Making Her Mark is an exhibition highlighting late nineteenth-century paintings, illustrations, books, and sculptures by Rhode Island women artists and their contributions to the modernity narrative. The exhibition focuses on a group of women artists who were instrumental in the establishment of one of the first American art clubs, The Providence Art Club, that accepted women as equal members, as active board members and as artistic colleagues. Over the course of the later half of nineteenth century women artists, such as Rosa Peckham, Emily McGary Selinger, Helen Watson Phelps, Emma Swan, Charlotte Gilman, Mary C. Wheeler, and Sophia Pitman, along with other female artists, worked, traveled, and exhibited alongside their male contemporaries. Many of these women pursued opportunities to show their artworks in salons and galleries in the United States and abroad, including Paris and London. These remarkable women, artists, suffragettes, art instructors, authors, and community leaders help form and contribute to the regional and national artistic and cultural conversation. The exhibition celebrates these women artists and recognizes their struggles as well as their accomplishments to the American history.
The exhibition is part of the capstone experience where students work in teams and apply their academic and professional knowledge to a real world experience. This is the 6th year that Dr. Anna Dempsey and Allison J. Cywin, art history professors, have directed a group of upperclassmen to execute a professional museum quality exhibition and publication. This student-run exhibition explores the definition of modernity and focuses on feminine artistic communities in Providence. This exhibition is made possible through the generous support of the Providence Art Club.
The exhibition runs from April 12 thru April 29, 2017 at the Main Campus Art Gallery located in the College of Visual & Performing Arts, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. Address is 285 Old Westport Road, adjacent to parking lot 7, Dartmouth, Massachusetts. We invite the public to attend the opening reception and gallery talk on Wednesday, April 12 from 4pm -6pm. The public exhibition hours are Monday – Saturday 10 a.m. -4 p.m. For more information, please contact, Dr. Anna Dempsey, adempsey@umassd.edu and Allison J. Cywin, acywin@umassd.edu. You can also call the gallery at 508-999-8550.
