Woman's Building (Los Angeles)

Woman's Building

Company type	Non-profit
Industry	Arts and education
Founded	1973
Founder	Judy Chicago, Sheila Levrant de Bretteville, Arlene Raven
Defunct	1991
Headquarters	Los Angeles, California , United States
Area served	Los Angeles, California
Products	Feminist art education, exhibitions, performance art, graphic design services (Women's Graphic Center)

The Woman's Building was a non-profit center dedicated to arts and education in Los Angeles, California, with a primary focus on feminist art and the women's movement. Established by artist Judy Chicago, graphic designer Sheila Levrant de Bretteville, and art historian Arlene Raven, it functioned from 1973 until 1991. The Los Angeles Times referred to it as a "feminist mecca."

Feminist Studio Workshop

In 1973, following their departure from the male-dominated environment at CalArts, Chicago, de Bretteville, and Raven founded the Feminist Studio Workshop (FSW), which was among the earliest independent art schools specifically for women. The FSW adopted a cooperative workshop approach that combined artistic practice with activism within the women's movement.

Beginning with meetings held at de Bretteville's residence, they secured a workspace near MacArthur Park by November 1973, naming it the Woman's Building in homage to a structure from the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. The facility also leased space to various groups such as performance ensembles, the Sisterhood Bookstore, Associated Women's Press, local chapters of the National Organization for Women, and the Women's Liberation Union. It housed three galleries: Womanspace Gallery, Gallery 707, and Grandview.

One significant project was the creation of a registry that documented female artists by collecting portfolios and resumes. This archive preserved artists' books, correspondence, and artworks created between 1970 and 1992.

New building

In 1975, after their original rented space was sold, FSW along with other occupants relocated to a repurposed building formerly owned by the Standard Oil Company dating back to the 1920s. The structure had been converted into a three-story warehouse during the 1940s, providing an open layout ideal for FSW’s educational programs and exhibitions. As the first arts organization established in downtown Los Angeles, FSW contributed significantly to revitalizing the district throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Over time, as smaller tenants vacated, FSW became the primary occupant, hiring an administrator and forming a board of directors to oversee expansion. Financial support was sourced from membership fees, tuition payments, fundraising efforts, and various grants.

To commemorate its fifth anniversary in 1978, a statue created by Kate Millett from her series Naked Ladies was placed atop the building.

FSW developed an array of programs including a two-year interdisciplinary arts curriculum encompassing performing arts, graphic design, video production, and writing. A writing program initiated by Deena Metzger featured readings by prominent authors such as Meridel LeSueur, Honor Moore, Audre Lorde, and Adrienne Rich. The center also organized major exhibitions alongside social gatherings. Between 1976 and 1980, the Feminist Art Workers toured across the Midwest presenting interactive performances and installation pieces. The performance troupe Waitresses utilized restaurant environments to examine women's societal roles. The Incest Awareness Project (1978–79) delivered interactive shows including Equal Time and Equal Space, a video installation by Nancy Angelo that showcased survivors' testimonies. Suzanne Lacy and Leslie Labowitz’s In Mourning and in Rage involved ten women embodying victims of the Hillside Strangler as well as broader violence against women; this work had a lasting impact on contemporary performance art. Mother Art collective produced artworks addressing issues faced by mothers who are also artists.

In 1977, co-founder Arlene Raven initiated the Lesbian Art Project aimed at highlighting queer themes within student artwork while promoting contributions by lesbian artists.

Artist Sheila Levrant de Bretteville designed an eyebolt necklace symbolizing "strength without a fist," producing 500 units with FSW members to celebrate the Woman's Building’s fifth anniversary in 1978-79.

In 1979, artists affiliated with the Woman's Building issued a nationwide invitation for lesbian artists to organize exhibitions for the upcoming Great American Lesbian Art Show (GALAS).

Final decade

By 1981, the Feminist Studio Workshop ceased operations as interest in alternative education diminished. The Woman's Building redirected its efforts toward supporting employed women, scaling back its hours and leasing approximately two-thirds of its premises to artists. That same year marked the departure of all three original founders, with leadership transitioning to former students Terry Wolverton, Sue Maberry, and Cheri Gaulke. They initiated the Vesta Awards, an annual fundraising event. Also in 1981, the performance ensemble Sisters of Survival was created, embarking on tours across the United States and Europe to raise awareness against nuclear arms proliferation. Additionally, the Woman's Building launched the Women's Graphic Center Typesetting and Design, a commercial enterprise providing phototypesetting, graphic design, production, and printing services aimed at generating revenue.

The Women's Graphic Center shuttered in 1988, resulting in the loss of financial support for staff compensation. Wolverton remained as the sole executive director until her departure in April 1989. Her successor, Pauli De Witt, had a brief tenure but was unable to restore fiscal stability. Thereafter, governance was handled by a 13-member board. Despite efforts to find a new location, the Woman's Building closed its gallery and performance venues in 1991; however, the Vesta Awards persisted, with funds directed toward an oral history initiative featuring keynote speaker Lucy Lippard.

Legacy

In 1991, Sandra Golvin, then board president, contributed the Woman's Building archives to the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art. Further collections are maintained at both the Getty Research Institute and Los Angeles’ ONE Archives.

The significance of the Woman's Building was underscored by Doin It In Public: Feminism and Art at the Woman's Building, a prominent exhibition held at the Ben Maltz Gallery at Otis College of Art and Design during 2011–2012. As part of the Getty’s Pacific Standard Time initiative, this exhibit included a comprehensive two-volume catalog and an accompanying website chronicling the organization's history. On June 8, 2018, the Los Angeles City Council officially recognized the Woman's Building as a Historic Cultural Monument.

See also

• Women-only space
• Women's Graphic Center

References

Notes

Further reading

• Doin' It in Public: Feminism and Art at the Woman's Building - A Guide to the Exhibition by Otis College of Art and Design, authored by Sue Maberry, Meg Linton, and Terry Wolverton (2012). .
• Doin' It in Public: Feminism and Art at the Woman's Building, Volume II, an anthology edited by Meg Linton and Sue Maberry (2012).
• From Site to Vision: the Woman's Building in Contemporary Culture, anthology edited by Sondra Hale and Terry Wolverton (2011). .
• Insurgent Muse: Life and Art at the Woman's Building, written by Terry Wolverton. San Francisco: City Lights Publishers (2002).

External links

• Interview with Suzanne Lacy from Smithsonian Archives of American Art.
• Oral history interviews related to the Woman's Building
• Posters from the Woman's Building collection at Center for the Study of Political Graphics