The Craft Studio hosted its 20th annual Women in the Arts reception showcasing the work of 29 female Missouri artists including current students, alumni and professional artists on Thursday. Attendees had the opportunity to meet some of the artists, listen to live guitar and learn more about the pieces.

The Missouri Students Association and Graduate Professional Council sponsored the event in collaboration with the Women’s Center and the Women’s History Month Committee.

“In this modern context, students don’t think about the lack of representation of women in the history of art,” Craft Studio coordinator Kelsey Hammond said. “This (event) gets people to talk about why we have this show and what role gender plays in art.”

The exhibition also celebrated the 40th year the Craft Studio has been at MU. Jo Stealey, the original coordinator of the Craft Studio and a professor in the Art Department, juried the exhibition.

“I looked for work that best depicted the idea selected by the artist as well as a balance in the variety of approaches and media represented by the entries,” Stealey said. “Due to space, many worthy works needed to be eliminated.”

The winning piece, titled “The Novice (Bearly Legal),” was created by Art Department assistant professor Catherine Armbrust. The costume piece made of yarn, latex and googly eyes “satirizes the often-ostentatious masquerade of American mating rituals,” according to Armbrust’s artist statement.

The mannequin piece was part of the artist’s thesis project “Faking It,” which included three male and three female figures.

“The theme of my project was personas that we craft for ourselves in order to attract others,” Armbrust said. “The work as a whole pokes fun at gender stereotyping.”

Second-year graduate student Shirley Boudreaux’s fibers piece “Holding On By A Thread” was also featured in the show. In her artist statement, she explained the piece as symbolizing a transformational and uncertain stage of a person’s life.

Boudreaux said she was motivated to submit her work because women in the arts have a place in her heart.

“Being a woman, wife, and a mother of three grown children, I have taught my own daughter to speak up and to be an advocate for women’s rights but not a feminist,” Boudreaux said. “If it’s a mother, artist, teacher, wife or a single daughter, make yourself happy first. I believe that all women have that right.”

The Women in the Arts show has diversified over the years with the artists who are featured and the people who attend.

“I was able to learn about the meanings behind the pieces I found beautiful and the ones I found bizarre, thus appreciating them more,” sophomore Kelly Johnson said. “The show was definitely a success. There were a lot of people, but what really showed its success was the number of men at the show as well.”

The works of Armbrust, Boudreaux and the other artists will remain in the Craft Studio gallery until March 22.