Women Artists: Multi-Cultural Visions

196 Pages·1992·23.372 MB·English

by  Betty LaDuke, Charleen Touchette

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Multi-Cultural Visions
Betty LaDuke
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Women Artists —
Multi-Cultural Visions
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Betty LaDuke
Preface by Charleen Touchette
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Cover: There is a Woman in Every Color by Elizabeth Catlett
Back cover: Betty LaDuke with painting by Mine Okubo at the
Women’s Caucus for Art Honors Ceremony, National Museum for
Women in the Arts, 1991.
Book design by Mary Jo Heidrick
Typography by IMPAC Publications
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Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 91-68511
ISBN: 0-932415-77-6 Cloth
ISBN: 0-932415-78-4 Paper
Copyright © 1992 Betty LaDuke
First Printing 1992
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be repro-
duced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or
by any means electronic, mechanical or otherwise without the
prior written permission of the publisher.
The Red Sea Press, Inc.
15 Industry Court
Trenton, New Jersey 08638
Dedicated
to my first
art teachers”
and artist friends
Charles White
and
Elizabeth Catlett
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WOMEN ARTISTS — MULTI-CULTURAL VISIONS
Acknowledgment
DURING THE TEN-YEAR gestation period of Women Artists:
Multi-Cultural Visions many people from distances both far and
near contributed to the book’s fruition. Foremost I acknowledge
each artist for sharing with me aspects of her personal life, cul-
tural heritage, and creative process. En route, there were numer-
ous friends and strangers who assisted, sometimes when least
expected. For example: Elinor Gadon xeroxed a much needed ref-
erence book from the Harvard University library and made it
available to me; in Patna, India, V.P. Marchante accompanied me
by train and rickshaw to the remote Mithila region, facilitating
the interviews with the women painters; and in Sarawak,
Borneo, Bonnie Bollwinkle translated the Iban dialect during
longhouse interviews with the women weavers. While there have
been many other generosities, the names of the people have
faded, but their spirit of goodwill has not.
Through the years, three very special Ashland, Oregon
friends, Chela Tapp, Florence Schneider, and Olive Streit, have
vicariously made these journeys with me through the long writ-
ing process. Since it is difficult for me to shape words, rather
than line, form, and color into meaningful reality-visions, their
patience, and encouragement made the final results possible.
Beginning with my first trip to India in 1972, Peter Westigard,
my husband, has been consistently supportive and encouraging,
both personally and professionally.
Once again, I want to thank my friends and typists, Lois
Wright and Mary Burgess, who patiently struggled with the origi-
nal handwritten pages, and the graphic designer, Mary Jo
Heidrich, for her sensitive coordination of the visual and verbal
components.
Many of the chapters which compose this book have previ-
ously appeared in part as articles in the following books and
journals: Women’s Art Journal; Women Artists of the World;
Trivia, A Journal of Ideas; KSOR Guide to the Arts; Forbidden
Stitch, Art Education; City Lights Review; and Perspectives:
National Women’s Studies Association.
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The following photographs were taken by others or loaned from their col-
lections: Figures 2-36 and 2-37, courtesy of Karuna Shaha; 2-1, courtesy
of Luis Blanco; 4-2, 4-3, 4-4, and 4-6, collection of the Philbrook Art
Museum; 4-5 and 4-8, courtesy of Pablita Velarde; 4-12, 4-13, 4-14, and
4-15, courtesy of Cradoc Bagshaw; 5-5, 5-7, 5-8, 5-9, 5-10, and 5-11,
courtesy of Patricia Rodriguez; 6-2, 6-3, 6-4, 6-5, 6-6, 6-7, 6-8, 6-9, and
6-10, photographed by Susan R. Mogul; 7-2 and 7-17, courtesy of Mine
Okubo; 8-5, courtesy of Estella Lauter; 10-1, 10-2, 10-3, 10-4, 10-6,
courtesy of Milenah Lah; and 10-5, courtesy of Marija Braut.
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WOMEN ARTISTS — MULTI-CULTURAL VISIONS
Table of Contents
Preface: Charleen Touchette SSH BARRA on eS ix
Introduction
Women Artists: Multi-Cultural Visions .....................00ee0e- xi
Art, Ecology, and Spirituality
1 Borneo: Weaving Sacred Pua and
ReAtEl OTESU ECOLOGY 35 5282 2eis.2 01 vas eve Sh ndsstenseosose asetaenee-ce ss 3
2 India: Sacred Circles, Traditional
WGmlemibaintenrstOt liar. s.c.: ete ccerc ok csconssenccenesneteoccere DS
3 Mexico: Earth Magic: The Legacy
OlMLEOCOTAM LATICO teeters eee eos eee ee ee 51
Breaking Boundaries
4 Native-American Painters Pablita Velarde and
Helen Hardin: Tradition and Innovation .................cssecees 75
5 Chicana Artist Patricia Rodriguez:
Pablo Murals, PHVAte VISIONS (2.o.cc0..ccesbeeees sccoev eeesasee e 93
6 Yolanda Lopez: Breaking Chicana Stereotypes .............. 103
Mine Okubo: A Japanese-American Experience ............ 113
8 African-American Sculptor Elizabeth Catlett:
A Mighty Fist for Social Change ..........:ssssesesseseseesees 127
Art and Nationalism
9 Yugoslavia: Nives Kavuric-Kurtovic:
Looking at Your Own ContradictionSmec cece eee 147
10 Yugoslavia: Milenah Lah, Sculptural Poetry ................. 159
11 Betty LaDuke: The Great Chain of Being .........0 165