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ArtsNews November 2020 • ARTSNEWS
NOVEMBER 2020
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Bringing Women to the Fore by Caedra Scott-Flaherty
Tattooed Lady: Comin' Up Roses, from the Truncated series, by Camille Eskell (photo courtesy of Hudson River Museum)
“Why have a women-only exhibition?” Many people have asked Laura Vookles this question. Sometimes the Chair of Hudson River Museum's Curatorial Department answers with a question of her own: If you walk into a museum gallery and all the artists are men, would you ask why? She explains: “We don't need to have a centennial of the 19th Amendment to curate an exhibition that brings women to the fore.” And yet, that is exactly what happened. Women to the Fore, on display through January 3, features art works by more than 40 femaleidentifying artists. The works span 150 years and were selected from the museum’s permanent collection. Additional pieces were loans from local artists, galleries and collectors. A varied range of mediums and artistic movements are represented, as well as a diversity of nationalities, races, gender identities and sexual orientations. Works by internationally recognized artists such as Mary Cassatt and Judy Chicago are displayed alongside underappreciated historical artists, as well as emerging contemporary artists like Jessica Spence and Tuesday Smillie. At first the room may appear haphazard, but it is thoughtfully laid out to create visual conversations. The Garden of the Divine Feminine welcomes visitors as they descend into the gallery. The vibrant mixedmedia mural by Yonkers-based artists Nancy Mendez, Patricia Santos and Katori Walker, commissioned by the museum and ArtsWestchester, and covering an entire wall, celebrates the female body. “This mural represents the power of what makes us all women,” Mendez explains.