BRIEF: ‘The Dinner Party’ retrospective invites UHCL women to submit work

Alyssa Shotwell, Humanities graduate student is inviting all women, or women identifying persons, to contribute to an upcoming exhibition highlighting extraordinary women. These women could be from history, myth/legend, religion or fiction. The medium is open to anything visual, written or auditory. If visual, it is not limited to a portrait, but must reflect her personhood and contributions to their respective fields or roles. 

Each applicant is asked to reflect on the following questions:

• Which women do I wish more people knew about?
• Which woman would I love to meet?

This exhibition serves as a retrospective to the anniversary of Judy Chicago’s 1979 “The Dinner Party” installation. Exactly 40 years ago this March, the now famous feminist show attracted thousands to the new campus. Chicago’s work highlighted 39 women with extravagant table settings and 998 women on “The Heritage Floor.”

“One of my biggest aims is to those conversations by bringing more voices and ideas to the table,” said Shotwell.

“The original work was constructed by one person who was limited by her background and personal experiences which is why even early on, I knew this retrospective would be me inviting other women to contribute with their perspective and discoveries. Also, the original work is collaborative and I wanted to keep in the spirit of that.”

This show will run March 9 to April 9, 2020.

Submissions should be turned in by Feb. 2, 2019. If work is in progress and can be completed before the Feb. 15, than submit what you have with an explanation of your progress and vision.

The applicant must be a UHCL alumna, student, faculty or staff member to submit to the art show. If someone is not affiliated to the university in those ways, but interested, please contact her at alyssamakesthings@gmail.com.