March is National Women’s History month and to celebrate the National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) has launched their #5WomenArtists campaign. Every day they’ll feature 5 women artists while encouraging us to post our own photos. As you might imagine, I LOVE THIS CHALLENGE! I love it so much that I’m going to join in every day by posting a picture of some of my favorite women artists. Feel free to join in too!
Fun fact, in college I did an internship at NMWA. My job was to research women artists to include in their comprehensive database of women artists, Clara, (a great tool for anyone wanting to learn more about women artists!) which allowed me to become familiar with artists who I never would have known otherwise. Can you imagine researching women artists all day? Dream come true! My job was to put together pronunciation guide for everyone, in addition to looking up their information. I found it fascinating and developed a great love for promoting the work of women artists.
History is dictated by those writing about it and because history was oftentimes written by men writing about men, we don’t know the stories of women. Yes, there weren’t as many artists who were women because of social roles and opportunities, but there were definitely more than you’d expect and it’s our job now to identify them and celebrate them. This is one of the ways we can do so. Feel free to join in! 
As a somewhat related sidenote, I’m Mormon and there’s a new book coming out from Deseret Book called At the Pulpit with sermons from women from 1831-1916. It’s a pretty landmark book and it’s coming out a great time. I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy!
Frida Kahlo image | Imogen Cunningham image | Georgia O’Keefe image
