ART: From A Holler to The Gallery

Section Editor Emma Rose

In this section, you’re going to read about how women around the country are running their art businesses; how they’ve set up their physical spaces to work for them; and how important community is to them, especially in light of the pandemic.

Historically, women have always had a hard time in the art world. The National Museum of Women in the Arts reports that in Europe and North America, only 13.7% of living artists represented by galleries are women. The arts also follow that famous gender pay gap: the National Endowment for the Arts reports that a female visual artist makes 81 cents for every dollar a male artist makes, even though an estimated 51% of visual artists are women. It has to be important to listen to women’s experiences in art businesses when there is still such pervasive inequality. To that end, we asked our featured artists business-driven questions, like how they’ve financially managed and what business advice they have for others.

The focus of this issue is also “physical spaces,” so we asked questions about their experiences in their workplaces. We wondered whether the women we talked with felt extra concern for safety in a studio separate from their homes; whether the pandemic caused them to give up their separate spaces. I guessed initially we would hear about retreating, but no: we heard stories about innovation and resilience. These women described adapting their studios for the pandemic and how the pandemic even inspired them to accomplish more. And that’s a theme throughout the art section — stories of taking challenges in stride. As you’ll see, they say it has often meant relying on a strong, supportive community of other women.

It was an honor to talk to these talented women who work hard (and, based on the research I did) uphill. I hope you enjoy reading these conversations that the team and I enjoyed having. – Emma Rose

Cover Art by Sarah Emory. Brand Design by Meghan Hricak.

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