Can You Name Five Women Artists?

On the first day of class students were asked, "Can you name 5 women artists?"

Sadly, the only person that came to mind was Frida Kahlo. 

Now that I've taken Art and Women and had the opportunity to visit the Brooklyn Museum and view the artwork of female artists, I can gladly name several defiant women artists.

Kara Walker, The Emancipation Approximation, 2000

Kara Walker is a contemporary African American artist best known for creating life sized, black-and-white silhouettes that depict themes of slavery, violence, and sexuality. Kara Walker's, Burning African Village Play Set with Big House and Lynching is included in the Contemporary Art section of the Brooklyn Museum. Walker was born in Stockton, California in 1969 and moved to Atlanta, Georgia at the age of 13, where she began to experience forms of oppression, prejudice, and even fear from white supremacy groups. She received a Master of Fine Arts degree in painting and printmaking from Rhode Island School of Design. Her art is filled with intense subject matter that represents images of slavery during the Civil War era. I selected a piece from The Emancipation Approximation because it demonstrates the relationships of race and power. When I view this type of artwork, I reflect on our past and how it still connects to present day issues of racism.

Mary Coble, Untitled 2 (from Note to Self), 2005

"In 2005, Mary Coble staged a twelve-hour endurance performance titled Note to Self, in which she had the first names of 438 lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender victims of hate-crime murders tattooed over her entire body without ink."

Mary Coble is an American feminist performance artist. Most of her work focuses on issues surrounding the LGBT community. In Untitled 2 (from Note to Self), Coble endured hours of pain to symbolize the brutality of the deaths taken by hate crimes. Coble's intense performance is an act of protest to end violence and discrimination against LGBT people. I believe this was such a powerful demonstration because she used her own body to remember the lives that were lost.

Georgia O'Keeffe, Ice Cave, 1950

Georgia O'Keeffe was an American painter, well known for her captivating flower paintings and Southwest landscapes. O'Keeffe was born on November 15, 1887 in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. In the early twentieth century, O'Keeffe played a major role in developing modern art. It was around that time that O'Keeffe began making large-scale paintings of flowers in close range. The size of the paintings made some images look highly sexual. Although, O'Keeffe never claimed that she was a feminist, she was a major figure in American art.


"I feel there is something unexplored about woman that only a woman can explore." 

 -Georgia O'Keeffe

Judy Chicago, The Dinner Party, 1979

Mickalene Thomas, A Little Taste Outside of Love, 2007