Chicago - February 22, 2005 Group exhibition "8th International Open" with art by 50 women from across the country and overseas and Invitational exhibition "Diversity and Spirit" curated by the Chicago Women's Caucus of Art opens on March 4th with an artist reception from 6-9pm at Woman Made Gallery in Chicago, Illinois.

In her juror statement Lynne Warren states: "It was a pleasure to see the great range of entries to the Woman Made 8th International Open. I have never before juried an exhibition limited to women's submissions only and found it quite gratifying to see works showing women's particular concerns as well as works that deal with the entire range of contemporary art mediums and topics. The number of entries made the competition to be in the exhibition very tight; I unfortunately was faced with very tough decisions and must say that I admired many of the artists' submissions that could not be included, because of space limitations, in the exhibtion.

I made a point to include works that reflected the range of entries. This resulted in a broad survey, with works that range from the whimsical to grave social and political realities. The styles are figurative and abstract; the media include painting, drawings, sculpture, objects coming out of crafts traditions (some of my favorite pieces!) photography, and video. And the women artists are from Chicago, the Midwest, the United States, and the world." -Lynne Warren, Curator - Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago.

Illinois artists include Shauna Angel Blue, Rachel Davis, Beatrice Fisher, Mary King, Christine LoFaso, Anni Holm, Judith Schubert Mullen, Danielle Nelson, STUTZ, Jennifer Thomas and Kathleen Waterloo. Other artists whose work is in this exhibition are Karen Goins from Hawaii, Jeong-Eun Shim from Korea, Sonia Haberstich from Canada, Wendy Ho and Helena Kvarnström from the United Kingdom and Hrafnhildur Sigurdardóttir from Iceland.

Image: "Spiders", paper, wire by Nnenna Okore

Invited artists include Marva Jolly, Makeba Kedem- DuBose, Joyce Owens, Paula P. Martinez, Diana Solis, Shirley Sullivan and Shyvette Williams.

Panel Discussion: Sunday, March 20th, 2-4 pm

Image: "I Hate to See the Evening Sun Go Down" acrylic on hardboard by Shirley J. Sullivan

Gallery Hours
Wed-Fri noon-7pm / Sat-Sun noon-4pm

About Woman Made Gallery

Woman Made Gallery is a tax-exempt, not for profit organization founded in 1992. Its goal is to support women in the arts by providing opportunities, awareness, and advocacy. It specifically accomplishes this through monthly thematic exhibitions which raise public awareness and recognition of women's cultural contributions.