Women, art and feminism will be the topics of a panel discussion during the next “Art Up Close!” at the Art Museum of West Virginia University on Tuesday, March 14.

The program begins at 5:30 p.m. in the Museum Education Center Grand Hall and is free and open to the public.

Panel members are Sally Deskins, exhibits and program coordinator for WVU Libraries and independent curator and writer; Joyce Ice, director of the Art Museum of WVU; Kristina Olson, associate professor and associate director of WVU’s School of Art and Design; and Bernie Schultz, professor of art history. They will take as their point of departure the exhibition “FABRICation” currently on view in the McGee Gallery of the Art Museum of WVU through March 19.

The traveling exhibition features the works of seven contemporary artists who are female yet gender does not appear to be a major focus in the interpretive material accompanying the exhibit. 

Panelists will look at the historical and cultural contexts of women creating textile art and examine some of the issues and questions the exhibition raises:  Are women and gender disappearing from the discourse on art?  Is the world in a “post-feminist” era?  

Funding for "FABRICation" was made possible in part by Virginia Commonwealth University, VCUarts and the Painting and Printmaking Department.

The exhibition at WVU is sponsored by the Friends of the Art Museum, a membership group for people who enjoy the arts and social, educational and cultural activities centered on art. Program support comes from the Judith Gold Stitzel Museum Education Fund.

For more information about the program on March 14, contact the Art Museum of WVU at (304) 293-7790.