In our increasingly inequitable world, where women artists are under-represented in museums worldwide, exhibitions focused on female creativity become imperative. Bravissima to Chelsea’s Carter Burden Gallery for the recently seen “Unrestricted Access: 50 Years of SOHO20 Gallery,” celebrating one of the very first galleries dedicated to increasing public awareness of art created by women.
“Self Portrait Lightning,” oil on canvas, 24″ x 24″. Here, the artist embodies the missions of SOHO20 (art by women) and Carter Burden (work by older artists). Wybrants’s laser focus on her own beautifully aging face appears to set off a strong electric current—ocular proof that nothing is hotter, or more impactful, than a 62+ woman artist.
To mark the HERstoric anniversary, visitors to the Carter Burden Gallery saw works by six of SOHO20’s originalmembers which are included here. A total of 39 artists have shown atSOHO20 between 1975 and now. The additional 33 artists are outlined with website references on the next page.
A longtime SOHO20 supporter, participating artist Vernita Nemec is represented in the show by Black and Blue, her assemblage made of upcycled plastic mushroom containers. Jeannie McCormack, Gallery&Studio publisher, has followed Nemec’s career since the beginning. “Vernita transforms life’s moments, even the debris of life’s moments, into art,” McCormack says, drawing a parallel to artist Joseph Beuys. “Her dedication to the making of art, in many mediums, sets a wonderful example.”
“Self Portrait Lightning,” oil on canvas, 24″ x 24″. Here, the artist embodies the missions of SOHO20 (art by women) and Carter Burden (work by older artists). Wybrants’s laser focus on her own beautifully aging face appears to set off a strong electric current—ocular proof that nothing is hotter, or more impactful, than a 62+ woman artist.
September 25 saw the artist in costume as her performative alter ego, “N’Cognita”—meaning, literally, the incognito woman artist. The theme of Nemec’s site-specific performance piece, “What is Art? I am Art! Am I Art?” paid tribute to SOHO20’s history with a respectful nod to author Simone de Beauvoir’s groundbreaking work The Second Sex. Nemec’s performance held special resonance for this reporter, the Founding Director of MSeum, which will be the world’s first museum to be built by women, for women artists, with the tag line “Know Unknowns.”
Wandering, Butoh-style, through the Carter Burden Gallery, carrying an empty picture frame like a restless wraith, her face concealed by a white mask, Nemec poignantly dramatized the plight of the immortal Unknown woman artist. Across time and around the world, N’Cognita’s gender restricts her from accessing the advantages that male artists have always enjoyed (wider representation, higher pay, longer-lasting name recognition, and so forth). Will this change? It will change! It must! Artist and Reiki master Milenka Berengolc shared a performance in which she explores her “inner landscape” and energy of exchanges to foster Social Change.
“Pretty in Pink,” acrylic, collage, ink on paper, 19″ x 14″. Small but mighty, this playfully-titled work by a creative feminist stalwart pays sobering tribute to a towering feminist icon: Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (RIP).
Nemec took center stage again on October 4, at the panel discussion, “What does sex have to do with it? Women’s Art Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow,” addressing the many—and many-layered—issues related to being a woman artist. Diane Churchill reminded the audience how mind-blowing anti-feminist bias can appear in the oddest places: a HERstoric women’s college, for example. As the 1950s were ending and the 60s began, the teenage Churchill planned to pursue an art career, but as an undergraduate at Wellesley College—a single-sex “Seven Sisters” school founded in 1870 for the advancement of women’s education—she and her sister students “could not major in Studio Art, only Art History.” Nevertheless, Churchill persisted, moving to the “new world” that was 1960s New York, and becoming an artist.
“Pencil/Brush/Sketches,” monotype, 12″ x 12″. In another small work with big ideas, the artist places two tools of her trade front and center: the humble pencil and brush, commonplace utensils that in a woman artist’s hands become conveyances transporting us to the sublime.
As the 60s became the 70s and 80s, that new world became even newer, thanks to feminist groups like A.I.R Gallery, Guerilla Girls, and SOHO20, and individual artists passionate about social justice, such as Cynthia Mailman and Carla Rae Johnson. “Art and family are the two great loves of my life,” Churchill added. “I’m so grateful to Soho20 and the feminist art movement for supporting the struggle to be a mother and an artist.” Lucy Hodgson feels that struggle keenly on behalf of the great creative mother, Mother Earth, faithfully highlighting the industrial devastation of our home planet.
“Veils of the City #1,” acrylic on canvas, 30″ x 40″. Capturing the breathtaking experience of looking skyward at gravity-defying urban structures, this is a fine example of the artist’s “fascination with architecture, [begun] during [her] college days.”
“SOHO20 saved us, SOHO20 made us,” concluded moderator Vernita Nemec. Now, Carter Burden Gallery supports these artists as they transition to elder stateswomen, focusing exclusively on artists age 62+. Noted Marlena Vaccaro, its Director and Curator, “So many of these women were heroes of mine as an art student. Working on this exhibition has been such an honor.”
From the audience came commentary and eye-opening anecdotes: Martha Edelheit wryly reminisced about the time that a former MoMA Curator (a woman whose name Edelheit couldn’t recall), when asked point-blank by protesters why there were no women painters or sculptors in MoMA’s galleries, offered the appalling suggestion that women artists sign their work with a man’s name (one who did so was the talented Grace Hartigan, a.k.a “G. Hartigan” or “George Hartigan”). Sharon Wybrants astutely pointed out that the storage and archiving of women artists’ work will prove vital for the preservation of herstory, yet it’s fraught with challenges, so the most that un-represented women artists may hope for is that their children and grandchildren will steward and archive their work.
“Thinner Than You,” black net fabric, stainless steel, 64″ x 13″ x 5″. Conjuring a fashionably slender woman apparently about to vanish into a vertical line, this sculpture offers sharp sculptural commentary on the pressures placed on women to stay thin, and thinner.
Carter Burden Gallery’s mission—to provide an exhibition space where lesser-known artists age 60+ remain relevant, whether emerging or re-emerging in the art world — makes it the ideal venue for this welcome, multi-media HERstory lesson in the power of staying creative. Long live SOHO20… here’s to her next 50 years! G&S
Additional SOHO artists:
• Diane Churchill • Marjorie Abramson • Nancy Azara • Anne Elliott • Ann Marie McDonnell • Lucy Hodgson • Rosalind Shaffer • B. Amore • Karen Baldner • Susan Hockaday • Janet Goldner • Elizabeth Michelman • Linda Cunningham • Ginny Fox • Carla Rae Johnson • Gayle Tanaka • Milenka Berengolc • Louise Farrell • Eve Ingalls • Debbie Rasiel • Eleonora Tammes • Gail Hoffman Judith • Steinberg • Elizabeth Bisbing • Lisa Fischetti • Virginia Tyler • Afarin Rahmanifar • Vernita Nemec • Georgia Strange • Martha Edelheit • Darla Bjork • Madelaine Shellaby • Kathy Stark • Lannie Hart.
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