Women artists showcase pieces at I Am event for Women’s History Month

Artists display their art through different mediums, some even used mannequins.

By Kelly Alvarado and Kimberly Brown

Sipping red wine while simultaneously trying to balance her miniature purple plate of almond cookies, curator Holly Gordon stared at the Islip Museum of Art’s walls, covered in paintings, photography, and collages, created by 35 female artists. On March 7th, the Women’s History Month exhibit, held by Women Sharing Art Inc., was teeming with museum patrons eager to interact with the established Long Island women artists and discuss their multimedia artwork. 

The event brought in about 100 attendees on March 7, the day before International Women’s Day. The event itself was used as an outlet to commemorate the 100th anniversary of women’s right to vote. The mission of this display of artwork is to celebrate the historical growth of women as well as recognize the political obstacles that they still face today.

“This is an absolutely phenomenal exhibit and what is so extraordinary about it is this band of women artists really were charged to create beyond and outside of what they were normally comfortable about doing to express their feelings about women’s rights and achieving the 19th amendment,” Gordon, an event curator and fellow artist, said. 

The visitors could explore the inventions of Leonardo Da Vinci through augmented reality iPads that brought the machines to life with the scan of a QR code.

Unlike other art shows, the artists publicized the event and their pieces to raise money for their student scholarship fundraiser. Along with student grants, raffle tickets for original art pieces and donated gifts were given as well to help support the event. The creators will have their chance to showcase their work, using voting rights as the central theme, before the Long Island public until March 28th.

The event’s effort to acknowledge the achievements and milestones made by women of the past and present comes just in time for Women’s History Month, which begins in March. The artist’s used shadow boxes, mannequins, weavings, and paintings, to reiterate powerful messages of the advancements and struggles of women empowerment throughout the centuries. 

“There’s so much that we really need to go back and give credit and also take inspiration from that will keep moving and keep changing the world,” Doris Diamond, a multimedia artist and Women Sharing Art member said.

Each piece of art featured a small excerpt stating the meaning or historical importance behind an artist’s creative work. Susan B. Anthony, Sojourner Truth and Elizabeth Cady Stanton were some of the honored figures in the exhibit. The gallery helped create a history lesson to those who have not been exposed to some of the significant achievements of women. 

“I think it really just brings attention to the people of what everyone went through to get to where we are today,” John Robinson an attendee said.

Although progress has been made, Julia Cagney, a graduate student at CW Post, believes that there is a lot of work to still be done today.

“We have a lot of catching up to do,” Cagney said.