Full Circle: A Tribute to the Cultural Diversity of Women’s Art, Pen and Brush, New York

About Pen and Brush

“I think we have one of the best of the women’s arts organizations that I know of,” says Janice Sands, Executive Director of Pen and Brush. I’ll go out on a limb and say we have the most diverse exhibitor base of any of them. And from other art organizations that are as old as the Pen and Brush, I will also go out on a limb and say far and away we have the most diverse.”

Sands adds, “When I started at the Pen and Brush ten years ago, there was a real sameness to a lot of the work. Very traditional, very representational. And we’ve come a very long way. If you look at the shows and what you will see when you come in compared to what you would have seen ten years ago, it would be completely unrecognizable to you. For one thing, there were no such things as exhibitions for women of African descent. There was no such thing of an exhibit in celebration of women’s history month. Those things didn’t exist.”

Later this month the Pen and Brush will host a brunch with Molly MacGregor, the Executive Director and Co-founder of the National Women’s History Project. Participants will be able to view the Tribute to Cultural Diversity of Women’s Art exhibition, and then gather together for a bus trip to the Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museum to view Judy Chicago’s ‘Dinner Party.”

Founded in 1894, the Pen and Brush is housed in an elegant brownstone in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village. The not-for-profit organization is comprised of women professionally active in the literary, visual, and performing arts. The goals: to promote women in the arts, foster high standards of aesthetics and craftsmanship, to develop the professional activities of its members, and to educate the general public about the significance of art in personal and community life.

Throughout most of the year, exhibitions of paintings, graphic art, mixed media, photographs, sculpture, and crafts are held in the galleries. Poetry, prose, and play readings, lectures, demonstrations, concerts and receptions are regularly scheduled. Other activities include meetings, discussions, and receptions.

And Full Circle? “Planning this [exhibition] is great fun,” says Sands, “and the reward is to walk through the space before we open to the public and get a kind of private look at the show. I would say that almost everything that we’ve done in the past couple of years has been really, really rewarding. The work’s gotten better and better. Not just in terms of its quality and proficiency, but in the diversity of the work. And the only way to get that is to have the broadest possible call for artist participation.” The Pen and Brush invites any woman to become a member

It is Her Circle Ezine’s pleasure to introduce this exclusive online engagement of Full Circle: A Tribute to the Cultural Diversity of Women’s Art to you today.