Journal Reviews

“The spirit of dialogue between young feminists and the pioneers is evident throughout the volume...The major message of these various essays is that we are entering a new era of feminism where global issues of social justice and ecology weigh as much as traditional ideas about glass ceilings and discrimination.”
Pamela H. Simpson
Professor of Art History, Washington and Lee University
Review for the Woman's Art Journal, Fall/Winter 2008

"A fascinating potpourri of essays ranging from a succinct account of how to start your own excellent museum to art criticism and blogging, from past history of the WCA to the return of the nude in recent art. Everyone will find something valuable in this collection, to which many of the smartest minds writing about women and art have contributed."
Ann Sutherland Harris
Professor of the History of Art and Architecture, University of Pittsburgh
First President of the Women’s Caucus for Art (WCA)

This book is a must to understand the Feminist Art Movement and the significant role it has played and still does play in shaping contemporary art ideas.  It does double duty by documenting the day-to-day history of the Feminist Art Movement as seen through the eyes of participants in the Women's Caucus for Art, providing information on the participating women, on the exhibitions and events that brought the Feminist Art Movement to the public, its goals, and growing pains, and at the same time, by presenting the theoretical and intellectual issues that gave rise to the movement and that are key to its impact.  Very few books intermix documentation and theory.  In doing so, the editors and authors enlighten readers in a way that a book focused only on one or the other cannot.  The book also enlarges the discourse around the movement.  Many books document the artists involved, but few give information about the art historians, curators, administrators, and institutions that were key to giving the movement the visibility and support necessary for it to make an impact. The footnotes and bibliographies attached to each chapter are a valuable resource, providing direction for the reader to explore the feminist movement further.  Until now, the Women's Caucus for Art has remained under-documented and under-appreciated for its role in furthering the Feminist Art Movement and ensuring its place in the cultural record.  This book remedies that oversight.  
Judith K. Brodsky
Third President of the Women's Caucus for Art and past President of College Art Association 
Distinguished Professor Emerita, Department of Visual Arts, Rutgers University and Founding Director, The Brodsky Center for Innovative Multiples. With Dr. Ferris Olin, she is the Founding Director of the Rutgers Institute for Women and Art, and co-facilitator of The Feminist Art Project, a national program to celebrate the achievements of the Feminist Art Movement 

I admire both the scope and ambition of this volume of feminist essays.  It ranges from a lively and accurate historical account of the formative period of the 70’s allowing the reader to relive the challenges and camaraderie of those early days, to new topics and preoccupations such as eco-feminism and feminism in the digital era of blogs and anonymity. Nevertheless, I am struck by certain enduring traits.  Our desire to promote the proactive and the empathetic is a hallmark of feminism, and feminist organizations now as then. Whatever the tensions and differences between first, second and third wave feminisms, there is a dynamic mix of view points in this volume which will be of great value to all its readers.
Ruth E. Weisberg
Artist and Dean of the Roski School of Fine Arts, University of Southern California.
Founder of the Southern California Chapter of the WCA and President of the College Art Association from 1990 to 1992. Two major retrospective exhibitions were mounted in 2007; ‘Michigan Collects Ruth Weisberg’ at Eastern Michigan University, and ‘Ruth Weisberg Unfurled’ at the Skirball Museum and Cultural Center, Los Angeles.

BLAZE contains a provocative and piercing analysis of contemporary feminist art, spanning “35 years of passionate fury, sacrifice, and camaraderie between women.” Its informed and intelligent essays, written by a diversity of voices, are mandatory reading for anyone interested in tracking the impact of the revolution which demolished male domination in the art world. The book usefully contributes to a wide range of subjects: expansion of the canon; increased exhibition opportunities for women; the rise of eco-feminism and collaborative methodologies; public art projects; art education; and the history of a still thriving national Women’s Caucus for Art. It successfully maps the complexities of several generations of shifting feminist agendas, and makes a valuable contribution to where things might be headed now.
Suzi Gablik
Has Modernism Failed? And The Reenchantment of Art

For more than 30 years, feminist artists, curators, critics, organizations, and institutions have transformed the visual arts.  BLAZE: Discourse on Art, Women, and Feminism is a dynamic anthology of articles by a stunning collection of second and third wave American feminist art world participants.  This outstanding volume documents the recent history of feminist art in America, providing a fascinating array of perspectives that reveal the struggles and triumphs of women in the arts.  Co-editors Karen Frostig and Kathy Halamka have provided readers with multiple visions from some of the most respected figures in recent American cultural history.  Artists, scholars, journalists, arts administrators, and anyone interested in the state of the arts will find BLAZE compelling and essential-all the more so as women artists continue their righteous quest for full dignity and equality in all fields of human endeavor.
Paul Von Blum
African American Studies and Art History, UCLA

Blaze offers a multitude of feminist voices in the arts - from individual artists, to women who work collaboratively, to women who participated in the very birth of the feminist art movement. For this reason and many others, Blaze belongs on the bookshelf of anyone teaching contemporary art, women's history, and the emergence of women's organizations. Blaze also reminds us how important the Women's Caucus for the Arts has been both to individual careers and to the creation of a whole new phase of art-making.
Shula Reinharz
Jacob Potofosky Professor of Sociology
Founding Director, Hadassah-Brandeis Institute and Founding Director, Women's Studies Research Center, Brandeis University

The breadth of subjects in BLAZE that are of interest to women’s studies faculty and students is impressive, such as feminist generations, ecofeminism, attention to mother-daughter art, rituals, mentoring, and the role of personal history. BLAZE will also be welcomed by women’s studies faculty who teach “women in the arts” courses, for whom the entire book will be of value. Faculty who teach introduction to women’s studies from a humanities (or even more interdisciplinary) perspective will find it much easier to incorporate the arts into their courses by using this text… BLAZE will fill many niches and stimulate many minds.
Phyllis Holman Weisbard
Distinguished Academic Librarian, University of Wisconsin System Women’s Studies Librarian
Editor of Feminist Collections: A quarterly of women's studies resources