As Chicago artist, writer and activist (and auction contributor), Jessica Caponigro said in her essay A Very Condensed History of Women Printmakers In America,
“The sense of community that exists in both printmaking and feminist communities can serve as a rallying and protective force.”
This remark gives insight to why and how our Annual Benefit celebrates and promotes BOTH dozens of women artists AND printmaking’s roots as an agent for social and political change.
Spudnik Press is a women-run organization. Over 70% of the artists we support identify as women, including students, Teaching Artists, Resident Artists, Interns and the 200+ artists that logged over 3000 Open Studio hours. We have never had difficultly finding talented women artists, which is why we are surprised when we hear statistics like only 28% of museum solo exhibitions spotlighted women in eight selected museums throughout the 2000s (Published on the National Museum of Women in the Arts website).
While our country has made some progress, it’s too early to celebrate. In fact, new exposé and advocacy projects like Gallery Tally, Cultural ReProducers and The Feminist Art Project continue to pop up. And we haven’t even mentioned gender issues in politics recently emphasized by Hillary’s bout with pneumonia!
The Suffragette Social is an opportunity not only to show your support of equality in the arts, but to join a rabble-rousing party (yes, feminism can be fun) and to lend support to those who are actively creating space and place for women and queer artists!