Video Herstories

As part of the research for the exhibition, a series of interviews with women artists and writers involved in the Woman's Building was commissioned by Otis College.

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The Woman’s Building History: Anne Gauldin

Anne Gauldin co-founded "The Waitresses" and "Sisters Of Survival" collaborative performance art groups which grew out of the feminist art community at the Woman's Building in Los Angeles. This is an excerpt from a final project for Gloria Orenstein’s class at USC’s Muntimedia Across the College Program entitled Women in Art and Literature. Students created video portraits of local feminist artists based in Southern California.
This video shown as part of the Getty’s Pacific Standard Time 2011-2012: Doin' It in Public: Art and Feminism at the Woman's Building
Ben Maltz Gallery
October 1, 2011 — January 28, 2012

The Woman’s Building History: Betty Ann Brown

Betty Ann Brown is an art historian, critic, and curator. She received her B.F.A. in art history and painting from Southern Methodist University and her Masters degree in art history from the University of Texas at Austin. Her Ph.D. is from the University of New Mexico, where she studied Pre-Columbian art with Mary Elizabeth Smith and the History of Photography with Beaumont Newhall. After moving to Los Angeles in the late 1970s, her interest shifted from ancient Latin American art to Chicano art and, ultimately, to contemporary art in general.
Brown has published on art for three decades. She has worked as a contributing editor for Arts, Artweek and the Los Angeles Reader; has written frequently for Artscene; and was founding editor of Visions, the Los Angeles art quarterly. She has produced numerous exhibition catalogues, including monographs on Hans Burkhardt, Roland Reiss, and Linda Vallejo. She has also written exhibition catalogues on the work of Kim Yasuda, Joanne Julian, Don Bachardy, Corey Sewelson, Carl Wilson, Cheri Gaulke, Merion Estes, and Madden Harkness, among others.
Brown has been active in many arts organizations. She was Interim Director of the Santa Monica Heritage Museum for a year. She was president of the board of the Los Angeles Woman's Building in 1985-86 and in 1995-96 was president of the Southern California Women's Caucus for Art. She organized "Beyond the Backlash: Feminisms for the 1990s," the SCWCA conference held in June 1996 at the Armand Hammer (on the occasion of Judy Chicago's "Dinner Party" being exhibited there) and was program chair for the national WCA meetings, Los Angeles in both 1985 and 1999. In addition, Brown volunteered time as a docent for the Venice Art Walk for over ten years. Currently, she organizes of "Contemporary Art Conversations," an ongoing series of panel discussions between critics and artists that meets in various Los Angeles venues.
Brown is a Professor of Art History at California State University, Northridge.
This video shown as part of the Getty’s Pacific Standard Time 2011-2012: Doin' It in Public: Art and Feminism at the Woman's Building
Ben Maltz Gallery
October 1, 2011 — January 28, 2012

The Woman’s Building History: Betty Gordon

Betty came to the Women's Building in 1976 to pursue her journey as an artist. While earning an MA in Healing Art Making at The Feminist Studio Workshop, Betty developed and implemented a teaching practicum exploring imaginative thinking as a learning space. Today Betty lives in Seattle with her family and relies on imaginative thinking to understand life as an octogenarian.
This video shown as part of the Getty’s Pacific Standard Time 2011-2012: Doin' It in Public: Art and Feminism at the Woman's Building
Ben Maltz Gallery
October 1, 2011 — January 28, 2012

The Woman’s Building History: Bia Lowe

Bia Lowe's essays have appeared in many magazines and journals, including Salmagundi, The Kenyon Review, Harper's, and the webzine Killing the Buddha. Her work has been anthologized in Another City: Writings From Los Angeles (City Lights Books), Turning Toward Home: Reflections On The Family From Harper's Magazine (Franklin Square Press), Sister and Brother: Lesbians and Gay Men Write About Their Lives Together (HarperSanFrancisco) and Helter Skelter: L.A. Art In The 1990s (Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art.)
Her first book, Wild Ride won the 1996 QPB New Visions Award for creative non-fiction. She divides her time between California, New York and Ireland.
This video shown as part of the Getty’s Pacific Standard Time 2011-2012: Doin' It in Public: Art and Feminism at the Woman's Building
Ben Maltz Gallery
October 1, 2011 — January 28, 2012

The Woman’s Building History: Carol Chen

Carol Chen started out as a chemistry pre-med student, attending Occidental College in Los Angeles. She became interested in graphic design when she took classes at the Woman's Building from Susan King and Cindy Marsh. She learned both the standard method of working a press and the creativity of experimenting.
Carol began working at EMI Records and later became an executive at Sony Music.
This video shown as part of the Getty’s Pacific Standard Time 2011-2012: Doin' It in Public: Art and Feminism at the Woman's Building
Ben Maltz Gallery
October 1, 2011 — January 28, 2012

The Woman’s Building History: Cheri Gaulke

This is an excerpt from a final project for Gloria Orenstein’s class at USC’s Muntimedia Across the College Program entitled Women in Art and Literature.
Students created video portraits of local feminist artists based in Southern California.
This video shown as part of the Getty’s Pacific Standard Time 2011-2012: Doin' It in Public: Art and Feminism at the Woman's Building
Ben Maltz Gallery
October 1, 2011 — January 28, 2012

The Woman’s Building History: Cheryl Swannack

After completing a Bachelor of Fine Art and Master of Fine Art in ceramics Cheryl Swannack moved to Los Angeles to become part of the Feminist Studio Workshop in 1973. Her first project was to assist Sheila de Bretteville in finding and remodeling The Women's Building which housed the FSW. Swannack spent the rest of the decade involved with the FSW, The Women;s Building and the femenist art movement of LA. She went on to work with Lily Tomlin and Jane Wagner on the Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe from development through it's NYC Broadway run. She now lives in DC and New Mexico.
This video shown as part of the Getty’s Pacific Standard Time 2011-2012: Doin' It in Public: Art and Feminism at the Woman's Building
Ben Maltz Gallery
October 1, 2011 — January 28, 2012