Group 6 Judy Chicago

For our project we focused on Judy Chicago, who is a feminist artist who does have her artwork on display in Arizona from time to time. Judy Chicago is a feminist painter who has been very influential in the feminist art movement, and has devoted her life to her artwork and pursuit of feminist art education. The feminist art movement has given a way for many female artists to display their work and the impact that they have made on art as a whole. Judy Chicago started her organization Through the Flower, to help educate the public about the importance of art and how art can help portray women's achievements. Through the Flower has helped many scholars and teachers by providing artwork and information vital to the theme that feminist art is all about the woman's right to freedom of expression.

Feminist art goes beyond the painter and into a different realm of self expression and empowerment. Art is something that everyone interprets differently making it a very powerful medium in which someone is able to spread a message. When you think of art you think about Leonardo DaVinci, Michelangelo, Andy Warhol, and other males who have traditionally been the figureheads of art throughout much of time, leaving one to wonder where are the women? Well for much of our "modern society" women have not been allowed to express themselves in ways they have wanted to leading to a much muted female population. Ann Heilmann states, "For many years their vision of self determined empowered female existence, they themselves suffered acutely from the old dichotomy which pitted the artist in them against women." (Heilmann, 1994) This is a testament to the culture that many women grew up in that told them even if they did hold feminist values; they still shouldn't be publicly expressing themselves through art because it was something that was meant for males.
While Judy Chicago was not the first female artist she has definitely lead the feminist art movement and everything it stands for. She is doing everything she can to try to educate both men and women about the importance of feminist art and how it can make an impact on people's lives whether they know it or not. Her work has been inspirational in the development of feminist art and has shown others that her artwork is an expression of herself as a woman. By getting involved with Through the Flower you are not only helping yourself, but also others who are not properly educated about feminist art and the empowering message of change and hope that it can send to women worldwide. Anna Chave says "these feminists envisioned the advent of an authentically different art, marked by women's experience." Judy Chicago is doing everything she can to make that vision a reality and create a world in which women are free to express themselves however they want but especially through art.

References
CHAVE, A. (2009). "I OBJECT" HANNAH WILKE'S FEMINISM. Art in
America, 97(3), 104-159. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database.

Heilmann, A. (1994). Masquerade, sisterhood and the dilemma of the feminist as
artist and woman in late.. Journal of Gender Studies, 3(2), 155. Retrieved from Academic
Search Premier database.