On View: Women Painting Women

In March of 2009, Sadie J. Valeri, Alia El-Bermani, and Diane Feissel began the blog Women Painting Women as a celebration of female artists' contribution to figurative painting.  It was a positive reaction to a rather negative realization – that even in the 21st century, the vast majority of women being featured in art galleries were still in the paintings, rather than behind them.  Since the blog's inception, the three founders have taken turns posting to the site, and have to date profiled more than 260 contemporary female representational artists who were otherwise under-represented in the international art marketplace.

The blog, and the idea behind it, quickly became popular, and it was not long before group's message became a movement - a clarion call for female artists to come together and support each other in their career pursuits.  Stemming from the initial overwhelming positive response to Valeri, El-Bermani, and Feissel's online curation, a bricks-and-mortar gallery exhibition was later organized.  This first Women Painting Women show was held in 2010 at the Robert Lange Studios in Charleston, South Carolina and featured artworks from fifty women from all over the world.  Two years later, a second show, held at Principle Gallery in Alexandria, Virginia, focussed on the works created by 13 core members of the WPW group painted during a weeklong excursion the women made to South Carolina.  Both shows were very successful, and brought much needed exposure to the works of these very talented artists.

This fall, the Women Painting Women group is exhibiting again, but with a twist.  In an effort to broaden their exposure and to better involve more artists and galleries,  WPW is holding seven separate shows, concurrently.  From its modest beginnings as an online repository of female artists, it has gone on to form a large international community which offers many more women the opportunity to show and sell their work.  These shows are, in their way, a matter of "paying it forward," according to WPW co-founder Alia El-Bermani.  "We're helping 99 artists so far . . . it's really exciting."

The 7 Women Painting Women exhibits, with their locations and dates are listed below.