Woman Made Gallery

The Woman Made Gallery (WMG) is a Chicago based non-profit gallery primarily showing work by women artists. Woman Made's goal is to provide opportunities, awareness, and advocacy to women artists and to ensure the equal placement of women's art in the art world. WMG is Chicago's oldest feminist art gallery and one of the leading organizations promoting women's art in the US.[1]

Founded in 1992, by Kelly Hensen and Beate Minkovski,[2] Woman Made Gallery has hosted a total of 322 exhibitions, 174 of which were group shows, 109 solo or invitational shows, 40 Artisan Gallery exhibitions, and eleven of which were off-site shows. WMG has shown the work of more than 7,300 women artists.[3]

The gallery has been associated with artists like Judy Chicago and Faith Ringgold.[4]

Development

Woman Made Gallery was originally housed in Ravenswood Manor on Chicago's Northside (4646 N Rockwell St), from 1992 until August 1997. WMG then moved to Prairie Avenue (1900 S. Prairie Ave),[5] south of downtown Chicago from 1997-2003. This location was more centrally located and closer to more diverse neighborhoods of people. The new location also had more exhibition space and allowed WMG to display works form their Permanent Collection. In early 2003 WMG moved again to Humboldt Park (2418 W Bloomingdale Ave)[6]), where they remained until November 2005. WMG moved to 685 N. Milwaukee Ave, nearby to Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art and the former location of ARC Gallery. This space is 3,000 square feet with two levels. In 2017, WMG moved to its current location at Lacuna Lofts (2150 S. Canalport Ave, Suite 4A3[7])

Mission

The gallery's founder, Beate Minkovski, stated in an interview that the gallery's priority is to provide a platform for women artists' perspective. She added, “Woman Made fills a niche that is important, not just now, but also for the future,” states Minkovski. “It’s almost like saying, African American galleries: are they necessary or not? Will they ever not be necessary? When men say, ‘Why? It’s all the same? Why can’t I show my work?’ we used to say ‘You have the whole world where you can show.’”[8]

WMG's current logo was designed in 2012 by a team at Firebelly University. The logo, an intertwined "W" and "M" symbolizes how women in the arts support one another.[9]

References
  1. "A New Vision for Chicago's Oldest Feminist Gallery". Hyperallergic. Retrieved 14 October 2013.
  2. "Woman Made Gallery marks 25 years, new location - Gay Lesbian Bi Trans News Archive". Windy City Times. Retrieved 2019-01-25.
  3. "About Us". Woman Made Gallery. Retrieved 14 October 2013.
  4. Owens Anderson, Joyce (Winter 2019). "We Flew Over the Bridge: The Memoirs of Faith Ringgold". The Journal of African American History. 91: 364–365 – via jstor.
  5. Figliulo, Susan. "Prairie Avenue Historic District: What's Left". Chicago Reader. Retrieved 2019-01-25.
  6. Jepsen, Cara. "Woman Made's Fixer-Upper". Chicago Reader. Retrieved 2019-01-25.
  7. "Woman Made Gallery marks 25 years, new location - Gay Lesbian Bi Trans News Archive". Windy City Times. Retrieved 2019-01-25.
  8. "ARC & Woman Made Gallery on the Issue of Feminism : Chicago Art Magazine". chicagoartmagazine.com. Retrieved 2019-01-25.
  9. "History". Woman Made Gallery. Retrieved 14 October 2013.

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