If you’ve ever been to Ghirardelli Square, then you’ve probably seen the mermaid fountain that’s right in the middle. Would you have guessed it was created by a female artist? Well it was – by sculptor Ruth Asawa. San Francisco is actually rife with successful female artists: Photographer Imogen Cunningham was asked by Ansel Adams to start the first fine art photography department at the California School of Fine Arts. In the 1950s, local sculptor Claire Falkenstein was described as "a Jackson Pollock in three dimensions." And these three have more in common than just being successful female artists from San Francisco. They were all members of the San Francisco Women Artists Gallery.
The organization was established in 1887 as an independent group of women artists who met to share and critique one another's work. But over time it evolved, and now even includes men among its members.
KALW’s Laura Flynn went to a recent exhibit to learn more about this San Francisco institution.
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LAURA FLYNN: It’s a sunny but brisk summer evening. The wind is blowing lightly as I walk through Presidio Heights in San Francisco. I begin to hear voices spilling out onto the quiet street. As I draw closer, I see people gathered in the doorway of the San Francisco Women Artists Gallery. The space is framed by a large window that allows what’s left of the day’s sunlight in, touching the paintings, photographs, and sculptures that fill the walls. As I circle the gallery, some of the artists tell me about their work.
JESS ZEPEDA: This is a 2003 city bike race, which they bring in through the city here every so many years. There are hundreds of riders in these races; it's quite spectacular.
CARRY SWENSON: So I remember when I did that Lake Merced watercolor. I was sitting across in the bushes for what must have been quite a few hours … I do like to work where other people are not watching me.
DONNA SOLIN: I mainly do en plein air painting, which means I paint outside. When you're painting outside you are painting with the elements, so things happen.
JESSICA LEVANT: So you can see Alcatraz, the fog coming in. A few lights over in Tiburon. Would you agree? And this beautiful red color coming onto the Coit Tower itself. So I enhanced some of the housing down below but basically nature did most of it.
Artists Donna Solin, Jess Zepeda, Carry Swenson, and Jessica Laeant are all showing their work at the gallery tonight.
AUDREY GABRIELSON: It's a collective of very talented people, painters, silk screeners, you name it.
Audrey Gabrielson is one of more than a hundred artists who are members of the gallery. It’s cooperatively run, and everyone volunteers their time and art to keep the doors open.
GABRIELSON: We are often out here on the weekends painting, and the jewelers are doing their jewelry work, and we spend as much time … And I deliver posters around the city until I can't see straight. And that’s part of my duties too.
As people continue to arrive, Gabrielson appoints herself my unofficial tour guide. She leads me first to a woman whose hair is neatly raised in a bun on the crown of her head. Her neck is covered in necklaces, bracelets adorn her wrists, and rings decorate her fingers,
JENNIFER WALLACE MACK: Jennifer Wallace Mack, I'm a painter, jewelry maker, photographer, and a sculptor...
Mack has been a member for over 20 years, and says she appreciates that her membership means something.
MACK: It's not like you go to a gallery and it's owned by somebody you don't know and don't see. And in fact this is owned by all of us. It's not a co-op, but it's sort of like a co-op. If you join the board of directors, you can have a say on the direction it's going.
The gallery started in 1887 as a venue to give women artists a space for expression. I find Director Janice Rumbaugh-Coddington mingling with guests. We walk through the crowd to the back of the gallery and she points to a photo of the seven founders still hanging on the wall.
JANICE RUMBAUGH-CODDINGTON: They are in their long Victorian garb, their big sun hats, and they're out on the beach in Monterey painting away. They were originally known as the Sketch Club. Some of the photographs are actually unknown. We have to remember that in the late 1800s being an artist was risqué. Some of it is a loss of archives, but some of it was most likely intentional.
Since then many prominent artists have come out of the gallery. Over the years, it has evolved and now also accepts men. It remains a place where artists can develop their skills and meet their peers. Today’s gallery members strive to create an environment where other artists can thrive. Carry Swenson has been a member for 12 years.
SWENSON: It gives you the opportunity to show your work every month if you want to and you don't feel like you're under such strict scrutiny as you would be let’s say in a more commercial gallery. You can be experimental. Let's say this is a safer environment for me.
As the evening goes on, my guide Audrey Gabrielson walks me over to her pieces. One of which is of a woman wearing a blue coat surrounded by flowers,
GABRIELSON: Millie of North Beach who use to sell, and maybe still does, or at least as long as I've been here since the ‘50s, use to sell wonderful flowers on the streets of San Francisco in North Beach. And I just called it “Millie of North Beach.”
The painting shows a slice of San Francisco history, and it’s right at home in a gallery that prides itself on keeping that history alive.
For Crosscurrents, I’m Laura Flynn.
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