"Although she is primarily a practitioner of art, Chicago is also a renowned educator.
In developing [her] educational programs, Chicago sought to undermine the assumption at the time that it was impossible to be a woman and an artist. More recently, her mentoring [to women and men as well] has been with the priority to create artwork that reworks personal experience."
Encyclopedia of Women in Today's World by Stange, Oyster and Sloane (2011).
In addition to being a prolific artist and the author of eleven published books, Judy Chicago pioneered a unique, content-based pedagogy that helps art students find their individual voices while aspiring to aesthetic excellence. Her methodology dates back to the early 1970’s when she set up the first program aimed at women students at California State University, Fresno. At that time, although the preponderance of undergraduates in art school were female, few became practicing professionals. Chicago set out to change this; out of the fifteen Fresno students, nine became successful professional artists.
After a year, Chicago was invited to bring her program to the California Institute of the Arts (Cal-Arts), a new school north of Los Angeles, where she team taught with artist Miriam Schapiro. The Feminist Art Program produced Womanhouse, the first female-centered art installation. Womanhouse – whose reverberations are still felt today – jump-started the Feminist Art movement which went on to become a global phenomenon, introducing new subject matter, media and approaches to art making.
from http://www.judychicago.com/educator
Judy Chicago's Educator Timeline
Woman’s Building: In 1973, Chicago partnered with the late art historian Arlene Raven and renowned designer Sheila De Bretteville to found the Feminist Studio Workshop (FSW), the first independent feminist art program.
SINsation Title wall, IU Bloomington, 1999: In 1974, Chicago stopped teaching in order to focus entirely upon studio work. She returned to academia in 1999 when she began a series of semester-long residencies at universities around the country. Her first appointment was at Indiana University, Bloomington, where she facilitated a project class that culminated in an exhibition at the I.M. Pei designed art museum on campus.
Duke University: In 2000, Chicago held appointments at both Duke University and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (UNC). The UNC class was a graduate seminar while at Duke, she facilitated a class called “From Theory to Practice” in which she guided students in projects based upon three subjects: women’s history; birth and creation; and the Holocaust, An exhibition was held at the end of the semester which so impressed the administration that they held it over so that it could be seen by students and faculty across the campus.
Western Kentucky University: In 2001, in celebration of the thirty-year anniversary of the famed Womanhouse, Chicago and Woodman were invited to re-visit the subject of the home in a project class for both women and men at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green.
Envisioning the Future: 2003 brought another team-taught project when Chicago and Woodman facilitated “Envisioning the Future”, a public/private partnership in the Pomona Arts Colony, east of Los Angeles. In 2003, Chicago and Donald Woodman facilitated eight artmaking groups, training and supervising the eight artists who headed up each of the groups. At the end of the project, there were twelve exhibitions around the Inland Valley are of Los Angeles.
Vanderbilt University: In 2005, Chicago and Woodman became the first Chancellor’s Artists in Residence at Vanderbilt University, where they again facilitated students and local artists in a project called “Invoke/Evoke/Provoke”.
The Dinner Party Curriculum Project: When Judy Chicago created The Dinner Party, it was with the intention of educating a broad and diverse audience about women’s achievements. In 2007, Judy Chicago created some guidelines for teachers wishing to use the piece as a basis for classroom projects. In 2009, Through the Flower launched the K-12 Dinner Party Curriculum Project, a comprehensive curriculum that can educate, empower and inspire students at all grade levels.
Kutztown University: An annual Dinner Party Institute led by Dr. Marilyn Stewart and colleagues where teachers explore the curriculum and visit The Dinner Party at the Brooklyn Museum with Judy Chicago.
Penn State: In 2010, Penn State University acquired Judy Chicago Art Education Archive, described by the university as one of the most important private collections of archival materials on feminist art education. This information adapted from http://www.judychicago.com/educator/timeline.php
You can read all about Judy Chicago's educational theory by clicking this link: http://throughtheflower.org/pedagogy/
Judy Chicago lives in New Mexico and is represented by the David Richard gallery. You can see her work right here in Santa Fe at David Richard Contemporary, 130 Lincoln Avenue, Suite D.
Photos courtesy of judychicago.com press kit
Fogelson Library and Chase Library have several of Judy Chicago's books. Visit the online catalog or ask a staff member for more information.
