It seems it's getting harder to be a woman in America. Not a Republican woman. Or a Democratic woman. Or an Independent like me. It's hard to see the rights we have worked for stripped away by politicians who are largely men. Rights we take for granted such as owning property, voting, equal pay, and the right to control our own bodies through the freedom to choose the healthcare we need: birth control, abortion and IVF.
"American Woman" is my testimony to these past 180 years of women's fight for equality. It's personal to me. Women in my family fought in WWI and WWII and marched with the suffragettes. And yes, I even burned a bra in 1969 during the fight for Equal Rights marches.
Making this art was consuming. The research into the events that shaped our laws and culture was eye-opening and selecting the most world-shaping parts took days. Then assembling that information on the canvas and painting the face of the woman draped in the flag with a field of white stars on a blue background tested my artistic skills like never before.
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"My goal was to paint this woman with wisdom on her face ... and an understanding that we, as American women, will always fight fiercely for our freedoms."
The Concept
It began with the idea of a woman wearing all of the history of the fight for equality as her dress. I needed to go large - this is the biggest canvas I've ever worked on - it barely fits in my car. I collaged historical events, resolutions, articles, amendments, photographs and famous symbols of the equal rights revolution that span nearly 200 years. Then I painted the background of stars on a blue field and the stripes of the American flag draped like a shawl around her shoulders using acrylic paints and gold accents.
The Woman
I used a photograph of an older woman that, to me, portrayed understanding and compassion in her facial features. Using it as reference, I painted in a rough sketch and a black background behind her – after considering and discarding many ideas - a clock, a map, scales of justice, etc.
I just wanted the viewer to behold her alone.
The Face
My intention (and hope) is that she looks knowing and wise. And hopeful. For the future of the American woman. For the future of America.
I used delicate layers of acrylic paint to give her face the nuance of age and experience. Then I applied gold paint to the edges of the circle behind her to emphasize her timelessness.
The Dress
Draping the figure in transparent gold fabric, I stitched the folds to the canvas to create the illusion of movement, deliberately obscuring some of the images beneath so the viewer has to move in closer to see them. To me, that's the way history is obscured by the immediacy of daily life, until suddenly, something happens to bring it into sharp focus.