Photograph: WOMEN'S WORK: Rozella Floranz reviews the new exhibit. Photo Credit: Drew Fellman.
By Cathy Asato, Staff Reporter
Childbirth, cleaning and cooking aren't usually depicted in art, but the current exhibition at the Bronx Museum of the Arts sees beauty that others have overlooked.
Called "Division of Labor: `Women's Work' in Contemporary Art," the exhibit chronicles more than 30 years of art inspired by the feminist movement.
"Feminist art has taken private activities to a public display," said Lydia Yee, the organizer of the show. Feminist art, she said, looks at how "domestic experience has influenced women's lives."
The artists depict nontraditional art subjects, such as housework, using nontraditional materials and techniques, such as sewing, knitting, crochet, mylar tape, hair and doll clothes.
The exhibit includes a recreation of "Womanhouse," a landmark 1972 project by a group of women who filled rooms of an abandoned Los Angeles mansion with art reflecting their personal experiences. The project was organized by Judy Chicago and Miriam Schapiro, the artists who founded the Feminist Art Program at the California Institute of the Arts in 1971.
The Dollhouse, Shoe Closet, Menstruation Bathroom and Womb Room are some of the rooms on display at the Bronx Museum.
The show also features the current work of Regina Frank, Lynne Yamamoto, Xenobia Bailey and Marisa Hernandez.
A handful of male artists are represented in the show, including Robert Kushner, Ernesto Pujol and Michael Cummings. These men and the others in the show are "trying to challenge society's expectations of them," Yee said, by using traditionally female arts like sewing, knitting and quilting.
The works incorporate a wide variety of experiences, culture, folklore and history. The exhibit offers a culturally mixed slate of artists who reflect the borough's diversity. Thirty-one percent of the borough's residents are African American; 43 percent are Hispanic, according to the U.S. Census. The Asian population, while only 3 percent, has doubled over the past 10 years.
All labels and explanations for the pieces on display are in both Spanish and English.
So far, the response has been positive, if patrons' reactions scribbled in a book near the show's exit are any indication.
"This show should definitely travel," one visitor, who described the show as incredible and educational, wrote.
"Thanks for bringing this stuff back," said another.
Museum spokeswoman Rozella Floranz said two older women at the museum were struck by Harmony Hammond's Floorpieces -- braided, coiled and painted circular rugs. The women recalled similar rugs their grandmothers had made when they were slaves, Floranz said.
"It [the exhibit] became a living thing for them," Floranz said. "It spoke to them."
The exhibit, which opened Feb. 17, displays more than 50 works by 36 artists. It runs through June 11.
The museum is located at 1040 Grand Concourse. It's open Wednesdays from 3 to 9 p.m., Thursdays and Fridays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and weekends from 1 to 6 p.m.
