The Price of Being Female: Women Artist and The Art Market

Half of the visual artists working today are women.  There are more women in Master of Fine Arts programs than men, and women occupy key positions in museums, galleries and art institutions worldwide.

Despite these successes, only 2% of solo art exhibitions in the U.S. feature women artists.  In most major metropolitan museums, more than 97% of the artists displayed in the modern art galleries are men.  The ratio of success favors men by 3:1 as defined by awards, exhibition opportunities, critical reviews, museum shows and price of artworks sold at the major auction houses.  In today’s art world, women artists continue to be under-recognized, under-representated and under-paid.

What efforts are being done to improve these numbers?  How are women artists addressing the issue? And what role can art collectors play in helping to increase the value of the work of women artists.

In recognition of Women’s History Month and in observation of the Seventh International Support Women Artists Now Day, the Artinista Art Advisory in cooperation with the Capitol Arts Network presents a panel presentation to explore the issue of women artists in the art market.  In addition to the presentation, light refreshments will be available and served.

Panelists:

Kathryn Buford, Founder, Live Unchained is a writer, creative consultant and sociology PhD student at the University of Maryland, College Park, where she received the department’s prestigious summer Diversity Fellowship for two consecutive years. Her current research explores social entrepreneurship, women’s art and emancipatory knowledge across the African diaspora.  She is also the creator and Founding Editor of the University of Maryland’s, Sociology News Magazine. In addition to Live Unchained, her writings have appeared in various online media outlets including Everything PR, Argophilia and SiliconANGLE, where she is a Junior Editor and curates the technology and social change series. Learn more about Live Unchained at http://www.liveunchained.com/  and, like on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/iliveunchained  and follow on twitter @liveunchained  

Cherie M. Redlinger, Co-Chair Women’s Caucus for Art National Conference 2016 and Visual Artist received her BA in Art History from the University of Maryland, European Division and her MA in Art from California State University, Northridge.  She has shown her work in a number of national and international fine art exhibitions across the country and around the world.  With enthusiasm, Cherie has developed and taught studio art and art history classes for afternoon school programs, fine art camps, and college level classes throughout her career.  Currently she teaching Adult Education in Alexandria, Virginia.  She has suppored the Women’s Caucus for Art (WCA) beginning with the Greater Washington, DC chapter where she served as President, and now a Director on the WCA National Board and the Co-Chair of the WCA National Conference 2016, which is scheduled for Washington, DC.  Cherie also helped to found the WCA Georgia Chapter and continues to advocate the women’s art movement. Cherie’s artwork can be found in private collections and museums worldwide.  To view her work visit http://www.cheriemredlinger.com (artwork) and http://www.cmredlinger.com (photography).  For more information about the Women’s Caucus of Art, visit http://www.nationalwca.org (national website) or http://www.wcadc.org (Greater Washington, DC Chapter).

Lynn Sylvester is an attorney and mediator in Washington, DC. In addition to her long legal career Lynn has a long interest in the visual arts. Her interest was encouraged by her father who took her on his visits to museums and art galleries as a child. Additionally, she is an adjunct professor of law at George Washington University Law School.  Her legal skills have been used to support a variety of arts activities. She founded and ran the DC Chapter of the Brandywine Workshop, is a member of the James A. Porter Colloquium Executive Steering Committee and most recently worked on the National Yard Sale, a unique sale of artist created works from wooden yard sticks in support the Alonzo Davis Fellowship Fund at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. She has also published numerous articles on the arts. Lynn has quietly collected art for over 40 years. The last few years she has begun to focus her collecting work from African American women artists, who she believes are under-represented in the mainstream art world. Finally, Lynn has the past few years participated in a number of art shows as a textile artist.

Moderator:

Sharon J. Burton, Founder and Director, The Artinista Art Advisory: Sharon Burton is an artist, art advisor and independent curator.  She is the Founder and Director of The Artinista Art Advisory which was founded in 2012 with the mission to increase the number of women fine art collectors to close the gender gap in fine art collecting.  She has served as a curator, consultant, and juror to a variety of non-profit and for-profit arts organizations in the Washington, Dc area for the last 8 years.  For more information visit www.theartinista.com