Women in the Arts
Photo courtesy of Emma Jones
Seniors Emma Jones and Alyssa Robbins went to the National Museum of Women in the Arts to go and learn about and celebrate artwork created by women. This picture displays one of the hands-on exhibits in the museum. This exhibit has a plethora of sticky notes for people to write for other women and to write where they feel safe and why they feel safe there. This is meant to empower women.
April 27, 2018
The National Museum of Women in the Arts is a museum dedicated entirely to commemorating the accomplishments of women in the visual, performing, and literary arts. Located in Washington D.C., it’s the only museum committed to recognizing female artists.
With 4,500 artworks, created by more than 1,000 women artists, this museum is unique from any other museum downtown.
“It’s basically a museum that focuses on women’s art and things that reflect female roles but it’s more for female empowerment” said sophomore Maya Betts. “My grandma was in town and so my mom decided the go there because she heard good things about it from all her friends.”
After opening its doors in 1987, the museum has obtained many works of art, including paintings, sculptures, paper works, and decorative art from many different female artists such as Mary Cassatt, Frida Kahlo, and Élisabeth Louise Vigée-Le Brun.
“There was an exhibit called Women House that showed how women are placed in domestic roles but the art broke the barrier of the roles. I thought that was interesting because it’s kind of like showing women gaining rights and being able to do work other than just in the house” said Betts.
The founder of the museum, Wilhelmina Holladay, created and opened the museum in hopes to acknowledge overlooked artists in order to inspire future female contemporary artists.
“I think it will inspire female artists to communicate their role in life and their views on gender equality” said Betts.
At the museum, there is an exhibit with pink and white sticky notes that people are to fill out. Some sticky notes read various questions that the visitors are to answer, and others are “for those who” prompts.
“All the sticky notes are meant to have messages about feminism and how it feels to be a woman” said senior Emma Jones, who also visited the National Museum of Women in the Arts.
“This piece really stood out to me because not only is it a beautiful and interactive piece, but also, the artist who designed it put her trust into everyone contributing to it.”
The National Museum of Women in the Arts is just as inspiring as it is empowering. It breaks common gender stereotypes and shows that women are just as strong as men, if not stronger.
“I would recommend everyone to go to this museum to feel empowered and learn about gender equality” said Betts.
