Dorothea Lange: A Life Beyond Limits

by Linda Gordon

Discussion Leader: Laura Morrison, WCA Programming Chair & Past President

We all know Dorothea Lange’s iconic photos―the Migrant Mother holding her child, the shoeless children of the Dust Bowl―but now renowned American historian Linda Gordon brings them to three-dimensional life in this groundbreaking exploration of Lange’s transformation into a documentarist. Using Lange’s life to anchor a moving social history of twentieth-century America, Gordon masterfully re-creates bohemian San Francisco, the Depression, and the Japanese-American internment camps. Accompanied by more than one hundred images―many of them previously unseen and some formerly suppressed―Gordon has written a sparkling, fast-moving story that testifies to her status as one of the most gifted historians of our time. Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize; a New York Times Notable Book; New Yorker’s A Year’s Reading; and San Francisco Chronicle Best Book.

Non-Fiction | 560 pages (128 photos) | Audiobook 17 hours and 35 minutes | Kindle

Members will receive an email invitation the day of the event.

How To Get Started In Public Art

With Annette Coleman, Public Engagement Installation Artist and Colorado Chapter Member

Annette will share some words of wisdom for artists aspiring to enter the world of public art. She’ll address key questions such as: Who should you bring with you on this journey? What are art commissioners looking for? What unique perspectives or creative approaches can you bring to the table?

Additionally, Annette will offer practical tips on creating budgets and evaluating opportunities.

Bring your questions, and if you have experience in public art, we encourage you to contribute to the discussion. Join us!

Biography

Annette Coleman, Mult-Media, Public Engagement Installation Artist
After a career in advertising and marketing for large national brands Annette transitioned seamlessly into her fine art pursuits. Her work is in many established Colorado collections including the Children’s Hospital of Denver, Boettcher Foundation, Broomfield Library, Lakewood Civic Center, Colorado Mesa University, Broomfield Health & Services Building, the State of Colorado/Western Colorado University and Craig Hospital to name a few. Venturing beyond Colorado you can find one of her newest installations in Old Town Scottsdale Arizona.

Annette’s work is firmly rooted in nature and all of the biodiversity of our planet and those imagined beyond our own. The elements are also often found in her work, fire, water, wind and air are expressed in abstracted forms and color. Childhood memories find their way into aspects of her iconic sculptures harking back to innocence and joy. Celebrated and featured in all of her work is the bold, engaging, bright and sparkling colors of the world. annettecolemanartist.com

Learn about the “I am Grateful for You” Project

With Anne Labovitz

Learn about the “I am Grateful for You” postcard initiative, a year-long partnership between artist Anne Labovitz’s I Love You Institute and the Women’s Caucus for Art. This durational, nomadic intervention prioritizes socially engaged practices, emphasizing acts of kindness as a radical act.

Launched on Valentine’s Day 2025 at the College Art Association’s Conference, the initiative continues with year-long outreach to WCA chapters and the community.

Biography

Anne Labovitz is a contemporary artist dedicated to making artworks that are urgent, participatory, and unrepentantly beautiful. She makes artwork that aims to challenge isolation, loneliness, and disconnection by activating color, movement, and light in large-scale immersive work. Local context and creating connections with others are embodied in her creative process. For Anne, color is energy, a life force and space is dialogical and dynamic. Using color, light, and movement, she creates experimental, site-specific work designed to engage a visceral and emotional place for viewers. More at https://labovitz.com/

Anne founded the “I Love You Institute” which is an artist-led site-specific project urgently working with communities to creatively address today’s world. The Institute combines art making, social justice, radical kindness, and relational listening to normalize saying “I Love You” as an alternative to division and conflict.

The Agency of Access: Contemporary Disability Art & Institutional Critique

With Amanda Cachia

Amanda Cachia is an outspoken advocate for artists living with sensory disabilities. She understands disabled artists’ experiences in both the world and the gallery. Cachia will talk about her most recent book, The Agency of Access: Contemporary Disability Art & Institutional Critique​, which examines how access can be employed as a methodology for curating art exhibitions using a multi-sensorial approach. Q & A will follow the presentation. More about Cachia at amandacachia.com

Bio: Amanda Cachia has an established career profile as a curator, consultant, writer and art historian who specializes in disability art activism across intersectional axes of difference, including gender, race, and sexuality. She is the tenure-track Assistant Professor and Assistant Director of the Masters of Arts in Arts Leadership Graduate Program at the Kathrine G. McGovern College of the Arts at the University of Houston, where she also serves as Coordinator of the Graduate Certificate in Museum and Gallery Management, and the Graduate Certificate in Arts and Health. Cachia is the author of
The Agency of Access: Contemporary Disability Art and Institutional Critique (2024) and the editor of Curating Access: Disability Art Activism and Creative Accommodation (2022), which includes over 40 international contributors. She is the 2024 recipient of the $50,000 National Arts and Disability Award (Established) issued by Creative Australia (formerly Australia Council for the Arts). She is also a 2023 grantee of the Creative Capital | Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant and received the 2024 Millard Meiss Publication Grant from the College Art Association to support the publication of her second monograph, Hospital Aesthetics: Disability, Medicine, Activism, forthcoming with Manchester University Press in September 2025. Her writing has been translated into Spanish, German, and Italian. She has a PhD in Art History, Theory & Criticism from the University of California San Diego. Cachia has curated approximately 50 exhibitions, many of which have traveled to cities across the USA, England, Australia and Canada. Cachia previously taught art history, visual culture, and curatorial and exhibition studies at Otis College of Art and Design, California Institute of the Arts, California State University Long Beach, California State University San Marcos and San Diego State University. 

Visual Fitness Workout: Unity, Courage, and Our Lives!

With Renee Sandell, PhD

Join Renee Sandell for a hands-on, interactive Visual Fitness “workout,” designed to strengthen your sense of Unity as a virtue for freedom. We will use her Balanced Way of Seeing® method to explore multiple layers of meaning in Norman Rockwell’s 1961 painting The Golden Rule and discuss its timely relevance to our lives. We will also decode Anita Kunz’ current exhibition Original Sisters: Portraits of Tenacity and Courage at The Norman Rockwell Museum to rediscover sources of our own unity and courage. Engage in activist sisterhood as we use Marking & Mapping® to create unique versions of our own “Original Sister ” portraits, share them with one another—and possibly the Museum.

Art Supplies: white drawing paper cut to 8×8, plus a black Sharpie marker

A Unity Resource PDF will be supplied after the event

VIDEO IS AVAILABLE FOR WCA MEMBERS ONLY
(WCA members need to log in to view – https://nwca.memberclicks.net)

ALL ABOUT WCA: 2025

Seen Heard, and Recognized

Join WCA President Sandra Davis and President-Elect Deb Deal-Blackwell for an interactive presentation about WCA. Learn about all that WCA has to offer our members along with what is being planned for 2025. There will be opportunities for Q&A and discussion as well! 

OUT AND ABOUT: THE WALK-IN CLOSET

Panel Discussion moderated by WCA Exhibitions Chair and curator Sarah Ernst

Curator Sarah Ernst will speak on the development of the exhibition Out and About: The Walk-in Closet currently on view at the Fredericksburg Area Museum. This exhibition investigates 4,000 years of global LGBTQ+ history with an additional focus of the past 200 years of history in the shallow south region of Fredericksburg, Virginia. Sarah will discuss researching a population that is greatly susceptible to erasure, building trust, and arts curation in a historical context.
Exhibition Designer Emily Keppel of EDK Design and Drag Queen Shenendoah will join Sarah Ernst for a panel discussion.

Topics in the exhibition include:

• Historical navigation of the legal world as an LGBTQ+ person.
• Gender and sexuality across time, culture and in nature.
• How we share stories, and get to know ourselves through the stories of others.
• Family, and chosen family.
• The AIDS Epidemic
• The original Drag Queen, Washington D.C’s William Dorsey Swann, who was born enslaved, and the modern Queens that are wiggling life back into the local scene.
• A sliver of the great Queer talent of a small Virginia town.
• And lastly, questions for families; an opportunity for Queer families to see themselves in a formal space.

BIO
Sarah Ernst is an artist, curator and advocate for all things that help right the boat of life. She was born in Wyoming and currently works in Virginia. She received her Bachelor’s in Studio Art from the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia in 2010 and her Master’s in Visual Arts from Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 2019.
Sarah’s curatorial work focuses on changing the aggregate of who expects themselves to be seen and celebrated in formal spaces. She is passionate about her work as a curator because it gives her the opportunity to choose projects that amplify the voices of those that have been underrepresented, and undersourced. She has 15 years of experience in exhibitions including a robust exhibition and programming record in museums.
Sarah is a single mother of two adult children, and a third who happily still lives at home as well as many, many dogs and cats. She enjoys collecting 1972 Chevrolets, home renovation, paddleboarding, yoga and any adventure she can take her dogs on.

6000 Circle Project: A Review

The 6000 Circles project was conceived as a nine-month living project focusing on the circle as a symbol of balance and unity, a never ending container of feminine energy and light. The project launched in March in honor of International Women’s Month and is concluding this month.

A brief presentation of the 6000 Circle Project will showcase the community effort over the past nine months of the project, followed by a panel discussion and Q&A session. Panel members include Priscilla Otani, Northern California chapter; Melody Epperson, Colorado chapter; Tara Lee, Alabama chapter; and Lisa Rasmussen, The Harmonia Institute. 

Members will receive an email invitation the day of the event.

More information at https://tinyurl.com/3jbarv4z

Business of Art: Building Your Digital Art Portfolio

Shantay Robinson, Writing and Rhetoric PhD candidate at George Mason University

Artist bios and artist statements are essential written documents that can advance an artist’s career. When curators, gallerists, patrons, and writers read these documents, they provide context for an artist’s work; they can engage with an artist and the artwork on a deeper level. While a beautiful piece of art says a lot about an artist’s skills and techniques, a bio and artist statement give the onlooker background on the artist and an understanding of why the artwork is meaningful. And the way they are presented to the world also determines their effectiveness.

In this interactive workshop we will learn the definitions for bios and artist statements to determine how they differ. We will also engage in activities to begin developing your bios and artist statements. In addition to that, we will talk about digital art portfolios. The way an artist’s work is presented to the world makes a lasting impression. A portfolio is ideal for housing pictures of your art, bio, and artist statement, so those interested in your art can find out more about it. In this workshop, we will determine some best practices for creating online portfolios. The goal of the workshop is to walk away with ideas for developing your bio, artist statement, and online portfolio to represent your artistry.

BIO
Shantay Robinson is a Writing and Rhetoric PhD candidate at George Mason University. She participated in the inaugural class of Burnaway Magazine’s Art Writers Mentorship Program, Duke University’s Center for Documentary Studies Digital Publishing Project Editorial Fellowship, and CUE Art Foundation’s Art Critic Mentoring program. Shantay currently writes for ARTnews, Black Art in America, and Smithsonian Magazine, and she has written for Washington City Paper, Burnaway, Arts ATL, ARTS.BLACK, AFROPUNK, and Number, Inc. Her academic writing has been published in Teaching Artist Journal. And she is currently a lecturer of first-year writing at Howard University and adjunct professor of Writing for Artists at George Mason University.

Members will receive an email invitation the day of the event.

VIDEO IS AVAILABLE FOR WCA MEMBERS ONLY
(WCA members need to log in to view – https://nwca.memberclicks.net)

Tips to Help Manage Your Mental Load for Creativity

with Sharon Burton: artist, curator, poet, blogger, podcaster, teacher and creativity coach

Creatives thrive when mentally and emotionally balanced. Creativity coach and artist Sharon Burton will guide us in exploring coping strategies for stress, world events, and other challenges, fostering a lighter load for enhanced creativity.  

BIO
Sharon J. Burton is a multifaceted creative professional with 20 years of experience spanning visual arts, poetry, blogging, podcasting, teaching, and coaching in the DC, Maryland, and Virginia areas. Her visual artwork has been showcased nationally since 2006, and she has curated numerous exhibitions in collaboration with esteemed organizations. Sharon’s poetry has been featured in publications such as “Kaleidoscope: Women of Color Reflecting on Life.” Certified in creativity coaching and meditation, she also holds certificates in Art Business and Art History. Sharon hosts a podcast spotlighting midlife artists and serves as a teaching artist with various institutions. Currently, she is crafting a book of affirmations and tips for artists and creatives at midlife. Based in Prince George’s County, Maryland, Sharon finds solace in nature and artistic exploration when not immersed in her studio or coaching practice. Connect with her at sjbcreativeart.com and sparkyourcreative.com.

Members will receive an email invitation the day of the event.

VIDEO IS AVAILABLE FOR WCA MEMBERS ONLY
(WCA members need to log in to view – https://nwca.memberclicks.net)

Earth Day 2024: Exploring Ecological Art

A WCA Eco-Art Caucus Program
with Danielle Eubank: painter, expedition artist and climate activist
Saturday, April 13 1-2:30 Eastern / 12 Central / 11 Mountain / 10 Pacific

Let’s celebrate Earth Day 2024! What does ecological art mean for you? 

Artist and climate activist Danielle Eubank will give a visual presentation and lead a discussion on ecological art  as a genre and discuss our role as activist artists on climate change. Following Danielle’s presentation, participants will meet in small breakout groups and reconvene for a short collective conversation.  

BIO
Danielle Eubank explores the relationship between abstraction and realism through painting water. She is a recipient of the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant. Danielle created One Artist Five Oceans, a 20-year project where she sailed and painted the waters of every ocean on Earth to raise climate awareness. Eubank is currently painting some of the most polluted bodies of water in the United States, including the Gowanus Canal, NY (a superfund site), and the San Francisco Bay, CA (multiple superfund sites), in order to heighten awareness of the urgency for redress and protection of these waters in our neighborhoods. Eubank has been the Expedition Artist for multiple expeditions on recreations of ancient sail boats. She was a 2018 Creative Climate Award nominee and the awardee of the WCA/United Nations Program Honor Roll Award for 2019.  www.danielleeubankart.com

Members will receive an email invitation the day of the event.

6000 Circles Info Session

Yasmin Simpson and Amanda Banks will offer an information session on the March 2024 launching of the 6000 Circles project which focuses on the circle as a symbol of balance and unity, a never ending container of feminine energy and light. The project will span nine months.

More information at:
https://tinyurl.com/4nmvwzdw

Handout for participants: 
https://tinyurl.com/25cvz5xc

DIY EXHIBITIONS: Creating a Proposal

with Karen Gutfreund, independent curator, artist and partner Gutfreund Cornett Art

Join in to get best practices and tips to create exhibition proposals for a solo or group show. Gutfreund will go through the steps A-Z on all things exhibition proposals—including researching for opportunities, creating connections, writing your prospectus, artist statement, biography and resume. How do you create a proposal that fits with the mission of the organization and programming to fit their audience? We will also go over exhibition logistics such as setting roles, expectations, and time lines along with working with a curator/director and the exhibition space. We will discuss managing show logistics for yourself or a group, creating a panel, curatorial tour and artist talks. After having managed over 40+ national exhibitions, Gutfreund will share her best practices to help create a successful exhibition proposal experience.

BIO: Karen M. Gutfreund
Karen M. Gutfreund is an independent curator and artist with a focus on feminist and social justice art. She has worked in the Painting & Sculpture Department for MoMA, Andre Emmerick Gallery, The Knoll Group, the John Berggruen Gallery and the Pacific Art League, and is an art consultant to both corporations and individuals. She served on the board of the Women’s Caucus for Art, the Pacific Art League and the Petaluma Arts Council. She was the National Exhibitions Director for the Women’s Caucus for Art for six years, is a member of ArtTable, the Northern California Representative for The Feminist Art Project, and Curator for UniteWomen.org. To date Gutfreund has created over forty national exhibitions—recent exhibitions include: Agency: Feminist Art and Power, Deadlocked and Loaded: Disarming America, Not Normal: Art in the Age of Trump, and Embedded Message, Debating the Dream: Truth, Justice and the American Way. She co-curated F213, F*ck U! In the Most Loving Way, and Man as Object: Reversing the Gaze. Karen is partner in Gutfreund Cornett Art, with curator Sherri Cornett, a curatorial partnership that creates art as activism exhibitions, with the motto “changing the world through art” with national touring exhibitions. GCA exhibitions included: Beyond Borders: Stories of im/Migration, Social Justice: It Happens to One, Happens to All, Rise: Empower, Change and Action, Vision: An Artist’s Perspective, What’s Right, What’s Left: Democracy in America, Visural: Sight, Sound and Action. Lastly, Gutfreund is an artist and exhibits extensively around the country. She has a BFA in Photographic Design and a BA in Art History, and studies towards an MA from New York University. Gutfreund has lived in all four corners of the United States and currently lives in Sonoma County, CA. www.KarenGutfreund.com, www.GutfreundCornettArt.com and @karengutfreundart

VIDEO IS AVAILABLE FOR WCA MEMBERS ONLY
(WCA members need to log in to view – https://nwca.memberclicks.net)

ART & MINDFULNESS

with Kelly Darke

Unlock your creativity and deepen your self-awareness through an Art & Mindfulness session. Kelly’s unique approach combines art therapy, neuroscience, coaching, and self-compassion to help you develop strategies for self-improvement.

The session starts with setting an intention, followed by art-making, and ending with discussion to further your understanding. Her process leverages the neuroplasticity of your brain to create positive changes in your thoughts and behaviors.

Self-care is vital to your wellbeing. Take time to center yourself, reconnect to your strengths, and nurture your best self with this program.

Topic: Beautiful Frustration

Reframing our negative thoughts can help us get through a difficult situation. Meditation can also help us calm our mind and body in order to better process how we’re feeling. We all experience frustrating situations and the emotions that come along with it and that’s ok – as humans we want to be able to experience emotions, but we also want to be able to regulate our emotions so we don’t get stuck in a negative loop. This exercise helps us reduce stress through an active meditation and visually reframe our frustration into something more beautiful.

Bio: Kelly Darke
Kelly Darke is a board-certified art therapist, published author, certified K-12 art teacher, professional artist, and speaker. Darke has extensive experience working with groups and individuals of all ages with various developmental and emotional needs for over a decade. She has presented at the Expressive Therapies Summit national conference on the topic Using Digital Tablets & Tools in Creative Therapy, and has a chapter published in the book, Digital Art Therapy: Material, Methods, and Applications, all based on the case study she developed from her experience providing art therapy services to adults with traumatic brain injuries. Darke has presented at local and national conferences, both in person and virtual, on the use of art therapy with transgender youth, and the neuroscience of art in art therapy for self-care. She co-authored the book, Art Therapy with Transgender and Gender-Expansive Children and Teenagers, which was published in 2020. She is also a Metro Detroit fiber artist and creates highly textured abstract fiber art using new and recycled material with a focus on color, texture, and composition. Darke has a Bachelor of Fine Arts and Master of Education from Wayne State University.

VIDEO IS AVAILABLE FOR WCA MEMBERS ONLY
(WCA members need to log in to view – https://nwca.memberclicks.net)

Harnessing Your Creativity on the Blockchain: A Beginner NFT, Digital Art, and Web3 Workshop For Artists

with Chiara Atoyebi

Are you ready to transform your artistry into assets that not only make you money–but help give you control over your work and production? This workshop is designed to empower artists in this brave new world of digital creativity. In the January edition of WCA’s Art Insights, I wrote about the explosive Web3 landscape, the Blockchain, and the women artists pioneering this movement. I want to teach you how to do the same thing. Believe me; it’s so easy a 4-year-old can do it! That 4-year-old is my daughter making her artistic debut with an NFT.

I aim to provide you with the knowledge, tools, and confidence to explore the world of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) at the intersection of blockchain technology and artistic innovation. Whether you’re an artist or a digital creator, this workshop will help you understand and utilize NFTs to monetize your creativity. Join me for an exciting workshop you’ll want to take advantage of and unlock your potential on the blockchain through the fusion of art, technology, and economics!

Some Topics We Will Explore:

What is the Blockchain, Web3, Digital Art, and NFTs
How To Create An NFT
How to Mint your asset and what are the costs.
Types of NFTs and Communities to build around
Trends: What’s working and what’s not
Fun with NFTs and Marketing Yours
Let’s Make One Together

Bio: Chiara Atoyebi

Chiara Atoyebi is an interdisciplinary artist, writer, educator and actress based in Tacoma Park, MD. She is the current editor of the WCA Art Insights Blog where she also is a contributor. Chiara came to the visual arts through a family member’s bout with cancer. Engaging color was the only means of expressing her emotions during that time and she stayed with it. Her artistic journey has led her to develop an evolving interdisciplinary practice. She has a B. A. in Writing from The New School, where she was honored as a Louis Riggio Writing Fellow. She earned her M. F. A. in Writing from the Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD) and taught an undergraduate class there on world building and the “War of Art” for writers.

In 2023 she established her digital media imprint, Chiara Atoyebi Media LLC and co-founded the Kambili Writers Collective which is dedicated to empowering women writers and helping them reclaim their voices through storytelling. In 2015 she wrote a book of poetry “3 AM Musings of Love Lost Love Found” which became an Amazon Book of the Month pick and authored “Flight of the Phoenix: Broken Heels”. Her most recent book, “One Day I’ll Fly Away” will be re-released this fall along with a collection of poems.

You can find her work in Bust Magazine, Evatology, Typewrite, 12th St Literary Magazine, Honeycomb Literary, and “Vision From The Roots” on Medium. To learn more about Chiara, visit her website at https://chiaratoyebi.com

VIDEO IS AVAILABLE FOR WCA MEMBERS ONLY
(WCA members need to log in to view – https://nwca.memberclicks.net)

Misogyny and Modern Art: The Impacts of Sexist Oppression, Then and Now

with ALLISON LEIGH

This lecture will explore the role that misogyny and sexism played in the development of modern art since the beginning of the nineteenth century. Many who write on misogyny describe it as the oldest and most pervasive form of prejudice on the planet, but what really happens when so much of what is considered great art shows women being violated or demeaned? Dr. Leigh argues that answering this question means taking a hard look at some of the greatest masterpieces of the last two hundred years and thinking deeply about how they earned that status in the first place. A question-and-answer period will follow Dr. Leigh’s talk.

BIO:

Allison Leigh is an art historian and professor at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Her upcoming book, from which this lecture is derived, is currently titled BURN THE LAST ONE: Misogyny and Modern Art from Delacroix to Picasso. It will be published by Abrams Press in 2024. To learn more about Dr. Leigh, please visit http://www.allison-leigh.com

VIDEO is no longer available — Please be on the lookout for her next publication, slated for 2024.

Writing Artist Bios

with Shantay Robinson

The participants will read professional bios to identify and discuss elements of writing that make a bio effective. As a large group we will discuss the strengths of professional bios. In an interactive activity, participants will discuss the general accolades and accomplishments they would like to include in their bio and seek feedback on these initial thoughts in rotating conversations. By the end of this workshop, participants will create a new bio and then conduct peer review.

BIO:

Shantay Robinson is a Writing and Rhetoric PhD candidate at George Mason University. In addition to teaching English Composition at GMU, she taught Writing for Artists in the College of Art and Design. She participated in the inaugural class of Burnaway Magazine’s Art Writers Mentorship Program, Duke University’s Center for Documentary Studies Digital Publishing Project Editorial Fellowship, and CUE Art Foundation’s Art Critic Mentoring program. She currently writes for Smithsonian Magazine, and she has written for Black Art in America, Washington City Paper, Burnaway, Arts ATL, ARTS. BLACK, AFROPUNK, and Number, Inc. She also published a scholarly journal article in Teaching Artist Journal. She is currently a Lecturer of First-Year Writing at Howard University.

VIDEO IS AVAILABLE FOR WCA MEMBERS ONLY
(WCA members need to log in to view – https://nwca.memberclicks.net)

Writing Artist Statements

with Shantay Robinson

This interactive workshop will allow artists to revise their artist statements. Participants will read professional artists’ statements to assess their efficacy and work together in groups to state individual purposes and goals They will then engage in activities to develop their artist statements. Some of the activities planned for the workshop will be discussion to better understand the purpose of artist statements, deconstruction of artists statements to assess their usefulness, and a virtual gallery walk of mind maps where participants will look at their peers’ work to pose questions and offer suggestions.

BIO:

Shantay Robinson is a Writing and Rhetoric PhD candidate at George Mason University. In addition to teaching English Composition at GMU, she taught Writing for Artists in the College of Art and Design. She participated in the inaugural class of Burnaway Magazine’s Art Writers Mentorship Program, Duke University’s Center for Documentary Studies Digital Publishing Project Editorial Fellowship, and CUE Art Foundation’s Art Critic Mentoring program. She currently writes for Smithsonian Magazine, and she has written for Black Art in America, Washington City Paper, Burnaway, Arts ATL, ARTS. BLACK, AFROPUNK, and Number, Inc. She also published a scholarly journal article in Teaching Artist Journal. She is currently a Lecturer of First-Year Writing at Howard University.

VIDEO IS AVAILABLE FOR WCA MEMBERS ONLY
(WCA members need to log in to view – https://nwca.memberclicks.net)

CURATING OTHER-WORLDS

with Susuana Amoah aka The Black Gallerina

Susuana will be presenting an overview of her doctoral research which explores how cultural equity can be realised in public contemporary art galleries through decolonial approaches to curatorial practice. Through this project, Susuana created an educational online video series called “Colour with me”, where she discusses decolonial theories, curatorial practices and experiences of inequity in UK contemporary art galleries. This practice-led research project ultimately aims to develop an ethical framework and guidance for more equitable gallery spaces.

BIO: Susuana Amoah aka The Black Gallerina is a London-born, Brighton-based cultural activist, curator and interdisciplinary artist. She is currently a PhD researcher at Goldsmiths, University of London, where she is researching decolonial praxis in public contemporary art galleries. Susuana is passionate about socially-engaged art, fugitive feminism, decolonial praxis and exploring creative ways of highlighting narratives and social movements by marginalised groups. She is also the Community Officer at Arts Emergency and the facilitator of the Contemporary Visual Arts Network (CVAN) South East Cultural Equity Forum.

Website: https://www.blackgallerina.com

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/theblackgallerina

Article:  #GallerySoWhite: a digital exhibition exposing racism in contemporary art space https://theconversation.com/gallerysowhite-a-digital-exhibition-exposing-racism-in-contemporary-art-spaces-153920

WCA Artist Talk: INQUESTIGATION

Saturday April 29, 1pm EST
12 Central / 11 Mountain / 10 Pacific

Join us for a Zoom Artists’ Talk featuring women at the intersections of art and science, part of the WCA National exhibition at Monmouth Museum. The participating artists, who sustain a creative practice engaging science at varying levels and offer diverse readings, will discuss their works after a short exhibition video is presented. 

WCA members will receive a link in their email the week of the program. 

Non-members may attend.
Please contact laura.morrison@nationalwca.org for a link.  

See images from the exhibition

Visit the Gallery

DIY EXHIBITIONS

with Karen Gutfreund, independent curator, artist, partner Gutfreund Cornett Art

So you want to create an exhibition but don’t know where to start?
Join in for a lively discussion to go through the steps A-Z on all things exhibitions including setting roles and expectations with the group, determining the show title and writing the prospectus, managing the entry process and working with a juror or curator, working with the exhibition space and artists for loan agreements, managing show logistics and installing the works, creating a press release, catalog, labels, postcards, and managing publicity, coordinating the art opening,  programming and documentation of the events and return shipment of the works and managing art sales. After having managed over 40+ national exhibitions, Gutfreund will share her best practices to help create a successful exhibition experience.

BIO: Karen M. Gutfreund
Karen M. Gutfreund is an independent curator and artist with a focus on feminist and social justice art. She has worked in the Painting & Sculpture Department for MoMA, Andre Emmerick Gallery, The Knoll Group, the John Berggruen Gallery and the Pacific Art League, and is an art consultant to both corporations and individuals. She served on the board of the Women’s Caucus for Art, the Pacific Art League and the Petaluma Arts Council. She was the National Exhibitions Director for the Women’s Caucus for Art for six years, is a member of ArtTable, the Northern California Representative for The Feminist Art Project, and Curator for UniteWomen.org. To date Gutfreund has created over forty national exhibitions—recent exhibitions include: Agency: Feminist Art and Power, Deadlocked and Loaded: Disarming America, Not Normal: Art in the Age of Trump, and Embedded Message, Debating the Dream: Truth, Justice and the American Way. She co-curated F213, F*ck U! In the Most Loving Way, and Man as Object: Reversing the Gaze. Karen is partner in Gutfreund Cornett Art, with curator Sherri Cornett, a curatorial partnership that creates art as activism exhibitions, with the motto “changing the world through art” with national touring exhibitions. GCA exhibitions included: Beyond Borders: Stories of im/Migration, Social Justice: It Happens to One, Happens to All, Rise: Empower, Change and Action, Vision: An Artist’s Perspective, What’s Right, What’s Left: Democracy in America, Visural: Sight, Sound and Action. Lastly, Gutfreund is an artist and exhibits extensively around the country. She has a BFA in Photographic Design and a BA in Art History, and studies towards an MA from New York University. Gutfreund has lived in all four corners of the United States and currently lives in Sonoma County, CA. www.KarenGutfreund.com, www.GutfreundCornettArt.com and @karengutfreundart 

VIDEO IS AVAILABLE FOR WCA MEMBERS ONLY
(WCA members need to log in to view – https://nwca.memberclicks.net)

Instagram for Artists

with Christina Massey, artist and creator/curator of the WoArtBlog

Note: Class size is limited to 40 WCA members and registration is required. The class is free for WCA members. You must be a member to attend.

This course is for those who have a moderate comfort level with Instagram and not first time users. If you feel the app is not doing much to help your art career grow, this course aims to both inspire as well as give real nuts and bolts tools to use, specifically as Artists. It is designed to show how to use Instagram to your advantage. We will cover how to network with other artists, galleries, curators, writers and more. We’ll also discuss the changes that have been happening on Instagram, and how to stay up to date. Learn how to navigate the video content features such as stories and reels, or improve on the ones you’ve been making.  

I will share my own personal experiences and success stories of how I easily began to build real relationships that have led to a multitude of opportunities from residencies, exhibitions, art sales and in real life friendships.

VIDEO IS AVAILABLE FOR WCA MEMBERS ONLY
(WCA members need to log in to view – https://nwca.memberclicks.net)

Archiving Your Work

with Karen Atkinson, President and Founder of GYST (Getting Your Sh*t Together)

Archiving your work in order to have everything at your fingertips is important to creating a legacy and having your estate ready. Learn about ways to keep your legacy alive for the future and how archiving can support your current projects.

You can find GYST at www.gyst-ink.com. To view some of Karen’s projects visit karenatkinsonstudio.org

Venues for Artists

with Karen Atkinson, President and Founder of GYST (Getting Your Sh*t Together)

Karen will talk about the pros and cons of various venues for artists to show their work. A wide range of alternative venues will also be discussed. She will also discuss how to approach various venues and how to find the right venue.

Karen Atkinson is a media, installation, public artist, independent curator, and collaborator. Exhibiting and curating internationally, Atkinson’s work has been shown in South Africa, Australia, Europe, Mexico, Canada, throughout the USA, and in the Fifth Havana Biennial in Cuba and the 2011 Biennale de Paris. She has a Ted Talk on hybrid careers for artists.

In 1991, she was a co-founding director of Side Street Projects, a non-profit artist-run organization in Los Angeles, which continues to thrive now in Pasadena. Atkinson taught at California Institute of the Arts for 31 years, and recently retired to a place off the grid outside of Lone Pine, California where she works on her own projects and recently joined the Inyo Council for the Arts Board of Directors.

Karen created the GYST software for artists from scratch and in 2000 she founded GYST as an artist-run professional practices service company. In her spare time she serves on Boards and
Advisory Boards of local and national arts organizations, advises artists on their careers, and tries to get into as much art trouble as possible. You can find GYST at www.gyst-ink.com. To view some of Karen’s projects visit karenatkinsonstudio.org

VIDEO IS AVAILABLE FOR WCA MEMBERS ONLY
(WCA members need to log in to view – https://nwca.memberclicks.net)

The Psychology of Inkblots

Tapping into the Imagination: Jessica Ann Nunno will demonstrate the use of inkblots to free the imagination and heighten creativity, and will lead workshop participants in inkblot creation.

Workshop Leader: Jessica Ann Nunno

WCA BOOKCLUB PRESENTS:

Florine Stettheimer: A Biography

Author Barbara Bloemink joined us on Sept 14, 2022 to talk about her comprehensive biography, Florine Stettheimer: A Biography, that establishes Florine Stettheimer as one of the most innovative artists of the early twentieth century.  

The Women’s Environmental Photography Collective was born out of a desire to create a more inclusive space in the historically androcentric fields of landscape and environmental photography. Working to decolonize the dominant hierarchy of Western thought, our work interrogates and reconfigures the relationships among personal, cultural, scientific, and natural histories. Our panel discussion will focus on the power of collaboration among the arts, humanities, and sciences, to inspire socially-engaged art.

Panel Chair: Margaret LeJeune
Panelists: Judy Natal, Martina Shenal, Marion Belanger, Dana Fritz,  Terri Warpinski

Additional Chat Text

All in the Same Boat – or Are We?

Anne Farley Gaines will present a PowerPoint lecture on an exhibition that she curated in 2020 titled “All in the Same Boat – or Are We? Artists Respond to 2020” at Stola Contemporary Art in Chicago She will stipulate the logistics of curating and organizing the show, as well as hosting two “live openings” and a “live closing” during a time when numerous area galleries were temporarily closed or holding only on-line exhibits. She acknowledges Gallery Director Kelly Mathews as being of tremendous assistance.

Panel Chairs: Anne Farley Gaines

The 4 images in the left box read as follows: Top L: Audrey Ushenko, “She Can Breathe if She Wants To,” oil on board. Top R: Kathy Weaver, “Antagonist,” mixed-media on paper. Bottom L: Sydney Lewis, “It’s Layered,” digital collage. Bottom R: Kim Laurel, “Mutiny from the Covid,” mixed-media sculpture.

Download the PDF

Feminism, Art and Global Action: Collaborations in the Global Context

Feminism, Art and Global Action: Collaborations in the Global Context Emphasizing the fact that feminist artists have been at the forefront of collaborative art, Susan Ossman and Lydia Nakashima-Degarrod will discuss collaborative transnational art, new art forms and artists as agents of change in the landscape of the global art market.

Panel Co-Chairs: Susan Ossman, Lydia Nakashima-Degarrod
Panelists: Lydia Nakashima Degarrod, Marguerite Elliot, Susan Ossman, Nirmal Raja
Respondent: Jane Chin Davidson

Labor of Love

The Alabama chapter members will present “Labor of Love”, a member exhibition and performance art installation, offering discussions of the hidden labor of women, our quality of life, and how to create the life you want even in an often hostile environment. The panel considers labor inequities at home and work, and calls for a redefinition of economics as a discipline dedicated to people’s well-being.

Panel Co-Chairs: Amanda Banks, Jessica Nunno
Panelists: Anna Sue Courtney, Sylvia Bowyer

See the PDF for more info

The Role of Art and Activism in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) Education

Amanda Banks chairs a multimedia session on the role of art and activism in STEM education. Panelists will present projects that brought art into traditionally STEM disciplines such as life-science, medicine and engineering. The advantages of a more holistic education will be considered and innovative projects such as art made via bacterial culture will be presented.

Panel Chair: Amanda Banks
Panelists: Jessica Nunno, Sarah Adkins-Jablonsky, Phoebe Burns

WCA Leadership Interview Project

WCA’s Art Writer’s Committee will be interviewing Ruth Weisberg, Barbara Wolanin and Yuriko Takata with ample time allowed for audience interaction. The WCA Leadership Interview Project, spearheaded by WCA’s Art Writer’s Committee, is an initiative to record and share interviews with WCA leaders in conjunction with celebrating WCA’s 50th anniversary.

Panel Co-Chairs: Chiara Atoyebi, Patti Jordan
Panelists: Ruth Weisberg, Barbara Wolanin and Yuriko Takata

How an Almost-Forgotten Federal Program Kickstarted the Feminist Art Movement

From 1974 to 1981, more than 10,000 artists, actors, writers, and musicians were employed under the federally funded Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA), in addition to 10,000 administrative art positions (museum curators, program directors, docents and guards; theatre technicians, lighting and costume designers; arts administrators and office staff). CETA especially benefited women and artists of color.

This panel will discuss how this little-known government program and its support of women artists helped give rise to the feminist art movement.

WCA co-hosted this program in conjunction with the exhibition ART/WORK, City Lore and Cuchifritos Gallery. The program was originally scheduled for the WCA 2022 Conference.
Click here to read more about the exhibition

From the producers of the event:
We are grateful to Getty Research Institute (GRI), for permission to share the Public Service Announcements produced by the L.A. Women’s Video Center, from the Archival Collection of the Long Beach Museum of Art, which now resides in the GRI Archive.

WCA Business Meeting at CAA

Featuring a roundtable discussion on the occasion of WCA’s 50th anniversary with WCA President Laura Morrison, President Elect Donna Jackson, Judith Brodsky (WCA Past President 1976-1978), and Ofelia Garcia (WCA Past President 1984-1986).

Panel Chairs: Laura Morrison
Panelists: Donna Jackson, Judith Brodsky, and Ofelia Garcia