Round Table Discussion Panel
Saturday, March 2, 12:00 - 4:00 pm
1606 S. 8th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19148
THEN: A city-wide arts program that occurred in Spring 1974, “FOCUS: Philadelphia Focuses on Women in the Visual Arts”, shone a spotlight on the underrepresented achievements of women artists.
NOW: The Dina Wind Art Foundation is proud to host 1974 x 2024: Women Artists Then, Intersectional Artists Now, a roundtable discussion featuring women, LGBTQIA+, and BIPOC artists, curators, and community leaders. The conversation will explore each panelist's personal experience navigating the art world, whether the artworld has improved for women artists in the past 50 years, and what is the current state of the scene.
The conversation is now live on YouTube! Tune in to get to know this diverse group of panelists as they share their personal art journeys, challenge the patriarchy and navigate the art world.
WATCH NOW
MEET THE PARTICIPANTS:
Alissa Roach (she/her) is an interdisciplinary artist, curator and writer based in Philadelphia. Originally from Kingston, Jamaica, her work often explores diasporic island histories as they relate to memory and technology. Roach has previously shown work in venues including Cherry St Pier, Atelier Gallery, and Fleisher Art Memorial. She received her BFA in Sculpture from Tyler School of Art in 2022, and is currently the Art Exhibitions Coordinator at the William Way LGBT Community Center.
Arleen Olshan (she/her) is a visual artist and handcrafter of custom leather accessories, and one of the original co-founders of the 1974 FOCUS. She has been active in the LGBTQ+ and Feminist Communities for over 50 years trailblazing the way forward, serving as the co-coordinator of the original Gay & Lesbian Community Center (now William Way) and the co-owner of Giovanni’s Room. Most recently, Arleen cofounded the Mt. Airy Art Garage where she spent the last 14 years developing a community with creatives in Northwest Philadelphia.
Diane Burko (she/her) is a painter, photographer, and one of the original co-founders of the 1974 FOCUS. An advocate for art’s role in addressing climate change, she uses her work to address environmental damage. Burko has exhibited nationally and internationally, including shows at London’s Royal Academy of Art, Minneapolis Art Institute, National Academy of Sciences, Phillips Collection, RISD Museum Tang Museum, Wesleyan University Center for the Arts.
Gail Lloyd (she/her) is an emerging ceramic artist. She graduated from Temple University’s School of Film and Media Arts and enjoyed a career in film for 25+ years. She discovered a deep love of clay and has been focused on ceramic art full time since 2015. Creating figurative sculptures, she explores ideas such as identity, gender, race, religion, class, beauty. Lloyd has work in the permanent collection of The Colored Girls Museum and sells her pottery in galleries and boutiques in Philadelphia.
Gloria Davis (she/her) is an assemblage artist, doll-maker, art quilter, painter, and polymer clay artist. Her work has been exhibited across the country in the Colored Girls Museum in Philadelphia, the African American Museum in Detroit, the Will Grant Still Art Center in Los Angeles, and the James Museum in St. Petersburg. She was featured in the Philadelphia Tribune and has taught classes for the Philadelphia Free Library, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Nile Swim Club and Johnson House.
Joyce Chung (she/her) is the Curator of Asian Arts Initiative in Philadelphia. Her curatorial projects focus on Asian Diaspora art and intersections between feminism and visual arts. Her most recent curatorial works include Eiko Otake: I Invited Myself vol.III and The Body You Want, a group of six Asian artists exploring their queer identity. She has also worked at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Seoul, Gwangju Biennale in Gwangju, Kukje Gallery in Seoul, and Performa in New York.
Judith Brodsky (she/her) is an artist, author, and one of the original co-founders of the 1974 FOCUS. She received her B.A. from Harvard University and M.F.A. from Tyler School of Art at Temple University. She is Professor Emerita in the Department of Visual Arts at Rutgers and is the founder of the Rutgers Center for Innovative Print and Paper, later renamed the Brodsky Center in her honor. She has held numerous leadership positions in the art world as president of ArtTable, the College Art Association, and the Women’s Caucus for Art.
Meei Ling Ng (she/her) is an interdisciplinary artist and urban farmer. Her work includes a series of edible landscapes that combine urban farming with site-specific art installation. Using her extensive artistic and ecological knowledge, she seeks to alter the city, transforming concrete surfaces into urban farms and green space that sustain city residents in need. Her works continue in pursuit of observing and constructing her own understanding of how we can better embrace the natural world.
