Greetings!
Welcome to the WMG's first newsletter of 2012. This is a most exciting year as we are celebrating WMG's 20th Anniversary. It started out with our fabulous new logo, designed by Firebelly University. We have great things planned, and we'll share what's upcoming and bring you highlights of WMG's amazing history in our "Remember?" section. Please email us if you wish to tell us your WMG story or contribute your thoughts in any way. Thanks!
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| "20 in Their Twenties" Group Show |  Woman Made Gallery is proud to open its 20th Anniversary year with "20 in Their Twenties", a group exhibition with 29 works by 20 women artists under thirty years of age. The show is juried by Chicago artist Betsy Odom.
Included are painting, printmaking, mixed media, photography, installation, and video works by Indrani Ashe, An-Li Cheng, Kari Cholnoky, Missy Hammond Dunaway, Alexandria Eregbu, Rachel Fay, Silvia Gonzalez, Kate Hampel, Alyce Haliday McQueen, Monika Meler, Emily Moorhead, Liz Moretti, Eileen Mueller, Gaia Nardie-Warner, Allison Nault, Zahra Nazari, Anna Reich, Stacie Scott, Leah Shirley, and Jamie Steele.
The reception for the "20 in Their Twenties" group exhibition is on Friday, January 20th from 6 to 9 p.m.
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Solo Shows by Alexandria Eregbu + Betsy Odom
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 Simultaneously with the "20 in Their Twenties" group show, WMG is hosting solos shows by Chicago artists Alexandria Eregbu and Betsy Odom.
In her work Alexandria Eregbu investigates social identity through exploration of the body and attempts to understand how her role, as a young Black woman, functions within any given environment. She is interested in interpreting the body as a spectacle and the relationship of the gaze between herself, as an artist, and her viewers.
 Betsy Odom's pieces explore the ephemera surrounding displays of identity. She works with specific materials like tooled leather, sporty fabrics, chunky silver, automotive finishes, and airbrushed paints.
Seen in the right context these materials become signifiers of the cultural phenomena that have surrounded her own development: Southern culture, women's athletics, queer lifestyles, car enthusiasts, hobbyists, fantasy, or camp. The aesthetics of these groups, although rooted in functionality, often serve to reinforce embedded messages about gender, class, race, and sexuality.
The reception for Alexandria Eregbu's "A(ph)FRODITE" and Betsy Odom's "Gentlewoman" is on Friday, January 20th from 6 to 9 p.m.
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Poetry Reading: What Comes After Twenty
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In 2012, Woman Made Gallery celebrates it's 20th anniversary. For  a grass roots arts organization in these times, 20 years is an accomplishment reflecting the organization's sturdiness, maturity and standing in the community.
We begin this year by celebrating poets in their 20s, a life stage in which the artist/poet is coming into her own, learning from the examples of those who came before, experimenting, finding and discovering her own voice.
Please join us for "What Comes After Twenty" on January 29, 2012 from 2 to 4 p.m. This program includes promising voices from both academic and performance arenas: Carina Finn, Meghan Foratjer, Hannah Gamble, Shelley Elaine Geiszler, Sara Jedd, Ji-Yoon Lee, Stephanie Lane Sutton, and Teresa Veramendi. The event is open and free to the public.
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Workshop with Tammi Franke | |
Legal Issues for the Visual Artist
Thursday, February 2, 2012 / 6-8pm
Tammi Franke will provide an overview of the legal issues facing visual artist and designers with practical legal direction for any artist involved with creative work. If you are creating art, selling art, and consigning art, you need to know your rights. This workshop provides the basics for visual artists on how to protect their creative work and engage in the business of art.
Topics include:
* copyright and trademarks
* artist-gallery relationships
* art and privacy
* optimal contract terms and conditions
* business structure and incorporation
The workshop is free for WMG members / $35 for non-members
Please RSVP if you wish to attend! Thanks.
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Juried Exhibitions: Call for Art
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Consumer Culture
Exhibition Dates: May 4 - June 21, 2012
Juror: M.E. Ware
Entry Deadline: Feb. 9, 2012
Open to women artists, "Consumer Culture" seeks works in all media that address the issues surrounding and resulting from the insidious desire for consumption and the waste products produced by fullfilling that need.
More here...
Inspired By...
Celebrating Illinois Women Artists and Artisans
Exhibition Dates: Aug. 24 - Sept. 27, 2012
Juror: Mary Stoppert
Entry Deadline: June 1, 2012
Invitation to all women artists and artisans in Illinois to submit artwork in all media for this open exhibition. We are looking for art that has been inspired by a specific artist. You must identify the artist and include a statement of how you were influenced and that inspiration must be visually evident in the work.
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| Remember? |  From Mary Ellen Croteau: "One of my fondest memories of Woman Made is the SisterSerpents show that I curated on Rockwell, titled "Home Improvements: Demolishing Domesticity." The whole gallery was turned over to this radical feminist installation, including the bathroom. There was a living room filled with feminist books, a kitchen with a cutting board full of male body parts, a baby's room full of dirty diapers and a marriage bed made of bent forks. We also hosted a sit down dinner with 30 women attending. WMG was dedicated to feminist art and this project was a perfect fit. Hundreds attended the exhibition, and a good time was had by all (we think.)
Another great show was "Mary Mary Quite Contrary" in 1996. It drew death threats from crazies who had never even seen the artwork, just read about it in the Reader and sent it spinning in their fundamentalist fear factor echo chamber. Until just recently, those screeds would pop up every time you googled my name, seemingly with a half-life equal to nuclear waste.
I have to say, I miss those more radical days. We sure did raise some Cain!"
("Women on a Pedestal" sculpture by Mary Ellen Croteau was part of the "Mary Mary Quite Contrary Show in 1996)
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| Help Spread the Word about WMG | 
Woman Made Gallery is turning 20 this year! In our 20 years we have shown the work of approximately 7,000 women artists, helped thousands of artists with their careers, and let the public know about women's important artistic contributions.
Unfortunately, there are still so many people everywhere who have never heard of WMG.
We want to use this milestone to launch a year-long innovative marketing campaign that celebrates the amazing artists that make up our vibrant community while spreading the word that WMG exists, and that everyone should come visit in person or online because the work we do is important.
We need to raise funds for our marketing campaign which will include a new banner and gallery window sign with our new logo, 20 large-scale portraits and videos of women who have impacted the Gallery placed all over town, including ads on CTA buses, printing costs for commemorative merchandise celebrating 20 years of WMG, and much more.
You can help in two important ways: first, forward this newsletter to five other individuals (artists, collectors, art appreciators, feminists, humanists, people who would like to support the cause) so they know about WMG ... (the forward button is on the bottom of this email). Second, please consider a monetary donation to WMG-- even the smallest amount helps.
Your donation helps us realize our goal of an innovative and dynamic marketing campaign to honor the artists in our vibrant community as well as helps spread the word about the importance and need for supporting equality in the arts community.
You can donate safely and securely on the Helpers Unite site http://www.helpersunite.com/projects/77-20-years-strong where we are standing at $1,100 with 7 days to go... or visit our website to make your gift. Please ignore the request for a donation if you have done so recently. This newsletter is sent to all people in our database, regardless if they have recently given or not.
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Please send us feedback, ideas, memories, and share WMG with others. Your participation in any form, donor, member, exhibiting artist, poet, volunteer, partner, contributor, and appreciator makes WMG's future possible. Thanks for your part in WMG's past.
Sincerely,
Beate Minkovski, Executive Director
Woman Made Gallery |
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SAVE THE DATE
WMG GALA
April 20, 2012 |  |
WMG's 20th Anniversary Gala is set for Friday, April 20 at Salvage One. We'll have a live and silent auction, a 50/50 cash raffle with three prizes, delicious appetizers by our favorite catering company, Amazing Edibles, a wine bar, and entertainment by the Jazzifiers. We hope you can be there to celebrate with us. |
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WMG Sponsors | |
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WMG Board | |
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