There aren’t too many gallery shows that ask their artists how they wish to be supported. Happily, the creatives featured in Reunited at the California College of the Arts Gallery (runs through May 17) in collaboration with the San Francisco Advocacy for National Museum of Women in the Arts have been presented with that very request.
On a tour of the show she organized—which features 12 local artists from the Washington DC-based NMWA’s Women to Watch shows from 2018 to 2024—Jaime Austin, CCA’s director of exhibitions and public programs spoke highly of the nurturing process that went on behind the scenes.
“The advocacy group, once the artists are selected, give annual grants, they do studio visits, they introduce them to curators,” Austin said. “It’s really a mentorship program.”
SF Advocacy for NMWA has more than 50 members focused on supporting women in the arts. Every few years, a local curator puts together a show with CCA.
Reunited brings together some of the works by artists that have been featured, including ceramicist Cathy Lu’s Nuwa’s Hands (Tall), and Regeneration Garden (1,2,4); Genevieve Quick’s interactive sculpture, Hi. This is Mom and Dad, 2019–2024 and short video, Cel Bell; Nicki Green’s three earthenware vessels; and CCA alum Lava Thomas’ Portrait of Maya Angelou, one of the drawings she made in preparation for her nine-foot monument to the writer, now located outside the main branch of the San Francisco Public Library.
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art’s Jenny Gheith originally selected Katherine Vetne, Rhonda Holberton, and Davina Semo for a 2018 “metal”-themed show. The San Francisco Fine Arts Museum’s Claudia Schmuckli selected Julia Goodman, Sofía Córdova, Sandra Ono, and Amy Tavern for 2020’s “paper” exhibition. Lauren Schell Dickens with the San José Museum of Art choose Green, Adia Millett, and Quick, under the theme of “world building” in 2024.
One artist has been chosen from each show to have their work in the museum in Washington DC (Vetne was selected the first year, Goodman from the second group, and most recently, Green.)
Looking back on the 2020 exhibition, Goodman told 48hills that she appreciated the question of how she might be supported—one that is not commonly asked of artists, she points out. It was not only the support from the advocacy group that was important to her, but also that which came from her fellow artists, for which she was particularly grateful when she became a mother right before the first show.
“It’s such an exciting context to get to show alongside my peers and friends who work in a wide range of mediums,” Goodman said. “It’s an honor. I mean, my work is next to Lava’s Maya Angelou and Genevieve’s. And I get to work with Jaime Austin and to reconnect with Janna Keegan.”
Another thing the artists have said they wanted was commissioned writing about their individual work. Reunited offers just that, with a unique catalogue of booklets for each creative written by local curators (in keeping with that local theme, the catalogue was designed by GRL GRP and printed by Colpa Press).
Keegan, a curator at FAMSF, first visited Goodman’s studio in 2019, and for the Reunited catalogue, she wrote about how Goodman’s work with paper handmade from repurposed textiles provides a look at the invisibility of women’s labor.
“This is a chance to really dive deep and talk about how the work has evolved,” Goodman said. “And she wrote such a beautiful essay about the work process.”
Along with Keegan’s, its essays were written by other Bay Area heavy hitters: Aleesa Pitchamarn Alexander, Makeda Best, Naz Cuguoğlu, Jeanne Gerrity, Katherine Jemima Hamilton, Zoë Latzer, Vanessa Pérez Winder, Heidi Rabben, Meghan Smith, Tanya Zimbardo, and Elena Gross.
Gross, who is the director of exhibitions and public programs at the GLBT Historical Society, wrote about the multidimensionality and depth in Adia Millet’s work.
“There’s references to quilt-making, there’s references to geometric abstraction, there’s thinking about spirituality and religion in a different way,” Gross said. “If you stand back from it, it looks flat, but as you get up close, the angles start drawing your eye across the plane, and you start seeing different textures. She has different materials she uses, and you can see how her application of the paint creates different effects.”
Gross thinks having someone write about your work can provide new perspective for artists, as well as extend the life of the work beyond a single exhibition.
“I think artists are glad to be in group shows and to be able to show alongside other people, but as you’re building your own portfolio, to be able to point to this longer meditation on—not only the works that were in the show, but their practice more holistically,” Gross said.
“With a group show catalogue, you get maybe a couple paragraphs, and then they necessarily have to move on to other works and the broader themes of the show,” she continued. “This is a more in-depth investigation of your work and your practice.”
REUNITED runs through May 17. California College of the Arts campus gallery, SF. More info here.
