ARLIS/NA 30th / VRA 20th Joint Conference , Hyatt Regency, Union Station, St. Louis, Missouri - March 20-26, 2002

Women and Art (WomART) Round Table Meeting, Sunday, March 24, 2-4 p.m.

Moderator: Miguel Juarez

Recorder: Susan Clarke, June 12, 2002

Attending:

Bennett, Hannah; Clarke, Susan; Imm-Stroukoff, Eumie; Harrington, Sara; Juarez, Miguel ; Massa, Denise;  Nurse, Susan; Petraits, Ellen; Reed, Bonnie; Wallach, Ruth; Wasserman, Krystyna; Wasserman, Sharon; Williams, Jane.  Also Ted Goodman,  President of Arlis/NA, standing in for Allen Townsend, Liaison to all divisions, sections and roundtables, visited the group. 

Report

  1. Miguel Juarez, 2001 Moderator of the WomArt Roundtable, opened the meeting. and introduced Eumie Imm-Stroukoff, Moderator for 2002.  Every one else introduced themselves and a special welcome was extended to 1st time members and visitors Hannah Bennett, Denise Massa, Jane Williams, and Sara Harrington.
  1. Mr. Juarez called for nominations for Vice-Moderator for 2003.  Susan Nurse graciously volunteered and was accepted unanimously.  The ARLIS Conference for 2004 will be in Ms. Nurse's home state of New York.   Following this election, there was discussion about whether or not the Moderator should serve two years instead of one.  Ideally, the Moderator should train Vice Moderators during their first year, but this doesn’t always happen as it should.  On the other hand, a two-year Moderator position, with one year as Vice Moderator has drawbacks, too.  Some people can’t make every Conference due to financing.  It was decided that for now we will leave it as a one-year Moderator position, but to allow for flexibility in case a person wants to extend his/her tenure of office. 
  1. The Women and Art Website http://condor.depaul.edu/~sclarke/arlis/womart.html was discussed. Susan Clarke set up the site a few years ago, but a new server location, some redesign, updates, and regular maintenance are now needed.  Mr. Juarez said he would be happy to take it over.  Among the features of the current website is a list of members and those who, as of 2001, wished to be members.  New members names for 2002 should be added.  Ted Goodman said that  Jonathon Franklin  is the person to contact for linking the website to the Arlis/NA. Also, when we decide what documents we want archived, we can then send the paper copies to him.   Ms. Imm-Stroukoff and Mr. Juarez said they will review the archives to determine what should be included on the website and what should be sent to headquarters. 
  1. Mr. Juarez called our attention to the Conference event sponsored by WomART this year: Session IV: Women Artists of Saint Louis: Past and Present     Moderators: Laura Schwartz, University of Texas at Austin and Ellen Petraits, Washington University.   About 40 people attended.  It was very successful with an interesting mix of speakers-- a writer on the topic of women in St. Louis, a ceramicist, another artist/academic, and a woman collector and radio voice in the community.  Congratulations and a big thank-you to Ms. Schwartz and Ms. Petraits for this excellent session and all their hard work.
  1. A number of proposals for 2003 sessions were discussed. Ms. K. Wasserman pointed out that Baltimore had great patrons of the arts in the Cone sisters.   She said could contact Baltimore people by April 30/May 1st in time for a draft of a proposal.  It was decided that The Guerilla Girls, proposed in some earlier e-mails, would best be saved for New York in 2004.  Mr. Juarez suggested that New York might also be a good time for a session on Women Photographers.    Concern was expressed about women regional artists who don’t get into the museums.  This, too, might be a good subject for a session some time in the future.   Other proposals should be sent to Ms. Imm-Stroukoff, Ms. Nurse, and Mr. Juarez. 
  1. Update Newsletter.  Pat Siska will edit this column this year.  During the year, Mr. Juarez published a wonderful bibliography of 20th century women photographers.  A second column was about a Womens Collective in New York.  Mr. Juarez pointed out that it is important for the Roundtable to be visible in the newsletter.  Ms. Siska is very interested in getting information from others and would like to know if there are any people willing to write articles.  Highlights and reviews of new literature (articles, books, etc), notices of exhibitions, conferences, etc. are always good.  Please send these to Ms. Siska. 
  1. WomArt Listserve.  It was suggested that a message be sent out to ARLIS-L on how to subscribe to this listserve.  The Listserve was set up last year by Carol Goldsmith, but little has been done with it.  The potential uses of this listserve should be explored. 
  1.  Miscellaneous.  Ideas were discussed about printed material describing the WomArt Roundtable to serve in addition to the Website.  A directory was suggested as well as some kind of card, brochure, or handout to pass out at Conferences and other events explaining who we are so that new and potential Members can better understand the history and the scope of this roundtable. 

Ms. Wasserman reminded us that Library Catalog of The National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington D.C. is fully accessible online through a link at http://www.nmwa.org/library/libindex.htm

Mr. Juarez called on us to celebrate the change of acronym for our Roundtable.  What was once WART has become officially WomArt.  He then asked if someone could design a logo to express "Developing continuity, starting new traditions".