The Los Angeles Woman's Building, 1980s: Hand Papermaking as Feminist Pedagogy

摘要

In response to oppressively male-dominated higher education, the artist Judy Chicago, graphic designer Sheila de Brettville, and critic Arlene Raven founded the Los Angeles Woman's Building in J973. The first art school specifically for women, more than 30 women artists and educators from across the country left their institutions to join them to develop a new feminist-centered pedagogy. At the center of their mission were the graphic arts, letterpress, and artist books. These media offered selj- publishing opportunities to women whose voices traditionally had been excluded, and the tools to create those narratives free of dependencies on other institutions. Over the next five decades, these same women went on to promote the book and paper arts nationally, establishing degree programs at places such as Mills College, and founding book centers such as Minneapolis Center for Book Arts.