5 - Woman Made Gallery - Mothers Omnipresent yet Under-representd

Press Release

WOMAN MADE GALLERY PRESENTS

Group Shows and Other Events

November 5 - December 23, 2010

Artwork by Stephanie Lerma

Chicago, IL - October 24, 2010 Woman Made Gallery is proud to present two group exibitions, Mothers and Girl: Please! opening on November 5, from 6 to 9 p.m. with an artist reception. Other events include a poetry reading on Sunday, November 14, and a Members/Volunteers Holiday Brunch on December 4, 2010 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Mothers

Omnipresent yet Under-representd in Visual Art

Opening Reception: Friday, November 5, 6-9 p.m.

Artwork by Melissa Ayotte

Juried by Rachel Epp Buller, this group exhibition includes works by 37 women artists who address the culturally ubiquitous role of motherhood, historically under-represented in visual art.

On exhibit are paintings, sculptures, printmaking, photography, and video works that speak to personal experiences (as a mother or as related to a mother), social constructions of motherhood, the balance of home and work, the politicization of mothers, pregnancy, breastfeeding, childbirth, bodily transformation, miscarriage, loss, and fertility/infertility.

Artists represented are Jjenna Hupp Andrews, Kiki Augustin, Melissa Ayotte, Linda L. Bacon, Adrian Baker, Shaun Bangert, Kristy Battani, Jolene Beckman, Cat Del Buono, Corinna Button, Myrel Chernick, Barbara Diener, Sheila A. Donovan, Joy Christiansen Erb, Niki Grangruth, Luba Grenader, Kate Hansen, Kelly Harrington, Katherine Michele Hatchell, Judith Hladik-Voss, Phyllis Hofman, Lea Basile Lazarus, Stephanie Lerma, Melanie Lowrance, Elaine Luther, Julie Mader-Meersman, Jennifer McNichols, Maggie Meiners, Freyda Miller, Helen Payne, Nancy Roberts, Jaleesa Rosario, Sarah Rust Sampedro, Amanda Simons, Colette Veasey-Cullors, Lisa Venditelli, and Ellen Wetmore.

Exhibition Juror: Rachel Epp Buller
Rachel Epp Buller, Ph.D., is a feminist-art historian-printmaker-mama of three whose art and scholarship investigate this balancing act. Her prints have been exhibited in solo and group and shows in Kansas City, Chicago, New York City, and elsewhere and she lectures and publishes widely on issues of motherhood and the maternal body in contemporary art.

to view the exhibition online.

November 5 - December 23, 2010

Opening Reception: Friday, November 5, 6-9 p.m.

Girl: Please!

"We are all born naked, the rest is just drag" --Rupaul

Opening Reception: Friday, November 5, 6-9 p.m

Video by Dana Ollestad

Open to all genders, Girl: Please! is a group exhibition with 19 artists whose work pushes and transcends the definition of gender while exploring its relation to individual character amongst collective expectations.

In the words of the jurors: "Gender is a performance, an act that is perpetuated and maintained by societal norms and expectations, but how, and to what extent does it define us? Bearing in mind Rupaul's statement, drag in this case is not disco, but rather an illustration of femininity and masculinity in shades of grey."

Included in the exhibit are paintings, sculptures, mixed media, digital art, photography, performance and video. Girl: Please! includes art by Myla Baker, Karen Bovinich, Jessica Taylor Caponigro, Cheri Charlton, Heather Christoffer, Amanda Dandeneau, Jacob Dibeler, Jessie Eisner-Kleyle, Jennifer Greenburg, Erin Hernsberger, Jenn Kahn, Niki Grangruth and James Kinser, Torie McMillan, Matt Nichols, Betsy Odom, Dana Ollestad, Nancy Simmons Smith, Tannar Veatch, and Yuanyuan Yang.

Exhibition Jurors: Kristen Carter and Emanuel Aguilar
Kristen Carter, WMG's former Gallery Coordinator is currently pursuing her PhD in Art History at the University of British Columbia. She is a graduate from DePaul University, with a BA in History of Art and Architecture and a minor in Studio Art. She wrote for ArtSlant Chicago and for the online art magazine, Jettison.

Emanuel Aguilar is assisting Woman Made Gallery with its exhibition programs and marketing. He is a Fine Arts Major at Columbia College with concentration in Identity Politics and a Minor in Marketing, and he studied in Florence, Italy at the Lorenzo De Medici University. Aguilar works for Chicago's Jean Albano Gallery and A & D Gallery, has curated several exhibitions, and helped found the online arts magazine, Jettison.

to view the exhibition online.

Exhibition Dates: November 5 - December 23, 2010

Opening Reception: Friday, November 5, 6-9 p.m.

Poetry Reading
Girl, Please: Somewhere Over the Gender Spectrum

Sunday, November 14, 2010, 2-4 p.m.

Curated by Nina Corwin and in partnership with WBEZ's Chicago Amplified Series, Woman Made Gallery will host a poetry reading on November 14 from 2 to 4 p.m. Participating readers include Tristan Silverman, Kurt Heintz, Kristiana Colon, Anthony Madrid and Arielle Greenberg. Free admission and refreshments will be served.

Gender is a performance, an act that is perpetuated and maintained by societal norms and expectations, but how, and to what extent does it define us? This reading seeks to push and transcend the definition of gender while also exploring its relation to individual character amongst collective expectations.

for poetry at WMG.

About Woman Made Gallery

Woman Made Gallery is a tax-exempt, not-for-profit organization founded in 1992. Its goal is to support women in the arts by providing opportunities, awareness, and advocacy. It specifically accomplishes this through monthly thematic exhibitions that help raise public awareness and recognition of women's cultural contributions.

Woman Made Gallery is supported in part by grants from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency; a CityArts Program II grant from the City of Chicago, Department of Cultural Affairs; the Arts Work Fund for Organizational Development, a donor-advised fund of the Chicago Community Trust; the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation; The Efroymson Family Fund, a CICF Fund; 3Arts; a major anonymous donor; and the generosity of its members and contributors.

Please help support our work to exhibit art by women and to educate the public about women's artistic contributions by giving a tax-deductible donation to Woman Made Gallery.

to make a gift to Woman Made Gallery .