By KERRY KRISEMAN
Public Relations Manager
Creative Clay’s Women in Art History exhibit celebrates Women’s History Month by featuring the women artists of Creative Clay. Creative Clay artists, working in teams and individually, created art inspired by women artists in art history.
“The creative process began with the contemporary artist learning the story of their chosen artist in the past,” said Jody Bikoff, Creative Clay Director of Exhibitions. “This included studying a life story, looking at images of artwork, and delving into research where often a past woman artist was under recognized. It was exciting to see how the artists approached their work. Sometimes, one piece of the past artist’s artwork became the inspiration for the contemporary artist’s new work. And for others, inspiration came from the entirety of the past artist’s work and life story.”
Creative Clay Teaching Artist Coral Walden partnered with Member Artist Hanna V. to pay tribute to Faith Ringgold through their collaboration.
“I’ve always been inspired by Ringgold’s activism and versatility as an artist,” said Walden. “She opened doors for Black artists, women artists, and folk artists simultaneously, and dissolved the barriers between fine art and political protest.”
Member Artist Hanna’s connection to Ringgold lies in the parallels between their artistic styles. Hanna’s two-dimensional figures and use of bold pattern and color are reminiscent of Ringgold’s Impressionist style.
“Hanna is especially drawn to Ringgold’s narrative quilts, which combine Hanna’s passions for painting and fabric art,” said Walden.
Other artists represented in this exhibit include Rosetta Thorpe, Hilma af Klimt, Hannah Höch, Pauline Boty, Kyeong Ja Cheon, and Frida Kahlo.
“The intention of this exhibit is to honor and elevate the women artists of our time, as well as the women artists of the past, who have often been under recognized and marginalized,” said Bikoff.
Artist teams include Coral Walden and Hanna V., Emily Turnage and Ivy J. and Stephanie P., Lisa Glaser and Lindsay J., Jung In Kang and Shasta G., Summer Kluytman and Carla L., and Grace P.
“Our March exhibit theme grew from a desire to feature the work of women artists during Women’s History Month. As I was planning our exhibit, I was inspired by the concept of the project, 100 Women Artists in Art History, developed by Alicia Campos,” said Bikoff.
“There was an enthusiastic response from individual artists, as well as collaborating teams for participation in this project,” said Bikoff.
Creative Clay Member Artists clearly enjoyed the team approach to art making that resulted in this women-centric exhibit.
“I really like collaborating with Emily because she’s one of my favorite staff. Hopefully, we’ll get to do it again,” said Ivy J.
See Women in Art History at Creative Clay’s Good Folk Gallery, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, 5 to 9 p.m. March 11 during ArtWalk, and in its virtual gallery on Creative Clay’s website. Art in Creative Clay’s Good Folk Gallery and its virtual gallery is available for purchase. Artists receive 50% commission on all works sold.
Learn more about Creative Clay at www.creativeclay.org. Follow Creative Clay on Facebook, on Instagram @creativeclaystpete, on Twitter @creativeclay, and on LinkedIn.