March: Women's History Month

This March I have the honor of being connected to Women’s History Month by an article  about women’s self portraits and an art exhibit “What Women Want”.

For the article “Mirror Image” I was interviewed by Kinsee Morlan about my piece Self Portrait 06. Our discussion started an internal dialogue as to how I define myself. Do I define myself as women artist, a feminist, a feminist artist? How does being a women affect my art? I am not sure being a women has given me a unique perspective or specifically defined who I am, or the work I create. I do know it is a piece of how I perceive, how I create, and who I am. What defines me is much broader than that of being a women.

I thank Kinsee for including me in this article.

I am in a group FIG (Feminist Image Group) and am not comfortable with being pigeon holed into being a feminist or image artist. There is a blog about the group and and right at the beginning a statement reads:

FIG is coalition of artists who meet to organize exhibitions, discuss art, see exhibitions, and support one another in our careers. We promote an inclusive worldview that allows all voices. As friends, we aid each other in our creative and curatorial endeavors.

Of course I think we should change the name and then the statement, maybe:

We are a coalition of women artists formed in support of one another and our careers, to promote an inclusive world view, allow all voices, and aid each other in our creative and curatorial endeavors.

We have an exhibit “What Women Want” and during this exhibit there will be a panel discussion moderated by Robert Pincus. Who at this time is the only one being paid. He is also at this time the only male. There is a real disconnect with this which has bothered me since I learned the other panelist would not be paid. I have contacted the members of FIG and suggested we pay the other panelist. As of today there are 8 out of the 20 participating women artists that have stated that they would support, financially, paying the 2 women panelist (the same as our male moderator). I am not sure this will happen. I thank FIG for being include in the exhibition, and the opportunity to explore what I, as a women, want.


I wonder if I can continue to be in this group.

I wonder, am I a bad women?