网曝吃瓜

Winners at the National Women鈥檚 Art Exhibit at 网曝吃瓜 have been announced.

The exhibit themed 鈥淐elebrating Women: Their Strength and Vision鈥� ran through March 31 and was held in the Transition Gallery and Mind鈥檚 Eye galleries in the Pond Student Union Building, and the Seasonal Gallery in the Idaho Museum of Natural History.

Four juried awards were given at the event, including Best of Show to Carla Jensen for her collage 鈥淪eibstbildnis,鈥� the Artemesia Gentleschi Award to Lynne Parker for her metal work 鈥淧alm Planet,鈥� the Mary Cassatt Award to Grace Owens for her watercolor 鈥淲edding Day 1927,鈥� and the Georgia O鈥橩eefe Award to Sandy Bakken for her weaving 鈥淧assion.鈥� Winning exhibit entries can be viewed online at www.isu.edu/womenstu/NWAEwinners.html.

In addition, Claudia McCoy, the curator of the exhibit who is also a practicing artist and assistant director of women鈥檚 studies at 网曝吃瓜, delivered the first Claude J. Whitehead Memorial Award in honor of her father 鈥� the first feminist she ever new 鈥� to the piece that best exemplified the show鈥檚 theme. That award went to 鈥淥de to the Industrial Revolution: Freedom,鈥� a silk painting by Alana Bills, who also won the People鈥檚 Choice Award given out a week into the show.

Two events last week celebrated the opening of the Women鈥檚 Studies Program鈥檚 seventh annual art exhibit. An opening night event and a private reception also raised enough funds for two scholarships for women in the arts who are attending 网曝吃瓜. McCoy said at the private reception on Saturday, 鈥淚 have dreamed about this day for seven years and it is finally here. I am so honored to be among a group of such talented women, and the men who support them.鈥�

The juried exhibit showcases innovative, interesting, and sometimes challenging art by women from all over the United States from Louisiana and New Jersey to right here in Pocatello. The women artists range from amateur to student to professional and the work ranges in media from oil and watercolor painting to metal work, clay, weaving, assemblages, and even a sculpture of women鈥檚 hair and bobby pins!

This year鈥檚 exhibit is particularly special because it highlights the work of Native American artists through an exhibit funded in part by a generous grant from the Idaho Commission on the Arts. The Seasonal Gallery features examples of fine arts craft in beadwork, featherwork, and other traditions that are important to the local tribal communities. From traditional bonnets to decorated buckskin clothes to beaded cell phone covers, the exhibit underscores the centrality of these fine arts craft traditions to Shoshone and Bannock history and contemporary life.The exhibit brings to a wider audience some traditions of great artistic merit that are vital to Native American culture in the region.

Drusilla Gould, Shoshone language instructor at 网曝吃瓜, helped to coordinate the exhibit and she worked with many artists and families from the local tribal community who were willing to share their work and their traditions for the event. The opening night鈥檚 reception featured a short talk by Ms. Gould on the cultural heritage of some of those arts traditions. A few local Native American artists were also in attendance to demonstrate and talk about their art work.

The opening night鈥檚 reception on March 19 was the largest gallery opening in 网曝吃瓜 history with as many as four hundred people in attendance. McCoy spoke at the event about the tremendous richness and variety in the show, which underscores the creativity that women artists can achieve when they are properly supported.

On Saturday, March 24, 网曝吃瓜 President Arthur C. Vailas and his wife Laura I. Vailas, PhD, hosted a private reception that coincided with the end of a silent auction that benefits women鈥檚 studies scholarships and programs in the College of Arts and Sciences. The silent auction featured donated art work from many prominent local artists, including Lori Piccolo, Helen Livingston, Gail Dial, Juliette Fighe, and so many others, as well as a signed print of Gwyneth Paltrow and Blythe Danner by world famous photographer Annie Leibowitz. Longtime 网曝吃瓜 supporters were on hand for a special viewing of the exhibit and to band together in the common effort to support Women鈥檚 Studies and the College of Arts and Sciences as they foster women students in the arts, and all the disciplines.

This exhibit is about women's hearts, their souls, the things they love and hate, and most importantly their everyday experiences. Historically, women artists have been excluded from the canon of art history and it is only in recent decades that women artists have successfully struggled to be taken seriously. The National Women鈥檚 Art Show at 网曝吃瓜 provides a forum to celebrate the achievements and creativity of women artists working today, and will feature work by local and national artists.

The total number of entries for the show was 156. That was juried down to a show of 85 pieces.  From those 85, there were five awards given. Entries came from New York, Louisiana, Florida, Wisconsin, New Jersey, Montana, Colorado, California, Utah, Oregon, and Idaho.

For more information on Women鈥檚 Studies or the annual exhibit, contact Claudia McCoy at (208) 234-5002 or Brian Norman and Laura Woodworth-Ney, co-directors of women鈥檚 studies, at 234-2606 or 234-4384.