BELEN — Through the Flower Art Space, 107 Becker Ave. in Belen, will open a timely and thought-provoking exhibition, “Lessons for Today: Revisiting The Dinner Party,” on Saturday, Nov. 5. The exhibit will run through the end of March 2023 in celebration of Women’s History Month.

The show will consist of illustrated panels about each of the 39 women represented in Judy Chicago’s landmark work, “The Dinner Party,” which is permanently housed at the Brooklyn Museum in New York City, along with several original test plates, drawings and archival material as well as a virtual tour of “The Dinner Party” narrated by Chicago.

© Judy Chicago/Artist Rights Society (ARS) New York; Photo ©Donald Woodman/ARS
Judy Chicago with Maria Grazia Chiuri, Dior creative director, at “The Dinner Party,” in 2021 at the Brooklyn Museum.

Created between 1974 and 1979, “The Dinner Party,” a symbolic history of women in Western civilization, introduced women into history at a time when they were struggling to have their voices heard and to fight for equality, thereby challenging all the omissions that existed in the way that history was taught.

With the current reversal of women’s rights and the overturning of Roe v. Wade, Chicago, a pioneer of the Feminist Art Movement and a lifelong advocate for social justice, believes there is an urgent need to revisit the women of “The Dinner Party” to use their struggles and triumphs to empower and engage people in the present to stand up to an antiquated and patriarchal ideology.

“It is more important than ever that young people learn about women’s history because these brave women and their allies stood up to society and made impactful changes — changes that need to happen again or we are going to find ourselves losing many of the gains that have been achieved because of centuries of struggle,” Chicago said.

From 12-5 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 5, the show will be open, and a special opening weekend discussion will take place at 3 p.m. between Chicago and Diane Gelon, who worked for years as “The Dinner Party” coordinator. She is now a lawyer working in London and is president of the board of Through the Flower.

Their presentation, “Revisiting The Dinner Party: Why It’s Important Now,” will highlight “The Dinner Party” studio and discuss how many of the 400 women and men who worked on the project were empowered by learning the stories of the women seated at “The Dinner Party.”

This event will be live streamed via Judy Chicago’s Instagram (@Judy.Chicago) as well as Through the Flower’s (@throughtheflowerartspace). The event is free and open to the public, but seating is limited. For more information on tickets, call 505-503-1955, or email [email protected].

Also, as part of the opening weekend festivities, at 2 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 6, Judy Chicago Art Education Award will be presented to this year’s recipient, Tressa Berman, Ph.D., a consultant, coach and teacher at the Institute for Inter-Cultural Practice in Ojai, Calif.

The 2022 Judy Chicago Art Education Award, funded by Mary Ross Taylor, was focused on projects about the historic impact of Womanhouse, which celebrated its 50th anniversary this year. Berman’s project titled, “Wo/Manhouse 2022 and Beyond: The Living Transmission of Feminist Placemaking Through Art,” aims to situate and expand a comprehensive understanding of how Womanhouse and Wo/Manhouse 2022 informs and constitutes feminist place-making through collaborative art.

Other events planned in conjunction with this exhibition include the screening in late January of the acclaimed documentary about “The Dinner Party,” “Right Out of History,” followed by a Q&A with filmmaker Johanna Demetrakas and Judy Chicago. Later in the show’s run is an event featuring several people who worked on The Dinner Party including Juliet Myers and Kate Amend

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