A Look Behind: 40 Years of Women & Their Work

A few select moments from Women & Their Work’s 40 years in Austin

“Organizations like Women & Their Work are still important because young women artists coming up need a place that recognizes them and encourages their work. It’s critical to every artist’s career, especially in the early stages, that somebody says, ‘I noticed and I find something engaging about what it is you’re doing.’” — Anne Tucker, founding curator of the department of photography, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

In October 1985, a breakfast fundraiser was held, along with the exhibition “Scopes and Scales of Design.” Then State Treasurer Ann Richards was the featured speaker, pictured here talking with Rita Starpattern, one of the founders of W&TW. With W&TW’s mission to turn a spotlight on female artists in different media, in 1985, performance artist Kathy Rose presented “Primitive Movers,” a hybrid of choreography and animation.In 1979, “Woman-In-Sight: New Art in Texas” was the first statewide juried exhibition of female artists in Texas. The show was juried by Marcia Tucker, the founder of the New Museum in New York.

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