Washington, D.C. – New works by 27 women from around the world, inspired by their responses to contemporary events and women’s experiences, evoke memories and provoke contemplation in
Book As Art XV, on view March 29 through November 28, 2004, at the National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA).

“These works from artists both familiar and new to the museum illustrate how artists’ books are among the most creative outlets for visual artists,” said NMWA Director Dr. Judy L. Larson. “The women’s museum is proud of its annual Book As Art series, as well as the more than 650 artists’ books in our permanent collection.”

September 11, 2001, resonates strongly in the imaginations of many women around the world. Italian artist Mirella Bentivoglio’s The World After September 11: A Reinforced Book is bound in a grid of protective wire mesh, containing only one word, “fragile,” signifying global feelings surrounding the attacks. New Yorker Susan Rotolo’s book Uncommon Ground: Fall 2001 features a sheet of paper suspended between two towers printed with e-mail messages between anxious friends after the event. According to Rotolo, “The work was created to look as the city looked and felt at the time: damaged, dusty, burned, and badly wounded.”

Some artists look to the violent histories of other countries as motivation for their cathartic works. Mexican artist Yani Pecanins frequently explores the Holocaust in her art, as in her piece Los dos lados (Both sides), inspired by The Diary of Anne Frank. Pecanins printed words from Frank’s journal onto a small child’s dress, highlighting the intimacy of the diary format while contrasting the fragility of a young girl with the brutality of war. Denial of freedom of expression is addressed by Iranian-born artist
Sohayla Vafai in “Kill me for my belief!” Lines from Iranian poet Ahmad Shamlu are written in Vafai’s own blood on a sheet of fabric on which a book sits, stabbed with a knife, a metaphor for violence inflicted on those who speak out against injustice.

Counterpoints in the exhibition to works that focus on the ills of the 20th century are those which explore the landscapes of the heart and mind. Nan Haid’s Nanoseconds IV: Six Angels for the New Millennium is the fourth in a series of visual diaries kept by the artist and features panels composed of tiny illustrations of the artist’s daily activities over the course of a year. From birthday parties to grocery shopping, the angels of the title who signify hope, peace, love, charity, faith, and joy, kept protective watch over her.

Literature and nature are muses for several artists in the exhibition. Clara Garcia McLean’s
More than One Hundred Years of Solitude is a personal response to Gabriel García Márquez’s acclaimed novel. The powerful women in the Buendía family are re-created by McLean in 12 imaginary portraits. Timelessness is evoked by the accordion-like format which allows the work to expand and contract, as time and space do in Márquez’s book. Canadian writer Brenda Watson moved from the wilderness to urban Montreal but did not lose her love for the natural world. Her book Comment attirer les oiseaux? (How to attract birds?) is a visual metaphor for humanity’s tenuous connection with nature, with birds such as falcons, cardinals, and robins adorning pages shaped like a bird’s wing in flight.

Book as Art XV is organized by the National Museum of Women in the Arts, with funds provided by Margaret M. Johnston, Lorraine Grace, and the Library Fellows. An accompanying publication, to be sold for $8.95 in the Museum Shop and online, features illustrations and an essay by the exhibition’s curator, Krystyna Wasserman, NMWA curator of book arts.

The National Museum of Women in the Arts, founded in 1981 and opened in 1987, is the only museum dedicated solely to celebrating the achievements of women in the visual, performing, and literary arts. Its permanent collection contains works by more than 800 artists, including Judith Leyster,
Maria Sibylla Merian, Mary Cassatt, Camille Claudel, Georgia O’Keeffe, Frida Kahlo, Elizabeth Catlett,
Lee Krasner, Helen Frankenthaler, and Louise Bourgeois. The museum also conducts multidisciplinary programs for diverse audiences, maintains a Library and Research Center, publishes a quarterly magazine, and has organized national and international committees. More than 120,000 people visit the museum each year, including thousands of young people who come with schools and scouting groups. NMWA’s national membership of nearly 40,000 is among the top ten percent of museum memberships nationwide. The museum is located at 1250 New York Avenue, NW, Washington, DC, in a landmark building near the White House. It is open Monday-Saturday 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. and Sunday noon - 5 p.m. For information call 202.783.5000 or visit the museum’s website, www.nmwa.org.