Ellen Lesperance, “You Can Forbid Almost Everything,” She Wailed at an Occupied Greenham Commons. “But You Can’t Forbid Me to Think. And You Can’t Forbid the Sun to Shine. And You Can’t Shut My Mouth When I Sing”, 2010, gouache, graphite on paper, 23 x 29 inches

Elizabeth Leach Gallery, as part of their 30th anniversary, is showing a group of artists with a feminist leaning. I had only heard of a couple of the artists and was excited to see work by women I knew nothing about.

The artist’s work I was most engaged with was by Ellen Lesperance. At first I was intrigued by the grid structure of her work. It also appeared similar to a pattern draft. The drawing of her own grid and filling in the squares with color captivated me. I learned from the gallery director the relationship of her work to the sweaters worn by women activists. She uses archival footage and recreates the sweaters on a grid. She also knits a sweater from the grid pattern.

Artists working in the subject of feminism can charge a dialog, make one angry or inspire. I do enjoy seeing the older work from the 70s along with work by younger artists. Hearing the motivation of these artists, following their careers and ideas leads me to believe the history of this movement will not be forgotten.