Doin’ it in Public: Feminism and Art at the Woman's Building was comprised of an exhibition and two-volume publication focused on the feminist artists and art cooperatives that were centered in and around the Los Angeles Woman's Building (downtown L.A.) in the 1970s and 1980s.
The exhibition was held October 1, 2011- January 28, 2012 at the Ben Maltz Gallery and curated by Sue Maberry and Meg Linton. It was part of the Pacific Standard Time: Art in LA 1945-1980 Getty Initiative.
Doin' It In Public was part of Pacific Standard Time: Art in LA 1945-1980, an unprecedented collaboration, initiated by the Getty, that brought together more than sixty cultural institutions from across Southern California for six months beginning October 2011 to tell the story of the birth of the L.A. art scene. Pacific Standard Time is an initiative of the Getty. The presenting sponsor was Bank of America.
Some of the content published on the Doin' It in Public: Feminism and Art at the Woman's Building original website has been re-created or added to this guide.
Beautiful, full color, fully illustrated, two-volume book set published in conjunction with the exhibition Doin' It in Public: Feminism and Art and the Woman's Building. From Site to Vision: The Woman's Building in Contemporary Culture and Doin' It in Public: Feminism and Art at the Woman's Building. The publications were made possible by grants from the Getty Foundation, Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Henry Luce Foundation, and the Barbara Lee Family Foundation.
From Site to Vision by
Volume 1 of a two-volume set published in conjunction with the exhibition, Doin' It in Public: Feminism and Art at the Woman's Building, 1973-1991. This collection of 14 essays was originally published online in 2007 and edited by Sondra Hale and Terry Wolverton. Essayists include: Sheila Levant de Bretteville, Professor of Graphic Design, Yale University; Betty Ann Brown, Professor of Art History at California State University; Theresa Chavez, Cofounder and Artistic Director, About Productions; Cecilia Dougherty, Artist, Brooklyn, New York; Sondra Hale, Professor in Anthropology, University of California at Los Angeles; Jennie Klein, Associate Professor or contemporary art history and feminist art theory, Ohio University; Michelle Kort, Senior Editor, Ms. Magazine; Lucy R. Lippard, Writer, Activist, and Author of twenty-one books (including one novel) on contemporary art and cultural criticism; Bia Lowe, Author of Splendored Thing: Love, Roses & Other Thorny Treasures and Wild Ride; Laura Meyer, Associate Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art at California State University, Fresno; Michelle Moravec, Assistant Professor of History, Rosemont College; Kathleen A. Walkup, Professor of Book Art and Director of the Book Art Program, Mills College; Terry Wolverton, Associate Faculty Mentor in the Master of Fine Art Writing Program, Antioch University Los Angeles. Both volumes were designed by artist Susan Silton and copyedited by Elisabeth Pulsinelli.
Doin' It in Public: Feminism and Art at the Woman's Building by
Volume 2 of a two-volume set published in conjunction with the exhibition [of the same title], Oct. 1, 2011-Jan. 28, 2012, organized by the Ben Maltz Gallery at Otis College of Art and Design. This project is part of the Getty's initiative Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945-1980. Sue Maberry (Editor)
Doin' It in Public: Feminism and Art at the Woman's Building - a Guide to the Exhibition by
Exhibition Guide with contributions by Terry Wolverton
The Woman's Building and Feminist Art Education 1973-1991 by
The Woman's Building community became the spirited and fertile home of feminist art in Los Angeles from 1973-1991. The featured artists, writers, scholars, and musicians include a long list of brilliant women: Judy Chicago, Rita Mae Brown, Angela Davis, Phranc, Kate Millet, Faith Wilding, Lily Tomlin, Lucy Lippard, Arlene Raven, and Sheila de Bretteville. The vision and leadership of these women provided the centrifugal force for the Woman's Building to become one of the major American centers for the activity of feminist art, music, writing, and graphics. The Woman's Building 1973-1991 is a pictorial history and story of the Woman's Building and Feminist Art Education. We are thrilled to include essays as well as personal reflections of many of the prominent writers and artists who built the community over the 18 years of the Woman's Building existence.
Insurgent Muse by
In the 1970's, the West Coast feminist arts movement coalesced around the Woman's Building in Los Angeles. Founded by artist Judy Chicago, the Woman's Building was conceived as a "public center for women's culture." Women from across the country were drawn there to be part of a community engaged in the exploration of what a female-centered culture might mean. InInsurgent Muse, Terry Wolverton chronicles her own 13-year involvement in the Woman's Building. Arriving as a young art student in 1976, she stayed on to become a teacher and co-founder of the Lesbian Art Project and, eventually, the Building's executive director. Her journey-emblematic of many women who sought to redefine themselves in the light of feminism-entails confrontation with the damages of sexism, the pitfalls of utopian community, and the forces of social backlash. Insurgent Muse is a powerful testament to the importance of feminist thought and the ongoing need for it-by women and men-today. "The spirit of the legendary Woman's Building lives on in this unflinchingly brave and tender memoir. Terry Wolverton'sInsurgent Muse is witty, heart-rending, superbly honest and deeply moving, providing an acute social analysis of a young life and a memorable era of feminism that fueled so much art and so many epiphanies. The great work of the Woman's Building deserves this book."--Lucy Lippard, author ofThe Pink Glass Swan: Selected Feminist Essays on Art "The Woman's Building became a North Star on a dream map for women who were looking to redefine their lives and work. And its history--rich, splintered, groundbreaking--is the subject of a new book."--Los Angeles Times "As her memoir illustrates, being a woman artist in the mid-1970s was profoundly revolutionary."--Lesbian News "Her documentation of the ideals, debates, and out-and-out battles waged during this important time in the feminist movement will give young women both a surprising and relatable snapshot of the era . . . An inspirational read."--Bust Magazine "Poet and novelist Wolverton describes her life and work at . . . the Woman's Building, a center for feminist art and culture in Los Angeles... provides an intimate look at the organizational struggles and triumphs. Recommended for public and academic libraries with extensive women's studies or art history collections, particularly on the West Coast."--Library Journal "Is any individual life a representative life? Terry Wolverton's seems to be in so many ways. Her searingly honest memoir tells what it was like to be a woman, an artist, a lesbian during those heady, storm and stress decades of the 1970s and '80s. It's all here--the multi-lover dyko dramas, the intersection of personal and political, the Coming Out and Recovery and remembering sexual abuse movements, the rise and fall of a women's cultural center, the Woman's Building in L.A. Wolverton has a poet's sense of the complexities of the interior life and an eye witness's intimacy with that era. Anyone wanting to know what it was like to be a woman, an artist, a lesbian at the end of the last American century will find this book indispensable."--Rebecca Brown, author ofThe Terrible Girls andThe Dogs (both published by City Lights) Terry Wolverton is the author of the novelBailey's Beads and two collections of poetry,Black Slip andMystery Bruise. She has also edited numerous anthologies of gay and lesbian fiction, includingHis andHers (Vols I-III).
Feminist Art Workers by
Feminist Art Workers: A History is the first comprehensive monograph to survey the groundbreaking work of the collaborative performance art group Feminist Art Workers. Founded in 1976 at the Woman's Building in Los Angeles, the group included Nancy Angelo, Candace Compton, Cheri Gaulke, Vanalyne Green and Laurel Klick. This 230-page publication brings together historic images, archival documents, personal recollections, and critical essays that illuminate artwork that addressed a wide range of issues including women's relationships, sexual violence, and economic rights. Often bringing their work directly to a non-art audience, Feminist Art Workers pioneered new artistic strategies such as tours, floats, phone calls and presented their work in unconventional venues such as cafeterias, conferences, buses and planes. Published by Otis College of Art and Design in conjunction with the exhibition Doin' It in Public: Feminism and Art at the Woman's Building, as part of the Getty initiative Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945-1980. Those interested in the historical precedents of contemporary art practices such as collaboration, interactive performance and community based art will discover roots in the work of Feminist Art Workers. Contributing writers include January Parkos Arnall, Temma Balducci, Betty Ann Brown, Meiling Cheng, Marlena Doktorczyk-Donohue, Osayi Endolyn, Joanna Gardner-Huggett, Andrew D. Hottle, Jennie Klein, Tirza True Latimer, Carey Lovelace, Marie B. Shurkus, Barbara T. Smith, Anne Swartz, and Terry Wolverton. This publication is a must for contemporary art scholars, university and college libraries.
Mother Art by
"Mother Art" documents the work of this seminal collective of artists who came together through the Woman's Building in Los Angeles in 1973. Using photographs of the group's work, we gain a unique understanding of the issues critical during the thirteen years of Mother Art's existence. These feminist artists started by confronting discrimination against artists who are mothers and went on to tackle a vast array of social and political issues in their art. The group was attacked by the press and politicians, including Ronald Reagan. They fought back with humor in public art performances. In the 1980s the group's collaborative practice gave voice to illegal abortion victims, homeless women, immigrants from Central America and others. By using real women's narratives, Mother Art personalized issues of social justice. This book is a visual catalog of the collective's projects, exhibits, performances and installations. It includes essays by art historian Jeanne S. M. Willette, PhD, Otis College of Art and Design and historian Michelle Moravec, PhD, Rosemont College, quotes, personal narratives and a time line of Mother Art's activities.
Sisters of Survival by
Sisters Of Survival (S.O.S.) is an anti-nuclear performance art group founded in 1981 by Jerri Allyn, Nancy Angelo, Anne Gauldin, Cheri Gaulke and Sue Maberry. Clothing themselves in the colors of the rainbow, their imagery evoked hope, humor and a celebration of diversity. Inspired by anti-nuclear war demonstrations in Europe, S.O.S. created END OF THE RAINBOW, a three-part conceptual art project that generated dialogue between the people of North America and Western Europe about the nuclear threat. Their work included public performance art staged for the media as well as the general public, artists' books, a billboard, slide lectures, networking with artist and activist groups, a radio program and a traveling exhibition. Learn more about this pioneering group whose art and media strategies addressed global issues that remain urgent today.This catalogue is published by Otis College of Art and Design in conjunction with the exhibition "Doin' It in Public: Feminism and Art at the Woman's Building," October 1, 2011 - February 26, 2012, organized by the Ben Maltz Gallery and supported by the Getty initiative "Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945-1980." Contributing writers include Linda Frye Burnham, Marlena Doktorczyk-Donohue, and Michelle Moravec.
The Waitresses Unpeeled: Performance Art and Life by
THE WAITRESSES is a collaborative performance art group founded in 1977 by Jerri Allyn and Anne Gauldin. Other members have included Leslie Belt, Patti Nicklaus, Denise Yarfitz, Jamie Wildperson, Chutney Gunderson, and Anne Mavor. Most of the artists met while attending the Feminist Studio Workshop at the Woman's Building in Los Angeles, California. They drew upon their own waitressing experiences and incorporated research about working women. They focused on five issues: work; money; sexual harassment; food production; and stereotypes of women /waitresses - mother, servant, sex object. Their work has been exhibited in cultural centers, universities, on billboards, and in museums. Out of the gallery and into restaurants and the streets, they performed in parades, conferences, buses, for the media, and in public sites internationally.This catalogue is published by Otis College of Art and Design in conjunction with the exhibition "Doin' It in Public: Feminism and Art at the Woman's Building," October 1, 2011 - February 26, 2012, organized by the Ben Maltz Gallery and supported by the Getty initiative "Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945-1980." Contributing writers include Marlena Doktorczyk-Donohue, Suzanne Lacy, Carol McDowell, Michelle Moravec, and Gloria Feman Orenstein.
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