| | Manuscript Collection | Requires cookie* | | 1 | Title: | Judy Chicago Dinner Party Site Project Records
| | | | Creator: | Judy Chicago Dinner Site Project | | | | Dates: | 1975-2001 | | | | Abstract: | "The Dinner Party" Site Project (DPSP) first formed as the Ohio-Chicago Arts Project, Inc., (O-CAP) as an endeavor to display Judy Chicago's (b. 1939) controversial magnum opus, The Dinner Party, 1979, in northeast Ohio. Judy Chicago initially conceived "The Dinner Party" to be a piece of art to commemorate and inform people about women's roles in history in 1974. It evolved into a multi-media installation which generated controversy because of its use of vulvar forms in its representation of historical female figures. The work served to solidify Chicago as a pioneer in the Feminist Art movement. "The Dinner Party" seats both mythological and historical women at a dinner table in the shape of an equilateral triangle with each side containing thirteen place settings. The place settings pay tribute to such figures as, Hatshepsut, Sojourner Truth, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Blackwell, Virginia Wolfe, and Georgia O'Keeffe. Chicago sought not only to represent women, but chose art forms that have been traditionally thought of as women's craftwork, including painted china ceramics and needlework. A Heritage Floor which contains the names of 999 additional women on porcelain tiles complemented the 39 place settings. Before arriving in Cleveland, "The Dinner Party" exhibited in San Francisco (1979), Houston (1980), Boston (1980), and Brooklyn (1980). Efforts to mount the first Midwest exhibit of "The Dinner Party" in the Akron, Ohio, area began in the summer of 1980 when representatives of eight women's groups (Akron chapter of the National Organization for Women, Adult Development Committee of the Institute for Life-Span Development of the University of Akron, Akron Rape Crisis Center, Akron Task Force for Battered Women, Ohio Black Women's Leadership Caucus, Planned Parenthood Association of Summit County, Women's Caucus for Art, and Akron Women's Network) held a meeting during which they formed the Steering Committee of O-CAP. O-CAP added more members from the northeastern Ohio area to the group and incorporated shortly thereafter as a non-profit organization. Initially, O-CAP sought to bring "The Dinner Party" to Akron and have it exhibited at the E. J. Thomas Performing Arts Hall in the spring of 1981. Ultimately, O-CAP ended up mounting the exhibit in Cleveland Heights at the former Temple on the Heights on Lee Road. "The Dinner Party" opened its Midwest premiere on May 8, 1981 and ran through August 16, 1981. The exhibit proved popular and profitable, the profits being donated to various local women's organizations. In 1985, O-CAP disbanded due to a lack of activity. However, five years later, some members of O-CAP reunited to plan and celebrate the 10th Anniversary of "The Dinner Party's" exhibition in Cleveland. At that time a search was underway to secure a permanent display site for the exhibit. The convergence of these two events prompted some former members of O-CAP to re-establish it under the new title of "'The Dinner Party' Site Project" (DPSP) in 1991. DPSP sought to secure a permanent site for the exhibit in the Cleveland area. Mickey Stern, a founder of O-CAP, became the President of DPSP in 1992. Beginning in 1993, DPSP hosted an annual International Women's Day reading of the biographies of the women represented in "The Dinner Party" as an effort to enlighten the public about the exhibit and, more generally, the marginalized histories of the women it depicted. DPSP hosted various other related events throughout its existence, including art auctions, but failed to secure permanent housing for "The Dinner Party" in Cleveland. The group disbanded in 2001. In 2002, "The Dinner Party" found a permanent home at The Brooklyn Museum in New York where it has been on permanent display since 2007 at the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art. The collection consists of articles of incorporation, budgets, bylaws, correspondence, flyers, journals, ledgers, legal documents, lists, magazine articles, minutes, mission statements, newsletters, newspaper clippings, notes, organizational documents, press releases, proposals, reports, rosters, and tax records. | | | | Call #: | MS 5079 | | | | Extent: | 1.21 linear feet (2 containers and 1 oversize folder) | | | | Subjects: | Chicago, Judy, 1939- | Art, American. | Art, Modern -- 20th century. | Feminism and art. | Women in art. | Gender identity in art. | Women artists -- United States. | Women -- History. | Women -- Social conditions. | Art -- Ohio -- Cleveland -- Exhibitions. | Arts -- Ohio -- Cleveland.
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