Happy International Women’s Day! On this special day, can you name 5 women artists? It’s a question which the National Museum of Women in the Arts ask every year during Women’s History Month. While women have made huge contributions to art history, they have not been treated equally in the art world, and still remain underrepresented in museums, galleries and auction houses. So, here are 5 female art stories for kids, as featured in ‘This Book Will Make You An Artist’!
Yayoi Kusama has been dotty about dots since she was a very young child. The Japanese
artist has covered paintings, drawings, sculptures and even her own clothes in them! She
once said, “Polka dots can’t stay alone”, and they never do in her wonderful works.
Artemisia Gentileschi broke many boundaries during the 17 th century to prove that a woman could be a professional artist, using a hand-held to mirror to paint powerful self-portraits. As she once said, “My illustrious lordship, I’ll show you what a woman can do.”
Emily Kame Kngwarreye was one of Australia’s most important Aboriginal artists. She
created beautiful batik designs and paintings filled with lines and dots, which were based on the shapes and animals which she saw outside in the bush: the sun, stars, lizards, snakes
and plants.
Esther Mahlangu began painting at the age of 10. But, instead of working on small pieces of paper, she covered the huge walls of houses in her South African village with colourful
patterns. Since then, she has covered all sorts of objects in colourful Ndebele design,
painting planes, cars, motorbikes and bicycles.
Janet Sobel has historically been overshadowed by Jackson Pollock, who has been
celebrated as the inventor of the drip technique. However, he was inspired after seeing
Sobel’s abstract canvases, which she made from her apartment in New York by dragging
and dripping paint with brushes, pipettes and even her hoover!
‘This Book Will Make You An Artist’ not only teaches children about these inspiring women
from art history, but invites them to make their own masterpieces in the style of Barbara
Hepworth, Bridget Riley, Hilma af Klint, Judith Scott and many more!
All illustrations are by the amazing female artist, Ellen Surrey.
