Four talented artists engage in a dialogue about the intersection of women’s history and cultural heritage.

In conjunction with Andrea Kalinowski’s Stories Untold: Jewish Pioneer Women 1850-1910 exhibit at the Boston Public Library (April 8-May 26, 2004), and in celebration of the 350th Anniversary of the First Jewish Settlement in North America, the Jewish Women’s Archive & Ellen Miller of the Miller Block Gallery are holding an artist discussion on Sunday, April 4th from 2.00-4.00 PM at the Miller Block Gallery, 14 Newbury Street, Boston.

The talented participating artists, Ambreen Butt, Lalla A. Essaydi, Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons, Yu Wen Wu and Andrea Kalinowski, all from different cultural backgrounds, will engage in a dialogue about the intersection of women’s history and cultural heritage.

Andrea Kalinowski was born in Montreal in 1953. She established herself as a free-thinking and talented young artist. She went on to attend the Sheridan College of Applied Arts and Technology in Toronto, then the Nova Scotia College of Art in Halifax, where she received a B.F.A. in 1975. While at Nova Scotia, Kalinowski studied with some of the best painters of her generation: artists Eric Fischl and Mira Schor. Since 1986 the artist has lived in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with her husband and two children.

Ambreen Butt, a native of Pakistan, received her M.F.A. from the Massachusetts College of Art in 1997. Cultural tensions between her traditional past and contemporary lifestyle inform her paintings. Her solo exhibits include those at the Bernard Toale Gallery and at the Worcester Art Museum. Her works have appeared in group shows internationally. She has been awarded many commissions and fellowships including serving as Artist in Residence at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

Lalla A. Essaydi received her M.F.A. from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston in 2003. She uses her childhood memories of Morocco and her cultural upbringing as a female in a Muslim society as source material for her work. Solo exhibitions of her work have been mounted at the Howard Yezerski Gallery and at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts. Her work has also appeared in group shows across the country.

Born in Matanzas, Cuba in 1959, Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons received her M.F.A. Massachusetts College of Art in 1988. Drawing upon her varied work as a painter and performance artist over the last decade, Campos-Pons employs a rich visual language featuring her body and a wealth of cultural references. Having emigrated to the United States in 1990, her works reflect issues of displacement and cultural identity. Ms. Campos-Pon’s works are in the permanent collections of Museum of Modern Art, The Chicago Art Institute, National Museum of Fine Arts Havana, among others.

Yu Wen Wu was born in Taipei, Taiwan. Her heritage and background informs much of her art both spiritually and in recent bodies of work, more literally. She is the recipient of the Traveling Scholars’ SMFA award, the Mass Council awards and has shown in many venues in the Boston area including solo exhibitions with the Miller Block gallery and the DeCordova Museum.

This event is free and pre-registration is required - please call 617-232-2258 X301 or email bcassidy@jwa.org.

ABOUT JWA
The Jewish Women’s Archive (JWA) is a national, nonprofit organization with a mission to uncover, chronicle and transmit the rich legacy of Jewish women and their contributions to our families and our communities, to our people and our world. Founded in Boston, Mass. in 1995, JWA was one of the first organizations in the Jewish community to stake a claim in the new frontier of the web, and continues to innovate in its use of the virtual world for academic, cultural, archival and educational purposes. JWA’s award-winning website, www.jwa.org, has the most extensive collection of material on American Jewish women on the web. JWA has become a leading advocate for and center of education in Jewish women's history.


ABOUT THE 350th ANNIVERSARY
In September 1654 twenty-three people, including women, men and children, landed in New Amsterdam on the ship St. Cathrien to form the first Jewish settlement in North America. The presence of women and children indicates that these Jews were the first to come to the North American continent in search not only of trade, but also of a home. 2004 marks 350 years since this first communal settlement of Jews in North America. JWA is serving as a coordinator and catalyst for programs focused on women and their contributions. For more information or to sign up for updates about 350th activities go to http://www.jwa.org/350th.