Ok, here’s a test. Please try and do this without the internet.
Can you name five famous female visual artists?
On average, the people I asked came up with about two–Frida Kahlo and Georgia O’Keefe were the most common answers.
The inability of most people to answer that question is part of the motivation for the Persisters Art Collective.
“I think Emily Rodke is definitely the person who started off with this idea of having an art show with a whole lot of, like women powerhouses that are in our community come together, submit art, and have this great art show,” said organizer Lauralye Miko in a recent KXLL interview.
“And then after the election a lot of us who were already planning on what we were going to do for this art show kind of found some new inspiration, or maybe some new ideas of what we wanted to put out into our community and it kind of evolved from there,” said Miko.
As part of tonight’s First Friday, Persisters, a play on persist and sisters, has organized a pop-up art show.
“The way that I was thinking about the show is maybe a combination of art as self-expression and art as self-care,” said fellow organizer Melissa Griffiths.
And the list of artists is extensive.
“We have Emily Rodke, Bronze Betty Finery, Veronica Buness, we got Wool and Rain — I‘ve seen some of her sneak peeks and it looks amazing, Melissa and I of course, Junnie Chup, Hollis Kitchin, Christianne Carrillo, Christy Eriksen, Kelsey Lovig, Amy Dressel, Amy George. Just tons of people,” said Miko.
The art show pops up from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Friday at the Rockwell Back Room.
Hear the entire interview with Juneau artists Melissa Griffiths and Lauralye Miko which originally aired on KXLL 100.7 FM with DJ Annie B.
And here are a few previews of the show’s art:
