The Women’s Art Register is Australia’s living archive of women’s art practice (non-binary and trans inclusive) and a National, Artist-Run and Not-for-Profit community and resource.
Assessed as a ‘Collection of National Significance’ through the Heritage Collections Council in 2009, this unique archive houses the images, catalogues, posters and ephemera of over 5000 Australian and International artists.
Since 1975 the Women’s Art Register has provided an inclusive, independent platform for research, education, advocacy and support for its members and the Arts and Education sectors, enhancing the status of women artists and addressing issues of equity, professional practice and cultural heritage.
In October 2015, the Women’s Art Register celebrated 40 years of persisting and insisting that women’s art matters, in a mini-festival of exhibitions and events:
AS IF: 40 years and beyond – Celebrating the Women’s Art Register
A mini-festival of exhibitions, workshops, art walks and events
Winner, Best Visual Art event, Melbourne Fringe Festival 2015
Enmeshing the old and new, here and there, now and then, the project responds to the notion of AS IF (as if we’d still be here, I will continue to make art as if it is vital). The series of events, zig-zagging across, and supported by, the City of Melbourne and the City of Yarra, include up to 100 emerging, mid-career and established artists who work in 2D and 3D forms, including creative women who are newly settled in Melbourne.
AS IF: When and now September 30 to October 30, QV Gallery, Queen Victoria Women’s Centre, 210 Lonsdale Street Closing event – Wednesday Oct 28, 4.00-5.30pm Artists from the Women’s Art Register past and present respond to the query ‘what does artmaking mean to you?’ Curated by Gail Stiffe and Rosemary Mangiamele
AS IF: small print September 30 to October 31, Mailbox Art Space, 141 Flinders Lane Opening event – Wednesday Sept 30, 6-8pm small print is an exhibition of artists using print as text and medium alongside a selection of works from the Women’s Art Register. Curated by Danielle Hakim and Emily Castle.
AS IF: Artmaking in tandem, Embracing Distance October 2 – 29, City Library, 253 Flinders Lane Opening event – Thursday Oct 8, 6-8pm A collaboration between artistic women who are newly settled in Melbourne and artist Rosa Tato, working with support from the North Melbourne Learning and Language Centre.
AS IF: WAR Sliders October 2 – 29, City Library, 253 Flinders Lane. Slides selected from 14,000 digitised slides in the WAR archive, on continuous loop in the entrance wall to the City Library. Curated by Sally Northfield.
AS IF: Echoes from the Women’s Art Register October 1 to November 7, West Space, Level 1/225 Bourke Street Opening event – Thursday October 1, 6-8pm A projection program of work by Australian women artists over the last 40 years of the Women's Art Register, including archival material and recent audio interviews. A multi-use space for listening, viewing, thinking and writing, creating links between the archives and contemporary practices. A collaborative curatorial project by Caroline Phillips, Juliette Peers and Stephanie Leigh, with Emily Castle, Danielle Hakim and Kalinda Vary.
AS IF: Echoing Workshops October, West Space and off-site venues (1) SLIDE NIGHT, (2) Art+Feminism Wikipedia Edit-a-thon, October 31, from 11 am, State Library of Victoria (3) Echoes from London, November 7, 5 – 6pm, West Space, curated by Laura Castagnini, with a newly commissioned work by Holly Ingleton (UK).
AS IF: Public Art Walks Sundays in October, 11-1pm, City of Melbourne. Four artist-led walks touring selected women’s public art in the City of Melbourne. Walk 1: Launched by Penelope Lee at her sculpture (created with Susan Hewitt) The Great Petition, Walk 2 led by Gina Kalabishis (2014 Rick Amor Drawing Prize), Walk 3 by Rosa Tato (Embracing Distance) & Walk 4 with Maree Clarke (Scar: A Stolen Vision).
AS IF: Stuck up August 11 to October 30, Richmond Library, 415 Church Street Open day, Thursday August 20, 10am-4pm Selected from the archives, a series of paste-ups encapsulates four decades of the Women’s Art Register and explores cultural notions of women making art and taking it to the streets. Curated by Miso.
Links and more information:
AS IF: Stuck up
August 11 to October 30,
Richmond Library, 415 Church Street
Open day, Thursday August 20, 10am-4pm
AS IF: When and now
September 30 to October 30
QV Gallery, 210 Lonsdale Street
Closing event – Wednesday Oct 28, 4.30-6.30pm
AS IF: small print
September 30 to October 31
Mailbox Art Space, 141 Flinders Lane
Opening event – Wednesday Sept 30, 6-8pm
AS IF: Echoes from the Women’s Art Register
October 1 to November 7
West Space, Level 1/225 Bourke Street
Opening event – Thursday October 1, 6-8pm
AS IF: Echoing Workshops – Slide Night
Tuesday 13 October, 6-8.30pm
Union House, University of Melbourne
AS IF: Echoing Workshops – Art+Feminism Wikipedia Edit-a-thon
Saturday October 31, from 11 am,
State Library of Victoria
AS IF: Echoing Workshops – Echoes from London
Saturday November 7, 5-6pm
West Space, Level 1/225 Bourke Street
AS IF: Artmaking in tandem, Embracing Distance & AS IF: WAR Sliders
October 2 – 29
City Library, 253 Flinders Lane
Opening event – Thursday Oct 8, 6-8pm
AS IF: Public Art Walks
Sundays in October 11am to 1pm
Walk (1) October 4 with Penelope Lee
Burston Reserve, Macarthur St, East Melbourne
Walk (2) October 11 with Gina Kalabishis
Queen Victoria Market, Therry St, North Melbourne
Walk (3) October 18 with Rosa Tato
University College, 40 College Crescent, Parkville
Walk (4) October 25 with Maree Clarke
Enterprize Park, 469-503 Flinders St, Melbourne
CALENDER
http://womensartregister40years.info/september/
http://womensartregister40years.info/october/
Website: http://womensartregister40years.info/