Happy Birthday, Judy Chicago! On July 20 in her adopted town of Belen, New Mexico, the artist celebrated her 80th birthday with the opening of a new art space, Through the Flower, a multi-colored smoke show designed by the artist herself, and the launch of her own line of red wines.
Following the exhibition of her newest body of work at NMWA this fall, a retrospective of Chicago’s oeuvre will be held at the de Young Museum in San Francisco. Vice interviewed the artist, who has no plans to slow down on her “voyage of discovery.”
Front-Page Femmes
Italian artist Marisa Merz, who was the sole female artist in the influential Arte Povera movement, has died at age 93.
Photographer Ida Wyman has died at age 93; she worked for Life and Business Week capturing ordinary people in their everyday lives.
The Art Newspaper published a buyer’s guide to Louise Bourgeois, whose works became the most expensive by a woman artist when her monumental bronze Spider (1997) sold for $28 million this year.
The New York Times profiles the women who are changing New York’s D.J. scene—many have been part of a grassroots movement based in collaboration and empowerment.
The Guardian profiles the female video game designers who are challenging the conversation around reproductive rights through live-action role-playing games and interactive documentaries.
Hyperallergic interviews Canadian filmmaker Catherine Hébert on her new documentary about Ziva Postec, the editor of the epic Holocaust documentary Shoah, and how her work was downplayed by the film’s director.
Fiber artist Vanessa Barragão has created a massive textural tapestry of a map of the world; the work is on view at London’s Heathrow Airport and celebrates the airport’s partnership with the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew.
The Drum has released its 2019 “50 Under 30” list, which celebrates the world’s highest achieving women in creative and digital arts under the age of 30.
The Met Costume Institute’s next major show comes from the private collection of prolific and undersung fashion historian Sandy Schreier.
The Baltimore Museum of Art has announced a year of exhibitions and programming around women artists in 2020, to mark the 100th anniversary of U.S. women gaining the right to vote.
Shows We Want to See
Women’s Work: Art & Activism in the 21st Century is on view at Pen + Brush in New York City through August 2. The exhibition explores the familiar expression through the works of five artists/activists who present visions that reshape its definition.
Zanele Muholi: Somnyama Ngonyama, Hail the Dark Lioness is on view at the Seattle Art Museum through November 3. The photographic series features portraits taken in Europe, Asia, North America, and Africa between 2014 and 2017. Each is distinct and poses critical questions about social injustice, human rights, and contested representations of the black body.
Annabeth Rosen: Fired, Broken, Gathered, Heaped is on view at The Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco. It chronicles more than 20 years of her work in ceramics.