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A Round Table Discussion at NOW

Monday evening, I shared a roundtable discussion about being a woman artist with my colleague and friend Kaetlyn Wilcox, at the Boston offices of National Organization for Women. The discussion was open to the public, and we fielded questions from about 10 other people, women and men, about the trials and tribulations of the art profession.

Yes, I have certainly been influenced by feminism. No, my work is not overtly gender-related or political, but my interest in pattern, decoration, and intimate scale is clearly inspired by traditional feminine interests and some of the early feminist artists like Miriam Shapiro, Frieda Kahlo, Judy Chicago, etc. I came of age as an artist in the 70s, so could not help but be influenced by the exciting newness of women artists' work of that time.

I don't think of myself as a woman artist, just as an artist trying to keep making art despite it all. Is that a political act? Maybe so, in this day and age.