Women's Caucus for Art in Colorado

We are a group of mostly women artists interested in recognizing, supporting and promoting women artists, women art teachers, historians, critics, curators and writers, performance artists and women craft experts, to help educate and engage the public with art and art activism for the betterment of society. Without art there is little hope, and without women, there is no life.

Membership is open to all women artists and to men of consciousness about equality in the arts and recognition for the talents and efforts of women artists that has often gone unacknowledged in the mainstream.

The local Colorado Chapter of the Women's Caucus for Art generally meets monthly, supportive of one other in our artistic ventures, collaborating on art projects and holding art exhibits. We have approximately 20 members in the Denver metro area. We have been an active chapter since 1990.

The benefits of membership are many, including nationally held juried exhibitions, an annual convention held in conjunction with the College Arts Association, and networking with artists all over the country and internationally as well. The national organization also honors women in the arts with the prestigious Life Time Achievement Awards, held during the annual convention. Locally we meet to plan events and exchange ideas, encourage one another, and produce exhibitions. Please see our Archives section to view information on past exhibits, and see the upcoming events for meeting times, locations and calls for entries.

News

New Board Chairperson

Alison Morgan has assumed the role of Membership Chairman and Treasurer, replacing Leslie Aguillard. Leslie will continue as a National Board member until after the February, 2012 Board meeting in New York City.

Here are Sue Crosby Doyle, the president of WCA Colorado and Jean Smith, wonder potter, working on their twig weavings at the WCA CO October meeting, which took place at a member's home, thank you for hosting Barbara Keating.

Colorado Chapter Meets with National President

Five members of the Colorado WCA were able to meet with the new National President, Priscilla Otani, at Senga Nengudi's Colorado Springs Studio on April 23, 2012.

Diane, Senga, Barbara and Bobbi; front : Priscilla, Jean and Leslie

Priscilla enthusiastically outlined some of the coming events for the WCA, the various caucuses such as the international caucus and a potential international show in South Korea, an opportunity for curators to put on a show in Priscilla's San Francisco gallery, and more exhibit opportunities for WCA members. Priscilla also gave us a introductory lesson to Weebly dot com, free websites for artists and Leslie gave a brief demo on how to get your initial password for the WCA national website. Anyone who still needs instructions, please email Leslie. Then we continued over a pleasant supper at Mimi's restaurant. It was a very productive meeting!!

Scholarship Information

The WCACO recently announced and is now accepting applications for an annual scholarship. Read more....

Womanetics Scholarships for young college women are available for entry. Read more...

T-Shirts with WCA Branding

You'll be able to pick up one for yourself at the next meeting that you attend. These t-shirts were ordered by Leslie Aguillard and would make great gifts for new members!

Upcoming Meetings

November 4th, 12 Noon at Core New Art Space, 9th and Santa Fe Drive. See Sue Doyle's Show and hear about the upcoming year in planning, including the March Bemis Library WCA Members and Friends show.

The new member's drive is on and if new members join now, they will have two months free!! Contact or join at the national level, $60 www.nationalwca.org or mail to WCA Colorado, PO Box 40835, Denver, CO 80204. See the Membership page for more information and application form.

The National convention, Lifetime Achievement Awards Gala (coinciding with the annual convention of the College Arts Association will be in New York City February 13-16, 2013
followed by the WCA board meeting on the 17th. Check the national website for details as they become available. It is very inspiring, energizing, fun and worth the money to attend!!

We always encourage everyone to go out and at least look at art!! Go to the museums and shows and get fueled!!

The Recent "Hat" Meeting!

The Hat meeting March 25, 2012

The most recent meeting of the local WCA chapter was March 25th at Kozo fine art paper and other supplies on Ellesworth in Denver. We brought in hats we either already had, as this old straw sun hat, or ones picked up locally at Thrift stores along with a variety of beads, ribbons, fabrics and other items to share for decorating purposes. We were all so engrossed in chatting about business, upcoming events, playing with the hats and or buying some of the fabulous handmade papers Kozo has to offer that we forgot to take pictures of us. My sun hat is woefully simple in comparison to the ones others were making, but at least you get the idea!

More About our Meetings

Stay tuned for announcements of future meetings. Generally we meet on Saturday or Sunday. Often the volunteer-member artist hosting the meeting will decide the location and time, and we often meet in artist's homes or studios. Other meetings might take place during the week, outside of Denver etc, depending on the volunteer artist hosting the gathering.

Events

Sketchbook Highlights Creativity

The Brookland Art Library has a great opportunity for artists to share your creativity with thousands of people from around the world. Our Colorado WCA did a collaborative round robin version and now we are really excited to do this again.

You can learn more about it, and easily apply to be a part of it! Visit our Current Exhibits page for more information!

A sketchbook example from wcaco member bobbi shupe -- there is a slideshow of entries from members on the current exhibits page...

One of our members is sponsoring....

Fall Art Retreat to Home of Georgia O'Keefe,
Abiquiu, New Mexico is being planned.

Contact for more information.

Georgia O'Keeffe (1887-1986) was an important American Modernist who painted the stunning architectural and landscape configurations of northern New Mexico for more than 40 years, beginning in 1929. She bought a house in the area at Ghost Ranch in 1940, and another in Abiquiu in 1945, both of which are now owned by the Museum.

The 5,000-square-foot Spanish Colonial-era Abiquiu compound was in ruins in 1945, and for the next four years, O’Keeffe supervised its restoration, which was carried out by her friend, Maria Chabot. She moved from New York to make New Mexico her permanent home in 1949, and lived either at the Abiquiu or Ghost Ranch houses until 1984, when she moved to Santa Fe.

Sketchbook Project:
Secrets and How to Tell Them

Each participating artists creates a page or two and then passed to the next artist. Completed Sketchbook needs to be done in April to send to National Exhibit...contact for details.

More News: National Board Meeting

The National Board met during the annual convention celebrating the WCA's 40th Anniversary; born from the College Arts Association, also meeting in Los Angeles, and celebrating their 100th Anniversary.

wca national board on 100th anniversary

For all volunteers, this is an amazing event! Bus tours to galleries and museum with great art one might not ever
see otherwise; lots of presentations, panel discussions, films, and a huge book and art supply fair; and plenty of networking.

The WCA made a nice connection with Ms Magazine and each attendee was given a free one year subscription!
We'd love to have representatives of our own Colorado Chapter attend next February when the conference will be held
again in New York City! There is always a national exhibit, JWAN also coincides with a national exhibit, too. Please check the
website and Facebook for ever changing art calls for entry.

Please check the national website also for information on these conferences and the Life Time Achievement Award Winners.
The Gala, as always, was spectacular, meeting at the Japanese-American Museum, with constantly changing images of art from
WCA members who sent those in to national, a silent auction of original arts, jewelry and gifts, and the best food.

There is another national exhibit upcoming to coincide with the summer board meeting in Michigan, entitled "Man Up"
and is open to all women artists. Check for details upcoming on the national website and also the Facebook pages, too.
There are so many possibilities... all we need is YOU to collaborate with other members to work and show and present.

Women’s Caucus for Art, Colorado Chapter 2012 Scholarship Award

Along with your name, address, phone and email , submit no more than a one-page description of your goals and how the $200 scholarship award will help you achieve them. This could be as simple as buying books or art supplies for an upcoming art class.

In addition to the description please submit three of your images on a disk (approximately 4 x 5 inches, 300 dpi/pixels) please give the size, title, medium and year completed for each artwork image. Mail your submission to:

WCA
Scholarship Award
PO Box 40835
Denver, CO 80204-0835
Deadline for Materials is September 1, 2012

Scholarship Opportunity for young college women encouraged by the WCACO

To be eligible, Womenetics invites any registered undergraduate student in an accredited college or university to compete for ten financial and two travel awards by writing a 2500-word essay on one of nine given questions. A separate 200-word essay on how the student intends to use the award money must also be included.The Womenetics Global Women’s Initiative symposiums are designed to inspire action and collaboration among business, nonprofit, education and public policy leaders, and to build the way to make a difference in the lives of women and girls.

More information is available on the Womanetics Web site. Thanks to Janice Nessar for presenting this important opportunity.

Welcome to the Women's Caucus for Art - Colorado Chapter