In a New York Times feature, NMWA is profiled along with five other museums that are addressing gender inequality and diversity through programming, collections, and leadership. Current exhibitions at NMWA, the National Portrait Gallery, the National Archives Museum, the Library of Congress, the National Museum of African Art, and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery all highlight women or work by women artists.
“It is essential for cultural institutions to take substantial and systematic steps to address gender inequity and diversity…so that this conversation moves beyond a single moment,” says NMWA Director Susan Fisher Sterling.
Front-Page Femmes:
Yayoi Kusama has collaborated with balloon specialists on Love Flies up to the Sky, a balloon for this year’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Americans for the Arts has honored Luchita Hurtado with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the National Arts Awards.
Hyperallergic reviews Ahree Lee’s exhibition Pattern : Code, on view at Women’s Center for Creative Work, which explores the connection between weaving and computer programming.
Artsy profiles glass artist Deborah Czeresko, who won Netflix’s reality show Blown Away creating feminist glass artworks.
The oldest existing Last Supper painting by a woman is on public view for the first time at the Santa Maria Novella Museum in Florence; Plautilla Nelli, a Renaissance-era nun, painted the scene 450 years ago for the Santa Caterina da Siena convent.
The Guardian interviews Julie Taymor, director and designer of the musical The Lion King. “Everybody acknowledged that the film’s story should be fleshed out. There were no good female roles…I knew that Rafiki, the storyteller, should be female,” Taymor said.
The Los Angeles Times interviews Shirin Neshat about her career and new solo show, I Will Greet the Sun Again, at the Broad Museum.
The New York Times interviews choreographer Twyla Tharp about her new book Keep it Moving: Lessons for the Rest of Your Life. “After we terrorize ourselves with self-doubt, our only relief is to get moving again,” says Tharp.
The Art Matters podcast examines the history of witches in art, tracing the shifting narrative from old hag to beautiful temptress.
Shows We Want to See:
Betye Saar: The Legends of Black Girl’s Window is on view at the newly renovated Museum of Modern Art in New York. The exhibition explores the relationship between her experimental print practice and the artistic language Saar debuted in her famous 1969 work Black Girl’s Window. The New York Times reviewed the “scholarly study of a specific period, anchored by MoMA’s recent acquisition of a group of 42 of her works on paper.”
A Tale of Two Women Painters: Sofonisba Anguissola and Lavinia Fontana is on view at the Museo Nacional del Prado in Madrid. Hyperallergic dives into the history of Bologna to examine why women artists like Lavinia Fontana thrived in the region during the 17th century.
At the Pérez Art Museum in Miami Teresita Fernández: Elemental is a comprehensive survey of the artist’s work. Fernández uses landscape to unpack colonial histories and binaries.