Events

by Jill Cliffer Baratta, Executive Director

On Tuesday, February 14, leaving my Valentine behind in New Jersey, I independently made the trip to my old stomping ground in Chicago and surrounding areas. Several months earlier, I began to set in motion the carefully planned NAWA booth at the College Art Association Conference at the Chicago Hilton Hotel. I grew up in the Chicago area, spending time in that same downtown neighborhood as the Hilton; attending high school classes on weekends at the Art Institute, and occasionally (as a child) going to work with my architect Dad on East Jackson.

Last year, in February, 2023 was the first time NAWA held a booth at the CAA ConferenceIt was successful in promoting the Association to art-oriented academics and artists, and brought us several membership applications, so we decided to repeat the effort this year. I still have family and at least one friend in Chicago, so I was able to stay and visit with them. Chicago member Lauralynn White, formerly the director of the Goggleworks Gallery in Pennsylvania, agreed to sit the booth with me. I sent Lauralynn posters, catalogs, brochures and rack cards, and she kindly delivered them to the site, saving NAWA from having to hire professional setup. We delivered our various “elevator speeches” to artists, art professors, students- both grad and undergrad, art historians and authors. It is a perfect audience, or niche for introducing that population to the long history and legacy of NAWA women artists, many of whom these attendees have studied, or are studying or writing about. If not, they at least need to know about NAWA!

To the artists, we promoted NAWA Signature Membership and told them about the twice a year jurying process, and how to apply. For the students and professors, we promoted the NAWA Graduating Students’ free year program. To the art historians, we were able to announce the upcoming (now partially live) “finding aid” available to search the NAWA archive housed at Rutgers University. This caused eyes to light up on the faces of art historians interested in women artists.

We collected about 25 new contacts, either through the conference website, our email signup, or business card drop basket. They range in age from 20’s to probably 80’s (I didn’t ask). We will be entering them into our database for email mailing list, so they will get notifications about some of NAWA’s activities and now have access to the NAWA website through the QR code on the print materials.

Highlights of the conference were meeting Judith K. Brodsky for the first time, along with her organizing and writing cohort, Diane Burko. They were instrumental in creating a huge women’s art exhibition in Philadelphia 1974, with 81 artists, many of whose names you might recognize. This year they reprised this exhibit with new exhibits and events all over Philadelphia, “(Re)FOCUS Then and Now, Philadelphia Focuses on Women in the Visual Arts, 1974-2024” and this time they produced an extensive catalog with that title. Participating artists include NAWA affiliates and notables: Pat Adams, Isabel Bishop, Nell Blaine, Louise Bourgeois, Elaine DeKooning, Janet Fish, Joyce Kozloff, Lee Krasner, Yayoi Kusama, Joan Mitchell, Alice Neel, Louise Nevelson, Faith Ringgold, Miriam Schapiro, Joan Snyder, and of course many more. We helped display the “(Re)Focus” catalog and made it available. Events are ongoing through March 16, 2024 in Philadelphia and at https://moore.edu/events/re-focus-then-and-now/2024-01-27/ . https://refocus2024.org/about

Next year’s conference is in New York again, so we will probably do the booth again.