Ceramics2017

I love this set because of the mauve coloring. The ruffles on the plate also stood out to me because they were different than the others. this piece give me such a feminine relaxed feel. I enjoy how the table cloth matches everything so beautifully.

This plate set by Judy Chicago is dedicated to Ethel Smyth, a 20th ct. British Composer and champion of women's rights and female musicians.  During her lifetime, she composed symphonies, choral works (musical pieces written for a choir), and operas including  The Wrecker s,1906, and is most well known for  The March of Women , an anthem for the women’s suffrage movement. In 1922, she was named a Dame of the British Empire.  Smyth’s place setting for The Dinner Party represents her role as both musician and activist for women’s rights incorporating musical motifs as well as a tailored suit, her preferred style of dress.

I feel like this is a very empowering image also very upfront which is maybe why it caught my attention. The image is basically what it looks like, it is a women laying down in pain with he legs spread open, it looks like she is giving birth but she isn't giving birth from her private part, it looks like she is more so releasing her soul. Judy's art is mostly about empowering women, she is known to be a feminist and a great artist. 

The plate above was made by Judy Chicago and was included in the dinner party. The Dinner Party was multi-faceted in that her goal was to introduce the richness of women’s heritage into the culture in a number of ways which included a monumental work of art. The work of art, that was eventually housed at the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museum, consists of a series of Entryway Banners, the ceremonial table representing 39 important historical female figures, the Heritage Panels, which elucidate the contributions of the 999 women on the Heritage Floor, and the Acknowledgement Panels that identify Judy Chicago’s assistants and collaborators. Together, these components celebrate the many aspects of women’s history and contributions. This plate was dedicated to Elizabeth Blackwell, who was notable for being the first woman to receive a medical degree in the United States. I like this piece due to the stacking and different colors used.

Judy Chicago is a feminist artist who created the installation at the Brooklyn Museum entitled "The Dinner Party", a symbolic history of women in Western Civilization. She did so by creating an equilateral triangle with 39 place settings that each honored a woman who made an impact on the world. The plate above honors Caroline Herschel, a woman who lived in the 18th and 19th centuries. She was educated by her father, and continued her education under her brother, becoming an astronomer and discovering multiple comets. When Caroline's brother was appointed by King George III as his royal astronomer, she was his assistant, receiving a salary, which made her the first woman in science to be recognized for her academic work and research. Interestingly, Caroline was 4' 3" due to a typhus infection that she contracted at 10 years old. The eye in the plate above represents her eye looking through a telescope at the universe. The shape around the eye is a representatio...

The Dinner Party  was created by artist  Judy Chicago , with the assistance of numerous volunteers, with the goal to "end the ongoing cycle of omission in which women were written out of the historical record. I really like the idea behind these ceramic pieces being created. I love this particular plate because of its color and design. It is beautifully made, I am sure it took a long time to create.

Trotula of Salerno was an eleventh century Italian doctor who is frequently known as the world's first gynecologist.  Her place setting at The Dinner Party contains references to her role as a doctor with childbirth and care-taking.  The runner was made to look like a quilt, and therefore symbolize a swaddling cloth, creating a visual to the familiar baby blanket.  The tree of life image in the runner highlights Trotula's specialization in gynecology as it symbolizes life and regeneration.  Trotula's plate features a birthing image as well as serpentine imagery that resembles the symbol for medicine.