Mary H. Dana Women Artists Series

Inspired by the women's movement of the 1960s, the women's movement in art began by 1970 to work toward equal representation and recognition of women in contemporary art, and greater inclusiveness in art education. This impulse created the climate for the beginning of the Women Artists Series at the Mabel Smith Douglass Library, Douglass College, Rutgers University. Rutgers' New Brunswick campus already had a vibrant reputation in the contemporary art world, having provided a home for innovators like Allan Kaprow, Roy Lichtenstein, Lucas Samaras and George Segal (1) . However, the painter Joan Snyder (Douglass College, 1962 and Rutgers MFA) observed in 1971 that the studio art students of the all-female Douglass College had no female mentors or role models: all the full-time art faculty were male, and the college gallery exhibited only male artists. Snyder contacted Daisy Brightenback (later Shenholm, Douglass College, 1944), the director of the Mabel Smith Douglass Library, to ask if an exhibition of women artists could be held in the lobby and corridors of the library. Brightenback was enthusiastic, and enlisted Lynn F. Miller, a new reference librarian, to serve as coordinator while Snyder served as curator. The 1971/1972 season began with an exhibition of the works of Mary Heilmann and featured altogether eight artists, including Snyder. The Series was one of the first exhibition series in the US dedicated to women artists and the first on the east coast. It provided a venue for women artists, whose works were not shown in mainstream galleries, and created an opportunity for women artists and Douglass College students to interact. Soon the Series captured the attention of the media and the art world beyond Rutgers (2) . It remains the longest-running continuous series of exhibitions in the United States dedicated to women artists.

The first season's success led to subsequent seasons, along with expanded budgets and fundraising activities. A deliberate attempt was made to exhibit both established and emerging artists; each season typically featured artists at very different stages in their careers, with artists receiving their first solo exhibitions alongside the likes of Louise Bourgeois, Alice Neel and Nancy Spero. The first annual catalog was published in the second season, funded by the exhibiting artists themselves. A grant from the New Jersey Council on the Humanities in 1974/1975 allowed for the establishment of educational outreach programs, and the recruitment of catalog essayists including Linda Nochlin (3), Lucy Lippard (4) and Lawrence Alloway (5) (6) . A series of group exhibitions of New Jersey women artists began in 1974/1975. By 1976 the Series was being discussed in major art periodicals such as Art in America (7) and Arts Magazine (8) .

Lynn Miller left Douglass Library in 1979 and Evelyn Apgar (Douglass College, 1969), adding to her responsibilities in the Douglass College Dean's Office, was named Series coordinator. Under Apgar's leadership an Advisory Board was formed from members of the University community, and the establishment of a jury procedure ended the selection of artists by open submissions. A tenth-anniversary retrospective exhibition was held in 1981, which subsequently traveled to the A.I.R. Gallery, a women's cooperative in New York City, and a day-long conference was held entitled "The Women's Art Movement: Ten Years of Change" (9) .

Apgar left the University in 1983 and Beryl K. Smith (Douglass College, 1982) became coordinator. A highlight of her tenure was Representative Works, 1971-1984: Women Artists Series, an exhibition of the work of thirty past Series participants, coordinated by Ferris Olin (Douglass College, 1970) and organized jointly with the Women's Caucus for Art/New Jersey Chapter (WCA/NJ), and held during the National Women's Studies Conference at Douglass College in June of 1984 (10) . Two years later, the Women's Caucus for Art presented Douglass College with the first WCA institutional award, for its contributions and commitment to women's art. In 1987 a significant endowment fund was established by Professor Emeritus Nelle Smithers in memory of Mary H. Dana (Douglass College, 1942), and the Series was renamed the Mary H. Dana Women Artists Series (11) .

Karen McGruder became coordinator in 1991 and immediately oversaw the twentieth anniversary celebration, planned by Beryl Smith, including a retrospective exhibition of works by thirty Series artists, a major public program, and a special issue of The Journal of the Rutgers University Libraries devoted to the exhibition and to the history and significance of the Series (12) (13) (14) (15) . Ferris Olin became curator of the Series in 1994, and in the same year established the Contemporary Women Artists Archive (later renamed the Contemporary Women Artists Files) to permanently house documentation on all the women artists who have ever supplied information about themselves to the Series.

The twenty-fifth anniversary celebration in 1996 was even bigger then the twentieth. It included three exhibitions -- Artists' Portraits and Statements was held at Douglass Library, the 25th Year Retrospective Exhibition at the Mason Gross School of the Arts Galleries, and Documents and Images from Feminist Contemporary Art at the Rutgers Libraries' Special Collections and University Archives -- a reception and public programs featuring the lecture Feminist Content, Feminist Form: American Women Artists 1966-1996 by Dr. Judith E. Stein, extensive media coverage, and a commemorative print, Another Version of Cherry Fall, created by Joan Snyder in collaboration with the Rutgers Center for Innovative Print and Paper (RCIPP) master printer, Eileen Foti. The retrospective exhibition featured works by 125 artists and had a substantial catalog with essays by Joan Marter and Judith K. Brodsky. It was curated and the catalog compiled and edited by Marianne Ficarra (Douglass College, 1988) and Ferris Olin, who organized the entire celebration (16) .

Other significant publications were generated from their authors' experiences with the Series. In 1981, Lynn Miller and Sally Swenson published Lives and Works: Talks with Women Artists, a collection of interviews with Series artists (17) . In 1996, Beryl Smith, Joan Arbeiter and Sally Swenson published a second volume of interviews (18) . A Web site was created for the Series in 1999 (19) . In 2003/2004, as part of the initial phase of the D21: Douglass Library for the 21st Century renovation project, galleries were created, giving the Mary H. Dana Women Artists Series its first dedicated exhibition space. The first exhibit was of artwork from Douglass Library's permanent collection, including several works by Series artists.

Another Version of Cherry Fall does not represent the first time a work of art was created for the Women Artists Series. In its first season, Jackie Winsor created the sculpture Brick Dome for the front lawn of the Mabel Smith Douglass Library (20) . In 1981, a Women Artists Series residency by Alice Aycock (Douglass College, 1968) produced The Miraculating Machine in the Garden (Temple of the Winds), sited next to the Library and recently restored (21) (22) . In addition, a number of Series artists, including Lisa Collado, Suzanne Guite, Harriet Kittay, Ora Lerman, Marion Lerner Levine, Mae Rockland and Joan Snyder, have donated works to Douglass Library following their exhibitions.

Educational programs have always played a significant role in the Series' mission of outreach to the Rutgers community. In a first collaboration between the Women Artists Series and a Rutgers academic department, Joan Marter's "Women in Art" class curated the 1982 exhibition Modern Masters: Women of the First Generation, featuring artists Dorothy Dehner, Sari Dienes, Elsie Driggs, Perle Fine, Dorothea Greenbaum, Dorothy Hood, Buffie Johnson, Lois Jones, Esphyr Slobodkina and Jane Teller (23) (24) . In 1986 the New Jersey Department of Higher Education funded a Faculty Development and Curriculum Transformation initiative called "Models of Persistence," a team-taught course on 20th century American Art that incorporated the Women Artists Series into the classroom; the team consisted of Louise Duus for Douglass College, Ferris Olin for the Institute for Research on Women, Judith K. Brodsky for Rutgers' Visual Arts Department, and Hildreth York for the Art History Department's Museum Studies Program (25) .

An endowment in memory of the artist Estelle Lebowitz provided for the establishment, in 1999, of the Estelle Lebowitz Visiting Artist-in-Residence Lectureship. This ongoing program affords the University community and general public the opportunity not only to view the work of a renowned contemporary woman artist, but also to meet with her in a series of classes and public lectures. Recipients of the lectureship include Carolee Schneemann (1999/2000), Siri Berg (1999/2000), June Wayne (2000/2001), Hung Liu (2001/2002), and Miriam Schapiro (2004/2005) (26) .

Series exhibits and programs have routinely been the subjects of spirited discussion, and occasionally of controversy. Student protests arose in 1974 over the works of Bibi Lencek with their strong suggestions of sexual activity. In response, Lynn Miller organized a panel to discuss freedom of expression, and as a result the exhibition continued (27) . Similar protests resulted a quarter-century later from an exhibition by Bailey Doogan (Women Artists Series, 1999/2000), whose paintings involved frank depictions of unidealized nude females. Ferris Olin's response was, like Miller's, to turn controversy into an opportunity for education. A seminar on "Censorship, Intellectual Freedom and the Arts" was organized, co-sponsored by the Series and the Rutgers University Libraries Advisory Committee on Diversity, Doogan was invited to give a talk on censorship at the Mason Gross School of the Arts, and a reading file consisting of copies of journal articles, reviews and visual resources about the artist, was placed on reserve at Douglass Library for interested students (28) (29) .

This last practice was begun in the previous season in response to negative reactions to the works of Kara Walker in the exhibition Private Eye: A Group Exhibition . Some viewers interpreted Walker's silhouettes and cartoons of African-Americans as destructive negative stereotypes, and the reading file was compiled to augment knowledge of Walker's background and artistic intentions (30) . Racial stereotypes had also been a controversial issue in the works of Eve Sandler (Women Artists Series, 1997/1998). A panel presentation, "Hair Culture: African American Women, Beauty and Identity," had already been planned during the run of Sandler's exhibition, but when her sculptural forms made largely of synthetic hair and fingernails were seen by some viewers as enforcing negative stereotypes, these issues were incorporated into the presentation, in which Sandler was one of the presenters, enriching the discussion and the attendees' appreciation of Sandler's work (31) (32) .

The power of symbols generated strong reactions in two very different instances, both of which provided opportunities for dialogue and education. In 1988 Vida Hackman inspired protests by incorporating a swastika into her works, which investigated the power of symbols as propaganda; later, University police confiscated as a security threat an inoperable, carborundum-coated rifle incorporated into one of Hackman's pieces, and withheld it for the remainder of the exhibition. As on other occasions, a forum was organized to encourage dialogue (33) (34) . An exhibit of works by Michiko Rupnow featured wall reliefs containing artifacts such as bullets, body parts, and harmless bacteria cultures, and its accidental timing soon after the attacks of September 11, 2001 brought on a storm of controversy. Again, a substantial educational campaign was launched and dialogue encouraged (35) . Visibility and communication -- between artist and student, student and student, women and the art world -- have always been at the heart of the Series' mission.

(1) Joan Marter, ed., Off Limits: Rutgers University and the Avant-Garde, 1957-1963 (Newark, NJ; New Brunswick, NJ, 1999).

(2) Beryl K. Smith, "The Mary H. Dana Women Artists Series: From Idea to Institution," The Journal of the Rutgers University Libraries, 54.1 (1992), p. 4-5.

(3) Lawrence Alloway, Introduction, The Roots of Creativity: Women Artists Year Six (New Brunswick, NJ, 1976), p. 1-2.

(4) Lucy Lippard, Introduction, Women Artists Series Year Five (New Brunswick, NJ, 1975), p. 1-5.

(5) Linda Nochlin, Preface, Women Artists Series Year Four (New Brunswick, NJ, 1974), p. 1-3.

(6) Smith, p. 6-9.

(7) Lawrence Alloway, "Women's Art in the '70s," Art in America, May 1976, p. 66.

(8) Joan Marter, "Women Artists," Arts Magazine, Feb. 1978, p. 23.

(9) Smith, p. 9-10.

(10) Representative Works, 1971-1984, Women Artists Series; and Focused Fragments (New Brunswick, NJ, 1984).

(11) Smith, p. 10-11.

(12) Joan Marter, "Then and Now: Recognition of Women Artists Since 1970," The Journal of the Rutgers University Libraries, 54.1 (1992), p. 25-27.

(13) Ferris Olin, "Thawing the Chilly Climate: Two Decades of Women Artists at Douglass College," The Journal of the Rutgers University Libraries, 54.1 (1992), p. 28-33.

(14) Smith.

(15) Joan Snyder, "It Wasn't Neo to Us," The Journal of the Rutgers University Libraries, 54.1 (1992), p. 34-35.

(16) Marianne Ficarra and Ferris Olin, eds., Mary H. Dana Women Artists Series 25th Year Retrospective: 25 Years of Feminism, 25 Years of Women's Art (New Brunswick, NJ, 1996).

(17) Lynn F. Miller and Sally S. Swenson, Lives and Works: Talks with Women Artists (Metuchen, NJ, 1981).

(18) Beryl Smith, Joan Arbeiter, and Sally Shearer Swenson, Lives and Works: Talks with Women Artists, Volume 2 (Lanham, MD, 1996).

(19) Rutgers University Libraries, Mary H. Dana Women Artists Series (New Brunswick, NJ, 1999-2001), http://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/rul/exhibits/dana_womens.shtml

(20) Ficarra and Olin, p. 140.

(21) Ficarra and Olin, p. 144.

(22) Smith, p. 10.

(23) Ficarra and Olin, p. 145.

(24) Women Artists Series, Modern Masters: Women of the First Generation: Dorothy Dehner, Sari Dienes, Elsie Driggs, Perle Fine, Dorothea Greenbaum, Dorothy Hood, Buffie Johnson, Lois Jones, Esphyr Slobodkina, Jane Teller (New Brunswick, NJ, 1982).

(25) Ficarra and Olin, p. 146.

(26) Rutgers University Libraries, http://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/rul/exhibits/dana_womens.shtml

(27) Smith, p. 13.

(28) Frederick Kaimann, "Artist Reinterprets the Body Beautiful," Home News Tribune (East Brunswick, NJ), 11 Feb. 2000, p. 7.

(29) Exhibition Materials, Exhibited Artists Files, Folders Doogan, Bailey 1-3.

(30) Exhibition Materials, Exhibited Artists Files, Folders Sillman, Amy 1-3.

(31) Exhibition Materials, Exhibited Artists Files, Folder Sandler, Eve 1.

(32) Hair Culture Program, Operational Files, Folders 1997.9-1997.11.

(33) Ficarra and Olin, p. 147.

(34) Smith, p. 13-14.

(35) Exhibition Materials, Exhibited Artists Files, Folders Rupnow, Michiko, 1-2.

• 1971/1972 (Year1): Artists: Mary Heilman, Lorraine Forte, Mae Rockland, Nancy Azara, Audrey Hemenway, Roberta Richman, Pat Steir, Joan Snyder
• 1972/1973 (Year 2): Artists: Nancy Azara, Marion Munk, Lore Lindenfeld, Amy Stromsten, Frances Kuehn, Howardena Pindell, Michelle Stuart, Naomi Waksberg, Barbara Zucker, Jackie Winsor, Loretta Dunkelman
• Special Exhibit - Liberated Printmakers: Lois Berghoff, Ruth Bilane, Zelda Burdick, Shirley Aley Campbell, Anne R. Cantor, Noel Farese, Riva Helfond, Lida Hilton, Clare Romano, Roslyn Rose, Jean Frances Schonwalter, Marion Sims, Judy Targan, Fran Willner
• 1973/1974 (Year 3): Artists: Patricia Lay, Joyce Kozloff, Therese Schwartz, Carole Stein, Nancy Spero, Kate Resek, Linda Lindroth, Suzanne Guite
• Group Show - New Jersey Women Artists - Found Women: Joyce Arons, Carol Augthun, Marguerite Doernbach, Christine Dolinich, Rose Dreyer, Maxine Feingold, Lois Feit, Jeanette Feldman, Ann Gross, Lida Hilton, Lynn Itzkowitz, Connie Jost, Ruth Krieger, Lauren Lindsay, Nancee Meeker, Kathleen Mooney, Lois Morrison, Grace Pologe, Clare Romano, Susan Schmidt, Regina Tomasula, Linda White, Jenny Squires Wilker
• Special Exhibit - The Rip-Off File
• 1974/1975 (Year 4): Artists: Sylvia Sleigh, May Stevens, Grace Graupe-Pillard, Halina Rusak, Nancy Sirkis, Judith Seigel, Ronnie Reder, Miriam Schapiro, Cecile Abish, Louise Bourgeois
• Group Show - New Jersey Women Artists: Diane Churchill, Christine Dolinich, Bascha Mon, Terise Slotkin, Kay Walkingstick, Vick Weber-Owen
• 1975/1976 (Year 5): Artists: Diane Kaiser, Ann Marie Rousseau, Bibi Lencek, Fay Lansner, Agnes Denes, Christine Osinski, Betye Saar, Joan Snyder
• Group Show - New Jersey Women Artists: Bobbi Adams, Elizabeth Ayer, Miriam Beerman, Ellen Betzko, Nancy Brangaccio, Beverly Buchanan, Jane Carr, Betty Park, Janet Taylor Pickett, Pamela Scheinman, Majorie Weiss Schiffman, Linda White
• 1976/1977 (Year 6): Artists: Cathey Billian, Mary Ann Gillies, Judith Henry, Penny Kaplan, Ora Lerman, Cynthia Mailman, Ce Roser, Judith Solodkin, Lucy Sallick, Athena Tacha
• Group Show - New Jersey Women Artists: Marion Behr, Eva Bouzard-Hui, Marge Chavooshian, Lynne Graves, Debra Goldman, Arlene Haller, Nancy Shand, Sue Stember, Sheilah Vernimb, Judith Wadia, Carol Westfall, Selena Whitefeather
• 1977/1978 (Year 7): Artists: Lillian Schwartz, Doris Lanier, Alice Neel, Susan Schwalb, Mary Beth Edelson, Deborah Freedman, Judith K. Brodsky, Faith Ringgold, Suellen Snyder
• Group Show - New Jersey Women Artists: Dorothy H. Abramitis, Marjorie Abramson, Sonia Chusit, Suellen Glashausser, Molly Lipshitz, Kumiko Murashima, Lynn Rudnik, Gertrude Simon
• 1978/1979 (Year 8): Artists: Ellie Thompson, Lillian Frantin-Edwards, Shirley Fuerst, Radka Donnell, Mimi Smith, Faith Wilding, Mary Grigoriadis
• Group Show - New Jersey Women Artists: Marilyn Brummel, Tova Beck Friedman, Esther Luttikhuizen, Jill O'Connell, Carol Rosen, Sally Shearer Swenson, Ann Williams, June Wilson
• 1979/1980 (Year 9): Artists: Vickie Esposito, Charlotte Robinson, Layle Silbert, Ann Chernow, Dotty Attie, Naomi Boretz
• Group Show - Prints by New Jersey Women Artists: Judith K. Brodsky, Yvonne Burk, Ofelia Garcia, Trudy Glucksberg, Dorothea Greenbaum, Ann Gross, Lonni Sue Johnson, Margaret Kennard Johnson, Joan Needham, Mayumi Oda, Clare Romano, Naomi Savage, Helen Schwartz, Marie Sturken, Jane Teller, Linda White
• Group Show - New Jersey Women Artists: Dorothy Cochran, Gloria Cernosia Du Bouchet, Tova Beck Friedman, Amy Kassiola, Irene Krugman, Pat Feeney Murrell, Janet Filomina-Rivera
• 1980/1981 (Year 10): Artists: Sandi Fellman, Sandy Skoglund, Amy Stromsten, Lyndia B. Terr, Alice Aycock, Katherine Kenny, Barbara Moore-Henderson, Muriel Magenta, Harmony Hammond
• Anniversary Show - Tenth Anniversary Retrospective Exhibition
• Group Show - New Jersey Women Artists: Sharon Libes, Fran Manzo, Laura Young, E. Carol O'Neill, Esther Rosen, Jeanne Rotunda, Nette Forné Thomas, Amy West
• 1981/1982 (Year 11): Artists: Marcia King, Joan Semmel, Donna Henes, Alison Knowles, Ida Applebroog, Abby Robinson, Marion Lerner Levine, Diane Burko, Ana Mendieta, Regina Bogat
• Group Show - New Jersey Artists - Perspectives in Paint: Joan Arbeiter, Judith Ann Fleischer, Patricia Hynes, Janet Indick, Marion Lane, Lucille Marie Paris
• 1982/1983 (Year 12): Artists: Olga Moore, Ellen Lanyon, Eleanor Antin, Martha Edelheit, Selena Trieff, Vivian Browne, Candace Hill, Joan Danziger
• Group Show - Modern Masters - Women of the First Generation: Dorothy Dehner, Sari Dienes, Elsie Driggs, Perle Fine, Dorothea Greenbaum, Dorothy Hood, Buffie Johnson, Lois Mailou Jones, Esphyr Slobodkina, Jane Teller
• Group Show - New Jersey Printmakers: Mariette Pathy Allen, Judith Black, Jeri Drucker, Mary Eastman, Frances McLaughlin-Gill, Clarice Kjerulff, Dianora Niccolini, Abby Robinson, Ann Marie Rousseau, Cindy Sherman, Amy Stromsten, Suzanne Szasz
• 1983/1984 (Year 13): Artists: Phoebe Helman, Carolee Schneemann, Juanita McNeely, Melissa Meyer, Harriet Kittay, Carolee Thea, Nancy Storrow, Ofra Parmett, Anne Healy
• Group Show - Representative Works, 1971-1984 - Women Artists Series
• Group Show - Focused Fragments (sponsored by the National Women's Studies Association Annual Conference): Hope Carter, Laura Chenicek, Sonia Chusit, Daina Dagnija, Marguerite Doernbach, Christine Dolinich, Anne Dushanko-Dobek, Hannah Fink, Grace Graupe-Pillard, Linda Handler, Susan Hogan, Sharon Libes, Judith A. Lieberman, Lillian Marzell, Lucille Marie Paris, Judith Peck, Bonnie Christina Randall, B.P. Rizo-Patron, Diana Soorikan, Jo Spohn, Nette Forné Thomas, Florence Weisz, June Wilson, Tema Zak
• 1984/1985 (Year 14): Artists: Zarina Hashmi, Jane Teller, Claire Moore, Marina Moevs, Dorothy Gillespie, Judith Blum, Lyanne Malamed, Anita Steckel
• 1985/1986 (Year 15): Artists: Lisa Collado, Charlotte Linzer, Carol Goebel, Marilyn Rosenberg, Deborah W. Stanitz, Gretna Campbell, Rosalind Shaffer, Maria Domenica Lupo
• 1986/1987 (Year 16): Artists: Raisa Fastman, Minna Citron, Janice Becker, Betty Tompkins, K.S. Ernst, Judith Davies, Christine Dolinich, Bernarda Bryson Shahn, Pat Ralph
• 1987/1988 (Year 17): Artists: Patricia Garrett, Catherine Allen, Janet Delaney, Enid Bell, Shirley Samberg, Oriole Farb Feshback, Loretta Mossman, Carolyn Berry
• 1988/1989 (Year 18): Artists: Vida Hackman, Janet Culbertson, Helen Stummer, Mary Koga, Emma Amos, Mary Teichman, Michelle Marozik
• 1989/1990 (Year 19): Artists: Dorothy Dehner, Sari Dienes, Jane Teller, Suzanne Resnik, Keiko Hosokawa, Marcelle Stoianovich, Aurore Chabot, Susan Landgraf
• 1990/1991 (Year 20): Artists: Soonja O. Kim, Babette Martino, Kitty Wales, Suellen Glashausser, Elyse Taylor, Kim Abeles, Phyllis Bramson
• 1991/1992 (Year 21): Artists: Lynn Wadsworth, Sue Collier, Barbara Takenaga, Lori Van Houten, Sharon Gilbert
• Anniversary Show - 20th Anniversary Exhibition
• 1992/1993 (Year 22): Artists: Hermine Freed, Josely Carvalho, Leslie Zelamsky, Susan Forman
• 1993/1994 (Year 23): Artists: Vivian Browne, Jeanne Jaffe, Judith Taylor, Lynne Allen, Harriet Pappas
• 1994/1995 (Year 24): Artists: Helen Zajkowski, Jo Yarrington, Lew Graham, Ellen K. Levy, Carol Sun
• 1995/1996 (Year 25): Artists: Andrea Belag, Sheba Sharrow, Robin Tewes, Melissa Marks, Partia Munson, Virginia Cuppaidge, Jane Zweibel
• 1996/1997 (Year 26): Anniversary Show - Artists' Portraits and Statements
• Anniversary Show - 25th Year Retrospective Exhibition
• Anniversary Show - Documents and Images from Feminist Contemporary Art
• Group Show - Rutgers University Faculty Exhibition: Lynne Allen, Emma Amos, Judith K. Brodsky, Sheena Calvert, Lauren Ewing, Ardele Lister, Toby MacLennan, Olga Moore, Hanneline Røgeberg
• 1997/1998 (Year 27): Artists: Eve Sandler, Estelle Lebowitz, Jan Blair, Nancy Macko, Debra Weier, Lenore Malen
• 1998/1999 (Year 28): Artists: Michi Itami, Daniele Marin, Joy Walker, Martha Posner
• Group Show - Private Eye: A Group Exhibition: Ida Applebroog, Ellen Driscoll, Judith Linhares, Medrie MacPhee, Donna Moylan, Laura Newman, Amy Sillman, Kara Walker, Karen Yasinsky
• Group Show - Douglass College Alumnae Exhibition: Joan Arbeiter, Alice Ageloff, Hillary M. Binder-Klein, Carolyn Grosse Gawarecki, Carla Hernandez, Gail Holy, Lynn Kotula, Joanne Miskawski, Janet Pollack, Carol McClure Sanzalone, Debra Barnhart Smith,Lois Salmon Toole, Roberta Boulgarides Van Note, Barbara Weissberger,Florence Weisz, Marjean Willett
• 1999/2000 (Year 29): Artists: Carolee Schneemann†, Gloria Rodriguez, Bailey Doogan, Miriam Schaer, Clarissa T. Sligh, Siri Berg†
• 2000/2001 (Year 30): Artists: June Wayne†, Anuradha Das, Nancy Cohen, Carson Fox, Judith Godwin, Berenice D'Vorzon, Jacqueline Ann Clipsham, Liz Whitney Quisgard
• 2001/2002 (Year 31): Artists: Hung Liu†, Michiko Rupnow, Li-lan, Virginia Abrams
• Special Exhibit - Visions Realized - Collages by Suzanne Bladon
• 2002/2003: Series on hiatus
• 2003/2004: Series on hiatus
• 2004/2005 (Year 32): Artist: Miriam Schapiro†
• Group Show - Artists on the Edge - Douglass College and the Rutgers MFA: Alice Aycock, Loretta Dunkelman, Frances Kuehn, Linda Lindroth, Marion Munk, Rita Myers, Mimi Smith, Joan Snyder, Keith Sonnier, Ann Tsubota, Jackie Winsor
• 2005/2006 (Year 33): Group Show - Re:Generation: Mareena Daredia, Marni Horwitz, Emna Zghal, Claudia Sbrissa, Dasha Shishkin, Pasqualina Azzerello, Mira Dancy, Victoria Burge, Sachiko Akiyama, Tracey Snelling, Francisca Benitez, Larilyn Sanchez, Riza Manalo, Molly Snyder-Fink, Saeri Kiritani, Gisela Sanders, Alcantara, Brigid McCaffrey, Danielle Lombardi, Stephanie Adams, Sandra Appiah
• Artist: Erin Baiano

†Estelle Lebowitz Visiting Artist-in-Residence Lecturer

Adapted from Joanne Zangara, "Chronology," in Marianne Ficarra and Ferris Olin, eds., Mary H. Dana Women Artists Series 25th Year Retrospective: 25 Years of Feminism, 25 Years of Women's Art (New Brunswick, NJ, 1996), p. 130-136. Adapted and updated by William Hemmig, Dec. 14, 2004.

From the guide to the Inventory to the Mary H. Dana Women Artists Series Archives, 1971-[ongoing], (Rutgers University Libraries, Margery Somers Foster Center)

Inspired by the women's movement of the 1960s, the women's movement in art began by 1970 to work toward equal representation and recognition of women in contemporary art, and greater inclusiveness in art education. This impulse created the climate for the beginning of the Women Artists Series at the Mabel Smith Douglass Library, Douglass College, Rutgers University. Rutgers' New Brunswick campus already had a vibrant reputation in the contemporary art world, having provided a home for innovators like Allan Kaprow, Roy Lichtenstein, Lucas Samaras and George Segal (1) . However, the painter Joan Snyder (Douglass College, 1962 and Rutgers MFA) observed in 1971 that the studio art students of the all-female Douglass College had no female mentors or role models: all the full-time art faculty were male, and the college gallery exhibited only male artists. Snyder contacted Daisy Brightenback (later Shenholm, Douglass College, 1944), the director of the Mabel Smith Douglass Library, to ask if an exhibition of women artists could be held in the lobby and corridors of the library. Brightenback was enthusiastic, and enlisted Lynn F. Miller, a new reference librarian, to serve as coordinator while Snyder served as curator. The 1971/1972 season began with an exhibition of the works of Mary Heilmann and featured altogether eight artists, including Snyder. The Series was one of the first exhibition series in the US dedicated to women artists and the first on the east coast. It provided a venue for women artists, whose works were not shown in mainstream galleries, and created an opportunity for women artists and Douglass College students to interact. Soon the Series captured the attention of the media and the art world beyond Rutgers (2) . It remains the longest-running continuous series of exhibitions in the United States dedicated to women artists.

The first season's success led to subsequent seasons, along with expanded budgets and fundraising activities. A deliberate attempt was made to exhibit both established and emerging artists; each season typically featured artists at very different stages in their careers, with artists receiving their first solo exhibitions alongside the likes of Louise Bourgeois, Alice Neel and Nancy Spero. The first annual catalog was published in the second season, funded by the exhibiting artists themselves. A grant from the New Jersey Council on the Humanities in 1974/1975 allowed for the establishment of educational outreach programs, and the recruitment of catalog essayists including Linda Nochlin (3), Lucy Lippard (4) and Lawrence Alloway (5) (6) . A series of group exhibitions of New Jersey women artists began in 1974/1975. By 1976 the Series was being discussed in major art periodicals such as Art in America (7) and Arts Magazine (8) .

Lynn Miller left Douglass Library in 1979 and Evelyn Apgar (Douglass College, 1969), adding to her responsibilities in the Douglass College Dean's Office, was named Series coordinator. Under Apgar's leadership an Advisory Board was formed from members of the University community, and the establishment of a jury procedure ended the selection of artists by open submissions. A tenth-anniversary retrospective exhibition was held in 1981, which subsequently traveled to the A.I.R. Gallery, a women's cooperative in New York City, and a day-long conference was held entitled "The Women's Art Movement: Ten Years of Change" (9) .

Apgar left the University in 1983 and Beryl K. Smith (Douglass College, 1982) became coordinator. A highlight of her tenure was Representative Works, 1971-1984: Women Artists Series, an exhibition of the work of thirty past Series participants, coordinated by Ferris Olin (Douglass College, 1970) and organized jointly with the Women's Caucus for Art/New Jersey Chapter (WCA/NJ), and held during the National Women's Studies Conference at Douglass College in June of 1984 (10) . Two years later, the Women's Caucus for Art presented Douglass College with the first WCA institutional award, for its contributions and commitment to women's art. In 1987 a significant endowment fund was established by Professor Emeritus Nelle Smithers in memory of Mary H. Dana (Douglass College, 1942), and the Series was renamed the Mary H. Dana Women Artists Series (11) .

Karen McGruder became coordinator in 1991 and immediately oversaw the twentieth anniversary celebration, planned by Beryl Smith, including a retrospective exhibition of works by thirty Series artists, a major public program, and a special issue of The Journal of the Rutgers University Libraries devoted to the exhibition and to the history and significance of the Series (12) (13) (14) (15) . Ferris Olin became curator of the Series in 1994, and in the same year established the Contemporary Women Artists Archive (later renamed the Contemporary Women Artists Files) to permanently house documentation on all the women artists who have ever supplied information about themselves to the Series.

The twenty-fifth anniversary celebration in 1996 was even bigger then the twentieth. It included three exhibitions -- Artists' Portraits and Statements was held at Douglass Library, the 25th Year Retrospective Exhibition at the Mason Gross School of the Arts Galleries, and Documents and Images from Feminist Contemporary Art at the Rutgers Libraries' Special Collections and University Archives -- a reception and public programs featuring the lecture Feminist Content, Feminist Form: American Women Artists 1966-1996 by Dr. Judith E. Stein, extensive media coverage, and a commemorative print, Another Version of Cherry Fall, created by Joan Snyder in collaboration with the Rutgers Center for Innovative Print and Paper (RCIPP) master printer, Eileen Foti. The retrospective exhibition featured works by 125 artists and had a substantial catalog with essays by Joan Marter and Judith K. Brodsky. It was curated and the catalog compiled and edited by Marianne Ficarra (Douglass College, 1988) and Ferris Olin, who organized the entire celebration (16) .

Other significant publications were generated from their authors' experiences with the Series. In 1981, Lynn Miller and Sally Swenson published Lives and Works: Talks with Women Artists, a collection of interviews with Series artists (17) . In 1996, Beryl Smith, Joan Arbeiter and Sally Swenson published a second volume of interviews (18) . A Web site was created for the Series in 1999 (19) . In 2003/2004, as part of the initial phase of the D21: Douglass Library for the 21st Century renovation project, galleries were created, giving the Mary H. Dana Women Artists Series its first dedicated exhibition space. The first exhibit was of artwork from Douglass Library's permanent collection, including several works by Series artists.

Another Version of Cherry Fall does not represent the first time a work of art was created for the Women Artists Series. In its first season, Jackie Winsor created the sculpture Brick Dome for the front lawn of the Mabel Smith Douglass Library (20) . In 1981, a Women Artists Series residency by Alice Aycock (Douglass College, 1968) produced The Miraculating Machine in the Garden (Temple of the Winds), sited next to the Library and recently restored (21) (22) . In addition, a number of Series artists, including Lisa Collado, Suzanne Guite, Harriet Kittay, Ora Lerman, Marion Lerner Levine, Mae Rockland and Joan Snyder, have donated works to Douglass Library following their exhibitions.

Educational programs have always played a significant role in the Series' mission of outreach to the Rutgers community. In a first collaboration between the Women Artists Series and a Rutgers academic department, Joan Marter's "Women in Art" class curated the 1982 exhibition Modern Masters: Women of the First Generation, featuring artists Dorothy Dehner, Sari Dienes, Elsie Driggs, Perle Fine, Dorothea Greenbaum, Dorothy Hood, Buffie Johnson, Lois Jones, Esphyr Slobodkina and Jane Teller (23) (24) . In 1986 the New Jersey Department of Higher Education funded a Faculty Development and Curriculum Transformation initiative called "Models of Persistence," a team-taught course on 20th century American Art that incorporated the Women Artists Series into the classroom; the team consisted of Louise Duus for Douglass College, Ferris Olin for the Institute for Research on Women, Judith K. Brodsky for Rutgers' Visual Arts Department, and Hildreth York for the Art History Department's Museum Studies Program (25) .

An endowment in memory of the artist Estelle Lebowitz provided for the establishment, in 1999, of the Estelle Lebowitz Visiting Artist-in-Residence Lectureship. This ongoing program affords the University community and general public the opportunity not only to view the work of a renowned contemporary woman artist, but also to meet with her in a series of classes and public lectures. Recipients of the lectureship include Carolee Schneemann (1999/2000), Siri Berg (1999/2000), June Wayne (2000/2001), Hung Liu (2001/2002), and Miriam Schapiro (2004/2005) (26) .

Series exhibits and programs have routinely been the subjects of spirited discussion, and occasionally of controversy. Student protests arose in 1974 over the works of Bibi Lencek with their strong suggestions of sexual activity. In response, Lynn Miller organized a panel to discuss freedom of expression, and as a result the exhibition continued (27) . Similar protests resulted a quarter-century later from an exhibition by Bailey Doogan (Women Artists Series, 1999/2000), whose paintings involved frank depictions of unidealized nude females. Ferris Olin's response was, like Miller's, to turn controversy into an opportunity for education. A seminar on "Censorship, Intellectual Freedom and the Arts" was organized, co-sponsored by the Series and the Rutgers University Libraries Advisory Committee on Diversity, Doogan was invited to give a talk on censorship at the Mason Gross School of the Arts, and a reading file consisting of copies of journal articles, reviews and visual resources about the artist, was placed on reserve at Douglass Library for interested students (28) (29) .

This last practice was begun in the previous season in response to negative reactions to the works of Kara Walker in the exhibition Private Eye: A Group Exhibition . Some viewers interpreted Walker's silhouettes and cartoons of African-Americans as destructive negative stereotypes, and the reading file was compiled to augment knowledge of Walker's background and artistic intentions (30) . Racial stereotypes had also been a controversial issue in the works of Eve Sandler (Women Artists Series, 1997/1998). A panel presentation, "Hair Culture: African American Women, Beauty and Identity," had already been planned during the run of Sandler's exhibition, but when her sculptural forms made largely of synthetic hair and fingernails were seen by some viewers as enforcing negative stereotypes, these issues were incorporated into the presentation, in which Sandler was one of the presenters, enriching the discussion and the attendees' appreciation of Sandler's work (31) (32) .

The power of symbols generated strong reactions in two very different instances, both of which provided opportunities for dialogue and education. In 1988 Vida Hackman inspired protests by incorporating a swastika into her works, which investigated the power of symbols as propaganda; later, University police confiscated as a security threat an inoperable, carborundum-coated rifle incorporated into one of Hackman's pieces, and withheld it for the remainder of the exhibition. As on other occasions, a forum was organized to encourage dialogue (33) (34) . An exhibit of works by Michiko Rupnow featured wall reliefs containing artifacts such as bullets, body parts, and harmless bacteria cultures, and its accidental timing soon after the attacks of September 11, 2001 brought on a storm of controversy. Again, a substantial educational campaign was launched and dialogue encouraged (35) . Visibility and communication -- between artist and student, student and student, women and the art world -- have always been at the heart of the Series' mission.

(1) Joan Marter, ed., Off Limits: Rutgers University and the Avant-Garde, 1957-1963 (Newark, NJ; New Brunswick, NJ, 1999).

(2) Beryl K. Smith, "The Mary H. Dana Women Artists Series: From Idea to Institution," The Journal of the Rutgers University Libraries, 54.1 (1992), p. 4-5.

(3) Lawrence Alloway, Introduction, The Roots of Creativity: Women Artists Year Six (New Brunswick, NJ, 1976), p. 1-2.

(4) Lucy Lippard, Introduction, Women Artists Series Year Five (New Brunswick, NJ, 1975), p. 1-5.

(5) Linda Nochlin, Preface, Women Artists Series Year Four (New Brunswick, NJ, 1974), p. 1-3.

(6) Smith, p. 6-9.

(7) Lawrence Alloway, "Women's Art in the '70s," Art in America, May 1976, p. 66.

(8) Joan Marter, "Women Artists," Arts Magazine, Feb. 1978, p. 23.

(9) Smith, p. 9-10.

(10) Representative Works, 1971-1984, Women Artists Series; and Focused Fragments (New Brunswick, NJ, 1984).

(11) Smith, p. 10-11.

(12) Joan Marter, "Then and Now: Recognition of Women Artists Since 1970," The Journal of the Rutgers University Libraries, 54.1 (1992), p. 25-27.

(13) Ferris Olin, "Thawing the Chilly Climate: Two Decades of Women Artists at Douglass College," The Journal of the Rutgers University Libraries, 54.1 (1992), p. 28-33.

(14) Smith.

(15) Joan Snyder, "It Wasn't Neo to Us," The Journal of the Rutgers University Libraries, 54.1 (1992), p. 34-35.

(16) Marianne Ficarra and Ferris Olin, eds., Mary H. Dana Women Artists Series 25th Year Retrospective: 25 Years of Feminism, 25 Years of Women's Art (New Brunswick, NJ, 1996).

(17) Lynn F. Miller and Sally S. Swenson, Lives and Works: Talks with Women Artists (Metuchen, NJ, 1981).

(18) Beryl Smith, Joan Arbeiter, and Sally Shearer Swenson, Lives and Works: Talks with Women Artists, Volume 2 (Lanham, MD, 1996).

(19) Rutgers University Libraries, Mary H. Dana Women Artists Series (New Brunswick, NJ, 1999-2001), http://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/rul/exhibits/dana_womens.shtml

(20) Ficarra and Olin, p. 140.

(21) Ficarra and Olin, p. 144.

(22) Smith, p. 10.

(23) Ficarra and Olin, p. 145.

(24) Women Artists Series, Modern Masters: Women of the First Generation: Dorothy Dehner, Sari Dienes, Elsie Driggs, Perle Fine, Dorothea Greenbaum, Dorothy Hood, Buffie Johnson, Lois Jones, Esphyr Slobodkina, Jane Teller (New Brunswick, NJ, 1982).

(25) Ficarra and Olin, p. 146.

(26) Rutgers University Libraries, http://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/rul/exhibits/dana_womens.shtml

(27) Smith, p. 13.

(28) Frederick Kaimann, "Artist Reinterprets the Body Beautiful," Home News Tribune (East Brunswick, NJ), 11 Feb. 2000, p. 7.

(29) Exhibition Materials, Exhibited Artists Files, Folders Doogan, Bailey 1-3.

(30) Exhibition Materials, Exhibited Artists Files, Folders Sillman, Amy 1-3.

(31) Exhibition Materials, Exhibited Artists Files, Folder Sandler, Eve 1.

(32) Hair Culture Program, Operational Files, Folders 1997.9-1997.11.

(33) Ficarra and Olin, p. 147.

(34) Smith, p. 13-14.

(35) Exhibition Materials, Exhibited Artists Files, Folders Rupnow, Michiko, 1-2.

• 1971/1972 (Year1): Artists: Mary Heilman, Lorraine Forte, Mae Rockland, Nancy Azara, Audrey Hemenway, Roberta Richman, Pat Steir, Joan Snyder
• 1972/1973 (Year 2): Artists: Nancy Azara, Marion Munk, Lore Lindenfeld, Amy Stromsten, Frances Kuehn, Howardena Pindell, Michelle Stuart, Naomi Waksberg, Barbara Zucker, Jackie Winsor, Loretta Dunkelman
• Special Exhibit - Liberated Printmakers: Lois Berghoff, Ruth Bilane, Zelda Burdick, Shirley Aley Campbell, Anne R. Cantor, Noel Farese, Riva Helfond, Lida Hilton, Clare Romano, Roslyn Rose, Jean Frances Schonwalter, Marion Sims, Judy Targan, Fran Willner
• 1973/1974 (Year 3): Artists: Patricia Lay, Joyce Kozloff, Therese Schwartz, Carole Stein, Nancy Spero, Kate Resek, Linda Lindroth, Suzanne Guite
• Group Show - New Jersey Women Artists - Found Women: Joyce Arons, Carol Augthun, Marguerite Doernbach, Christine Dolinich, Rose Dreyer, Maxine Feingold, Lois Feit, Jeanette Feldman, Ann Gross, Lida Hilton, Lynn Itzkowitz, Connie Jost, Ruth Krieger, Lauren Lindsay, Nancee Meeker, Kathleen Mooney, Lois Morrison, Grace Pologe, Clare Romano, Susan Schmidt, Regina Tomasula, Linda White, Jenny Squires Wilker
• Special Exhibit - The Rip-Off File
• 1974/1975 (Year 4): Artists: Sylvia Sleigh, May Stevens, Grace Graupe-Pillard, Halina Rusak, Nancy Sirkis, Judith Seigel, Ronnie Reder, Miriam Schapiro, Cecile Abish, Louise Bourgeois
• Group Show - New Jersey Women Artists: Diane Churchill, Christine Dolinich, Bascha Mon, Terise Slotkin, Kay Walkingstick, Vick Weber-Owen
• 1975/1976 (Year 5): Artists: Diane Kaiser, Ann Marie Rousseau, Bibi Lencek, Fay Lansner, Agnes Denes, Christine Osinski, Betye Saar, Joan Snyder
• Group Show - New Jersey Women Artists: Bobbi Adams, Elizabeth Ayer, Miriam Beerman, Ellen Betzko, Nancy Brangaccio, Beverly Buchanan, Jane Carr, Betty Park, Janet Taylor Pickett, Pamela Scheinman, Majorie Weiss Schiffman, Linda White
• 1976/1977 (Year 6): Artists: Cathey Billian, Mary Ann Gillies, Judith Henry, Penny Kaplan, Ora Lerman, Cynthia Mailman, Ce Roser, Judith Solodkin, Lucy Sallick, Athena Tacha
• Group Show - New Jersey Women Artists: Marion Behr, Eva Bouzard-Hui, Marge Chavooshian, Lynne Graves, Debra Goldman, Arlene Haller, Nancy Shand, Sue Stember, Sheilah Vernimb, Judith Wadia, Carol Westfall, Selena Whitefeather
• 1977/1978 (Year 7): Artists: Lillian Schwartz, Doris Lanier, Alice Neel, Susan Schwalb, Mary Beth Edelson, Deborah Freedman, Judith K. Brodsky, Faith Ringgold, Suellen Snyder
• Group Show - New Jersey Women Artists: Dorothy H. Abramitis, Marjorie Abramson, Sonia Chusit, Suellen Glashausser, Molly Lipshitz, Kumiko Murashima, Lynn Rudnik, Gertrude Simon
• 1978/1979 (Year 8): Artists: Ellie Thompson, Lillian Frantin-Edwards, Shirley Fuerst, Radka Donnell, Mimi Smith, Faith Wilding, Mary Grigoriadis
• Group Show - New Jersey Women Artists: Marilyn Brummel, Tova Beck Friedman, Esther Luttikhuizen, Jill O'Connell, Carol Rosen, Sally Shearer Swenson, Ann Williams, June Wilson
• 1979/1980 (Year 9): Artists: Vickie Esposito, Charlotte Robinson, Layle Silbert, Ann Chernow, Dotty Attie, Naomi Boretz
• Group Show - Prints by New Jersey Women Artists: Judith K. Brodsky, Yvonne Burk, Ofelia Garcia, Trudy Glucksberg, Dorothea Greenbaum, Ann Gross, Lonni Sue Johnson, Margaret Kennard Johnson, Joan Needham, Mayumi Oda, Clare Romano, Naomi Savage, Helen Schwartz, Marie Sturken, Jane Teller, Linda White
• Group Show - New Jersey Women Artists: Dorothy Cochran, Gloria Cernosia Du Bouchet, Tova Beck Friedman, Amy Kassiola, Irene Krugman, Pat Feeney Murrell, Janet Filomina-Rivera
• 1980/1981 (Year 10): Artists: Sandi Fellman, Sandy Skoglund, Amy Stromsten, Lyndia B. Terr, Alice Aycock, Katherine Kenny, Barbara Moore-Henderson, Muriel Magenta, Harmony Hammond
• Anniversary Show - Tenth Anniversary Retrospective Exhibition
• Group Show - New Jersey Women Artists: Sharon Libes, Fran Manzo, Laura Young, E. Carol O'Neill, Esther Rosen, Jeanne Rotunda, Nette Forné Thomas, Amy West
• 1981/1982 (Year 11): Artists: Marcia King, Joan Semmel, Donna Henes, Alison Knowles, Ida Applebroog, Abby Robinson, Marion Lerner Levine, Diane Burko, Ana Mendieta, Regina Bogat
• Group Show - New Jersey Artists - Perspectives in Paint: Joan Arbeiter, Judith Ann Fleischer, Patricia Hynes, Janet Indick, Marion Lane, Lucille Marie Paris
• 1982/1983 (Year 12): Artists: Olga Moore, Ellen Lanyon, Eleanor Antin, Martha Edelheit, Selena Trieff, Vivian Browne, Candace Hill, Joan Danziger
• Group Show - Modern Masters - Women of the First Generation: Dorothy Dehner, Sari Dienes, Elsie Driggs, Perle Fine, Dorothea Greenbaum, Dorothy Hood, Buffie Johnson, Lois Mailou Jones, Esphyr Slobodkina, Jane Teller
• Group Show - New Jersey Printmakers: Mariette Pathy Allen, Judith Black, Jeri Drucker, Mary Eastman, Frances McLaughlin-Gill, Clarice Kjerulff, Dianora Niccolini, Abby Robinson, Ann Marie Rousseau, Cindy Sherman, Amy Stromsten, Suzanne Szasz
• 1983/1984 (Year 13): Artists: Phoebe Helman, Carolee Schneemann, Juanita McNeely, Melissa Meyer, Harriet Kittay, Carolee Thea, Nancy Storrow, Ofra Parmett, Anne Healy
• Group Show - Representative Works, 1971-1984 - Women Artists Series
• Group Show - Focused Fragments (sponsored by the National Women's Studies Association Annual Conference): Hope Carter, Laura Chenicek, Sonia Chusit, Daina Dagnija, Marguerite Doernbach, Christine Dolinich, Anne Dushanko-Dobek, Hannah Fink, Grace Graupe-Pillard, Linda Handler, Susan Hogan, Sharon Libes, Judith A. Lieberman, Lillian Marzell, Lucille Marie Paris, Judith Peck, Bonnie Christina Randall, B.P. Rizo-Patron, Diana Soorikan, Jo Spohn, Nette Forné Thomas, Florence Weisz, June Wilson, Tema Zak
• 1984/1985 (Year 14): Artists: Zarina Hashmi, Jane Teller, Claire Moore, Marina Moevs, Dorothy Gillespie, Judith Blum, Lyanne Malamed, Anita Steckel
• 1985/1986 (Year 15): Artists: Lisa Collado, Charlotte Linzer, Carol Goebel, Marilyn Rosenberg, Deborah W. Stanitz, Gretna Campbell, Rosalind Shaffer, Maria Domenica Lupo
• 1986/1987 (Year 16): Artists: Raisa Fastman, Minna Citron, Janice Becker, Betty Tompkins, K.S. Ernst, Judith Davies, Christine Dolinich, Bernarda Bryson Shahn, Pat Ralph
• 1987/1988 (Year 17): Artists: Patricia Garrett, Catherine Allen, Janet Delaney, Enid Bell, Shirley Samberg, Oriole Farb Feshback, Loretta Mossman, Carolyn Berry
• 1988/1989 (Year 18): Artists: Vida Hackman, Janet Culbertson, Helen Stummer, Mary Koga, Emma Amos, Mary Teichman, Michelle Marozik
• 1989/1990 (Year 19): Artists: Dorothy Dehner, Sari Dienes, Jane Teller, Suzanne Resnik, Keiko Hosokawa, Marcelle Stoianovich, Aurore Chabot, Susan Landgraf
• 1990/1991 (Year 20): Artists: Soonja O. Kim, Babette Martino, Kitty Wales, Suellen Glashausser, Elyse Taylor, Kim Abeles, Phyllis Bramson
• 1991/1992 (Year 21): Artists: Lynn Wadsworth, Sue Collier, Barbara Takenaga, Lori Van Houten, Sharon Gilbert
• Anniversary Show - 20th Anniversary Exhibition
• 1992/1993 (Year 22): Artists: Hermine Freed, Josely Carvalho, Leslie Zelamsky, Susan Forman
• 1993/1994 (Year 23): Artists: Vivian Browne, Jeanne Jaffe, Judith Taylor, Lynne Allen, Harriet Pappas
• 1994/1995 (Year 24): Artists: Helen Zajkowski, Jo Yarrington, Lew Graham, Ellen K. Levy, Carol Sun
• 1995/1996 (Year 25): Artists: Andrea Belag, Sheba Sharrow, Robin Tewes, Melissa Marks, Partia Munson, Virginia Cuppaidge, Jane Zweibel
• 1996/1997 (Year 26): Anniversary Show - Artists' Portraits and Statements
• Anniversary Show - 25th Year Retrospective Exhibition
• Anniversary Show - Documents and Images from Feminist Contemporary Art
• Group Show - Rutgers University Faculty Exhibition: Lynne Allen, Emma Amos, Judith K. Brodsky, Sheena Calvert, Lauren Ewing, Ardele Lister, Toby MacLennan, Olga Moore, Hanneline Røgeberg
• 1997/1998 (Year 27): Artists: Eve Sandler, Estelle Lebowitz, Jan Blair, Nancy Macko, Debra Weier, Lenore Malen
• 1998/1999 (Year 28): Artists: Michi Itami, Daniele Marin, Joy Walker, Martha Posner
• Group Show - Private Eye: A Group Exhibition: Ida Applebroog, Ellen Driscoll, Judith Linhares, Medrie MacPhee, Donna Moylan, Laura Newman, Amy Sillman, Kara Walker, Karen Yasinsky
• Group Show - Douglass College Alumnae Exhibition: Joan Arbeiter, Alice Ageloff, Hillary M. Binder-Klein, Carolyn Grosse Gawarecki, Carla Hernandez, Gail Holy, Lynn Kotula, Joanne Miskawski, Janet Pollack, Carol McClure Sanzalone, Debra Barnhart Smith,Lois Salmon Toole, Roberta Boulgarides Van Note, Barbara Weissberger,Florence Weisz, Marjean Willett
• 1999/2000 (Year 29): Artists: Carolee Schneemann†, Gloria Rodriguez, Bailey Doogan, Miriam Schaer, Clarissa T. Sligh, Siri Berg†
• 2000/2001 (Year 30): Artists: June Wayne†, Anuradha Das, Nancy Cohen, Carson Fox, Judith Godwin, Berenice D'Vorzon, Jacqueline Ann Clipsham, Liz Whitney Quisgard
• 2001/2002 (Year 31): Artists: Hung Liu†, Michiko Rupnow, Li-lan, Virginia Abrams
• Special Exhibit - Visions Realized - Collages by Suzanne Bladon
• 2002/2003: Series on hiatus
• 2003/2004: Series on hiatus
• 2004/2005 (Year 32): Artist: Miriam Schapiro†
• Group Show - Artists on the Edge - Douglass College and the Rutgers MFA: Alice Aycock, Loretta Dunkelman, Frances Kuehn, Linda Lindroth, Marion Munk, Rita Myers, Mimi Smith, Joan Snyder, Keith Sonnier, Ann Tsubota, Jackie Winsor
• 2005/2006 (Year 33): Group Show - Re:Generation: Mareena Daredia, Marni Horwitz, Emna Zghal, Claudia Sbrissa, Dasha Shishkin, Pasqualina Azzerello, Mira Dancy, Victoria Burge, Sachiko Akiyama, Tracey Snelling, Francisca Benitez, Larilyn Sanchez, Riza Manalo, Molly Snyder-Fink, Saeri Kiritani, Gisela Sanders, Alcantara, Brigid McCaffrey, Danielle Lombardi, Stephanie Adams, Sandra Appiah
• Artist: Erin Baiano
• 2007/2008 (Year 34): Group Show - Tiger by the Tail! - related material
• Group Show - The Nature of Duality - Hudson County Statewide Arts Annual 2007: Aileen Bassis, Pat Brentano, Melissa Buesing, Pritika Chowdhry, Karen Ciarmella, Martha Clippinger, Peter Delman, John Donovan, David S. Dziemian, Jennifer Fanning, Marsha Goldberg, Matthew Gosser, Alex Katsenelinboigen, Heejung Kim, Jim Legge, Elizabeth Miseo, Nancy Ori, Laila Ozols-Gillespie, Dot Paolo, Anne Percoco, Joan Permison, Lester Pfeffer, Lynn Presley, Joseph Sabatino, Donna Stackhouse, Peter Tilgner, Andre Watts, Ken Jan Woo, Sue Zwick
• Group Show - Re:Generation: Sachiko Akiyama, Pasqualina Azzarello, Francisca Benitez, Victoria Burge, Mira Dancy, Mareena Daredia, Marni Horwitz, Saeri Kiritani, Claudia Sbrissa, Dasha Shishkin, Tracey Snelling, Molly Snyder-Fink, Emna Zghal
• Group Show - transPOP: Korea Viet Nam Remix: Bae Young Whan, Min Hwa Choi Chul-Hwan, Tiffany Chung, Sowon Kwon, Lin + Lam (Lana Lin and H. Lan Thao Lam), An-My Le, Dinh Q. Le, Sandrine Llouquet, Lee Yong-baek, Tran Luong, Ly Hoang Ly, Nguyen Manh Hung, Oh Yongseok, Area Park, Sanghee Song, Soon-Mi Yoo
• Group Show - New Narratives: Contemporary Art From India: Gulammohammed Sheikh, Arpita Singh, Hema Hirani Upadhyay (and Bina Hirani), Vivan Sundaram, Vasudha Thozhur, Jayashree Chakravarty, Anju Dodiya, Reena Saini Kallat, Subodh Gupta, N.S. Harsha, Nalini Malani, Jitish Kallat, Shilpa Gupta, Ranbir Kaleka, Tejal Shah, Anita Dube, Tushar Joag, Pushpamala N, Sheba Chhachhi, Valay Shende, Atul Dodiya
• 2008/2009 (Year 35): Group Show - Mother Cuts: Experiments In Film And Video - The Visual Arts Gallery - New Jersey City University: Mieke Bal, Mona Hatoum, Mary Kelly, Sarah Pucill
• 2009/2010 (Year 36): Group Show - Relief Printing: Contrasting Surfaces - Arts Guild of Rahway: Susanna Bergtold, Paul Bonelli, Michael Dal Cerro, Takuji Hamanaka, Molly Johnson, Robert Swainston, April Vollmer, Idaherma Williams, Tammy Wofsey, Stephen McKenzie

†Estelle Lebowitz Visiting Artist-in-Residence Lecturer

Adapted from Joanne Zangara, "Chronology," in Marianne Ficarra and Ferris Olin, eds., Mary H. Dana Women Artists Series 25th Year Retrospective: 25 Years of Feminism, 25 Years of Women's Art (New Brunswick, NJ, 1996), p. 130-136. Adapted and updated by William Hemmig, Dec. 14, 2004.

From the guide to the Inventory to the Mary H. Dana Women Artists Series Archives, 1971-[ongoing], (Rutgers University Libraries, Special Collections and University Archives, Miriam Schapiro Archives on Women Artists)