beryl Smith, Joan Arbeiter, and Sally Shearer Swenson,
features interviews with fourteen artists who have exhibited in
the Series, including Dotty Attie, Nancy Azara, Agnes Denes,
Miriam Schapiro, Joan Snyder, Faith Wilding, and Jackie Winsor.
Biographical information and a selected bibliography are included
for each artist.
The retrospective exhibition is accompanied by a 160-page catalogue
featuring essays by Rutgers Professors Judith K. Brodsky and
Joan Marter; a preface by co-curators Marianne Ficarra and Ferris
Olin; illustrations of works created and statements made by the
exhibition's 125 participating artists; a chronology of the
twenty-five year history of the Series' exhibitions; and a timeline
documenting the contributions of Douglass College and Rutgers
University to the history of women's art, culture, and politics
from 1955 to the present.
The catalogue and exhibition has been made possible through the
support of Johnson & Johnson and DesignWrite, Inc. Support has
been provided for these numerous activities by the Associate
Alumnae of Douglass College; Douglass College and the Voorhees
Assembly Board; Faculty of Arts and Sciences, New Brunswick:
Department of Art History and Women's Studies Program; Friends
of the Rutgers University Libraries; Institute for Research on
Women; Mason Gross School of the Arts: Music Department,
Rutgers Center for Innovative Print and Paper, and Visual Arts
Department; Rutgers University Libraries: Office of the Acting
University Librarian, Mabel Smith Douglass Library, and Special
Collections and University Archives; and the Jane Voorhees
Zimmerli Art Museum.
Contact:
Marianne Ficarra, Women Artists Series - (908)932-9407 ext.26
Kevin Colman, Mason Gross School of the Arts -(908)932-7591 ext.514
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