studio 409

yesterday was the opening of pink, an exhibition organized and curated by my form IV art history students. it was incredibly successful on so many levels and i´m totally wiped out because of all the work involved in putting it together but also so happy with my students!

the students brought food for the opening and one of them brought this awesome (and delicious) brownie cake!

pink intro panel, the text read:

Pink is an exhibition about women artists and an idea that emerged quite naturally from our discussions about art and artists in Art History class.

It began as an exploration of the reasons why women artists have been undervalued throughout time and have a very small presence in the timeline of modern and contemporary art. As we studied the different periods in art history, we realized that all of the artists we studied were men. We were constantly asking are there no women artists? After researching the theme, it was clear that there was not a lack of women artists but rather that the art world and art market have paid little interest to their work for social, economical, and political reasons.

As part of our research and to prove our thesis, we conducted interviews in the school, asking our teachers if they could name three famous artists. All of them could quite easily. However, when the same teachers were asked if they could name women artists, very few names came up. We also asked teachers why they thought they did not know any women artists and we received various interesting responses that you can find in this same panel. It is not our aim to put teachers on the spot; on the contrary, we believe this lack of familiarity with women artists is a social problem we are all a part of.

For our exhibition, we researched five main themes which are constantly present in a large part of the work of contemporary women artists: The Body, Identity, Personal Stories, Gender and Feminism. Pink presents you with a small selection of artworks that respond to these themes. We have found that because of gender discrimination in the art world, women´s work is often outspoken and aggressive but it also contains a sensitivity that is unique to the female gaze.

This exhibition does not attempt to present every aspect of the theme or contribute anything new to the topic but rather to share with the school community powerful artists whose voices have not been heard by most. It is a first attempt to introduce the topic in the study of art history in school and our contribution to the course.

As part of Pink, we have reconstructed renowned Japanese artist Yoko Ono´s Wish Tree. Please participate in this interactive installation piece by making a wish for yourself, your friends, your family, your school, your country, the world...

We hope you enjoy Pink. As young women and art history students, we have discovered many things through creating this exhibition and we hope you leave knowing a little bit more about women artists and pay attention to their work in the future.

Form IV Art History Class

the title was placed on a cake doily that was spray painted pink

this was next to the intro panel; as part of their research on the topic, students had interviewed their teachers and asked them to name three famous artists which was easily answered by all. teachers were then asked to name one famous woman artists and hardly anyone could; this panel shows the teachers' answers to 'why do you think you don´t know many women artists?'

these were the invites that were hand delivered by the students to the teachers

this was the exhibition created for the theme of identity, artists featured: barbara kruger, louise burgeois, georgia o´keeffe and frida kahlo.

and this one was the exhibition panel on racism, artists featured are: kara walker, melissa calderon, adrian piper and coco fusco and guillermo gomez-peña

this was the panel for the exhibition on gender with artists: guerrilla girls, judy chicago, myriam schapiro and lee krasner

the theme of the body was present with artists: ana mendieta, janine antoni, marina abramovic, jenny saville and kiki smith

the theme of feminism featured artists: mary beth edelson, barbara kruger and myriam schapiro

artists featured for the theme of personal stories were: sophie calle, louise burgeois, kiki smith, alice neel and tracey emin

students led inquiry based tours for the school community

as part of pink, we recreated yoko ono´s wish tree

some had wishes for the world...

while other wishes were more personal

pink was an incredibly positive and powerful learning experience for everyone involved, so many things were discovered and learned as we organized this exhibition; students were extremely proud and happy to have had this experience. several students were scared to speak in public so overcoming this fear and realizing they could do it was empowering for them. personally, i have learned to not be a control freak and let students think through things at their own pace and also, let them make mistakes but be there to catch them if they fall. to say i´m happy about this experience would be putting it mildly, i salute the courage and enthusiasm of my students and admire how they grab the bull by the horns and just go for it; for this group, this was their way of leaving their mark in school and they definitely did that and more!