'Waste Not, Want Not'

Cottonwood is thrilled to announce a juried show for May, composed of artists of all mediums, coming from within Cottonwood and from across the region.

These artists have taken inspiration from Miriam Schapiro’s fine art/craft dichotomy, geometric Pattern and Decoration icons, and celebration of “traditional” women’s techniques in regard to feminism and feminist art.

Schapiro’s work from the 1970s onward consisted primarily of what she deemed “femmages” a word invented by Schapiro and Melissa Meyer to include activities practiced by women using traditional women’s techniques: art-sewing, piecing, hooking, cutting, appliquéing, cooking and the like – activities also engaged in by men but assigned in history to women.

In “Waste Not Want Not: An Inquiry into What Women Saved and Assembled,” Schapiro cites scrapbooking, collage, assemblage, decoupage, and photomontage as ways of documenting culture.

Working within the parameters of her brand of inspiration while avoiding direct imitation, the artists of this show bring you their interpretation of our modern world through the lens of Miriam Schapiro, with the results being an illuminating and exciting collection to view.