As one of the largest exhibitions of women artists from across Texas, marks the first return since the beginning of the pandemic.
Dallas-based artist Vicki Meek, the juror for the fair, said the exhibition is important because women are one of the largest groups of graduates from art schools but are in museums and curated art spaces.
鈥淪o these kinds of shows should be obsolete, but they're not because of that statistic,鈥� Meek said. 鈥淪o I'm always looking for opportunities to uplift women who are doing art.鈥�
Meek said she carefully selected works from over 170 women applicants to capture a wide range of mediums and timely themes from immigration to body image.
鈥淓ither they were doing something that I always say as an artist that I'd want to steal from them or they were doing something that I felt like it was a comment that had to be amplified and shown here in Dallas,鈥� she said.
One of the artists whose work will be featured in the fair is Ann Johnson, an experimental printmaker from the Houston area. Her two self-portraits, which are printed on birch tree bark, will be shown at the fair as part of her series 鈥淪ee Me.鈥� The pieces explore the anti-Black , 鈥減articularly women who have to take care of someone else's family before they can take care of their own.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;
鈥淪o that whole idea of being seen and dealing with the negative stereotypes associated with Aunt Jemima and mammy and large women, black women especially, so I've been dealing with that for the last couple of years," she said. "Showing the impact of not being seen as a whole person and dealing with assumptions and stereotypes.鈥�
Johnson said she鈥檚 grateful for the opportunity to show her art in the Vignette Fair which highlights the work of female artists from diverse backgrounds.
鈥淲e鈥檙e here. This art world is a male dominated art world,鈥� she said. 鈥淭o have such a strong presence in a major city, that's saying something.鈥�
Ultimately, she wants viewers to do what she tells her students at Prairie View A&M University: look into the art 鈥� not at it.
鈥淗ave conversations with the artists that are there. You may view it a certain way, but their intention may have been something different.鈥�
The Vignette Art Fair will be open to the public on Friday, Oct. 14 and Saturday, Oct. 15 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Freeway Hall inside Dallas Market Hall.
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