About Empowered
Empowered is a juried art exhibition held at Miami University Middletown Regional Campus in the Ruth B. & Arthur R. Harvey Galleria in Middletown, OH. Empowered is co-sponsored by Miami Regionals. The exhibition is on view from April 19th- May 24, 2021. The jury consists of Kate Rowekamp (Director of Education at The Fitton Center for Creative Arts), Grace Sellers (Art Education student at Miami University, and Katrina Shafor (Community Arts and Art Education student at Miami University).
Statement from the Curator
Hello, my name is Katrina Shafor, and I am the curator of Empowered. I am a junior at Miami University, passionate about the arts and advocating for representation within the art world. Empowered is my capstone project for my Community Arts degree. The goal behind this exhibition is to create a community event where female identifying artists are highlighted and given a voice to express themselves and get the recognition and representation that they deserve. Coming from art education, I am very familiar with the fact that male artists get most of the spotlight. Whole art movements are based around male-made artworks, and I think that that's completely unfair. Female artists were/are working at the same time as the men, yet they're being overlooked simply because of their gender. Something that is talked about in our art education classes when we're creating lesson plans is that we're recommended to not use a piece of art from an old dead white guy. It's shocking to see how many lesson plans are shaped around works made by men. They're the majority that's being talked about, even praised. It hurts to think that maybe the only female artists someone knows are Frida Kahlo and Georgia O'Keeffe. Those women are amazing creators, but they're definitely not the only ones. When I first discovered Judy Chicago, I was amazed at the strength and bravery she has to do what she's done and continues to do at the age of 81. In 1971, Chicago created the first Feminist Art Program at California State University in Fresno, California. Her work and art continues to inspire me and push me to make my voice heard. She is the inspiration behind Empowered, and I hope you all can gain something from her work as well as the works in this exhibition. I'm so glad that I've been given the chance to combine my passion of my two majors to create this wonderful exhibition for empowering and building the confidence of the female identifying artists featured in this show. My main take away from all of this is that we don't have to hide who we are to be great artists. We are great artists because of who we are.