Women Artists of the American West

This book presents the work of more than 150 women artists of the 19th and 20th centuries from west of the Mississippi River. The first half of the book consists of fifteen interpretive essays examining artists in a broad range of media (photography, quiltmaking, painting, printmaking, clay art, sculpture, digital art and more). Concepts of community, identity, spirituality, and locality are explored in interdisciplinary contexts.
The second half of the book is an alphabetical directory of the artists discussed in the essays, with biographical information, notes on exhibitions and collections, and the artists’ own statements about their work and their visions. The text is lavishly illustrated with 342 reproductions, including 62 in color.
The essays were written by Dorothy R. Zopf, Kate M. O’Neill, Susan R. Ressler, Margaret D. Jacobs, Susan Peterson, Tee A. Corinne, Gail E. Tremblay, Tiska Blankenship, Peter E. Palmquist, Martha A. Sandweiss, Joan M. Jensen, Terri Cohn, Corinne Whitaker, and Betty LaDuke. There is an afterword by Phoebe Farris.

Susan R. Ressler is a professor emerita of art at Purdue University and an interdisciplinary scholar and artist.

Edited by Susan R. Ressler
Format: softcover (8.5 x 11)
Pages: 397
Bibliographic Info: 342 photos (62 in color), notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2011 [2003]
pISBN: 978-0-7864-6438-8
Imprint: McFarland

Preface 1

Introduction      3

The Essays

Section I: Community      17

1 Surviving the Winter: The Evolution of Quiltmaking Among Two Cultures in New Mexico      20

Dorothy R. Zopf

2 Barbara Zaring and Alyce Frank: The Confluence of Creativity and Relationships      37

Kate M. O’Neill

3 Asian American Women Artists: Community Networks and Cultural Autonomy      50

Susan R. Ressler



Section II: Identity      81

4 Shaping a New Way: White Women and the Movement to Promote Pueblo Indian      83

Arts and Crafts, 1900–1935

Margaret D. Jacobs

5 The Legacy of Generations: Pottery by Contemporary American Indian Women      97

Susan Peterson

6 Lesbian Photography on the U.S. West Coast, 1970–2000      117

Tee A. Corinne

7 Indigenous Identities: Diverse Visions      136

Gail E. Tremblay