In 1966, James Brown sang “It’s a man’s world!” Over the past year that statement has been shaken to its knees. Feminism, women’s rights, and women’s stories are front and center in the United States and across the world. The #MeToo and #TimesUp movements have empowered women to continue speaking up about issues of sexual harassment and assault. A record number of women are running for political office, and – although much work remains to be done – women are and being celebrated in every field imaginable.

In printmaking, The Future Is Female, but so is the past. With or without the visibility they deserve, women artists have engaged the art of printmaking from the beginning.  Requiring technical mastery, physical strength, and stamina, printmaking—or the art of producing multiple images or impressions from a single plate or matrix—has its origins in 8^th century Japan where designs were rubbed onto paper from wooden blocks.  By the 15^th century in Europe, the availability of inexpensive paper and the invention of the printing press led to a proliferation of printed images in a variety of techniques.  The second half of the 20^th century witnessed an explosion of interest in the creative potential of printmaking methods such as etching, engraving, lithography, woodcut, and silkscreen among others. Today, women artists continue to use these various techniques to tell their stories, exploring themes such as gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, and/or economic class.

This exhibition highlights contemporary women artists in the LUAG Teaching Museum permanent collection, including Faith Ringgold, Janet Fish, Maud Morgan, Matsubara Naoko, Françoise Gilot, Nancy Spero, Marisol Escobar, Bridget Riley, Carmen Herrera, Belkis Ayón, and Käthe Kollwitz.

Exhibition hours are Monday – Friday 8 AM – 10 PM and Saturday 8 AM – 5 PM.

Image Detail: Audrey Flack, Ecstasy of St. Theresa, 2013, Digital Print ans Serigraph on Paper