Women in the Arts Spring 2024

dear members and friends,

When I first arrive at the museum most mornings, I like to sit in front of a work of art. I usually choose one work—sometimes a recent acquisition, sometimes a piece I know well—and I look at it for several minutes. Spending this kind of quality time with art before I go upstairs to my office reminds me of why I do my job and NMWA’s work on behalf of art and artists. This practice has been part of my routine for many years, though of course I had to take a break from it during the museum’s renovation closure. I really missed it!

So, it is wonderful to be back in the building. Not only can I experience the thought-provoking and wide-ranging art in our collections and exhibitions, but I can do so in brand new, beautiful galleries. The renovated spaces are bright and a marvelous technical advancement. I’m grateful for all of the work that went into them and especially to all the NMWA donors and friends who made this renewal possible.

This spring, we open the second major exhibition in our newly renovated space, New Worlds: Women to Watch 2024. Part of our Women to Watch series, this is a dynamic collaboration with NMWA’s national and international outreach committees. In the works on view, you will discover contemporary artists’ visions for new worlds—past, present, and future—through art that grapples with gender roles, climate change, advancing technologies, and more of the most pressing issues of our time.

We have been thrilled with the outpouring of public support since our reopening this past October. I hope that you are able to join me in the galleries as well as online, and enjoy everything that the new NMWA has to offer.

with gratitude,

Susan Fisher Sterling

The Alice West Director

CHAMPION WOMEN THROUGH THE ARTS

MUSEUM INFORMATION

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WOMEN IN THE ARTS

Spring 2024

Volume 42, no. 1

Women in the Arts is a publication of the National Museum of Women in the Arts®

DIRECTOR

Susan Fisher Sterling

EDITOR

Elizabeth Lynch

ASSISTANT EDITOR

Alicia Gregory

DESIGN

Studio A, Alexandria, VA

For advertising rates and information, call 202-266-2814 or email elynch@nmwa.org

Women in the Arts is published four times a year as a benefit for museum members by the National Museum of Women in the Arts, 1250 New York Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C. 20005-3970.

Copyright © 2024 National Museum of Women in the Arts. National Museum of Women in the Arts®, The Women’s Museum®, #5WomenArtists™, and Women in the Arts® are registered trademarks of the National Museum of Women in the Arts.

On the cover: Meryl McMaster, Lead Me to Places I Could Never Find on My Own I (detail), from the series “As Immense as the Sky,” 2019; Digital c-print, 40 × 60 in.; Courtesy of the artist, Stephen Bulger Gallery, and Pierre-François Ouellette art contemporain; © Meryl McMaster

Contents

“The spaces we inhabit are ripe for reevaluation, reimagination, and reconsideration.”

NEW WORLDS, PAGE 8

// FEATURES

↑ 8

New Worlds: Women to Watch 2024

The newest installment in the museum’s Women to Watch exhibition series features artists who envision new realities by exploring facets of our present, future, and past.

→ 18

On the Write Track: New Research for Nmwa.org

A museum team is adding new research on collection art and artists to NMWA’s website.

↑ 20

The Best Frame

Visitors are back, enjoying the museum’s reimagined and revitalized spaces.

// DEPARTMENTS

2 Committee News

4 Culture Watch

6 Education Report

7 Dedicated Donor: Belinda de Gaudemar

14 Calendar

22 Museum Events

24 Supporting Roles

25 Museum Shop

Tri-Committee Collaboration:

A Conversation with Venice Biennale Artist Yuko Mohri and Curator Sook-Kyung Lee Plans for the upcoming Venice Biennale sparked a lively conversation among NMWA committees.

For the Japanese Pavilion of the Biennale, a jury chooses the artist whose work will be featured, and the artist selects a curator to work with in organizing the exhibition. The artist representing Japan in the 60th Venice Biennale, on view April 20–November 24, 2024, is Yuko Mohri (b. 1980, Kanagawa, Japan). Mohri surprised the art world when she announced her nominated curator for the Japan Pavilion: South Koreanborn and U.K.-based curator Dr. Sook-Kyung Lee, director

of Whitworth Art Gallery, University of Manchester, and former senior curator at Tate Modern, London.

Supporters of the museum enjoyed a studio visit with Mohri during a NMWA Director’s Circle trip to Tokyo in 2022. Committee members were happy to revisit Mohri’s work in the context of this international exchange.

Members of the museum’s Japan Committee, South Korea Committee, and U.K. Friends of NMWA were given a special opportunity to interview Mohri and Lee about this transnational collaboration. The three committees worked together to craft questions that were delivered by Noriko Kashiwagi, co-chair of the Japan Committee. Excerpts from their conversation follow.

“I explore the harmony or instability these fruits create depending on time, condition, and environment.”

Yuko Mohri

Noriko Kashiwagi: Yuko, what was the reaction when you chose Dr. Sook-Kyung Lee, the Japan Pavilion’s first non-Japanese curator, for the next Venice Biennale?

Yuko Mohri: Positive. I had been to the Japanese Pavilion in Venice several times. The works were beautiful and delicate. But, I wondered how the pavilion might relate more broadly. It seemed a little too “Japanese” at present. Even the smallest change, like working with a non-Japanese curator, is the first step to expanding relevance and impact.

I might have been driven to make this step because I am a woman, and not a mainstream figure in the Japanese contemporary art world.

NK: What can we expect to see in Venice?

YM: I have been interested in “phenomena,” “event,” and changing elements in nature and time. One example: in Western art, fruits in a bowl are a popular motif. I am interested in their rotting process––changes in color, sounds, smells. In Buddhism, paradoxically, decay is a symbol of life. I explore the harmony or instability these fruits create depending on time, condition, and environment. For Venice, I will be using the local environment and its materials.

NK: Sook-Kyung, as a female curator from South Korea, have you noticed any differences between working overseas and in South Korea?

Sook-Kyung Lee: The difference I feel is normally cultural, in response to my ethnicity. While being a woman in the Western European art field is not much of a hindrance today, there can be prejudice about non-Westerners. I wouldn’t call it racism necessarily, but unconscious bias.

NK: The environment in Korea and Japan is still quite challenging for women. Can you speak about gender balance in the art industry?

SKL: It’s about two different things: how to show women’s art to the right extent and how to help women curators flourish. There are not many women’s exhibitions in Japan and Korea. Solo exhibitions are very rare. There also seems to be a lack of concentrated effort to balance the gender gap in collecting practices, which has been happening in Western Europe for decades.

As for the workforce, things are slowly changing. Women tend to be positioned to compete against each other, but we need to form a sisterhood. Awareness of this is new, but it is circulating with huge force.

YM: I have been working at Tokyo University of the Arts since 2017, when only a few women were teaching. Now, they welcome female professors, and I get to talk about gender balance in a concrete way. To make a wider and deeper conversation, we need the female point of view.

NK: Your curatorial philosophy is to interpret the world through a broader Asian perspective, as opposed to just one country’s. Will this transnational method apply in Venice?

SKL: A transnational method 3 may not really result in something specific, like one type of exhibition or curation. It’s more of a methodology, principle, and strategy. This work is relevant to many global conversations. That is why we could call it transnational: we’re not really confined to only our national identities anymore. We can be part of many different dialogues around the globe.

Yuko Mohri, Sook-Kyung Lee, Yutaka Kikutake Gallery, the Asia Society, and the members of the Japan Committee, South Korea Committee, and U.K. Friends of NMWA made this interview possible.

Yuko Mohri with her work Moré Moré (Leaky): Variations (2022) from the 23rd Biennale of Sydney, Australia

Culture Watch

// EXHIBITIONS

ARIZONA

Annie Lopez: Origin Story

University of Arizona Museum of Art, Tucson

Through June 8, 2024

https://artmuseum.arizona.edu

Lopez’s dress forms and Storybook works invite visitors to consider their own origin stories and think about how family histories are remembered.

CALIFORNIA

Camille Claudel

J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles

April 2–July 21, 2024

https://getty.edu

Featuring sixty sculptures, this exhibition seeks to reevaluate Claudel’s work and affirm her legacy within a genealogy of Modernism.

LOUISIANA

Wangechi Mutu: Intertwined

New Orleans Museum of Art

Through July 14, 2024

https://noma.org

This survey presents nearly 100 works from Mutu’s sculptural and multidisciplinary practice, exploring colonialism, globalization, and African and diasporic traditions.

MASSACHUSETTS

Firelei Báez

ICA Boston

April 4–September 2, 2024

https://icaboston.org

Báez’s paintings, drawings, and installations explore the multilayered legacy of colonial histories and the African diaspora in the Caribbean and beyond.

OHIO

Andrea Bowers: Exist, Flourish, Evolve MOCA Cleveland

Through May 26, 2024

https://mocacleveland.org

Bowers’s multi-site, multimedia campaign builds awareness around the dangers facing the Great Lakes ecosystem.

RHODE ISLAND

Arghavan Khosravi

Newport Art Museum

Through May 5, 2024

https://newportartmuseum.org

Iranian-born Khosravi combines aspects of surrealism and Persian miniature painting to interrogate ideas of freedom, agency, and identity.

TEXAS

He Said/She Said: Contemporary Women Artists Interject

Dallas Museum of Art

Through July 21, 2024

https://dma.org

Featured artists including Barbara Kruger, Lorna Simpson, Lauren Halsey, and Leonora Carrington critique gender norms, sexism, and racism.

UTAH

Pictures of Belonging: Miki Hayakawa, Hisako Hibi, and Miné Okubo

Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Salt Lake City

Through June 30, 2024

https://umfa.utah.edu

This exhibition shares work by Miki Hayakawa (1899–1953), Hisako Hibi (1907–1991), and Miné Okubo (1912–2001), Japanese-American women artists from pre-World War II generations.

VERMONT

Samira Abbassy: Out of Body

Brattleboro Museum

March 16–June 16, 2024

https://brattleboromuseum.org

Inspired by anatomical illustrations and her own medical history, Abbassy examines the human body as a psychological, biological, and spiritual vehicle.

GERMANY // Käthe Kollwitz, Self-Portrait with Head in Hand, 1889/91; On view at the Städel Museum

INTERNATIONAL

GERMANY

Kollwitz

Städel Museum, Frankfurt March 20–June 9, 2024

https://staedelmuseum.de

The exhibition of more than 110 works on paper, sculptures, and paintings by Käthe Kollwitz focuses on the modernity and power of her oeuvre.

Art Monsters

“The art monster idea is a dare to overwhelm the limits assigned to us, and to invent our own definitions of beauty,” writes Lauren Elkin in Art Monsters: Unruly Bodies in Feminist Art (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2023). The book’s interconnected essays examine the phrase—coined by writer Jenny Offill in her 2014 novel Dept. of Speculation—through women artists who have embodied the “art monster” persona. That is: a relentless dedication to art, a focus on liberating the body, and a tendency toward the unruly and unspeakable. Artists Carolee Schneemann, Eva Hesse, Hannah Wilke, Ana Mendieta, and Betye Saar epitomize the “monstrous” as Elkin analyzes their lives and works. There’s Schneemann pulling a scroll out of her vagina in a performance, Mendieta smearing blood across her face and canvases, Wilke photographing her own dying body. Through the art monster lens, Elkin celebrates these women as they liberate themselves from the constraints of gender and society’s definitions of what is acceptable and attractive. She writes, “To be gendered female is to be caught between beauty and excess. To be a monster is to insist on both.”

Groundswell

How does an exhibition go about righting the historical record? In Groundswell: Women of Land Art (DelMonico Books/Nasher Sculpture Center, 2023) curator Leigh A. Arnold attempts to give due credit to the women of Land art, overlooked in the narrative of this field. In fact, women artists in the 1970s and ’80s intervened in landscapes, used natural materials as mediums, and explored issues related to bodies in the environment. They created innovative work: Beverly Buchanan’s concrete memorials in the American South, Lita Albuquerque’s sweeping and ephemeral pigment works, and Nancy Holt’s sculptures aligned with celestial bodies, among others. At the Nasher Sculpture Center in 2023, the exhibition focused on twelve women artists, presenting sculptures, photography of far-flung installations, and maquettes and drawings for ambitious works, many unrealized. In the comprehensive catalogue, essayist Scout Hutchinson offers a critique of Land artists based on Indigenous perspectives; Jenni Sorkin addresses art-world sexism and the significance of public art commissions. The volume gathers vital projects and imagery that urge fresh attention to these artists—and, as Arnold demonstrates, their “entirely unique and radical” work.

Education Report

Valiant Volunteers

In 1983, the Junior League of Washington generously donated funds for NMWA to hire a volunteer manager and establish a volunteer program. From the museum’s earliest days, our dedicated corps supported museum tours, programs, and visitors. Although the COVID-19 pandemic and building renovation interrupted their work, volunteers returned to the building in August 2023 to prepare for NMWA’s reopening.

The Education Department welcomed new volunteers as well as those who were returning to their longstanding roles. When you visit the museum now, you might meet volunteers in many places.

Drop in to See Us

When you arrive at NMWA, we hope you’ll pick up a pack of See for Yourself cards, available at the Information Desk. The cards highlight selected artworks on view in our collection and exhibition galleries. Use them to discover fascinating facts and reflect on your experience. These packs, curated by Senior Educator Adrienne Gayoso, are organized

“Our amazing guide provided quotes and a thematic focus to center the group’s tour on certain aspects of NMWA’s collection. It was a wonderful experience!”

Tour participant

and packaged with the support of our department volunteers.

While you’re at the Information Desk, ask our visitor services team about NMWA’s regular drop-in experiences. The museum offers 45-minute Collection Highlights Tours, free with admission, three times a week at 2 p.m. (daily beginning in April). Content varies, since these tours are expertly facilitated by a rotating roster of docents. These dedicated volunteer educators entered our training program in November 2022 and graduated this January!

In addition to viewing art, would you like to make your own? Drop in to our Open Studio program, managed by Education Assistant Micah Koppl, during each Free Community Day. NMWA staff and program volunteers will greet you in the fourth-floor Studio, introduce a self-directed activity inspired by art on view, and provide materials and support while you create.

Dive Deeper

If these ideas whet your appetite for more, consider scheduling a private group tour or registering for a program.

Associate Educator Ashley W. Harris restarted our private adult and college tour program in January 2024, once our new docents were trained. Private tours are 60-minute experiences highlighting our collection or exhibitions, and they can be customized to suit a group’s interests. For more information about private tours, visit https://nmwa.org/tours

For more art-making, we suggest a Firsthand Experience Workshop, offered on select Saturdays. These workshops bring together contemporary artists and learners for hands-on art-making, gallery conversations, and discovery. To delve into NMWA’s collection, join The Bigger Picture, a monthly lecture series with Director of Education and Interpretation Deborah Gaston that shakes up traditional narratives of art history. Our friendly volunteers might greet you at check-in, help you find your way, and support your visit.

With so many ways to engage with the museum, we know you’ll find the right activity on our calendar (pages 14–17). We can’t wait to see you!

Dedicated Donor

BELINDA DE GAUDEMAR

NMWA TRUSTEE Belinda de Gaudemar, based in Paris, says that when people ask her why she supports the museum in Washington, D.C., she tells them, “NMWA is more than a physical space, it’s a mission.” She believes the museum plays a unique role in advancing gender equity in the arts.

De Gaudemar has immersed herself in art and committee activities to help further NMWA’s goals. She was a founding member of two of the museum’s most active international outreach committees, Les Amis du NMWA (in Paris) and U.K. Friends of NMWA (in London). She is a longtime member of the NMWA Advisory Board and joined the Board of Trustees last year. Her committee experiences have shown her how

“Belinda de Gaudemar’s thoughtful engagement with and support of NMWA’s curatorial work has bolstered our collection and programming. Her energy, imagination, and dedication have helped us realize meaningful projects and made a true impact on the museum.”

// NMWA Director Susan Fisher Sterling

the groups can spread the museum’s mission and grow its connections.

Originally from the Washington, D.C., area, de Gaudemar moved to Paris through her career in banking. Later on, when she had young children and had left the professional world, she met a friend of NMWA Founder Wilhelmina Cole Holladay who hoped to start the museum’s first committee abroad. When she joined, in 2000, she says, “I was interested in learning more about art, and I liked the idea of focusing on women artists. As I got to know NMWA more, I felt that the museum’s role in reclaiming their rightful place in art history was truly important.”

She moved to London in 2007, just as a committee was forming there, and became a founding member of that group as well. When she visited the museum in person, de Gaudemar was “awestruck.” She wondered why other museums didn’t show art by women with the monumentality of Lavinia Fontana’s work or the boldness of Kiki Kogelnik’s.

Along with these discoveries, de Gaudemar took active roles in committee programming, helping to organize tours, panel discussions, and visits from museum leaders. These events often led to opportunities for collaboration, such as her connection with French curator Camille Morineau, formerly with the Centre Pompidou, whose exhibition Women House traveled to NMWA in 2018.

In Paris, she twice coordinated the committee’s

Women to Watch exhibition participation, liaising with consulting curators as well as the selected artists, Laure Tixier and Françoise Pétrovitch. During High Fiber: Women to Watch 2012, she recalls leading Tixier on a tour of the museum’s collection galleries: “She was amazed, especially seeing the historical work. I realized then that NMWA will always have a role to play in showing that women have produced great art throughout history.”

As de Gaudemar grew more involved, she had the idea of supporting an acquisition of art for NMWA’s twenty-fifth anniversary in 2012. That gift grew into a pattern of supporting the museum’s collection growth and exhibitions. In NMWA’s galleries, de Gaudemar has funded presentations of art by Ambreen Butt, Sonya Clark, and Delita Martin, as well as Women House, helping to bring meaningful projects to fruition.

One of the art acquisitions that she supported, Yael Bartana’s more than eightfoot-high neon sculpture What if Women Ruled the World (2016), has become an icon of NMWA’s galleries and inspired countless visitors. “I’m pleased to see how much the message resonates,” says de Gaudemar, “In posing the question, How would the world be different if women ruled the world?”

New Worlds

WOMEN TO WATCH 202 4

The planning for New Worlds: Women to Watch 2024 began in 2020, just as daily life was upended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The world witnessed not only the public health crises caused by the pandemic, but also urgent calls for social reform and racial justice—and a backlash to them. We experienced stark political division during and after the 2020 U.S. presidential election. In organizing this exhibition, we chose to take a broader view by looking to artists’ visions of new and different worlds. This is the largest iteration to date of Women to Watch, NMWA’s exhibition series that results from a dynamic collaboration between the museum and its outreach committees. New Worlds features twentyeight artists from around the globe—from the locations of the museum’s committees—whose works envision new realities, conceived by exploring facets of our present, future, and past.

Disrupting Gendered Spaces

The spaces we inhabit, in public and our domestic spheres, are ripe for reevaluation, reimagination, and reconsideration. Choosing to celebrate and create joy, Ana María Hernando (b. 1959) creates ebullient installations out of masses of tulle, which she associates with the feminine. Also claiming visibility, a nude self-portrait by Marina Vargas (b. 1980) uses the visual language of classical sculpture to frankly depict the aftermath of mastectomy and cancer treatment on the female body.

Randa Maroufi (b. 1987), working in film and photography, stages groups of women in places where men typically congregate, inverting the gendered norm. The work of Francisca Rojas Pohlhammer (b. 1985) inserts women into the traditionally masculine sphere of the military by adapting traditional Chilean female figurines into soldiers with guns and balaclavas. The dangers that women face in what should be the safety of their own homes is a common theme in art by Hannan Abu-Hussein (b. 1972). Her video works on view relate to family dynamics and the oppressive expectations for women in patriarchal societies.

Placemaking

Other artists explore the ways that people construct ideas about place, from the physical components of our world to movement across geographic borders, to the metaphysical spaces of spiritual beings. The works of both Aimée Papazian (b. 1975) and Irina Kirchuk (b. 1983) offer new ways of looking at—and questioning—the world we inhabit, an important exercise in times of upheaval.

The impact of place on one’s sense of identity and belonging is at the heart of Raíces (Roots) (2019), by Saskia Jordá (b. 1978), in which tendril-like cords visually and viscerally evoke roots pulled from the ground. Arely Morales (b. 1990) uses the visual language of large-scale history painting, traditionally the most highly regarded art form in the West, to claim space and dignity for men and women who have come to the U.S. from Latin America in search of opportunity.

Visualizing the spiritual realm is central to the work of Alexis McGrigg (b. 1989), who portrays spectral beings occupying other planes of existence, asserting her belief that placemaking and identity are not confined to the physical world. Graciela Arias Salazar (b. 1978) portrays the celestial origins of the Shipibo Conibo, an Indigenous group in the Peruvian Amazon, in brightly colored scenes painted on ten machetes, a tool necessary for survival in the jungle.

Ecologies

Focusing on the positive connections between people and their environments, Sarah Ortegon HighWalking

(b. 1986) created the installation Healing Circle (2024), which uses the image of a jingle dress, a garment originally from Anishinaabe culture that is now worn and danced in for healing and ceremonial purposes in many Indigenous communities in North America.

Taking a wide lens on humanity’s relationship with the earth, the work of Noémie Goudal (b. 1984) probes the limitations of our understanding of Earth’s constant state of flux, particularly geologic changes that are not perceptible within a human lifetime. Sophia Pompéry (b. 1984) also questions the limitations and inadequacies of people’s methods to measure and tabulate these changes, such as light pollution in the Arctic Circle.

Technologies

Marianna Dixon Williams (b. 1990) and Irene Fenara (b. 1990) address issues surrounding environmental degradation and extinction using mediums related to technology and machine learning. Williams uses hand-built technology to take audio recordings of the Arctic Circle and convert them into discs that can be played. The discs degrade over time through repeated playback, alluding to the state of climate change. Fenara feeds a data set of three thousand images of

endangered wild tigers, the number of living tigers on the planet, into a generative algorithm program. Such programs need millions more images to accurately create a picture; the paucity of this data produces a distorted image, which Fenara records in textile.

Artists in New Worlds take varied approaches to the promises and perils of technology for human life. In (Im)Possible Baby (2015), Ai Hasegawa (b. 1979) uses a simulation to analyze the DNA data of a same-sex female couple and visualize their potential genetically related children, inviting debate about the ethics of such reproduction and the possibilities it offers in building a more inclusive global society. Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya (b. 1988) challenges viewers with provocative bioethical quandaries through an interactive new media installation that forces them to confront assumptions about issues including the uses of artificial intelligence.

Collective Forces

Several artists explore ways in which communities have used group identity to grapple with past oppressions, or to celebrate communion and solidarity. Rajyashri Goody (b. 1990) a member of the Dalit community, sources her content from literature, poetry, and cookbooks that speak to the everyday trauma, deprivation, hunger, unity, and resistance of Dalit people under the Hindu caste system in India.

Migiwa Orimo (b. 1957) and Daniela Rivera (b. 1973) reveal communal relationships that women have forged under patriarchal systems. Addressing gaps in our knowledge of historical narratives, Orimo translates anti-war writings and other critiques of cultural norms by women into Morse code. Rivera tells the story of a group of women in Chuquicamata, Chile, who formed a soccer team to gain visibility, benefits, and political representation. In her ongoing series “Project 42” (launched in 2012), Molly Vaughan (b. 1977) creates garments honoring the lives of gendernonconforming individuals who have been victims of violence and invisibility in the United States.

Exploring the intangibles of life through existential reflection, SHAN Wallace (b. 1991) and Eliza Naranjo Morse (b. 1980) imagine kinship in alternative realms. In Pale Blue

I, from the series “As Immense as the Sky,” 2019; Digital c-print, 40 × 60 in.; Courtesy of the artist, Stephen Bulger Gallery, and Pierre-François Ouellette

Egun (2024), Wallace fuses folklore and fantasy to transcend any specific time, place, or person; instead, the central figure of the Egun, an embodiment of ancestors in Yoruba tradition, guides others through a universe separated from our present understanding of reality. In Naranjo Morse’s murals, cartoon-inspired animals—whom she calls “Beings”—go on a communal pilgrimage, where each figure carries their own set of experiences, tools, and knowledge systems that guide them toward new possibilities and more compassionate understanding.

Future Ancient

New Worlds artists interweave remembered and imagined experiences by blurring timelines, geographies, and ancient histories with contemporary outlooks. April Banks (b. 1972) explores themes of Afrofuturism, the aesthetic and philosophy that re-envisions the past and visualizes the future through the lens of African ancestry. In Future Ancient (2022), the omnidirectional figure in the center of the illuminated glass sculpture looks both to the past and the future.

Likewise, Indigenous futurism discards the baggage of colonialism and recovers ancestral traditions and knowledge in a post-Native apocalypse world. In Past/Presence/ Future (2020) by Mona Cliff/HanukGahNé (Spotted Cloud) (b. 1977), a gas mask with intricate beadwork reflects on the past, conditions of disease, toxic environments, war in the present day, and how to build unlimited futures. Similarly, otherworldly self-portrait photographs by Meryl McMaster (b. 1988) present an imaginary reclamation of lush terrains once taken from her Indigenous ancestors and explores the complexities of her own Plains Cree and Anglo-Dutch lineage and identity.

Imagining the possibilities of mythologizing the trans body, Nicki Green (b. 1986) paints multiheaded figures, genitalia, flowers related to queerness, and other symbols on porcelain vessels that reference Jewish ritual objects. These works interrogate long-held conceptions of gender in mainstream religions that prevent access and participation for individuals outside of the traditional male-female binary.

New Visions

The works in New Worlds offer alternate ways of understanding the past, present, and future, at times offering powerful shifts in our perceptions. While the artists in this exhibition do not claim to have the answers for every challenge, each provides insight into our world through their singular perspective. By visualizing different perspectives on gender, technology, ecology, and systems of race and class, the artists in New Worlds urge us to envision myriad ways of being and thinking that expand our understanding of the world—and of our responsibilities to each other.

// Virginia Treanor is senior curator and Orin Zahra is associate curator at the National Museum of Women in the Arts.

New Worlds: Women to Watch 2024 is organized by the National Museum of Women in the Arts and sponsored by participating committees.

The exhibition is made possible by the Clara M. Lovett Emerging Artists Fund and the Sue J. Henry and Carter G. Phillips Exhibition Fund, with major support provided by Patti and George White, Share Fund, Linda Mann, the Pennsylvania Committee of NMWA, San Francisco Advocacy for NMWA, and the UK Friends of NMWA. Additional funding is provided by Robyn D. Collins, Elizabeth Leach Gallery, and the Honorable Mary V. Mochary. Further support comes from Daiwa Securities Group Inc.; Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group,

Inc.; S&R Evermay; Saffronart Foundation; S M B C Nikko Securities Inc.; Shiseido Company, Limited; Sony Group Corporation; Suntory Holdings Limited; Tokai Tokyo Financial Holdings, Inc.; THE TOKYO CLUB; Noriko Kashiwagi; and Ayako Weissman.

The catalogue for New Worlds is supported by members and friends of the Wyoming Committee, in memory of Lisa Claudy Fleischman.

The museum extends appreciation to the Embassy of France in the United States with the support of Villa Albertine, the British Embassy Washington, the Embassy of the Argentine Republic, the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany Washington, and the Embassy of Italy with the Italian Cultural Institute of Washington.

//

PARTICIPATING OUTREACH COMMITTEES, CONSULTING CURATORS, AND SELECTED ARTISTS

Capítulo Argentino

Artist: Irina Kirchuk

Curator: Aimé Iglesias Lukin, Americas Society

Arizona Committee

Artist: Saskia Jordá

Curator: Julie Sasse, Tucson Museum of Art

Arkansas Committee

Artist: Aimée Papazian

Curator: Chaney Jewell, formerly of Arts & Science Center for Southeast Arkansas

Southern California Committee

Artist: April Banks

Curators: Virginia Treanor and Orin Zahra, National Museum of Women in the Arts

Canada Committee

Artist: Meryl McMaster

Curator: Mona Filip, independent curator (formerly Art Museum at the University of Toronto)

Capítulo Chileno

Artist: Francisca Rojas

Pohlhammer

Curator: Felipe Forteza, Secret Gallery at CV Galería

Colorado Committee

Artist: Ana María Hernando

Curator: Nora Burnett Abrams, Museum of Contemporary Art Denver

Les Amis du NMWA (France)

Artist: Randa Maroufi

Curator: Jennifer Flay, Foire Internationale d’Art Contemporain

Georgia Committee

Artist: Marianna Dixon Williams

Curators: Melissa Messina, Mildred Thompson Estate and independent curator; and Sierra King, artist, archivist, and independent curator

Germany Committee

Artist: Sophia Pompéry

Curator: Irina Hiebert Grun, Neue Nationalgalerie at the Kulturforum

India Committee

Artist: Rajyashri Goody

Curator: Veeranganakumari

Solanki, Space Studio, Baroda (formerly of Kathmandu Triennale)

Friends of NMWA in Israel

Artist: Hannan Abu-Hussein

Curator: Galia Bar-Or, independent curator (formerly of Mishkan Museum of Art and Social Bauhaus Haifa)

Gli Amici del NMWA (Italy)

Artist: Irene Fenara

Curator: Iolanda Ratti, Museo del Novecento

Japan Committee

Artist: Ai Hasegawa

Curator: Tomoko Yabumae, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo

Greater Kansas City Area Committee

Artist: Mona Cliff/HanukGahNé (Spotted Cloud)

Curator: Erin Dziedzic, formerly of Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art

Massachusetts State Committee

Artist: Daniela Rivera

Curator: Lisa Tung, MassArt Art Museum

Mid-Atlantic Committee

Artist: SHAN Wallace

Curator: Teri Henderson, Baltimore Beat (formerly of Connect + Collect)

Mississippi State Committee

Artist: Alexis McGrigg

Curator: Ryan Dennis, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston (formerly of Mississippi Museum of Art)

New Mexico State Committee

Artist: Eliza Naranjo Morse

Curator: Nancy Zastudil, independent curator (formerly of Tamarind Institute)

New York Committee

Artist: Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya

Curators: Virginia Treanor and Orin Zahra, National Museum of Women in the Arts

Ohio Advisory Group

Artist: Migiwa Orimo

Curators: Matt Distel and Sso-Rha Kang, The Carnegie

Capítulo Peruano

Artist: Graciela Arias Salazar

Curator: Giuliana Vidarte, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Lima

San Francisco Advocacy for NMWA

Artist: Nicki Green

Curator: Lauren Schell Dickens, San José Museum of Art

Spain Committee

Artist: Marina Vargas

Curator: Rosina Gómez-Baeza, YGBART (formerly of ARCO Madrid)

Texas State Committee

Artist: Arely Morales

Curator: Veronica Roberts, Cantor Arts Center (formerly of Blanton Museum of Art)

UK Friends of NMWA

Artist: Noémie Goudal

Curator: Irene Aristizábal, Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art

Washington State Committee

Artist: Molly Vaughan

Curator: Catharina Manchanda, Seattle Art Museum

Wyoming Committee

Artist: Sarah Ortegon

HighWalking

Curator: Tammi Hanawalt, National Museum of Wildlife Art

Calendar

EXHIBITIONS

New Worlds: Women to Watch 2024

April 14–August 11, 2024

In Focus: Artists at Work

Through September 22, 2024

Hung Liu: Making History

Through October 20, 2024

Impressive: Antoinette Bouzonnet-Stella

Through October 20, 2024

Holding Ground: Artists’ Books for the National Museum of Women in the Arts

Through October 20, 2024

Online exhibitions: Revisit favorite NMWA exhibitions and more at https://nmwa.org/whats-on/ exhibitions/online

KEY

F Free

M Free for members

Free for members and one guest

A Free with admission

R Reservations required at https://nmwa.org

O No reservations required

E Exhibition-related program

V Virtual/online program (Please note that the time zone for all online programs is Eastern Time)

Automated speech-to-text transcription is enabled during most virtual programs. To request additional access services, please check the online calendar for contact information or email accessibility@nmwa.org. Two weeks’ notice is appreciated but not required.

Daily / Weekly / Monthly

For museum admission, advance reservations are strongly suggested. Reserve online at https://nmwa.org. Limited walk-up availability.

Free Community Day

FIRST SUNDAYS & SECOND WEDNESDAYS 10 A.M.–5 P.M. // F M R

The first Sunday and second Wednesday of each month, NMWA offers free admission to the public. Enjoy current exhibitions and the collection galleries.

Open Studio

FIRST SUNDAYS & SECOND WEDNESDAYS 10 A.M.–4 P.M. // F M O E

On the first Sunday and second Wednesday of each month during Free Community Days, visit the museum’s new studio for drop-in art-making activities. All ages welcome; children twelve and younger require adult supervision.

Collection Highlights Tour

MOST DAYS 2–2:45 P.M. & FIRST SUNDAYS 11–11:45 A.M. // M A O

Interactive, docent- or staff-led talks take place on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Fridays in March (dates follow) and most days beginning in April. Look closely and discuss artworks from the museum’s collection.

Gallery Talk

MOST WEDNESDAYS 12–12:30 P.M. // F M O E

Conversational, thematic staff-led talks highlight several works on view. Join as often as you like; content varies.

The Bigger Picture

SELECT SUNDAYS 2–3:30 P.M. // R

On select Sundays (dates follow), this new lecture and conversation series shakes up the art historical narrative by exploring art from the sixteenth century to today through the museum’s collection and thematic topics.

NMWA Nights

SELECT WEDNESDAYS 5:30–8 P.M. // R

On the third Wednesday of each month through May (dates follow), join a creative and engaging afterhours experience! Peruse the galleries, grab a cocktail, listen to a performance or talk, or participate in art-making activities.

Art Chat @ Five

FRIDAYS 5–5:45 P.M. // F M R E V

On the fourth Friday of each month (dates follow), jump-start your weekend with art! Join NMWA educators online for informal 45-minute chats about art from NMWA’s collection.

March

3 / 15 Collection Highlights Tour

FRI 2–2:45 P.M. // M A O

3 / 17 Collection Highlights Tour

SUN 2–2:45 P.M. // M A O

3 / 19 Collection Highlights Tour

TUE 2–2:45 P.M. // M A O

3 / 20 Gallery Talk: Collection Sampler

WED 12–12:30 P.M. // F M O

3 / 20 NMWA Nights

WED 5:30–8 P.M. // R

Celebrate Women’s History Month at this special event in collaboration with Aye Girl!, who creates vibrant spaces that center LGBTQ+ and BIPOC communities. $25 general/$22 students, seniors, D.C. residents/$20 members. Free for members at the Explorer level and above.

3 / 22 Collection Highlights Tour

FRI 2–2:45 P.M. // M A O

3 / 22 Art Chat @ Five

FRI 5–5:45 P.M. // F M R V

3 / 24 The Bigger Picture: Object Lessons

SUN 2–3:30 P.M. // R

Learn how women helped pioneer the genre of still life and how they continue to create imagery that tells stories of lives and cultures through the things that people collect, consume, and value. $25 general/$22 students, seniors, D.C. residents/$20 members.

3 / 24 Collection Highlights Tour

SUN 2–2:45 P.M. // M A O

3 / 26 Collection Highlights Tour

TUE 2–2:45 P.M. // M A O

3 / 27 Gallery Talk: Hung Liu: Making History

WED 12–12:30 P.M. // F M O E

3 / 28 Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital

THU 6:30–8 P.M. // F R

Join us for a screening of an episode of National Geographic’s new show Queens. Conversation to follow.

3 / 29 Collection Highlights Tour

FRI 2–2:45 P.M. // M A O

3 / 31 Collection Highlights Tour

SUN 2–2:45 P.M. // M A O

April

4 / 3 Gallery Talk: Collection Sampler

WED 12–12:30 P.M. // F M O

4 / 7 Free Community Day

SUN 10 A.M.–5 P.M. // F M R

4 / 7 Collection Highlights Tour

SUN 11–11:45 P.M. // F M O

4 / 7 Open Studio

SUN 10 A.M.–4 P.M. // F M O

Please note that the museum is closed to the general public on April 9, 11, and 12 as we prepare to open New Worlds: Women to Watch 2024.

4 / 10 Free Community Day

WED 10 A.M.–5 P.M. // F M R

4 / 10 Open Studio

WED 10 A.M.–4 P.M. // F M O

4 / 10 Gallery Talk: Collection Sampler

WED 12–12:30 P.M. // F M O

4 / 11 Member Preview Day: New Worlds: Women to Watch 2024

THU 11 A.M.–6 P.M. // M R E

Join us for a special preview of New Worlds. Artists reimagine the past, present alternate realities, and motivate audiences to create different futures. Exhibition tours take place throughout the day. Registration required; walk-ins welcome.

4 / 12 Spring Gala

FRI 6:30–10 P.M. // R

Join us at the museum’s largest annual fundraising event. This year, NMWA honors actor Tracee Ellis Ross, a trailblazer in the entertainment industry and advocate for gender equity. Contact gala@nmwa.org for tickets and sponsorship.

// KEY

F Free

M Free for members

Free for members and one guest

A Free with admission

R Reservations required at https://nmwa.org

O No reservations required

E Exhibition-related program

V Virtual/online program (Please note that the time zone for all online programs is Eastern Time)

4 / 13 Firsthand Experience Workshop: Radiant Textures

SAT 10 A.M–3 P.M. // R

Artist Jamila Zahra Felton teaches participants how to experiment with color and texture in creating abstract monotypes and sewing a long-stitch journal. $25 general/ $22 students, seniors, D.C. residents/$20 members.

4 / 13 Slow Art Day

SAT 3:30–5 P.M. // A M R

Slow Art Day is an international event encouraging people to visit art spaces and look at art slowly. Register in advance, look at selected artworks, and discuss the experience with a museum educator.

4 / 14 Opening Day: New Worlds

SUN 10 A.M.–5 P.M. // A M E

Be among the first to visit New Worlds: Women to Watch 2024, featuring twenty-eight contemporary artists who share their visions for alternate worlds.

4 / 17 New Worlds: The Power of Community and Connection

WED 12–1 P.M. // M R E V

Join us for a special members-only event: artists in the exhibition New Worlds: Women to Watch 2024 discuss the theme of collective experiences in their work.

4 / 17 Gallery Talk: Holding Ground

WED 12–12:30 P.M. // F M O E

4 / 17 NMWA Nights

WED 5:30–8 P.M. // R

Celebrate Earth Day at NMWA Nights with cocktails, art-making, and more! Explore art inspired by environmental issues in New Worlds: Women to Watch 2024 Listen to musical artist Neffy, NPR’s 2021 Tiny Desk Contest winner. $25 general/$22 students, seniors, D.C. residents/$20 members. Free for members at the Explorer level and above.

4 / 24 Gallery Talk: In Focus: Artists at Work

WED 12–12:30 P.M. // F M O E

4 / 26 Art Chat @ Five

FRI 5–5:45 P.M. // F M R V

4 / 28 The Bigger Picture: Natural Wonders

SUN 2–3:30 P.M. // R

Learn about intrepid, curious women of the past and present who looked to the natural world for inspiration, seeking to express its strangeness, beauty, and complexity. $25 general/$22 students, seniors, D.C. residents/$20 members.

May

5 / 1 Gallery Talk: Collection Sampler

WED 12–12:30 P.M. // F M O

5 / 5 Free Community Day

SUN 10 A.M.–5 P.M. // F M R

Join us for a special Community Day highlighting established and emerging makers.

5 / 5 Maker’s Market

SUN 10 A.M.–4 P.M. // F M R

Shop handcrafted art and merchandise made by local women artists and designers. Included in Community Day admission.

5 / 5 Open Studio

SUN 10 A.M.–4 P.M. // F M O

5 / 5 Collection Highlights Tour

SUN 11 A.M.–11:45 P.M. // F M O

5 / 5 Fresh Talk: Conscious Buying and Creating

SUN 4–6 P.M. // R

As consumers hope to support businesses with better social, economic, and environmental impact, brands are responding. Hear from artists and designers who specialize in conscious branding and ethical production. Followed by Catalyst cocktail hour. $25 general/$22 students, seniors, D.C. residents/$20 members.

5 / 8 Free Community Day

WED 10 A.M.–5 P.M. // F M R

Visit https://nmwa.org for reservations, a complete calendar of events, and more information.

5 / 8 Open Studio

SUN 10 A.M.–4 P.M. // F M O

5 / 8 Gallery Talk: Collection Sampler

WED 12–12:30 P.M. // F M O

5 / 15 Gallery Talk: Collection Sampler

WED 12–12:30 P.M. // F M O

5 / 15 NMWA Nights

WED 5:30–8 P.M. // R

Enjoy NMWA’s new late-hours series with cocktails, art-making, and more. $25 general/$22 students, seniors, D.C. residents/$20 members. Free for members at the Explorer level and above.

5 / 18 Archive Transcribe-a-thon

SAT 11 A.M.–2 P.M. // F R

Help make NMWA’s archives more accessible by transcribing handwritten correspondence into typed text.

5 / 22 Gallery Talk: New Worlds: Women to Watch 2024

WED 12–12:30 P.M. // F M O E

5 / 24 Art Chat @ Five

FRI 5–5:45 P.M. // F M R V

5 / 26 The Bigger Picture: All in the Family

SUN 2–3:30 P.M. // R

Just as families take many forms, so do artworks about them. Learn about works that embody a range of meaning and intention, whether exploring immediate connections or distant ancestry. $25 general/ $22 students, seniors, D.C. residents/$20 members.

5 / 29 Gallery Talk: In Focus: Artists at Work

WED 12–12:30 P.M. // F M O E

June

6 / 2 Free Community Day

SUN 10 A.M.–5 P.M. // F M R

6 / 5 Open Studio

SUN 10 A.M.–4 P.M. // F M O

6 / 5 Collection Highlights Tour

SUN 11 A.M.–11:45 P.M. // F M O

6 / 5 Gallery Talk: Collection Sampler

WED 12–12:30 P.M. // F M O

6 / 8 Firsthand Experience Workshop: Zines

SAT 10 A.M.–3 P.M. // R

Jen White-Johnson, a neurodivergent collage artist and designer, teaches participants about zine-making as an act of creative resistance and radical joy. $25 general/ $22 students, seniors, D.C. residents/$20 members.

6 / 12 Free Community Day

WED 10 A.M.–5 P.M. // F M R

6 / 12 Open Studio

WED 10 A.M.–4 P.M. // F M O E

6 / 12 Gallery Talk: Collection Sampler

WED 12–12:30 P.M. // F M O

6 / 12 Fresh Talk: Influencing and Collecting

WED 4–6 P.M. // R

Join us for a conversation with art consultant Schwanda Rountree, gallerist Myrtis Bedolla, and collector Sarah Arison about the representation of women and nonbinary artists in private and public collections. Followed by Catalyst cocktail hour. $20 general/$17 students, seniors, D.C. residents/$15 members.

6 / 19 Gallery Talk: New Worlds: Women to Watch 2024

WED 12–12:30 P.M. // F M O E

6 / 26 Gallery Talk: Collection Sampler

WED 12–12:30 P.M. // F M O

6 / 28 Art Chat @ Five

FRI 5–5:45 P.M. // F M R V

// Education programming is made possible by the A. James & Alice B. Clark Foundation, with fur ther support provided by the Leo Rosner Foundation and the William Randolph Hearst Foundation. Additional funding is provided by the Harriet E. McNamee Youth Education Fund and William and Christine Leahy.

The Women, Arts, and Social Change public programs initiative is made possible through leadership gifts from Denise Littlefield Sobel and the Davis/Dauray Family Fund, with additional support provided by the ARCFord Foundation, Anne N. Edwards, the Revada Foundation of the Logan Family, and the Susan and Jim Swartz Public Programs Fund.

On the Write Track

New Research for Nmwa.org

Art historian Heather Read, Ph.D., is working with NMWA to expand the information about women artists available on the museum’s website. Visitors to nmwa.org enjoy in-depth artist profiles and artwork descriptions for highlights from the museum’s collection. Read is busily researching new additions and working with NMWA curators to update and grow the museum’s offerings. With Assistant Editor Alicia Gregory, Read discusses her work and a few interesting discoveries from her extensive research.

AG: Can you talk about the importance of this research?

HR: While art objects and the details of artists’ lives are fixed, the lenses through which we understand them are always evolving. Scholars continue to do important work, so I’m updating our website entries to reflect new information and voices. I think art history has changed over the past few years—for the better. It has become more inclusive, more aware, and more respectful. I’m also making stylistic changes. Some of the entries are very straightforward, focused on compositions, and so I’m adding social and political context.

AG: Tell us about your research process.

HR: I’m reviewing existing entries on artists A through Z, doing Google Scholar searches, checking JSTOR and every available scholarly resource. For some entries, I’ve done primary source research, and that has been a blast.

A great example of this is Rosa Bonheur’s Highland Raid (1860). I read Bonheur’s 1908 biography, which includes friends’ and colleagues’ reminiscences of her visit to Scotland, along with a large portion of Sir Walter Scott’s Waverley (1814), because Bonheur was a fan of his. An article from 1860 published in the Athenaeum suggested that Scott’s book might be a source. This painting, in part, depicts a scene from Waverley in which cattle drivers are stealing cattle.

Bonheur also drew on her own experience. Artist Frederick Goodall recalled being with Bonheur on a trip to Scotland during which she bought cattle to bring back to France. He described Bonheur venturing among the stock, with no fear, to hand-select a cow from the herd.

AG: What information do you aim to include in each artist profile?

HR: There is a set of questions I ask myself about each. Will people be able to recognize the artist’s work based on the information I’ve provided? Will fellow art historians learn something new? Did I touch on the major scholarship about this artist? And overall, is this an educational resource—will a general audience learn something from reading this?

AG: Diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion (DEAI) efforts are central to NMWA’s work. How are you bringing a DEAI lens to this project?

HR: I’m hoping to make sure that these entries do not include language that perpetuates racist, ableist, or cultural stereotypes. I’m also rewriting entries to try to provide historical context. Take Acoma Pueblo potter Marie Zieu Chino’s Seed Jar (1982), for example. This work was created primarily for a tourist market—not made for practical or ceremonial use, which a viewer may assume. When the Southwest was

"I think art history has changed over the past few years—for the better."

// HEATHER READ

colonized, Pueblo communities, which were historically farming communities, were forcibly integrated into the food systems of White settlers. It is important to share the colonial context to understand the work.

AG: Can you tell me about any fun or surprising stories you have uncovered?

HR: Great question . . . it’s difficult to choose. One of the quirkiest stories I’ve come across regards Sarah Bernhardt’s sculpture Après la tempête (After the Storm) (ca. 1876). NMWA’s version was likely purchased from the artist’s estate. However, in her memoirs, Bernhardt says she sold another version of the artwork to finance the purchase of two lion cubs from a private zoo in England. When she arrived at the zoo, Bernhardt found that the lions were adults, so instead, she walked away with a cheetah, a wolfhound, and seven chameleons. I’ve made some impulse buys in my life, but never like that!

AG: What new profiles or entries can visitors look forward to?

HR: We’re planning to increase the representation of BIPOC artists and their work—NMWA’s collection has grown to be much more diverse than the website currently reflects. We’re also focused on adding artists who are canonical: Ana Mendieta, VALIE EXPORT, Emma Amos, Yoko Ono, and Kara Walker, among others. We’re trying to cast a wide net for colleagues’ opinions and ideas so that the website keeps improving.

// Alicia Gregory is assistant editor at the National Museum of Women in the Arts.

The Best Frame

We’re back! It has been thrilling to see visitors enjoying NMWA again. We welcomed guests with a packed suite of exhibitions, events, and programs, and we have been delighted to hear your enthusiastic feedback on the building and our new offerings.

At NMWA, we advocate for gender equity while presenting wide-ranging, world-class art and programs. We undertook the Space to Soar capital campaign because the best art deserves the best frame, and we are so proud that hundreds of donors share our vision for the museum’s future. Thank you!

Because so many members and friends support NMWA from across the country and around the world—more than half of our members live outside of the immediate Washington, D.C., area—we wanted to share a few more pictures of the fabulously renewed museum. If you haven’t yet had a chance to visit in person, please enjoy seeing your new NMWA!

As you know, there were spaces that we renovated completely, including the new Learning Commons on the fourth floor, which holds a completely reconfigured Library and Research Center, art galleries, and a studio. Others, such as our iconic Great Hall, were refurbished with elegant, subtle touches including a pale blue hue on the ceiling and custom fabric around the mezzanine arches. The new Library and Research Center, Studio, and Museum Shop are bright and welcoming, the Performance Hall features a stylish new design, and we take great pride in the technical advancements throughout the building. I hope you’ll enjoy celebrating these achievements with us.

On behalf of NMWA’s Board of Trustees and leadership, please accept our tremendous thanks, once again! This reinvention would not have been possible without your partnership.

// Winton S. Holladay is Chair of the Board of Trustees of the National Museum of Women in the Arts.

Museum Events

Creative’s Keynote: Katy Hessel

1–2. British art historian and broadcaster Katy Hessel speaks in NMWA’s refurbished Performance Hall and takes audience questions on November 12

3–5 Hessel signs copies of her recent book, The Story of Art Without Men (2023)

6. Attendees enjoy a Sunday Supper in the Great Hall

Fresh Talk: Digital Futures

7–8. Panelists Luba Elliott, Damara Inglês, Nyla Hayes, and Krista Kim reflect on technology and gender equity on December 3

9. After the conversation, attendees enjoy a reception in NMWA’s Great Hall

NMWA Nights

10. The museum debuts the new NMWA Nights after-hours event series, and attendees are greeted by stilt walkers to celebrate inaugural special exhibition The Sky’s the Limit on January 17

11. Participants enjoy a female-focused set list by DJ Alex Love

12. An attendee shows off her artistic ensemble alongside Mariah Robertson’s installation work 9 (2011)

13–15. The sold-out event features tours of The Sky’s the Limit led by Assistant Curator Hannah Shambroom as well as activities and cocktails in the Great Hall

NMWA In Focus:

Artists in the Library

16. Several artists featured in the exhibition Holding Ground spoke in NMWA’s Library and Research Center (LRC), and LRC Director Elizabeth Ajunwa moderated a discussion with book artists Kerry McAleer-Keeler, Adjoa Jackson Burrowes, Ibe’ Crawley, Colette Fu, and María Verónica San Martín on January 25 17. Ibe’ Crawley answers an audience question

Supporting Roles

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Winton S. Holladay—Chair of the Board, Susan Goldberg—President, Sheila Shaffer—Treasurer and Finance Chair, Charlotte Buxton— Secretary, Nancy Duber— Governance Chair, Susan Fisher

Sterling—Alice West Director**, Pamela Parizek—Audit Chair, Marcia Myers Carlucci—Building Chair, Amy Weiss—Communications Chair, Ashley Davis— Government Relations Chair, Nancy Nelson

Stevenson—Works of Art Chair, Diane Casey-Landry—Investment Chair, Gina Adams, Janice Adams, Lizette Corro, Belinda de Gaudemar, Deborah Dingell, Martha Dippell, Susan Dunlevy, Anjali Gupta, Pamela Gwaltney, Eliza Holladay, Cindy Jones, Sally Jones, Marlene Malek, Ann Walker Marchant, Jacqueline Mars, Juliana May, Bonnie McElveen-Hunter, Lucretia Adymy Risoleo, Stephanie Sale, Julie Sapone**, Alejandra Segura, Karen Sonneborn, Kathleen

Elizabeth Springhorn, Annie Totah, Sarah Treco**, Sara M. Vance

Waddell, Alice West, Patti White

** Ex-Officio

NMWA ADVISORY BOARD

Sarah Bucknell Treco—Chair, Noreen Ackerman, Kathe Hicks Albrecht, Sunny Scully Alsup, Susan M. Ascher, Jaquita Ball, Virginia Barbato, Jo Ann Barefoot, Gail Bassin, Arlene Begelman, Sue Ann Berlin, Catherine Little Bert, Brenda Bertholf, Caroline Boutté, Nancy Taylor Bubes, Deborah G. Carstens, Amb. Maria Eugenia Chiozza, Barbara Cohen, Marcella Cohen, Marian Cohen, Donna Paolino Coia, Robyn D. Collins, Linda Comstock, Margaret Conklin, Elizabeth Crane, Lynn Finesilver Crystal, Elizabeth Cullen, Mary Lou Dauray, Verónica de Ferrero, Belinda de Gaudemar, Kitty de Isola, Michele De Nevers, Katy Graham Debost, Alexis Deutsch, Ellen Drew, Kenneth P. Dutter, Christine Edwards, Anne N. Edwards, Gerry Ehrlich, Elva Ferrari-Graham, Chuck Fleischman, in honor of Lisa Claudy Fleischman, Charlotte K. Forster, Rosemarie C. Forsythe, Barbara S. Goldfarb, Sally Gries, Michelle Guillermin, Anjali Gupta, Pamela Gwaltney, Jolynda Halinski, Florencia Helbling, Sue J. Henry,

Imogene Jensen, Jan Jessup, Alice Kaplan, Paulette Kessler, Arlene Fine Klepper, Doris Kloster, Carol Kolsky, Robin Rosa Laub, Elizabeth Leach, Cynthia Madden Leitner, Sarah H. Lisanby, M.D., Fred M. Levin, Bonnie Loeb, Gloria and Dan Logan, Angela M. LoRé, Clara M. Lovett, Joanne Ludovici, Marcia MacArthur, Linda Mann, C. Raymond Marvin, Rebecca Matejcek-Chang, Ellen Stirn Mavec, Dee Ann McIntyre, Cynthia McKee, Constance C. McPhee, Lorna Meyer Calas, Anu Mitra, Milica Mitrovich, Mary V. Mochary, Claudia Pensotti Mosca, Kay Woodward Olson, Nancy Olson, Monica T. O’Neill, Carol Parker, Anthony T. and Trisja Malisoff

Podesta, Laurel Rafter, Lucy Rhame, Helena Ribe, Barbara Richter, Elizabeth Robinson, Tara Rudman, Stephanie Sale, Consuelo Salinas

de Pareja, Steven Scott, Kathy

Sierra, Ann Simon, Joan Simon, Geri Skirkanich, Heidi Brake Smith, Dot Snyder, Denise Littlefield

Sobel, Patti Amanda Spivey, Kathleen Elizabeth Springhorn, Judith Karlen Stein, Sara Steinfeld, Jo Stribling, Christine Suppes, Susan Swartz, Cheryl S. Tague, Mahinder Tak, Judy Spence Tate, Lisa Cannon Taylor, MaryRoss Taylor, Brooke Taylor, Deborah Dunklin Tipton, Marichu Valencia, Sara M. Vance Waddell, Minal Vazirani, Victoria Vermes, Toni G. Verstandig, Virginia Voorhees, Paula S. Wallace, Harriet L. Warm, Krystyna Wasserman, Patti White, Tamara White, Carol Winer, Rhett D. Workman, Susan Zimny

SPACE TO SOAR CAPITAL CAMPAIGN

We wish to thank supporters of the Space to Soar capital campaign, whose generosity enabled the museum’s major building renovation. Although we can only list donations of $20,000 and above due to space limitations, we extend sincere gratitude to all donors.

$15 million+

Wilhelmina C. and Wallace F. Holladay, Sr.*

$5–$14.9 million

Gloria and Dan Logan/Revada Foundation, Jacqueline Badger Mars

$2–$4.9 million

Marcia Myers Carlucci, Betty Boyd Dettre*, Events DC, Ann M. Farley Trust, Denise Littlefield Sobel, MaryRoss Taylor

$1–$1.9 million

Winton and Hap Holladay, Clara M. Lovett, Marlene A. Malek, Estate of Evelyn B. Metzger, Sue J. Henry and Carter G. Phillips, J. Christopher and Anne N. Reyes Foundation, San Francisco Advocacy Group, Dr. Alejandra Segura, Susan and Jim Swartz, The Texas Committee, Estate of Susan Wisherd

$500,000–$999,999

David Boies and Jonathan Schiller, Mary Lou Dauray, DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, Martha Lyn Dippell and Daniel L. Korengold, Cindy and Evan Jones, Fred M. Levin in memory of Nancy Livingston Levin, The Honorable Mary V. Mochary, Sarah and Ross Perot Jr., Lucy S. Rhame, George and Patti White

$250,000–$499,999

Nancy and Marc Duber, Elva Ferrari-Graham, Jamie Gorelick and Richard Waldhorn, Institute of Museum and Library Services, Gloria Pieretti* in honor of the Testolin Pieretti Family, Linda Rabbitt and John Whalen Family Foundation, Sheila and Rick Shaffer, Geri O’Toole Skirkanich, Christine Suppes, Alice and Gordon* West Jr.

$101,000–$249,999

M. A. Ruda and Peter J. P. Brickfield*, Charlotte Forster, Georgia Committee of NMWA, Anjali and Arun Gupta, Nancy Wood Moorman, Amanda and Curtis Polk, Laurel and John Rafter, Tara Rudman, Stephanie Wyndam Sale, Jayne Visser and Kristin Smith, Dana* and Jack Snyder, Susan and Scott Sterling $100,000

Janice and Harold L.* Adams, Arkansas State Committee, Amy and Bret Baier, Grace Bender, Charlotte Clay Buxton and Michael Buxton, The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation, Lorna Meyer Calas and Dennis Calas, Andrea and Richard Catania, Evonne C. and Robert T. Connolly, II, Ashley Davis and Joel Frushone, Lisa and Porter Dawson, Anne N. Edwards, FedEx/ Gina Adams, Charles and Lisa Claudy Fleischman Family Fund, Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Belinda de Gaudemar, Pamela Gwaltney, Laurie Sands Harrison, The Hayes Foundation, Diane

Casey-Landry and Brock Landry, Mary Ann and Allen Lassiter, Lugano Diamonds, Kristen and George Lund, Bonnie McElveenHunter, Morgan Stanley, Northern Trust Company, Ohio Advisory Group, Kay Woodward Olson, Anthony T. and Trisja Malisoff Podesta, Lucretia Adymy Risoleo and Robert Risoleo, Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation in Memory of Arlene Schnitzer, Karen and William Sonneborn, Kathleen Elizabeth Springhorn, Christoph and Pamela Stanger, Roger and Nancy Nelson Stevenson, Josephine L. and Thomas D.* Stribling, Leo Rosner Foundation/ Bill Robbins, Judy and Charles Tate, Deborah Dunklin Tipton

$50,000–$99,999

Bank of America of Greater Washington, Deborah G. Carstens, Robin and Jay Hammer, Mr. and Mrs. Michael Reed Miller, Julie Packard, Sharon Rockefeller, Jean Hall and Thomas D. Rutherfoord, Jr., Beth W. Newburger Schwartz, Patti Amanda and Bruce Spivey, UK Friends of NMWA, Marichu C. Valencia and Donald J. Puglisi, Amy Weiss and Peter J. Kadzik

$20,000–$49,999

Gail D. Bassin, Joan Bialek and Louis Levitt, Katherine and David Bradley, Deborah Buck, Rose and Paul Carter, Marcy and Neil Cohen, Robyn D. Collins, Liz and Tim Cullen, Karyn Frist, Susan Goldberg and Geoffrey Etnire, Jan Jessup, Alice D. Kaplan, Mr. and Mrs. Jim C. Langdon, Marcia MacArthur, Priscilla W. and Joe R. Martin, Robin Rosa Laub, Bonnie Loeb, Angela LoRé, Lowe Foundation, Dee Ann McIntyre, Mid-Atlantic Committee of NMWA, Monica O’Neill, Laura Perkins, Margaret H. and Jim Perkins, Mary Poelzlbauer, Dorothy and Ned Snyder, Alice M. Starr, Brooke and Heyward Taylor, Frances Luessenhop Usher, Sara M. and Michelle Vance Waddell, Courtney Johnson Walker, Velda Warner, Daisy Sloan White, Emily Gay* and Neville Gay Williams, Carol and Michael Winer, Carolyn and John Young

* Deceased (all lists as of January 15, 2024)

Museum Shop

New Worlds: Women to Watch

2024 Exhibition Catalogue

This fully illustrated catalogue features statements by the exhibition’s twenty-eight featured artists, who share their visions of the past, present, and future. Softcover, 100 pages. $23.95/Member $21.56

Extra Bold: A Feminist, Inclusive, Anti-racist, Nonbinary Field Guide for Graphic Designers

With elements of a textbook, comic book, zine, manifesto, survival guide, and self-help manual, this book offers a new take on the design canon. Paperback, 224 pages. $29.95/ Member $26.96

Smiley Face Candle

Brighten your space with this delightful, trippy candle. Unscented soy wax, handpainted smile. Available in pink and yellow. 5 × 5 × 2 in. $30/ Member $27

In the Temple of the Self:

The Artist’s Residence as a Total Work of Art

This volume examines artists' houses as a genre and assigns these buildings the status of major works. Hardcover, 374 pages. $65/Member $58.50

Color Scheme: An Irreverent History of Art and Pop Culture in Color Palettes

Artist and writer Edith Young invites you to change the way you see color in this collection of palettes spanning art history and pop culture. Hardcover, 144 pages. $24.95/Member $22.46

“In the Museum” Puzzle

Illustrated by Tomi Um, this scene teems with vignettes familiar to anyone who has stepped inside a museum. 1,000 pieces. Finished puzzle 20 × 25 in. $16.95/Member $15.26

Wire Mesh Bowl

Add a splash of color to your kitchen with this mesh bowl, perfect for storing fruit. Powder-coated steel. Hand wash only. $50/ Member $45

National Museum of Women in the Arts: Collection Highlights

The museum’s new collection highlights catalogue explores the breadth of NMWA’s holdings, drawing connections among more than 180 works and sharing new essays by more than fifty artists and scholars. Hardcover, 264 pages. $60/Member $54

Mark Your Calendar!

NMWA’s events and programs are back in full swing. Please join us in the renovated museum to enjoy a tour, make art, meet friends after hours, and so much more. Check out the full calendar beginning on page 14.

NMWA Nights

The museum’s signature afterhours program takes place on the third Wednesday of each month through May. Join us for cocktails, art-making, music, and more.

Free Community Days

Admission is free for all on the first Sunday and second Wednesday of each month. Visit for drop-in Open Studio sessions and explore current exhibitions and collection galleries.