The current issue of the New Inquiry is devoted to the topic of feminism and its art forms, and we’re really excited about it. We think this may be the first time a magazine has created an entirely new section devoted to art criticism, and we’re very pleased that it’s us. You can read all of it online, so I hope you will.

But there’s one essay I want to highlight in particular because I think it’s a terrific example of how to write a great blog post. It’s by Jennifer Baumgardner, who is writing a book about the history of riot grrrl; she used this piece as part of her research for that book. The essay is called “We’re Sorry,” and it has two parts. In the first part, Baumgardner describes an exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art called “Pop Feminism,” which features an almost entirely male roster of artists. She writes:

“The show acknowledges that feminist art hasn’t had much exposure in the mainstream — more than half of its artworks have never been seen before — but still there’s something disheartening about being confronted with what looks like a scrap

This blog is an archive of our personal, political opinions and experiences with art, entertainment and popular culture. We are a collective of women who make art and entertainment, who teach art and entertainment, who study art and entertainment, and who love art and entertainment.

Tired of seeing the same stories told over and over again? So are we. That’s why we’re here.

We aren’t experts by any means – just some women who care about feminism. Some of us have been in the arts for decades, some for years; some of us write about these topics, others paint them. We come from all over the country and the world, from different backgrounds, different generations. We identify as women, as feminists or not; we believe in gender equality, but that doesn’t mean we agree on everything: we’re thoughtful, critical thinkers first – activists only when it counts.

We are part of this movement to be sure but we will not be silent: it’s time to change the conversation on what kind of culture we deserve to have.”

Why the F-word? Why is it art? Is it an exclusively feminist art movement? How is it different from modernism and postmodernism? These questions have been asked a great deal. It’s not easy to answer them, since feminism is a social movement, not an artistic one (although many artists are feminists).

This blog is dedicated to the appreciation of feminist art. We’ll be covering a few different types of art, including but not limited to:

• Non-Western art

• Queer and Feminist art forms

• Art produced under oppressive regimes

• Art that challenges the status quo

• And more!

We are also interested in how feminism has influenced popular culture. What were some of your favorite feminist moments? What do you think are the most defining characteristics of feminist art? What are some important pieces of feminist art that you would recommend? Tell us your thoughts – we’d love to hear them!

Back in March, the artist and writer Rachel Rose posted a critique of the way contributors to Wikipedia were handling information about female artists. The article turned out to be a catalyzing moment in the history of Feminist Art Wiki, a new project co-founded by Rose and the critic Jennifer Doyle. The premise of this project is that there’s plenty of data out there about women artists, but it’s scattered across many different sites. What Feminist Art Wiki seeks to do is to collect that information into one site, with an eye toward improving upon that information where possible.

Taken as a whole, this resource already exists in a kind of form. But it’s far from being universally available or even very well known. And Feminist Art Wiki wants to change that. The hope is that by creating a more easily accessible resource and also working to improve upon existing data (as well as adding new information), it will become much easier for people to access important information about women artists.”

Tone:matter-of-fact

She has been a favorite subject in American art since the colonial era; she is everywhere, and no one questions why. She is often beautiful, or at least young and fresh. Sometimes she is spirited — “vixen,” in the once-common word. Sometimes she is fragile, at the mercy of men. Sometimes she is merely pretty, draped on a sofa, posed beside a statue.

In the last two centuries she has mostly been silent — or, if she speaks, it’s in an affected voice that tells us how to listen to her. Through most of these centuries she has also been white and middle class.

Tendencies in art are never simple or single-directional; they are always both more complicated and less interesting than they seem at first glance. But even so, we might ask why American art so consistently returns to this one subject and why it has done so for more than three hundred years.*

Meanwhile we might consider whether the artistic imagination requires certain conditions to thrive.**

We might also think about what changes have occurred as society has changed: what kinds of women artists have represented over time, who sees them and buys them, which versions of womanhood get made into icons and which do not.*

Feminist art is an umbrella term that can be applied to art created by feminists, and also art which explores feminist ideas.

Feminist art emerged in the early 1970s as a movement in response to the exclusion of women from the historical canon of fine art. Its purpose was to bring awareness to issues such as sexism, racism, and classism through the use of various media. Feminist artists were not only concerned with the content of their artwork but also the way it was made. They emphasized collaboration and process oriented work over finished products and individual genius; moreover, they employed nontraditional techniques and mediums in order to subvert dominant notions of what art is and who can make it.

The Feminist Art Program (FAP) at California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) was established in 1971 as an alternative to the traditional study of fine arts. By exposing students to feminist theory, experimental conceptual practices, dialogue with women outside the field of art, and instruction in diverse materials and processes, FAP enabled its students to develop new modes of artistic expression that challenged the boundaries between “high” and “low,” formalism, functionalism, abstraction, representation, gender identity, and sexuality.

Taken together these two factors – a new focus on