Women's Graphic Center (Los Angeles, Calif.)

Variant names

Dates:

Establishment 1973

Disestablishment 1987

Language: English,

History notes:

In 1973, Sheila de Bretteville founded the Women’s Graphic Center and co-founded the Feminist Studio Workshop (along with Judy Chicago and Arlene Raven), both based at the Woman's Building.

The Women's Graphic Center, run by de Bretteville and Helen Alm, became one of the most important features of the Building, and its design program was, in many ways, the core of the Feminist Studio Workshop. The WGC was built on the precepts of de Bretteville's Marxist approach, which treated design as a public communication imbued with the efficacy of social change, rather than as a discreet art object.

The Women's Graphic Center, with Sue Maberry serving as business manager and Susan King as artistic director, provided an especially important financial foundation for the Woman's Building during its second decade, generating revenue from typesetting and design services commissioned by various women's groups, museums and galleries, and local businesses. The Graphic Center also served a vital community-building function in the Building, the neighborhood, and the city, proving a popular resource for local artists and amateur designers.

The computer revolution and the advent of computer-generated design dealt the Woman's Building a major financial blow, forcing the Women's Graphic Center out of business in 1987.