Judy Chicago art education collection

Judy Chicago is a feminist artist, author, and educator best known for The Dinner Party, a multimedia art installation honoring women in history, created with the participation of hundreds of volunteers between 1974 and 1979. Other major works of art include: the Birth Project (1980-1985), The Holocaust Project: From Darkness to Light (1985-1993), and Resolutions: A Stitch in Time (1994-2000).

Born Judith Sylvia Cohen in 1939, she later adopted the surname Chicago, the city of her birth, as a rejection of patriarchal naming conventions. After receiving her B.A. (1962) and M.F.A. (1964) from the University of California, Los Angeles, Chicago pioneered a feminist, content-based approach to art education through teaching positions at the California State University, Fresno (1970-1971) and the California Institute of the Arts (1971-1972). There she helped to organize and produce the ground-breaking Womanhouse installation and exhibition (1971). In addition to ‘central core imagery,’ Chicago’s work often utilizes stereotypically ‘feminine’ art techniques like embroidery, ceramics, needlework, and weaving. Though her art has been exhibited internationally and received many honors, it has also been subject to ongoing debate and criticism. Even her most influential work, The Dinner Party, did not find a permanent home until 2007, when the Brooklyn Museum made it the centerpiece of their new Sackler Center for Feminist Art.

In the late 1990s, Chicago returned to teaching with a succession of appointments at universities across the United States, often working with her husband, photographer Donald Woodman. In addition to Chicago’s work as an artist and educator, she is the author of numerous books, including Institutional Time: A Critique of Studio Art Education, and two autobiographies: Through the Flower: My Struggle as a Woman Artist (1975) and Beyond the Flower: The Autobiography of a Feminist Artist (1996).

Chicago’s non-profit organization is also called Through the Flower. Founded in 1978 to help raise funds for completing The Dinner Party, it maintains Chicago’s art legacy and works to educate the public about women’s achievements in art. It is based in Belen, New Mexico, where Chicago and Woodman currently reside.