HOW THIS EXHIBITION CAME TO BE — THREE PERSPECTIVES

Sandra Mueller, Kathy Todd, Dextra Frankel (curator), Ann Isolde, Bev Haas, and Mary Zinser

FROM THE SPONSORS

It is exciting to contemplate the opening of Multiple Vantage Points: Southern California Women Artists, 1980–2006, not least because it comprises the work of fifty artists and spans twenty-six years. Producing this collaborative project emerged from our core missions as regional chapters of national organizations to actively promote the recognition of women in the visual arts.

Our partnership began with co-sponsoring the 2004 Women Making It in the Arts Symposium at the University of Southern California School of Fine Arts. When then Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) curator Connie Butler presented a captivating slide lecture on her plans for WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution, 1965–1980, the inspiration for this exhibition took root. We thought why not have a major show featuring contemporary Southern California women artists to complement MOCA’s historical survey.

Ann Isolde, who was President of the Southern California Women’s Caucus for Art (SCWCA) and who previously facilitated historical research for Judy Chicago's The Dinner Party project, approached the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery. They agreed to host the show without reservation and the Southern California Council of the National Museum for Women in the Arts (SCC NMWA) provided the initial seed money. We brought on board seasoned exhibition designer and curator, Dextra Frankel and were subsequently thrilled with her selection of artists and diverse perspectives represented in this exhibition.

This exhibition has taken more hours, dollars and effort than we could ever have imagined and for many of us, has become our 'primary art practice' for the last eighteen months. We could not have done so without the generous support of so many others — our donors and funders, participating artists and their galleries and collectors and especially our members. We value this opportunity to demonstrate our shared and deep commitment to the cultural legacy and contributions of women in the arts in the dynamic cultural region of Los Angeles.

Southern California audiences will have a rich viewing opportunity to consider the accomplishments of women artists against the historical backdrop of the early feminist art movement. It is a core part of The Feminist Art Project, a national initiative recognizing the aesthetic and intellectual impact of women on the visual arts and culture.

SCWCA and SCC NMWA are proud to have organized and co-sponsored the Multiple Vantage Points exhibition and its accompanying catalog.

President, Southern California Women’s Caucus for Art (SCWCA)

Beverly Haas

President, Southern California Council National Museum of Women in the Arts (SCC NMWA)

FROM THE GALLERY DIRECTOR

The Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery has maintained a long-standing tradition of exhibiting work that is representative of the city’s diversity. In the over fifty-year history of the gallery, it has become our adopted mission and we remain consistent in our support of work that challenges old boundaries and alters perceptions. You can only imagine our excitement at being approached by the Southern California Women’s Caucus for Art with the proposal for Multiple Vantage Points: Southern California Women Artists, 1980–2006.

Women artists have historically held a position of equity with their male counterparts in the gallery's exhibition program, not only by virtue of their cutting-edge work but in deference to the vision of Aline Barnsdall. Barnsdall, the oil heiress, from whom the park on which the gallery is located takes its name, was a progressive woman with ideas influenced by her association with artists, writers, musicians, filmmakers, and thespians of the 1920s. She was a political activist who held creativity in high regard, never suffered fools, and was quick to embrace feminist ideology. It was always her intention that Barnsdall Park would be a place where the artistic practice could flourish and be recognized, and we remain steadfast in our resolve to continue in that tradition.

Multiple Vantage Points investigates the critical role women artists play in redefining the national dialogue on feminist issues. The period between 1980 and the present is particularly important as it marks the time when women began to exercise their political and economic power.

They were charged with putting into practice the gains and social imperatives that were established by earlier feminist movements. It was left to the artists, many of whom are in this exhibition, to articulate through their work the nuances of societal change and different, often alternative, perspectives on politics, sexuality, and spirituality. Ironically, the artwork produced by women during this period has profoundly influenced the work produced by men in that it has given them creative license to explore their "masculine/feminine side," through subject matter, technique, and process, as only a few had prior to this time.

We are proud to be a part of this important exhibition.

Mark Steven Greenfield

Director, Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery

FROM THE CURATOR

During my years as gallery director at California State University, Fullerton, I had the opportunity to show the work of many talented artists, Judy Chicago being one of them. From this contact, Judy Chicago invited me to join her in viewing the work of china painters, which I did, resulting in an exhibition at the University. This experience led to the two of us embarking upon a three-month trek visiting the studios of women artists from San Diego to San Francisco.

As the saying goes, timing is everything. In 1970, Jason Wong, former director of the Long Beach Museum of Art, asked if I would like to curate a show. With the recent experience of visiting studios, I had been thinking a great deal about women’s art and wondering if women would be willing to exhibit. As a result, 21 Artists: Invisible/Visible opened in March of 1972 at the Long Beach Museum of Art. I requested that the museum not publicize the exhibit as all women artists – have people view the show and it just happened to be all women instead of all men. A real opportunity to produce this type of exhibit since at that time venues for women’s art was very slim.

Consequently, upon hearing of this current exhibit at the Municipal Art Gallery at Barnsdall Art Park, I truly wanted to curate it and pull it all together. I thought it would be a good idea to select 30 artists in honor of the 30th Anniversary of the Southern California Women’s Caucus for Art. However, after visiting studios and galleries, I knew it would be impossible to limit the number of artists to 30. It became clear that there would have to be at least 50 artists at varying stages of career. As it turns out the exhibit represents the work of 13 emerging, 24 mid-career and 13 seasoned artists. To those artists not exhibited, it was truly due to limited space available.

I have been asked about the differences I see regarding the way women artists are working today versus when I curated 21 Artists: Invisible/Visible. My first thoughts are that women are more professional and accepting of themselves. Many, who were working in their kitchens, keeping their work stashed out of sight, are now working in large warehouse spaces. They are less self-conscience about content and work about women.

Multiple Vantage Points: Southern California Women Artists, 1980–2006 includes work from the feminist period through current, giving a broad spectrum of theme and media. Women working over a long period of time and continuing to produce terrific work as well as emerging artists at the beginning of their careers. Themes have changed from specific feminist to a broader encapsulation. I hope the show will be viewed as coherent within this range of multiple styles of images.

It has indeed been a pleasure to work on this project.

Dextra Frankel

December 2006

DEXTRA FRANKEL is a renowned gallery director, curator and Professor Emeritus of Cal ifornia State University, Fullerton. During her years at the university, 1967–1991, she initiated the undergraduate and graduate Exhibition Design Program and graduate Certificate Program in Museum Studies. Living and working in Los Angeles for many years, she has brought her keen eye to exhibition design projects such as the multivenue exhibition Envisioning the Future in Pomona, 2002–3, with artist Judy Chicago and photographer Donald Woodman, as well as seventy Southern California artists. Ms. Frankel has curated and designed over 100 exhibitions, including one of the first West Coast exhibitions of women’s art, entitled 21 Artists: Invisible/Visible at the Long Beach Museum of Art in 1972.