Great Women and the Arts of the West
Denver Art Museum’s annual Petrie Institute of Western American Art symposium spotlights women who have shaped the arts in the West.
Denver, CO
On January 6 Denver Art Museum will host its 15th annual Petrie Institute of Western American Art symposium, but this year’s event will take place virtually due to the coronavirus crisis. This online format, with the topic of “Great Women and the Arts of the West,” will allow a greater reach for the event in regards to participants and with having speakers from across the continent lending their knowledge and expertise to the day’s talks.
The symposium kicks off at 10 a.m. with a welcome from Thomas Brent Smith, director of the Petrie Institute of Western American Art, followed by an introduction from Jennifer R. Henneman, associate curator of Western American art, who will moderate the symposium. The day is set up in two sessions of two talks followed by 30 minute Q&AS led by Henneman.
“2021 is the 50th anniversary of the essay ‘Why have there been no great women artists?’ by art historian Linda Nochlin,” says Henneman. “That’s where we draw the title ‘Great Women’
from. [The symposium focuses on] feminism, integration and considering what kind of work has been done, scholarly work, details on some of the artworks by female artists we have recently acquired…and considering the ways women have been active in the arts of the West.”
From 10:35 to 11:15 a.m., Anne Whitelaw, professor in the department of art history and provost and vice president academic at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada, will present “Why Have There Been So Many Great Women Volunteers? Gender, Race, Class and Labor in the mid-20th Century North American Art Museums of the West.” According to Smith, the lecture will focus on “how women were important to the development in art institutions. That’s particularly the case in the American West, including our own institution.” Following, from 11:20 a.m. to noon, is a talk on sculptor Eugenie Shonnard from Christian Waguespack, a curator and scholar from Santa Fe, New Mexico.
A lunch break will happen from 12:30 to 1 p.m., with the symposium picking up with a 20-minute discussion on “Collecting Women Artists for the Petrie Institute” from Henneman. Then from 1:20 to 2 p.m., Jill Ahlberg Yohe and Teri Greeves (Kiowa), the co-curators of the popular Hearts of Our People museum exhibition, will shift the focus to Native American artists with “Recognize: Native Women Artists and the Creation of the American Art Field.” To round out the programming, from 2:05 to 2:45 p.m. is “Faces of Belonging: Asian American Portraiture in the Exclusion-era California,” by Shipu Wang, the Coats Endowed Chair in the Arts and professor of art history at the University of California, Merced. Wang’s segment, as Smith shares, will have a particular focus on the work of Japanese American artists.
Advanced registration is required for the symposium with nominal fees to participate. Confirmation includes a welcome letter with details on how to log in to the event.