The 19th annual Women in the Arts exhibition kicked off with a reception Thursday in MU’s Craft Studio.
Every year, the Craft Studio holds the exhibition in conjunction with Women’s History Month to pay tribute to local female artists who strive to excel in the arts field on the same level with men.
More than 50 people attended the event and earned a relaxing evening accompanied by live folk music by local band Dubb Nubb.
Craft Studio Coordinator Kelsey Hammond said this show addresses the issue of women traditionally not having the medium and voice to express their love and passion for arts.
“When you look at the history of art, you learn a lot about male artists because they were the one who were allowed to make art,” Hammond said. “Women are still playing catch up today, so we’re carving out a space where women have the floor to have their voices to be heard.”
Every year, a local artist selects the finalists of the exhibition, Hammond said.
This year, Artlandish Gallery owner Lisa Bartlett picked out 31 artists to be featured in the show.
Hammond said every exhibition of the past 18 years has been a surprise, but this year’s is especially bouncy and happy because of the diversified nature of the art works, ranging from photography and small-scale sculpture to fibers and paintings.
In the center of the gallery, a miniature terrarium stood by itself and appeared to be especially delicate. The artist, Amber Ward said it belongs to a series of 13 and is the smallest one.
The two over-arching themes about this artwork are self-identity and earth science, Ward said.
“This series is inspired by my two favorite science teachers who helped inform my identity,” she said. “And I’d like to examine this transformation of having a price tag associated to my work.”
Across from the terrarium, a black and white photograph of a naked woman attracted many people’s eyes.
Artists Sidney Stretz and Elaine Bezold said they wanted to create something that isn’t aggressively feminist but is able to incorporate the idea of women in the arts and be playful at the same time.
“We try to combine our love for photography with the fact that photography is a male-dominated field,” Bezold said. “There’s a very tight canon on what’s acceptable and what isn’t. We really wanted to be playful but it can be very constricted because many of our educators are men.”
She added that they attempt to play with the idea of identity removal via this photography.
“You can’t know who this woman is even though you know everything else about her body,” Bezold said.
Stretz said photographing female nude figures is a way to demonstrate that women should feel comfortable and confident about their bodies.
The artist duo agreed that with this exhibition held during Women’s History Month, it allowed women to be blatantly feminist and talking about issues that concern them.
“We feel like the art world is still very much male-dominated, but in a contemporary context women should have an equal role as artists,” Stretz said.
The show continues until May 30. For more information, call the Craft Studio at 573-882-2889.
