Women in Art
by Sheila Herbst

Towson Students Mesmerized with Verdadism
by Kristin Shinham

Women in Art
by Sheila Herbst

To summarize women in art in five hundred words is impossible. Even if I were to list names, two hundred and fifty first names and two hundred and fifty last names, I would surely leave out many who have helped to open the art world doors for women today. Take for example Judy Chicago's The Dinner Party, executed in 1979. There are place settings for thirty-nine immensely important women in history, with nine hundred and ninety-nine more names written on the tiles that make up the triangular table.

To reclaim our past and insist that it become a part of our human history is the task that lies before us. For the future requires that women, as well as men, shape world destiny.
--Judy Chicago (b. 1939)

One of the women honored with a place setting was Georgia O'Keeffe, a very individualistic artist whose work can not be easily associated with a particular movement or school of art. O'Keefe is probably best known for her large flower paintings that evoked speculation and controversy due to their likeness to the female sexual anatomy.

There is something unexplored about woman that only a woman can explore.
--Georgia O'Keeffe (1887-1986)

One of the most remarked upon aspects of The Dinner Party is the complex and beautiful needlework involved on the cloth table runners, a media long considered to be womanly and "crafty" and therefore barred from consideration as a fine art. Chicago, along with others, helped change that notion.

I do not make crafts. The difference for me is that a craft is the process of doing something that has not a lot to do with the idea but the process. Fine art has to do with ideas.
--Faith Ringgold (b. 1930)

Faith Ringgold, an African-American artist and author, explores issues of gender and race through her paintings, soft sculptures, quilts, and book Tar Beach.

We who live in and around Maryland are fortunate. There are so many resources for discovering and exploring women in art, and not only formal places like museums and universities, but smaller, relaxed-atmosphere galleries.

Diane K. Laukenmann, born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1940, and attended Towson University, is now a professional artist with watercolors displayed at the Beachcombers Easel Art in Ocean City and online at www.beachcomberseaselartgallery.com.

Janie Mcgee, who lived for many years in Baltimore County, Maryland, has shown work at Gallery 409 on North Charles Street in Baltimore City. Her beautiful oils with soft shapes, interesting angles, and intense colors can also be viewed at www.absolutearts.com.

Next time you are on your way to a dinner party, take a detour and visit a local gallery. See what women in art are doing. For a list of local galleries, log onto www.colltown.org.

Other local resources include:

African Art Museum of Maryland
American Visionary Museum
Baltimore Museum of Art
National Museum of Women in the Arts
Walters Art Gallery

Books referenced in the writing of this article:
Chadwick, Whitney. Women, Art, and Society. New York: Thames and Hudson Inc., 1990.
Ringgold, Faith. Tar Beach. New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1991.
Slatkin, Wendy. The Voices of Women Artists. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, Inc., 1993.

Towson Students Mesmerized with Verdadism
by Kristin Shinham

Verdadism. What is it, who is behind it, and how is it making an impact on every woman who experiences it? On October 7, 2002, in the University Union, Towson University's Women's Center launched an art exhibition. The art of Soraida Martinez was showcased in honor of Hispanic Heritage month and has affected everyone who has been privileged enough to get a glimpse of it. Soraida Martinez, 46, is the creator of the collection of paintings called Verdadism that is causing such a buzz at Towson.

Martinez is a Puerto Rican woman who was born in New York and now owns her own design studio in New Jersey. For over ten years she has been painting, through pure emotion and raw talent, the discrimination that she sees on a daily basis. Issues that women are facing today such as domestic violence, sexual harassment, and the way women are perceived in society are thrown in your face through the intense visual stimulation of her paintings and a narrative along with each piece that leaves no room for misinterpretation. Growing up in the sixties, Martinez was witness to revolutionary ideas of stomping out racism, sexism, stereotyping, and "The struggle to be accepted in America based solely on appearance and monetary value.

"Unfortunately, the movement died down in the seventies and the same problems still exist. I hope to pick up where they left off and make a social change through my Verdadism," said Martinez. Although Martinez says it may sound trite, her message to women at Towson University is "To simply work together. Society has taught women to compete against each other- especially in a physical sense, like beauty pageants- rather than help each other. I think men climb the social ladder more easily because they cooperate on a mental level instead of opposing each other the way women seem to."

Towson University student, Kim Clark, said that Martinez' piece entitled "Puerto Rican Stereotype: Seeing Me without Seeing Me" really caught my eye, it's very vivid, explicit, and made me want to know what it was all about". Yuko Kume, an international Towson student says, "I think the commentary is just as strong as the pictures because it made more sense to me. When the two come together, it really becomes art".