JANET INDICK | PRESIDENT OF NAWA FROM 1997-1999
Q. How long have you been a member of NAWA?
A. I have been a member since 1975.
Q. Why did you originally choose to apply to NAWA?
A. I applied to NAWA because it was a National Organization only for women artists. I had seen an exhibit of their work at Sarah Lawrence College, and I was impressed with the quality of the art.
Q. What about the history of NAWA is especially significant for you?
A. NAWA was significant to me because it was founded 126 years ago by a group of women artists who wanted opportunities for themselves and for other women artists in America.
Q. To your knowledge, how has NAWA changed or remained constant since it was founded 125 years ago?
A. Throughout the years NAWA has remained true to its mission statement. Each year, it has given its artists many more opportunities to show their art work locally,nationally and internationally and now there are even more opportunities on the internet.
Q. When were you president?
A. I was president from 1997-1999.
Q. What did it mean to you to be the president of NAWA?
A. It was a great honor and a challenge for me to become president of such a
prestigious organization.
Q. How would you describe your vision for NAWA (past or current)?
A. My visions for NAWA were to give the artists more opportunities to show their artwork by offering both juried and unjuried exhibits in museums, college, and corporations all over the country, and to promote traveling shows abroad, and to do some small works exhibits. I wanted to try to get a chapter going in California. I wanted to change the worn out look of the NAWA office so that our office would look artistic. The stationary envelopes and catalogue needed to be changed too, so that NAWA would look more impressive when we sent out our proposals for grants and exhibits.
Q. How important is the growth of NAWA and/or how would you envision its growth?
A. It always is important for NAWA to grow and adapt to new changes in technology. The issue of the lack of women artists in museums in this county still needs to be worked on.
Q. What were your goals as president? Can you talk about how you accomplished these goals, or if you didn’t, what kinds of obstacles did you face?
A. I had several speakers come in to talk to our 30 member artist board of about how to improve our image as a National Arts Organization, how to obtain grants, and how to become more visible in the art world. As a result of these speakers and much discussion, many of our artist board members worked on these ideas and volunteered to get them
accomplished.
The Union Square office was redesigned by one of our members. She created a new office look with a new color scheme, and new office furniture. A newly designed mission statement was enlarged and placed on the entry wall, on the side walls were paintings, prints, and sculptures, donated by all the current presidents and under the ceiling of all the walls in the room, we had a frieze of black letters with the each of the names of our founding women members encircling the room. Another member redesigned all of the stationary, office material, and catalogue. Another member volunteered to talk to the Rockefeller Foundation to try to get a grant.
Q. What are you most proud of in terms of your impact on the members and/or the organization?
A. The 30-member artist board realized that we needed get together a true board of directors that will include people in finance law business etc. to help N.A.W.A. move forward and accomplish more for their artists. Though the newsletter that I sent out, my other artists in other states come forward with their contact for exhibits in their state, a California artist came forward to meet with me to see if we could get a California chapter started.
Q. How did the era during your presidency influence the women artists of NAWA at the time? How do you see NAWA’s relevance in the 2010’s? In the 21st century? How would you compare this to your presidential era?
A. NAWA has continued to move forward many thing have changed. We are all computerized. No more slides, artworks are now sent in on a CD. NAWA newsletters and announcements now are sent out by computer, color images can be had of all art works and can be included in Email images, awards can be sent out quickly. We have a bigger office space and now it has a small gallery, in which our NAWA artists can have solo or group shows. We have had several grants and several fundraisers and the new board of directors is made up of some of our artists and people with different talents from business, publicity, law and finance. Some of our artists have their own individual web sites. NAWA has its own website, NAWA places large ads now in Art News and Sculpture Magazine, and we have people working on our NAWA archives.
Q. Do you have any advice for the current or future presidents?
A. The future presidents will keep the snowball rolling and add to it make a bigger better ball till women get equal opportunities as artists.
Q. What would an art investor care about in buying a NAWA artist’s work?
A. Art investors should be happy to buy any of our artist’s pieces, many of us have received art awards from NAWA and other arts organizations, many are listed in catalogues of exhibits as well as in books, many have had solo shows and are in important collections.
Q. How can NAWA help raise an artist’s profile in a competitive market?
A. NAWA. offers the artist many exhibits each year. All artists should try to build a better resume by entering these prestigious exhibits. At our Annual exhibit each year NAWA gives awards in many categories of art and honors women of Achievement.
Q. How has NAWA contributed to your growth as an artist? As a person?
A. I have had so many opportunities with NAWA from running an organization to serving on its board of directors, to jurying art work, to curating art shows, to exhibit my work, to win awards, to get into the NAWA Collection at the Zimmerli Museum at Rutgers, to have my archive in the Rutgers Women’s Artists Archives, as well as to be listed in the NAWA’S 100 Years Centennial Celebration Catalogue 1988.
Q. Has your work changed since you became a member of NAWA?
A. Yes my work has changed through all the years from large steel welded sculpture to small sculpture to wall sculpture in aluminum and wood to collage sculpture and now to clay sculpture.
Q. How would you describe your work/process?
A. I get my inspiration from found objects, pieces of metal or wood. I play with them until I figure how to combine the into a unique art form.
Q. Where would you say you want your work to go next?
A. My sculptures are in many collection in museums, colleges, synagogues and corporations in NY, NJ, PA and Florida. My archives are in many institutions.
Q. How do you manage to find time to do your artwork with other responsibilities? Do you think this is harder for women than men, and if so, how?
A. Yes it is harder for women who work both outside the home and inside the home to make meals for the family and to take care of children and husbands with different scheduling and still find time to make creative art work. It is much easier for men because they have wives who take care of most things.