Judy Chicago's The Dinner Party: Learning the (Her)Story

The first time I saw Judy Chicago’s work, The Dinner Party, was during its first tour in 1979. It was awesome then, shocking to many, and continues to inspire the unexpected emotions today. You can see it at the Brooklyn Museum now, where it’s permanently installed. As an interesting counterpart, there’s a small but extraordinary showing of the collaboration that produced The Dinner Party and many other powerful feminist works at the Museum of Arts and Design, also in New York. There, you can see Chicago’s beautifully detailed drawings that resulted in Audrey Cowan’s gorgeous tapestries. There is a generous selection from a number of pieces, including The Birth Project and The Holocaust Project, and the exhibit documents the friendship and artistic development that blossomed during their long collaboration, which began with Cowan contributing a runner to the dinner table.

There have been times when I felt so overwhelmed by the experience of seeing The Dinner Party that I could not concentrate on the artistry of the 400 people who produced the artifacts for it. It was a special pleasure last week to savor the details--depiction of thread selections and the side-by-side impressions of Chicago’s cartoons coupled with Cowan’s translations into thread. In this month celebrating women’s history, this is an exciting exhibit for our students to view. There’s nothing anonymous about it, and it’s all sheer beauty, even when it depicts pain.  This small museum is a jewel that illustrates the value of art, design, and craft in our lives. Public programs and open studios enable the visitor to experience art with all five senses.