Women’s Caucus for Art
Boston 2006 Conference Video
The Women’s Caucus for Art (WCA) was founded in 1972, in connection to the College of Art Association (CAA) as a national member organization. The WCA conference convenes annually in conjunction with the CAA conference, in major cities across the US. In 2006, I co-chaired the Women’s Caucus for Art’s National conference with Kathy Halamka and Cynthia Runge in Boston. I was responsible for creating the panel program, celebrating the 35th anniversary of the Women’s Caucus for Art. I organized 16 panels of more than 50 speakers, comprised of leading feminist artists, art historians, and critics from across the US. The conference theme, “Building bridges between second wave and third wave feminists” foreshadowed an explosion of conferences, exhibitions, and books about feminist art and critical discourse in the 1970’s and at the start of the new millennium.
The 2006 WCA conference became the basis for the book, Blaze: Discourse on Art, Women and Feminism, published in 2007. The book features the late Eleanor Dickinson’s seminal chapter about the Women’s Caucus for Art and its long history of influence within the art world.
Karen Frostig and Kathy A. Halamka, Co-editors.
Annual WCA Conference Panel Program
Boston Sheraton, February 2006
Conference Panel Program Chair: Karen Frostig
Monday Morning (February 20th) 9:00am-11:45am/12:00noon (Open Mic. 11:45am-12:15pm)
Session 1: Women’s Organizations
A) “Reflections: Art and Feminism in Boston, the 80s and Today” - Moderator: Patricia Hills, Author and Professor of Art History at Boston University
-Alicia Faxon -Susan Schwalb -Marsha Hewitt -Mela Lyman
B) “Women In Design: Peers, Pizza and Programs” – How women in Boston shaped a system for support and community. Co-Presenters: Rebecca Barnes, Director of Strategic Growth, President’s Office at Brown University; Susan Moran, Marketing Manager and Senior Associate at Steffian Bradley Architects; and Gretchen Von Grossmann, R.A. AICP, Principal – Urban Design and Architecture, Parsons Design for Transportation
Session 2: The Body
A) “Reclaiming the Gaze: Contemporary Female Self Portraiture” - Chair: Pamela Boll, Co-producer of “Born into Brothels”
-Barbara Poole -Cordula Peters -Emily Eastridge and Raishad Glover
B) “Ritual and Contemporary Art Practice” - Chair: Anna Wexler, writer, teacher and multi-media artist, faculty member at Springfield College,
-Mari-Novotny Jones -Catherine Macgregor -Janet Gillespie
-Kera Washington -L'Merchie Frazier
Session 3: Scholarship
A) “Artist as Scholar: Scholar as Artist” - Co Chairs: Jennifer Colby, PhD. Artist and Scholar of Art and Religion, Lecturer in Humanities, California State University, Monterey Bay and President-elect of WCA and Elinor Gadon, PhD, Cultural historian and author, Visiting Scholar at Brandeis Women Studies Research Center and founder of Women's Spirituality program at the California Institute of Integral Studies
-Patricia Rodriguez -Kira Carrillo Corser -Trish Grame
B) “Public Memory” - Moderator and presenter: Joan Ryan, Professor of Painting at the Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University
-Ellen Driscoll -Mags Harries -Emily Puthof
Session 4: Migrating Identities
A) “Family Matters” - Co-chairs: Denise Malis Artist and Professor in Art Therapy at Lesley University and Mekkin Lynch, daughter and recent graduate of Smith College
-Sharon Siskin -Simone Alter-Muri -Thea Paneth
B) “Co-Creating Identity through Art” - Moderator: CM Judge, Intermedia artist
-Paula Rendino -Elsa Voelcker -Cathy McLaurin
Session 5: Narratives
A) “Fictions” - Chair: Janet Kaplan, Professor of Art History at Moore College of Art and former editor for CAA’s Art Journal
-Moira Roth -Laurie Beth Clark -Judy Haberl
B) “The Tipping Point: A Case Study in the Collaboration between Medical Anthropology and Art,” Chair: Jennifer Hall, Sculptor and Information Artist, Professor Art Education Department and Director of Do While Studio
-Ellen Ginsburg, Ph.D. -Blyth Hazen -Laura Donaldson
Session 6: Activism
A)“Practical Ecofeminism and Ecological Art Today: From Degradation to Transformation and Beyond” Chair: Aviva Rahmani, MFA California Institute of the Arts, a founder of the ecoartdialog
-Anna Shapiro -Ruth Wallen -Ann T. Rosenthal
B) “Third Wave Feminists Converse with Post-Feminists,” - Chair: Dr. Maura Reilly, Curator of the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museum,
-Maria Elena Buszek -Emily Putnam -Dena Muller -S.A. Bachman
Session 7: Public Works
A) “From Heroes to Victims: American Memorials and their Subjects” - Co-presenters: Harriet Senie, Director of museum studies at City College and professor of art history at City and the Graduate Center CUNY Sally Webster, Professor of American art at Lehman College and the Graduate Center CUNY
-Pamela Scott -Pamela H. Simpson -Michelle H. Bogart
B) “A Life in Public Art: In Four Parts” - Moderator: Mags Harries, Sculptor and Professor at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
-Cher Knight -Christina Lanzl
Session 8: Critical Audiences
A) “The Color Is Green: The Business of Art and Women” Co-chairs: Noreen Dean Dresser, Former President of WCA and currently
serves on the CAA Women's Committee. and Laurie Elizabeth Talbot Hall, International Chair on the National WCA Board.
-Joyce Cohen -Randi Hopkins
B) “Art Journalism: The Region and Beyond” - Chair: Joan Marter, Editor-in-Chief of Woman's Art Journal, is professor of art history at Rutgers University
-Barbara O’Brien -Christine Temin -Carey Lovelace