MIRIAM SCHAPIRO

BACKGROUND Born on November 15, 1923 in Toronto, Canada.

She was an only child.

EDUCATION She studied at the University of Iowa.

Studied Painting She met her husband there who is also an artist.

DEVELOPMENT AS AN ARTIST

She began her artistic life work in more conventional forms.

She moved to New York to paint.

CAREER PATH In New York in 1972, she began

her work with Judy Chicago, who wanted to incorporate women's images in her art.

She then decided to start working with patterned fabric and began a kind of collage.

DESCRIPTION/GENRE OF WORK

She did a variety of work and different medias. She used women's experiences and traditions

with craft techniques such as sewing, embroidering, crocheting, and quilting.

She had a styled she used called “femmage” which was connecting herself with earlier women artists who had artistic talents for household products.

Wanted everyone to see that women have always been artistic even though the forms may not be recognized.

She did abstract, stylized, and fragmented shapes.

THE POET•Shows a woman confined in her space, such as a house distinct by the shape around the body.• There is a skirt, arms, and her body that fills the house. But where her head should be is filled with houses, teapots, cups, and flowers.

THE POET

ANNA AND DAVID•In 1986 at the age of 64 she began sculpting.• Anna and David was her first sculptural piece. • It is 35 feet tall and weighs 22,000 pounds. • Figures were made because the painting she did of them had already sold. So she was asked to do this piece outside a building in Washington D.C.

ANNA AND DAVID

I’M DANCIN’ AS FAST AS I CAN

•This is paint on fabric collage centered around a women dancing.• The right side shows the stereotyped women frozen in the air like a ballerina. •On the left there's a man tap dancer whose walking out of the frame showing his freedom and power. Behind him he drags the portraits of great male artists such as Rembrandt, Goya, Van Gogh, etc.

CHALLENGES FACED She was an artist in the time art was not

much thought of. And women would not included in the world of art at all.

She reevaluated roles assigned to women, art, and society.

It was in the 1970’s that a new chapter was being written for women and art. She was one of the artists creating this chapter.

Her nickname is “Mimi Appleseed” because she encouraged women to form support groups and come out of isolation.

SOURCES Picture of Miriam Schapiro:

http://nwhp.org/whm/images/Miriam%20Schapiro.jpg Information: http://nwhp.org/whm/schapiro_bio.php information:

http://mystudios.com/women/pqrst/schapiro.html Information:

http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/schapiro-miriam Information:

http://www.albany.edu/museum/wwwmuseum/crossing/artist25.htm

Picture: http://www.radford.edu/rbarris/Women%20and%20art/dancing72.jpg

Picture: http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4085/5037592985_83e1a52cdf.jpg

Scholastic Art