Landmarks from a younger vantage

TWO generations of artists have emerged since the 1970s, when feminists made themselves heard, but discussions about the importance and meaning of their legacy continue. The Times raised the issue with artists of these later generations at various stages of development. Here are some of their thoughts:

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Carla Gannis, 36, New York; MFA, Boston University

I grew up in a small town in North Carolina with a very strong mother. I was in beauty pageants. I was a cheerleader and homecoming queen. The first thing I felt when I went to art school was a lot of guilt. I felt that I couldn’t be taken seriously if I expressed myself as a feminist because of this background or even if I liked to fix my hair. That misconstrues what feminism is about, but that’s how it’s been stereotyped.

The first book I read where I started to feel comfortable in my own skin is “Manifesta.” It was written in 2000 by two authors the same age as me who worked at Ms. magazine, Jennifer Baumgardner and Amy Richards. It says it’s OK if you played with dolls, it’s OK if you like to wear makeup and nail polish. It’s such a liberating book because it deals with contradictions. “Manifesta” says that feminism isn’t a bad word, but it has evolved into a word that means militancy and that’s really sad. Sometimes female artists think if they come out just making feminist art, their work won’t be seen as viable on its own terms.

My art has gone through such a transformation, from painting self-portrait oils to digital media. Now I’m obsessed with the female archetype of Jezebel. I’m re-imagining her through different characters in digital collages. I’m taking a lot of things from films, re-contextualizing them and overlapping time. The whole thing is, for so many years artists -- men and women -- couldn’t use the word beauty. I want to explore issues of beauty. But I never want to be didactic. I want things like composition and color to be as emotive as narrative or ideology.

I’m interested in Pipilotti Rist, Mariko Mori and Cindy Sherman, people who are working with new media and identity politics. There is always a bit of humor to it too, not just earnestness. Among writers, Doris Lessing, Margaret Atwood, Joyce Carol Oates are all incredible artists. You can ascertain what their politics are, but it never overcomes their craft. It’s a fine line.

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Ruby Osorio, 32, Los Angeles; studied at Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Mexico City

I didn’t study feminist theory. I wasn’t schooled in the movement of the ‘70s, but when I look back at that period, some of my big heroes are Kiki Smith, Cindy Sherman and Louise Bourgeois. I don’t think when they were making work they were asking themselves, “Do I have a feminist agenda?” They were raising questions that were compelling to them. They make very powerful work without having to espouse a feminist agenda. I relate to that line of thinking. I think the feminist movement has made it easier for artists today to pursue personal concerns, but to say an artist is feminist in some ways is limiting.

When I make work, I look at what interests me. A lot of my work is involved with internal psychology, literature, things in my experience. Sometimes I incorporate stitching, the element of craft, which came out of my personal history, women in my family. Some people look at my work from a literal perspective in that they are seeing female characters. I think my work is more than that. I’ve had women be very critical because my work seems very frivolous, dealing with the idea of beauty and incorporating fantastical elements. A lot of people in the art world really resist that because they think everything needs to be reduced to the conceptual, to the idea. I believe that I deal with that, but it’s not always easily read on the first take. But part of the exciting thing for me being a young artist is that I have a whole lot of time to unravel those questions.

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Carson Fox, 38, New York; MFA, Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University

I went to Rutgers because it was pro-female. They promote women’s work, underrepresented minorities and people from countries that don’t receive a lot of attention. I really do self-identify as a feminist. In my work I think of myself as a second-generation pattern and decoration artist. But I don’t see myself fitting in anywhere.

The artists I find inspiring are people like Kiki Smith. She works in all kinds of media and never feels like she has to be identified as a painter or a sculptor. I work in series, but I never stick with one thing for more than a few years. I don’t know if that came from the feminist movement, but when you think of all the roles women have to play and how versatile they are, their art might reflect constantly thinking in all directions, being open-minded and not being allowed to have a single task.

In terms of a feminist continuum, there is a relationship to quilts and that kind of piecemeal art-making. But I think my work is connected more to a folk art tradition. A lot of my work is inspired by some kind of lowly art form.

I teach, too -- currently at Adelphi University and formerly at NYU -- and I try to impress some of these ideas upon my students who don’t identify themselves as feminists. It makes me feel crazy when they don’t realize what we have inherited, how hard people had to work for this freedom and still work for it.

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Audrey Chan, 24; second-year MFA student, CalArts, Valencia

I grew up in Chicago. I’m Chinese and my parents came to the United States for college, so I’m first-generation American. I have been interested in art most of my life, but I have a concurrent interest in political science. A lot of what I think about is the skills that artists and activists can offer each other. I hadn’t studied feminist art or theory before coming to CalArts. But I was raised in a feminist way without realizing it, being encouraged to be assertive and to speak up and be ambitious. I had really strong female role models.

The idea in feminism that means the most to me is “the personal is political.” I’m working with projects that deal with Chinese American foreign policy because of my grandmother’s experience in Communist China and what my family went through there.

The main project I worked on last year was a piece about the Iraq war and what a memorial for it would look like. My point of entry was Maya Lin and her Vietnam Veterans Memorial. It was pretty clear from the news that the Iraq war was going to resemble the Vietnam war. I was thinking, “Do we have to wait for the war to finish before we can respond to it?” I ended up doing a video about Maya Lin that included my own writing and video footage of the war that was circulating on the Internet. I have been asked if I was thinking about feminism when I was making that project. It’s hard to answer because ideas of feminism are implicit.

People do feminism more often than they realize. But I do encounter discomfort with the term “feminism.” I think that’s normal. It’s a problem with the media, with the way feminism has been represented. I think, for good reason, people are confused about what feminism is.

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Elana Mann, 26; second-year MFA student, CalArts, Valencia

I am Jewish, and I came from a really observant family in a very Jewish suburb of Boston. We were part of a movement called “reconstructionism,” which is a feminist Judaism. We never talked about feminism per se in my household, but it was taken for granted that women should be equal and included. That was a huge part of my upbringing, so when I got out in the world and learned about women’s place in society, there were a lot of surprises.

At CalArts, I have done a lot of collaborations and performances with the body. Curating and organizing alternative events is also part of my art practice. I am really interested in communication and exchange.

Some second-wave feminists think those of us in the third wave take things for granted. I really don’t feel that way. I have always felt like Roe vs. Wade was on the brink of being overturned. Sexual harassment is still a huge part of the workplace. A lot of people my age have a problem with the term “feminism.” I have had friends who would say, “I’m not a feminist,” but then they would major in women’s studies.

I don’t have a problem using the term, because I think it just connects you with a history and a legacy, and I think it’s important to recognize that. There are problems with every history and legacy. It’s up to every generation to renew movements and ideas.

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Suzanne Muchnic

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A parade of feminists

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The Museum of Contemporary Art’s exhibition “WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution,” running today through July 16, and the Brooklyn Museum’s Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, to be launched March 23, seem to have inspired a nationwide bonanza of related events. Here’s a sampling of what’s going on in Southern California:

Geffen Contemporary at MOCA

152 N. Central Ave., Los Angeles, (213) 626-6222, www.moca.org/wack

“Wait-with,” performance by artist Faith Wilding, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. next Sunday

“Critical Discussions of Feminism and Form” moderated by Judith Halberstam, director of the Center for Feminist Research at USC, 6:30 p.m. March 29

“Stories of Work and Survival,” performance by artist Suzanne Lacy, 5 p.m. June 16

Pacific Design Center

SilverScreen Theater, 8687 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, (213) 626-6222, www.moca.org/wack

Lecture by critic Lucy Lippard, 2 p.m. April 1

Lecture by art historian Linda Nochlin, 2 p.m. April 15

Lecture by art historian Griselda Pollock, 2 p.m. May 20

CalArts

24700 McBean Parkway, Valencia, (661) 255-1050, www.calarts.edu/feminist

“Exquisite Acts, Everyday Rebellion,” exhibition of works by faculty, alumni and students, Monday to March 10; symposium including panel discussions, noon to 7:30 p.m. Saturday

Lecture by artist Faith Wilding, 7 p.m. Wednesday

REDCAT

631 W. 2nd St., Los Angeles, (213) 237-2800, www.redcat.org

Feminist film series, Friday through next Sunday

Conversation with artist Martha Rosler, 8 p.m. March 12

Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery

Barnsdall Park, 4800 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles, (323) 644-6269

“Multiple Vantage Points: Southern California Women Artists, 1980-2006,” exhibition organized by Dextra Frankel, ends

April 15

Skirball Cultural Center

2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd., Los Angeles, (866) 468-3399, www.ticketweb.com

Conversation with artists Judy Chicago and Suzanne Lacy, 7:30 p.m. Monday

Otis College of Art and Design

9045 Lincoln Blvd., Los Angeles, (310) 665-6905, www.otis.edu/benmaltzgallery

“The Moral Museum: Selections From the Bick Archive,” installation by Cindy Smith. Ends March 31

“Cyberfeminism Unplugged: subRosa’s Site-uational Performances,” conversation with Faith Wilding and Hyla Willis, 7:30 p.m. Thursday

Hammer Museum

10899 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, (310) 443-7000, www.hammer.ucla.edu

“Becoming Judy Chicago: A Biography of the Artist,” lecture and book signing by author Gail Levin, 6 p.m. today

Fowler Museum at UCLA

(310) 825-4361, www.fowler.ucla.edu

“Architecture of the Veil,” installation by Algerian artist Samta Benyahia, ends Sept. 2

Southern California Women’s Caucus for Art Atrium Gallery

Brewery, 2100 N. Main St, Los Angeles, TopDrawerSCWCA.org

“Top Drawer,” exhibition of works by members of the Ladies’ Fluff & Fold Society, ends March 31

Los Angeles Art Assn./Gallery 825

825 N. La Cienega Blvd., Los Angeles, (310) 652-8272, www.laaa.org

“The Looking Glass Lounge,” installation by artist Laura Larson, ends March 16

Orange County Museum of Art

850 San Clemente Drive, Newport Beach, (949) 759-1122, www.ocma.net

“Mary Heilman: To Be Someone,” exhibition of paintings, May 20 to Aug. 12

Riverside Art Museum

3425 Mission Inn Ave., Riverside, (951) 684-7332, www.riversideartmuseum.org

“Material Girls,” exhibition of contemporary works in fiber by women, ends March 17