September has been a big-deal month in Fresno when it comes to the history of the feminist art movement. I've already written about two major shows that explore aspects of that movement: "A Studio Of Their Own: The Legacy of the Fresno Feminist Experiment 1970," at the Conley Gallery at California State University, Fresno, through Oct. 9; and "Celebrating Women Artists," through Sept. 27, the 35th anniversary show at Gallery 25, which was a direct offshoot of the Fresno State experience.
Now there's one more major event to mark: a two-day symposium in connection with the "Studio" show at Fresno State. For the first time since 1970, a majority of the women in Judy Chicago's groundbreaking feminist art class will be together again. Highlights of the symposium include artist performances by Karen LeCocq and subRosa at the artists' reception 5-8 p.m. Thursday. I posed questions to all the participating artists in the show via e-mail and offer selected answers here: Question: Curator Laura Meyer told me she believes that Judy Chicago learned as much from the students in her Fresno State class as they did from her. What did you learn, and what do you think Chicago learned?Karen LeCocq: I think Judy learned from us and the entire experience of working together, sharing a studio, sharing thoughts and ideas. She has said that it all was an experiment. She didn't really know what was going to happen. (That's why she did it in Fresno and not Los Angeles. She didn't want anyone to know lest it should fail.)I learned what it took to be a professional artist. I learned how to work with others. I can't really be so presumptuous to say what Judy learned, but from what I could observe, I could tell it was good to have people around her that she could expose her vulnerability to, open up to, cry and make mistakes with. Is there a place in art today for the term "feminist art"? Or have we outgrown that concept, as some people say?Jacqueline Doumanian: The term is definitely a '70s reality and sits in that historical context ... But that doesn't make the term or concept irrelevant in contemporary times because the issues still exist and artists still work in ways that were prescribed by those women trying to find a voice for their personal expression. Chicano Art was also born in the '70s and there are still artists that work from that voice and can legitimately identify themselves that way. Other thoughts on the show?Karen LeCocq: My performance piece that I will be doing at the reception is a recreation of what I did at "Womanhouse." Back in 1972, Nancy Youdelman and I created "Lea's Room" from Collette's book "Cheri" for the project. There, I did a performance piece as Lea, the aging courtesan, applying layers and layers of makeup, trying to hide her aging face, showing the pain of losing one's beauty, one's livelihood and one's lover. (I was 22 at the time and had no wrinkles.)For this show, I recreated Lea's dressing table and will be doing the piece at age 59, 10 years past Lea's age in the book, but with much more realism for the performance. Judy Chicago wrote me when I told her about the redo of the performance that she was glad I would be getting a chance to do the piece again, now that I had "grown into the role."