Mary's Art Starts in the Garden
A Virtual Visitor Had Me Contemplating My Lifelong Career in the Arts
(November 2023)
(November 2023)
Recently I had a virtual visitor enter my studio while I was standing at my easel working on an oil painting. The visitor was Judy Chicago who was interviewed for the 60-year retrospective of her work at the New Museum in New York. Out of the corner of my eye and as I continued to paint, I watched and listened to the live-streaming event for the exhibition “Herstory,” which is the first comprehensive museum survey of her work. Judy Chicago was born in 1939, and at eighty-four years young, she has waited a long time for this type of recognition.
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This juxtaposition of Judy being live streamed into my studio as I painted was profound for me since Judy’s work and those of many other women artists (those whom I was fortunate enough to be made aware of during the 1970s when I was majoring in art in college) are why I’m still creating my work. These women artists weren’t in my textbooks. They were presented to me by some of the women art historians and women professors I studied with when I was lucky enough to attend classes at the then tuition-free City University of New York. These women changed my life. They were showing a new way of working, and the professors were exposing us to a reevaluation of the art historical canon.
I first saw Judy’s work in 1979 as thousands of us made a pilgrimage to the Brooklyn Museum of Art to view “The Dinner Party.” This groundbreaking installation was created with Judy’s vision and also the efforts of hundreds of women offering their skills in various mediums. This work helped to introduce fabrics, embroidery, stitching, ceramics and various other techniques which had been ungraciously removed from the category of “Fine Art” by those who were in charge of writing the history of art. These creative skills were those exercised primarily by women and now were finally being presented in museums. |
Judy Chicago
Photo Credit: Donald Woodman |
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"We all knew this was a pivotal point in our lives. Our eyes and minds were to be opened to an entirely new language, visuals and histories that we had never encountered before in the mainstream art world." ~ M. A. |
We stood for what seemed like hours, quietly waiting for our turn to enter the site-specific room which housed the installation. Most of us had dressed in better than everyday wear for the occasion. When we finally reached the doorway, we found the room lights were dimmed. We entered as if entering a house of worship. Voices were hushed. Many folded their hands as if in prayer. It was the closest I’d come to a sacred event outside of an actual house of worship. We all knew this was a pivotal point in our lives. Our eyes and minds were to be opened to an entirely new language, visuals and histories that we had never encountered before in the mainstream art world. Upon emerging from this immersive experience, we were elated, buoyant, and excited beyond imagination by the possibilities we’d just been introduced to. We were sure that now everything would be different. We knew it had to be.
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Upon reading Judy’s recent book The Flowering: The Autobiography of Judy Chicago, I learned how hard it had been for her to bring her visions to fruition and acceptance. She and her work were torn apart, reviled, and denigrated by the conventional art world. The press denounced her vision and the work of the women artists who contributed their skills. Reading about her hard-fought, lifelong mission of bringing her art into the world reminded me that we all have obstacles in our lives. They vary from person to person. But to be a creative artist for an entire lifetime takes a certain amount of grit. Success, by whatever measurement we use, takes an ability to keep pushing forward through the hard times – those times when you feel less than or when your heart is breaking or when you are having trouble putting food on the table.
It is because of these feminist artist pioneers that I’m still painting, still creating, still growing. They cleared the path and showed me the way. And as I stood at my easel painting, Judy streamed in to tell me to keep going. There’s no quitting. There’s no calendar. There’s no promise and no destination. I’ll just keep making my art. Judy still is. |
Mary Working in Her Studio
Photo Courtesy: Mary Ahern |
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My Dual Passions
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