Beginnings ... Women, Art, and Social Change

As I was going through my old files while compiling the content for my new website last summer, I came across the first article I ever published. It was the centerfold feature for the arts section Avenu of the Daily Emerald, the University of Oregon’s student newspaper. The article was also accompanied by the first etching I made, clearly inspired by the work of Judy Chicago. I was struck by how similar my life now is to almost 30 years ago when I was a young undergrad at the University of Oregon and beginning to find my voice as an artist, writer, activist … and strong feminist.

It was strange and disappointing to read my perspective at the time that:

Although the origins of our male-dominated culture go back many hundreds of years, there have been numerous changes and transformations which have been taking place more rapidly within the last twenty years. With the increasing awareness of breakdown in our social and economic systems as well as the threat of severe ecological destruction, people are beginning to question the old paradigm and are realizing that it has become dysfunctional. Alternative outlooks and perspectives are being explored to a much greater degree and are being given a higher validity.

And to now reflect 30 years later and see how it would take over 25 more years for a movement such as #Me Too to help convict someone like Harvey Weinstein, a huge victory, but still so much work to be done. It should also be noted that not a lot has changed in the representation of Boards of Directors for arts institutions, as well as the representation of artists in mainstream arts institutions and publications - yes, it is shifting; however, this is THIRTY YEARS LATER … and it’s still slow.

1991 was also the year that I watched Joe Biden’s treatment of Anita Hill during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on the sexual harassment Hill was subjected to by Clarence Thomas. Joe Biden sat up on his roost like a good ol' boy during the hearings and smugly humiliated Hill, who had come forward to testify. And here we are today with Biden the potential presidential Democratic candidate who is still a divisive figure that has women accusing him of sexual assault and who consistently and blatantly lies and lies and lies to the point where he has to come out and admit to these lies ... including one about his family history in which he plagiarized someone else's family history - in his good ol' boy manner.

I say potential candidate because while Biden was taking a pretty good lead a month ago, the current pandemic has left a lot of folks scratching their heads and thinking, ‘huh, everything that Bernie Sanders was talking about and supporting … that’s exactly what we need now and what we needed years ago.’ But then again … as noted above, change is slow.

These are my beginnings as an artist, writer, and activist …. and strong Feminist.

WOMEN, ART, and SOCIAL CHANGE
by Megan Wilson

When I first became aware of Judy Chicago, an American feminist artist whose work explores female sexuality in explicit images of women’s sexual and bodily functions, I was amazed by the beauty and the poignancy of her work. In her installation Menstruation Bathroom Chicago created a sterile environment using an all-white bathroom with a shelf full of the menstrual paraphernalia which our culture uses to “clean up” menstruation. Below the shelf sat a garbage can filled with the unmistakable marks of our animal origins. I was not aware that anyone was doing this type of work. None of my art history classes mentioned her name, or the names of other artists working with these issues. This awareness of Chicago’s work led me to read her book Through The Flower, that focuses on her struggles with being a woman artist. Suddenly the red light went on in my head and many of the frustrations and questions that I have had with being an artist and with my education in general were confronted and became very clear - I am a woman in a male dominated and controlled world and I had not yet realized my position. I was not part of the creative, but part of the created, in which my whole reality - from how I should look and feel to what my art should consist of, to be be of value - is created by male rules and guidelines. Needless to say, my outlook towards the art world as well as just about everything else changed drastically.

Megan Wilson, Birthing, etching, 1991

Although the origins of our male-dominated culture go back many hundreds of years, there have been numerous changes and transformations which have been taking place more rapidly within the last twenty years. With the increasing awareness of breakdown in our social and economic systems as well as the threat of severe ecological destruction, people are beginning to question the old paradigm and are realizing that it has become dysfunctional. Alternative outlooks and perspectives are being explored to a much greater degree and are being given a higher validity.

Because the art world is an extension of our social, political, and economic values, these changes have applied to it as well. As Linda Ettinger, a professor in the Art Education department here at the university, pointed out to me, more and more feminist artists - women and men - are dismissing the traditional ideas: that striving to get to New York’s well known galleries and striving to gain acknowledgement through mainstream publications is the route to go. Instead of fighting the traditional male-dominated status quo, they are creating their own realities. Many participate in alternative showings, as well as receive exposure through a number of women-founded art magazines, such as The Women’s Art Journal, Heresies, Calyx, and The Feminist Art Journal. There are also the additions of the Women’s Caucus for Art within the College Art Association and the National Museum for Women in the Arts, located in Washington, D.C., which is only open to women artists.

Despite these changes, this process of creating alternative realities is a slow one. Evidence of this is an incident that took place last October in Dallas, Texas. The Dallas Women’s Caucus for Art (WCA) had opened a national exhibit “Common Ground: New Directions” at the Dallas City Hall. Within hours a piece by Future Akins had created a stir. City Hall wanted the piece removed. The piece they were referring to was a sculpture entitled Gettin’ Better Ain’t Always Easy. Apparently the painted pubic hair on the small 7” clay figurines was too realistic. After several days of negotiation, which drew national attention, it was agreed that the sculpture could stay, but had to be moved 25 feet away from the main door. Although it was somewhat of a victory, this situation is pathetic in a country that so readily accepts and supports a billion dollar pornography industry while maintaining the idea that nudity is not acceptable unless it displays male domination of women through the eyes of a man.

One of the greatest impediments to changing these types of attitudes is our educational system, which perpetuates a world of male dominance / female inferiority. Here at the University of Oregon, including the Art Department, I have consistently experienced sexism in my education. I am not alone in this experience. After talking with many other students within the department, I found similar subjections. Here are a few examples:

Paul Baker, a senior in Art History with a minor in Women’s Studies feels that women artists and women’s issues are ignored. In his Critical Approaches to the Study of Art class, students were asked to write a paper on a well-known artist. To his knowledge, out of a class of thirty, only one student chose a woman artist. He feels that this is because of a lack of information on women artists.

Another student (a woman) revealed a situation in which an Art History professor was showing slides of ancient Goddess figurines. He referred to the figurines as being ironic that they would even be called goddesses since they were “fat, exaggerated, bulbous, and looked more like fat ladies in a circus than goddesses.” He then continued to discount any idea of a Goddess culture by saying that “those theories are only a fad created by modern women,” and compared their validity with theories that the pyramids were created by space aliens.

One last example is that of a graduate student who became pregnant during her last year. She kept her pregnancy a secret because she was afraid that if anyone on her committee found out, she would not be taken seriously. Her fears were confirmed during her last term when it became obvious that she was pregnant. One of the men on her committee did in fact tell her that artists should not have children. Since this instructor has children himself, I feel safe in assuming that he meant women artists should not have children, therefore we can all continue to never view art which has been produced by anyone who has literally given birth.

My point here is not to completely discount our Art Department. On the contrary there are also instructors such as Laura Alpert, Sherwin Simmons, Miriam Brofsky, Linda Ettinger and others who are very aware of sexism in art and who make conscious efforts to deal with these issues and discuss them. Unfortunately, sexism is so embedded into our culture in such subtle ways that it is impossible to escape. It is important for students to be aware of sexist attitudes and to take action by speaking out in class as well as expressing concerns on evaluations at the end of the term. It is also important for students to be aware that alternatives do exit outside of the classroom.

One last point I want to make is that male dominance in art is not the norm in all societies. There are cultures such as those in Chile, Cuba, and west Africa where the arts of women are highly respected. However, because many of these arts consist of embroideries, weavings, dolls, and wall paintings, which are not the traditional “high arts” of Euro-American standards, they have been ignored by art critics in this country. Perhaps it is time to look to those cultures for a new education instead of perpetuating a white patriarchal reality.

For women interested in finding out more about membership of the WCA, write:
Women’s Caucus for Art
National Office
125 N. 20th Street
Moore College of Art
Philadelphia, PA 19103-1416