Womanhouse - WikiHQ

thumb

Womanhouse (January 30 – February 28, 1972) was a feminist art installation and performance space organized by Judy Chicago and Miriam Schapiro, co-founders of the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) Feminist Art Program, and was the first public exhibition of art centered upon female empowerment. Chicago, Schapiro, their students, and women artists from the local community, including Faith Wilding, participated. Chicago and Schapiro encouraged their students to use consciousness-raising techniques to generate the content of the exhibition. Together, the students and professors worked to build an environment where women's conventional social roles could be shown, exaggerated, and subverted.

Only women were allowed to view the exhibition on its first day, after which the exhibition was open to all viewers. During the exhibition's duration, it received approximately 10,000 visitors.

Origins

The Feminist Art Program began at the California Institute of the Arts in 1971 after an experimental year at Fresno State College under the name 'Women's Art Program'. The students in the program were admitted as a group when Chicago and Schapiro were hired at Cal Arts after Chicago found that the Fresno State College Art department was reluctant to embrace her vision of a new kind of female-centered art. It was their intention to teach without the use of authoritarian rules or a unilateral flow of power from teacher to student.

In 1971, the Feminist Art Program was slated to occupy a new building but found itself without adequate space at the start of the school year. The lack of appropriate studio space paved the way for a collaborative group project set to highlight the ideological and symbolic conflation of women and houses. The result of this project was the Womanhouse installation, built by the students in an abandoned Victorian house in Hollywood.

The program utilized a method of teaching that relied on group cooperation. Students would sit in a circle and share their thoughts on a selected topic of discussion. The circular teaching method was intended to provide a "nourishing environment for growth" and to promote a "circular, more womb-like" atmosphere. However, many students fostered resentments towards Chicago and Schapiro, claiming they were suffering from their own power trips. Chicago insisted her students feelings were the result of their own internalized sexism and unconscious manifestations of their difficulties dealing with female authority figures.

The project's goals, as professed by Schapiro and Chicago, were to help students overcome some of the problems associated with being a woman. Many of the issues Chicago believed that the students needed to overcome were centered upon their lack of ability to perform traditionally masculine skills. Chicago pushed students to become familiar using equipment such as various tools, to become comfortable in their ability to be assertive, and to view themselves as a part of the work force not defined by their domestic roles. It was thought that by teaching women to use power tools and proper building techniques, they would gain confidence and subsequently challenge the gendered expectations. Schapiro and Chicago believed that women could achieve more if society did not limit them and expect less from women than men.

These techniques were to result in an "exclusively female environment" that included a greater community of female artists. The goal of this community was to expose the students to credited female artists not limited to Schapiro and Chicago.

Paula Harper, an art historian for the California Institute of Arts Feminist Art Program, is credited for suggesting the idea for Womanhouse. Schapiro supervised Womanhouses dramatic works, while Chicago focused on other media. Their intention was to transform a domestic environment into one that fully expressed the experiences of women.

Construction and process

The group broke into teams in order to find a suitable location for their "dreams and fantasies".

They found a 17-room, 75-year-old dilapidated mansion at 533 N. Mariposa Ave. in a rundown section of Hollywood. Members of the group knocked on doors to find the owner of the house, who one neighbor remarked would "certainly not be interested in the project."

After a visit to the Hall of Records, they found the owner to be Amanda Psalter. The group described their intentions for the house in a letter to the Psalter family. In response, the house was granted through a special lease agreement Renovations included replacing 25 windows and replacing banisters that had been pulled out by vandals. They worked eight-hour days.

Camille Grey : “Put 30 women together and see what happens. A nightmare.”

Robin Mitchell: "It was simultaneously one of the best and worst experiences of my life.”

Mira Schor: "I left the Program after one year, because of my disagreements, and because I wanted to experience the school outside the confines of the Program. I have avoided group feminism since then. ... However it was a unique privilege to attend feminist boot camp, it was a privilege to participate in the Feminist Program. I consider it a major formative experience in my development as an artist, teacher, and writer/editor.”

Nancy Youdelman: "Looking back 25 years later, I have mixed feeling about the Feminist Art Program – We had something really incredible and unique and somehow we could not get beyond personalities and create a lasting support system."

Participating artists

Chicago and Schapiro invited other local artists Sherry Brody, Carol Edison Mitchell and Wanda Westcoast to participate and to hang their work alongside that of the other women.

Beth Bachenheimer (Shoe Closet, Dining Room)
Sherry Brody (Lingerie Pillows, The Dollhouse, Dining Room)
Judy Chicago (Menstruation Bathroom, Cock and Cunt Play)
Susan Frazier (Nurturant Kitchen/Aprons in Kitchen)
Camille Grey (Lipstick Bathroom)
Paula Harper (suggested project, Art Historian)
Vicky Hodgetts (Nurturant Kitchen/Eggs to Breasts)
Kathy Huberland (Bridal Staircase)
Judy Huddleston (Personal Environment)
Janice Johnson
Karen LeCocq (Leah's Room, Dining Room)
Janice Lester (Personal Space, Cock and Cunt Play)
Paula Longendyke (Garden Jungle)
Ann Mills (Leaf Room)
Carol Edison Mitchell (Quilts)
Robin Mitchell (Painted Room, Dining Room)
Sandra (Sandy) Orgel ("Ironing", Linen Closet)
Jan Oxenberg (Three Women)
Christine (Chris) Rush ("Scrubbing", Necco Wafers)
Marsha Salisbury
Miriam Schapiro (The Dollhouse, Dining Room)
Robin Schiff (Nightmare Bathroom)
Mira Schor (Red Moon Room)
Robin Weltsch (Nurturant Kitchen/Eggs to Breasts)
Wanda Westcoast (Curtains in Nurturant Kitchen)
Faith Wilding (Womb Room & Waiting, Cock and Cunt Play, Dining Room, Crocheted Environment)
Shawnee Wollenmann (The Nursery, Three Women)
Nancy Youdelman (Leah's Room, Three Women)

In the journal Signs, Paula Harper says, "the young students did not have much personal experience of traditional marriage and homemaking roles of women. Nonetheless, the ideas of all were influenced by the general aim of feminists in the late 1960s to revise women's position in society by bringing attention to their oppression, and this ideology clearly shared by the many individuals involved gave Womanhouse its impact.

Working collaboratively on Womanhouse, the students gained new skills while developing a deeper understanding of human and personal experiences. The students also provided tours of the exhibition, which gave them the opportunity to articulate their artwork while maintaining their personal vision when faced with criticism. Even though the exhibition provided the students with great satisfaction and team effort some of the artists didn’t feel any personal accomplishment, and were looking forward to going back to work on their individual projects. By transforming a "woman's space" (such as a kitchen) into a radical feminist art, the artists truly made a statement. Here they spoke out about women's issues, as well as criticizing the patriarchy. This helped women artists and architects in the pursuit of recognition and acknowledgement on the same level as men. Using a mansion as their chosen setting furthered their statement.

Rooms and installations

Womanhouse displayed the conventions of women through artistic spaces and experiences. Rooms included a pink kitchen, a bride thrown against a wall, a closet with sheets, and a bathroom for menstruation.

Nurturant Kitchen – by Susan Frazier, Vicki Hodgetts, Robin Weltsch.

Present in the kitchen are plates of food under a line of light bulbs, resembling it to a factory worker's assembly line. This highlights the dehumanizing aspects of a woman's role as nurturer.

Aprons in Kitchen – by Susan Frazier A display in Nurturant Kitchen. Aprons are fashioned with breasts and other female body parts. This allows the female to remove her bodily features when she is done with housework, implying that her physical body is inextricably linked to her societal role.

Eggs to Breasts – Forms cover the ceilings and walls, starting as eggs on the ceiling and gradually transforming into breasts as the pattern continues down. Underscores the woman's traditional role as a nurturer by combining images of the kitchen and of a woman's sagging breasts.

Bridal Staircase – by Kathy Huberland.

Features a life-size doll replica of a bride, complete with veil and wedding dress, descending the stairs. She is fixed against the wall on the landing. Gauzy fabric adorns the walls and garlands of green and flowers encircle the bannister.

The Dollhouse – The Dollhouse serves as the centerpiece of The Dollhouse Room. It is a six-room miniature house. The artist's studio room contains a miniature nude man atop a pedestal, with an erect penis and bananas at his feet. Downstairs, a miniature woman sits at her dressing table. There are many monsters present in the dollhouse, despite its familiar domestic aspects. To the left of the artist's studio is a nursery with a baby replaced by a monster. Outside the window, peering in, is a grizzly bear. Downstairs, a group of ten men stare in through the kitchen window. A rattlesnake is curled on the parlor floor.

A 1972 review in the Los Angeles Times by William Wilson described Womanhouse as a "lair of female creativity" that "reminds us that the female is our only direct link with the forces of nature". Though he remarks that "man's greatest creative acts may be but envious shadowings of her fecundity",

Films

Womanhouse was produced by Johanna Demetrakas. Miriam Schapiro arranged for a 47-minute documentary film to be made about the project and released in the summer of 1972. The project was produced by Johanna Demetrakas under the auspices of the American Film Society and is a part of Women Make Movies and was released in 1974. Its European distribution is assured by le peuple qui manque.

Womanhouse is Not a Home was a film produced by Lynne Littman and directed by Parke Perine. It aired during February 1972 on the local KCET PBS channel. It is a 13-minute film that provides close up details of various installations.

50th Anniversary in 2022

In 2022 on the 50th anniversary of Womanhouse Chicago led the installation of Wo/Manhouse 2022 in a house in Belen, New Mexico. The installation was in place for a 5-month period from June though October 2022. The event was led by Chicago's non-profit organisation Through The Flower (TTF), which is located in Belen. Megan Malcom-Morgan, was executive director of TTF at that time. The anniversary installation included works by New Mexico artists.

References

Bibliography

Balducci, Temma. 2006. "Revisiting ‘Womanhouse’: Welcome to the (deconstructed) “Dollhouse”." Woman's Art Journal 27, no. 2: 17–23.
Chicago, Judy. 1972. "Menstruation Bathroom." Art Journal 31, no. 3: 269.
Chicago, Judy and Miriam Schapiro. 1971. "Feminist Art Program." Art Journal 31, no. 1: 48.
Harper, Paula, "The First Feminist Art Program: A View from the 1980s", Signs, vol. 10, no. 4, summer, 1985, pp. 762–781.
Lippard, Lucy. 1993. "In the Flesh: Looking Back and Talking Back." Women's Art Magazine no. 54: 4–9.
Raven, Arlene, "Womanhouse," The Power of Feminist Art, London: Thames and Hudson, 1994, pp. 161–172.
Schapiro, Miriam, "The Education of Women as Artists: Project Womanhouse", Art Journal, vol. 31, no.3, Spring, 1972, pp. 268–270.
Sider, Sandra. “Womanhouse: Cradle of Feminist Art”. Art Spaces Archive Project. 2010 August 5. http://www.as-ap.org/content/womanhouse-cradle-feminist-art-sandra-sider-0.
Wilding, Faith. “Womanhouse”. Womanhouse. 2014 October 4. http://womanhouse.refugia.net/.
Ulrike Muller, Re:Tracing the Feminist Art Program, 1997. http://www.encore.at/retracing/index2.html
Lucy Lippard, "Household Images in Art," Ms. 1 (no. 9, March 1973), p. 22.
Indonesia, Sandra "WomanHouse. https://www.losososbaywoodpark.org/