Images from top to bottom:  NAEA Logo; Slides from Dolores Eaton's presentation.

In Baltimore this past April, art educators Dolores Eaton and Hannah Koch did presentations on The Dinner Party Curriculum Project (The DPCP), giving the Project its second appearance at the National Art Education Association Annual Conference. It was a fitting year to discuss the Project as the theme of the conference was Art Education and Social Justice. 

Dolores introduced the Project by providing a synopsis of the history leading to what is available today on the Through the Flower Dinner Party Curriculum website. The story began years ago when Judy Chicago solicited the expertise of art educators Drs. Constance Bumgarner Gee, Marilyn Stewart, Peg Speirs, and Carrie Nordlund the latter three of Kutztown University of Pennsylvania. Background and context was provided by discussing the feminist principles upon which the Curriculum is based. The importance in the curriculum of creating community, encouraging dialogue, and promoting decision-making and negotiation were also explored. Dolores then updated the audience about what has happened since the official unveiling of The DPCP at the 2009 NAEA conference in Minneapolis,including a Dinner Party Curriculum educator's workshop held in Corpus Christi, Texas, and ever increasing numbers of downloads and inquiries from around the world.

Hannah reported on her creation of the new Facebook page, DPCP Forum, for which she is the moderator. Her focus is to provide a place dedicated to building conversations around the women represented in The Dinner Party, Feminist art, and women's issues, as well as The DPCP.  Hannah talked about how her life has been enriched by learning about the lives of the women at the Table.
 
Dolores then explained the Curriculum, describing the multiple entry points, or "Encounters" available to educators. Next, she presented two examples of projects implemented by Pennsylvania art teachers during the previous school year. After describing each lesson, Dolores referenced back to the particular parts of the Curriculum from which the lessons stemmed. These examples served to illustrate how the curriculum framework is designed to allow teachers to tailor their investigation of The Dinner Party to fit their particular educational situations.

The presentation was well received by the audience, stimulating a lively discussion as well as post presentation conversations. 

   Judy Chicago and TTF Board Member Toby Shor
   with exhibition poster in the Corpus Christi airport.

I have to admit that I am having trouble keeping up with my life because it's so full - and exciting. The last few months have seen the opening of my glass show at the Museum of South Texas in Corpus Christi where Donald also had a wonderful exhibit of his photographs, which was great for us. Toby Shor, who helped to organize both the show and the many events connected to it, did a fantastic job, raising more money for Through the Flower than any other board member in the history of the organization. She even got us a spot in the airport where there were posters advertising the show.
          

The Judy Chicago
Grand Rapids billboard.

I also did a short lecture tour in the Midwest where (fortunately) Donald accompanied me, having finally convinced me that now that I am 70, it is better that I not travel alone (as usual, he is right). At our first stop in Grand Rapids, Michigan, my talk was advertised by a huge billboard featuring the photograph that Donald took to commemorate my 65th birthday (which we're FINALLY going to update). The lecture was held in a multi-plex movie theater which allowed the images of my work to be huge. At least, people didn't eat popcorn during my talk.
           
In the middle of all this, I have continued working in my studio, as I am having a number of solo exhibitions in the upcoming months. In 2007, I started a new glass series focused on the head. The first selection of these was in the Corpus Christi show (along with a number of the large hands from my first glass series). The heads were all based upon a life cast of Toby Shor's head. Its shape and the expression on her face inspired me to do 12 Toby Heads, mostly in glass but some incorporating bronze, a media I've used before. I also created a series of Toby Mugs in both glass and china-painted porcelain based upon historical English character mugs. The complete series will be exhibited for the first time at LewAllen Contemporary in the Railyard (in Santa Fe) from June 18th - July 25th.
           
In September, Setting the Table: Preparations for Judy Chicago's Dinner Party, a touring exhibition organized by ACA, my New York gallery, will open at the Evansville Museum in Indiana. Later that month, another major glass show will open in Montreal, Canada, at the Musee des Maitres et Artisans, a converted church where my monumental stained glass window, Rainbow Shabbat, will be installed beneath a traditional Christian window.
           

New Book by Judy Chicago and
Frances Borzello,
 Frida Kahlo: Face to Face.

October will see a kick-off event at the Brooklyn Museum for the publication of Frida Kahlo: Face to Face, co-authored by me and Frances Borzello, the British art historian. Frances is an expert in female self-portraiture, a context into which (strangely) Kahlo has not often been placed. Throughout the rest of the year, I will be touring for book events in Washington, D.C., Chicago, Santa Fe, San Diego and Los Angeles. In mid-October, tandem solo shows will open in New York; my first glass show in New York at ACA (Judy Chicago in Glass) and a survey show (Surveying Judy Chicago) at Ico, a nearby, ground floor gallery on 26th Street. There will be several public events in conjunction with these exhibitions. Check out "Get Out Your Calendars" in this newsletter for a complete listing of my upcoming public activities and check my website for updates.
           
Also, earlier, in New York (in July), there will be a full day at the Brooklyn Museum for the participants in The Dinner Party Institute, our annual workshop to train teachers in how best to implement Through the Flower's K-12 Dinner Party Curriculum. The workshop program is co-sponsored by Kutztown University, the National Art Education Association (NAEA) and of course, TTF. This day will include my private tour of The Dinner Party, along with a special walk-through of the Kiki Smith show by Catherine Morris, curator of the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art.
            
At the end of the day, there will be a reception for participants in the workshop along with invited guests at ACA gallery, where Through the Flower's first annual cash award will be presented to a teacher for the most innovative application of The Dinner Party Curriculum. This year's

Andrea Horn's "Mothers of Mother Earth"
Dinner Party Curriculum Classroom Connection

winner will be Andrea Horn, who for two consecutive years did a fabulous program for 5th graders titled Mothers of Mother Earth.
           
In terms of the curriculum, Through the Flower's board, Marilyn Stewart (board member and chair of the Education Committee as well as our lead curriculum writer) and I have been discussing my goal of ensuring that the curriculum and The Dinner Party Institute will become embedded within an institutional home so that it can continue in perpetuity. The historical information embodied in The Dinner Party empowered me along with the many thousands of viewers and readers of my books.
         
I am often asked how I managed to keep going during the difficult years when I had few opportunities, faced much critical vitriol, and I and TTF were struggling to care for and protect The Dinner Party until its permanent housing could be achieved. One answer is that I knew women's history; I knew what women before me had faced and overcome. For example, when Elizabeth Blackwell (the first woman to graduate from medical school in America) was studying, she was completely isolated. During the two years of her training, no one ever invited her to dinner and she was often spit on as she walked down the street. Nonetheless, she opened the medical profession to women. And I would think: if she could do it, so can I.
           
It is my deep hope that future generations will know both The Dinner Party and the empowering and inspiring history that it symbolizes - not as a special or add-on course - but as a vital and natural part of their education. In my view, the most effective way to accomplish this aim is for the curriculum and related training programs to become part of an educational institution which is what we are trying to achieve.

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