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The works of Edith Lake Wilkinson, 1868-1957, are providing inspiration to local female painters who will exhibit their works this month in Leesburg.
‘Unapologetic’: Exhibit Challenges, Celebrates Female Artists BY JIM SISLEY
Most recognizable artists are known for a style of painting. Nascent art makers are often told by an educator or mentor that artists should keep to a certain style in an effort to hasten mastery and to find their own niche. So, it was with a sense of mischief and rebellion that Loudoun painter Kris Loya recently advanced the idea to a local group of painters that they should depart from their stylistic constraints and unapologetically produce that piece of art they always wanted to try. Loya invited a group of 14 female artists to throw out their respective rule books and, without remorse, stretch their artistic expression. The idea for the exhibit came from the storied life of painter Edith Lake Wilkinson and the constraints she faced in the male dominated society of the early 1900s. 14
“At that time, female artists were only allowed to show their artwork on Sunday,” Loya said. In the late 18th century most artists were men, but today most of the artists that show at regional galleries are female. Loya said she doesn’t “think of creating art as tilted toward one gender or another.” However, she recognizes there is a direct correlation between the rise of feminism and the number of women artists today. Young Kris Loya grew up in a household where her mother rose from an executive assistant to a “C level” executive and she rightly sees strong successful women as today’s societal norm. It follows then that there is an element of girl power and generationism in the upcoming exhibition. The mature artists in this show have embraced the concept with a kind of activism while younger participants engaged as a
GET OUT LOUDOUN
UNAPOLOGETIC
23
DECEMBER 2019