46 Artists for America’s First Ladies
Group Exhibition
January - March 2021
46 Artists for America’s First Ladies celebrates new works inspired by the lives of the women who have served as America’s First Ladies.
The First Ladies of America rarely hold a legacy that is fully their own. In history, leading narratives focus on the dominant perspective - that of the main character, leaving the details and experiences of their counterparts to be forgotten or filled in over time. Obscured histories and archives leave space for creative interpretation.
This exhibition explores a vast array of interpretations of these women who span and influenced American history, through the lens of local, women artists. Throughout the works there is a critical eye that captures each artists’ unique awe and judgement, questioning and curiosity. Displayed alongside books from the library’s collection we see a diversity of visual storytelling, which aims to add fresh woman-driven perspectives to today’s narrative.
This exhibition brought together a diverse group of 46 local women artists, which includes artists of all ages from students to seniors, artists of color, LGBTQ+ artists, and artists with disabilities (though partnership with Arts for All Wisconsin and ArtWorking), working in a wide variety of mediums - painting, embroidery, poetry, sculpture, book arts, collage, wood, printmaking, glass, drawing, and more!
The 46 participating artists and writers were randomly assigned one of the First Ladies in December 2020, and had a little over three months to research their subject and create a new work in any medium. The only requirement was that it have dimensions of 12 x 12 inches with any reasonable depth.
This exhibition was supported by The Bubbler at Madison Public Library, Arts Literature Laboratory, Forward Theater of Madison, Dane Arts, and the Madison Arts Commission, and Wisconsin Arts Board.
This project is the successor to the 2012 exhibition 44 Presidents by 44+ Artists, which coincided with Forward Theater’s production of 44 Plays for 44 Presidents. Special thanks to MPL Collections team, especially Library Assistant Michelle Herbrand for her support in selecting books to accompany this exhibition.
Explore all of the artists’ statements and history of their subjects at artlitlab.org.
Return to the exhibition archive.
