Art in Context: Women’s Work

Join us for a dynamic artists’ talk and virtual conversation presented in conjunction with Femme Touch, our new exhibition centering the untold stories of women and femmes who influenced Andy Warhol. The panel will feature Naomi Chambers, Christiane Dolores, Christina Lee, and Angela Washko, artists actively making space for women and feminist perspectives to thrive in Pittsburgh’s arts community and beyond. The discussion, moderated by Andréa Stanford, will explore the unique challenges and opportunities facing women in the arts, as well as the ways that the changing context of the pandemic and the unprecedented national and global movement for racial justice have impacted women in our community. 

Please note: This will be a live online program. Register to receive a web link and login instructions.

Registration ends on Tuesday, July 14 at 5 p.m.

About the panelists:

Naomi Chambers is a Pittsburgh-based painter and assemblage artist; she also runs The Flower House in the Pittsburgh neighborhood of Wilkinsburg. The Flower House is a creative space cultivated by group-centered artists who practice cooperative economics to empower women and families. She is helping to lead the launch of Sybil’s Shrine, a new Hill District-based residency program that will offer technical and professional development opportunities for black mothers who identify as artists, creatives and activists.

Christiane Dolores is a multi-platform, multi-disciplinary artist employing sound, vision, text, and performance as storytelling tools creating radical, controversial cultural engagements. At the root of her practice are questions about our humanity as she rewrites new mythologies. The questions emerge from political, cultural, natural, and sensual experiences acting as her muse, dictating the medium and discipline of her work. She received the Pittsburgh Business Times Women First award in 2017. She is the winner of a 2010 August Wilson Center Fellowship; received a grant in 2011 from Advancing the Black Arts to market her second solo release, Amor Fati; a 2007 honoree at the New Hazlett Theatre “Celebrating Women in the Arts”; a 2003 winner of the Pennsylvania Council for the Arts Fellowship for World/Jazz/Blues musical composition; and a 2002 Pittsburgh Magazine “40 under 40” award winner. She received funding from Sprout for two MiniM Music Festivals for the Blues and Jazz genres and for Listen to This, featuring poetess Ursula Rucker; a commission from Pittsburgh Foundation to write her first play, Saffronia; funding from Multi-Cultural Arts Initiative to produce Saffronia: the Mulatto Slave, which came in 2nd place at the Trinidad Theater Festival, in 2016.

Christina Lee is a Korean-American illustrator, zinemaker, printmaker, designer, and animator who has been a working artist since she graduated from Carnegie Mellon’s School of Art undergraduate program in 2014. Some of her illustration clients include NPR, Teen Vogue, Them, PublicSource, American Greetings, and Penguin Books. In 2016, Christina was selected by Printed Matter to be an artist-in-residence at the Ace Hotel Pittsburgh, and in 2018, was 1 of the 22 young creatives named “Who’s Next: Art” by The Incline. Through she most strongly identifies as an illustrator, she has started to develop her curatorial practice by organizing the Pittsburgh Zine Fair and group exhibitions at Future Tenant and PULLPROOF Studio. She seeks to highlight underrepresented people, specifically female and non-binary artists, through her curatorial projects.

Angela Washko is an artist devoted to creating new forums for discussions about feminism in a variety of forms and contexts. A recipient of the Creative Capital Award, Indiecade Impact Award, and the Franklin Furnace Performance Fund, Washko’s practice has been highlighted in The New Yorker, Time Magazine, The Guardian, ArtForum, Art in America and more. Her projects have been presented at venues including Museum of the Moving Image, Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, Milan Design Triennale, and the Rotterdam International Film Festival. Angela Washko is an Associate Professor of Art at Carnegie Mellon University.

About the moderator:

Andréa Stanford vice president, Pittsburgh regional manager at BNY Mellon, works closely with the chairman of BNY Mellon of Pennsylvania to oversee the firm’s employee and community engagement, communications and government affairs activities. Previously, Andréa worked for Allegheny County as assistant county manager and senior advisor to the county’s Department of Human Services. During her tenure, Andréa worked across federal, state and local government to lead major initiatives, including the region’s preparation for the 2020 Census. Prior to her work in the public sector, Andréa managed digital strategy and media relations efforts at PNC Financial Services, Inc. and UPMC, respectively. She volunteers with local nonprofit organizations in the Pittsburgh region and serves on the boards of directors for the YWCA Greater Pittsburgh; the YMCA of Greater Pittsburgh; and the Women and Girls Foundation of Southwestern PA.

Art in Context

Artists, scholars, and community members come together to consider creative expression in relation to timely political and social concerns.