Lady: Power to Female Artists

As our current monthly theme is Lady, let us start with a quote by pop vocalist Beyoncé to start off the whole topic. ‘Who run the world? Girls!‘
By making such a strong statement, the American singer tries to underline the fact that females are about to take over the world in various fields and industries slowly but surely.
In today’s world, where it is majorly important to support female artist due to an enormous predominance of men, there is a growing awareness to support female artists. 
Without any doubt, it is definitely time to give them even more power to perceive their dreams and, most importantly, to give them the chance to fulfill themselves.

The organisation American Women Artists, for instance, is one way of dealing with this topic. It aims in helping and encouraging American female artists in fine arts.

With regard to the UK, the Italian brand Max Mara and their The Max Mara Art Prize for Women, which was established by the Whitechapel Gallery in collaboration with the Max Mara Fashion Group ten years ago, offers female artists from the UK the opportunity to further develop their creative potential and to make the most out of it. That means, five UK female artists get the chance to propose their artistic ideas that they have in mind for a potential upcoming project to the prize’s jury consisting of Iwona Blazwick (Director of the Whitechapel Gallery), Fiona Bradley (Director of the Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh), Sarah Elson (Collector and Founder of Launch Pad), Helen Sumpter (Critic and Senior Editor / Web Editor at ArtReview) and Alison Wilding (Artist and Royal Academician).
Accordingly, the chosen winner of this unique art prize gets the chance to realise an own project that is going to be presented in London’s Whitechapel Gallery in 2017 as well as in Collezione Maramotti in Italy afterwards.

So, the shortlisted artists for this year’s prize are as follows.
Ruth Ewan, Ana Genovés, Emma Hart, Tania Kovats and Phoebe Unwin are now waiting for the judge’s releasing final decision and their choice for Max Mara’s Art Prize 2015.
Having a closer look at their individual art work, all of them have their own different approach to art and design.

The first chosen artist Ruth Ewan, born in 1980, ‘covers installations, printed matter and events.’ Her interests lie in radical, political and utopian histories, which she draws on through close research and collaboration with diverse groups – from historians, archaeologists and horticulturalists to musicians, magicians and bakers.’

Installation view, Back to the Fields (2015) at Camden Arts Centre, London

Dreadnoughts (2010)

We Could Have Been Anything That We Wanted to Be (2011)

The second artist Ana Genovés, born in 1969, ‘uses photographs of public constructions, obstacles and facilities gathered online, offline and from her travels as reference points for her work.’

Cracked clay cross (2015)

Concrete stage and partition wall (2014)

Wrong Like The Ground (2014)

Emma Hart, ‘works across video, sculpture, photography, ceramics and performance.’

GIVING IT ALL THAT (2014)

Dirty Looks (2013)

Tania Kovats, born in 1966, ‘produces sculptures, large-scale installations and time-based works exploring our relationship to and understanding of the landscape.’

Tree (2009)

Rivers (2012)

Thames: Head in Mouth (2014)

Phoebe Unwin, born in 1979, ‘often creates work from memory or sketchbooks that act as visual notebooks of her day-to-day experiences.’

Aeroplane Meal (2008)

Curtains (2013)

Emotional Resources (2015)

Let’s see who is going to be the winner for this year’s art prize. Without question, it is definitely a tough decision to make.

Quick edit:
Speaking of female artists, we cannot forget Frida Kahlo! Her outstanding talent makes her unforgettable and her art is clearly recognizable.
To pay tribute to her and to involve our youngest society members and their families in her amazing artwork, there will be a new EXHIBITION called “Frida and Me” in order to explore the work of world-famous Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. It is about to make its UK debut at the Central Library in Liverpool. The exhibition’s official opening will be on October 26 at 2pm and it is definitely worth a look! It will run from October 26 until January 3, 2016. For further information visit the official Festival website to get all the details you need.