This monumental work was envisioned by Chicago but produced by many artists and artisans, ceramicists, fabric artists, et al, whose names definitely get lost in the shuffle. At the time this work was produced, I was one of hundreds of women around the country working in creative women's collectives. (involved with arts, media, healthcare, bakeries, restaurants, galleries, herstory projects, childcare, schools, potteries, literature, graphics collectives...)
I was disappointed by Judy Chicago's branding this ambitious, collaborative work with her name at a time when so many of us were working anonymously and collectively. I had hoped it was a collective that produced this break-through installation. It certainly was a large group effort; but only one name involved was publicized; only one name is remembered. Of course you could say that about Michelangelo and about so many academics who erase the contributions of their students and collaborators to achieve fame and fortune. Is that the model we want to follow? Is that what feminism was and is about?
If her aim was to make her name with this project, Judy Chicago certainly succeeded. Of course, she also helped to spread the fame of hundreds of women the Dinner Party celebrated; but how many viewers know or remember that there were women's collectives from coast to coast in the seventies, many of them researching and producing important work in the fields of the arts, health and education?
This monumental work was envisioned by Chicago but produced by many artists and artisans, ceramicists, fabric artists, et al, whose names definitely get lost in the shuffle. At the time this work was produced, I was one of hundreds of women around the country working in creative women's collectives. (involved with arts, media, healthcare, bakeries, restaurants, galleries, herstory projects, childcare, schools, potteries, literature, graphics collectives...)
I was disappointed by Judy Chicago's branding this ambitious, collaborative work with her name at a time when so many of us were working anonymously and collectively. I had hoped it was a collective that produced this break-through installation. It certainly was a large group effort; but only one name involved was publicized; only one name is remembered. Of course you could say that about Michelangelo and about so many academics who erase the contributions of their students and collaborators to achieve fame and fortune. Is that the model we want to follow? Is that what feminism was and is about?
If her aim was to make her name with this project, Judy Chicago certainly succeeded. Of course, she also helped to spread the fame of hundreds of women the Dinner Party celebrated; but how many viewers know or remember that there were women's collectives from coast to coast in the seventies, many of them researching and producing important work in the fields of the arts, health and education?