Did you miss us this year in Bennington, Vermont? Read all about the events from our September opening at the Bennington Center for the Arts.
American Women Artists Annual Member Show and National Juried Exhibition began with an opening reception on September 23 at the Bennington Center for the Arts with great success. We had over 200 people in attendance. It was a lively night with steady sales and as of this posting 14 works have already sold. Our Annual Member Show & National Juried Exhibition continues through November 14, 2016.
More than one guest was heard to remark, “this is the strongest show AWA has had so far.”
“The works are amazing!” said Allan and Elaine Duerr from Art of the West magazine. Allan also commented that he knew the show was going to be strong but that the work exceeded his expectations.
{gallery}Annual Member Show and National Juried Exhibition in Bennington Vermont{/gallery}
On September 24, over 100 people attended our annual symposium on Women in the Arts. Hyde Collection Curator Erin Coe gave a terrific talk on Georgia O’Keeffe and the Lake Years. Modern Nature: Georgia O’Keeffe and Lake George first exhibited at the Hyde Collection and attracted record breaking numbers. Lake George, called the Queen of Lakes, is a 30-mile lake O’Keeffe first visited in the summer of 1908, when she was studying with William Merritt Chase at the Art Students League. O’Keeffe’s process was about coming to terms with place in two ways, nature and abstraction. She was seeking a language to express her feelings about nature. In 1915 – 1916, she broke from representation into abstraction. “Lake George was where she came into herself, where she learned to speak the language of abstraction. The Lake George years were her most productive years.” She painted more than 200 paintings there, out of the 821 canvases she produced in her lifetime.
Artist Alia El Bermani described how the Women Painting Women movement developed into an international movement from a simple response to a blog post by Sadie Valeri. This started their series of blog posts featuring a woman artist, an image of her work, and a link to her website. They have posted 400 women and their works so far – and have become a resource for collectors, artists, and galleries. They have been approached by numerous galleries and have had a number of shows around the world.
Rita Fucillo, co-publisher of Art New England gave a dynamic talk about how she relishes personal contact with art organizations and has built a floundering magazine into a successful and growing resource. Rita has revamped the magazine to offer artists and cultural organizations a variety of affordable ways to advertise. She feels the magazine has a symbiotic relationship with the art community.
