Portrayals of motherhood, paintings of the female gaze and video installations of fragility. Women artists across Texas shared the complex and joyous moments of womanhood at the Texas Vignette Art Fair.
鈥淭exas Vignette has been more than an art fair for the last three days,鈥� said Claudia Maysen, a mixed media artist from Keller, said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a community that is forming and extending its arms to the whole area.鈥�
From Nov. 3 to Nov. 4, 89 artworks exclusively by Texas women were on display at the Dallas Market Hall as part of the fifth edition of the Texas Vignette Art Fair. Founded in 2017, Texas Vignette works to close the gender gap in the visual arts.
鈥淥ur mission is to support, promote and connect women in the Texas art scene across the entire state,鈥� president and founder Jessica Ingle said. 鈥淚n art fairs, which have become a marketplace nowadays for artists to sell their work, it鈥檚 almost worse for Texas women artists and there are so few represented in these fairs, so we wanted to remedy that by starting a fair鈥�
Each year, the Texas Vignette Art Fair is curated by a different woman juror. The juror chooses the artwork and the layout of the show. This year, Emily Edwards, the associate curator at Dallas Contemporary, was the juror. She reviewed 216 applicants this year, which is more than the art fair has ever received. Ultimately, 47 women artists across 23 Texas cities were selected to participate.
鈥淚 submitted artwork and was very excited to get to share it, not only in the space but to be around these other female artists,鈥� Laura Briseno, a costume designer from Ennis, said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 such a privilege.鈥�
Edwards said some artists in the art fair were chosen for their work鈥檚 power to expose the public to new and challenging perspectives. Others were chosen for their ability to push forward the boundaries of a medium and its presentation.
Felicia Jordan, a mixed media artist from Dallas, had two of her mixed media pieces in the show. One was a double-sided, king-sized quilt titled 鈥淎tlas Shrugged 鈥� And Walked Away.鈥� On one side, a fabric silhouette of women with long, dark braids is carrying the world on her shoulders. On the other side, she鈥檚 walking away from it. Cursive words are stitched throughout the quilt. They were taken from a journal belonging to a woman Jordan considers her adoptive mother. The passages are in her handwriting and share her stresses of taking care of her family鈥檚 mental and physical health.
鈥淚鈥檓 currently on this journey to document blackness, healing and trauma,鈥� Jordan said. 鈥淲hat happens if we as women, who carry this burden of life and of keeping everyone together, what happens if we put that down and walk away?鈥�
While there wasn鈥檛 a specific theme for the festival, many of the artworks selected depicted contemporary womanhood and were grouped by subthemes. One corner had abstract art that explored color and movement. In another area, the artwork focused on the body and what it represents. Other artworks dove into motherhood and memories of loved ones.
鈥淚t was all speaking to what it means to be a woman and a woman artist [today] and specifically in Texas,鈥� Ingle said.
Some of the art responded to current events and socio-political issues.
Maysen鈥檚 piece titled 鈥淭hree B鈥檚鈥� was inspired by the book bans in Texas. She created a tower of books and added strips of black tape down the sides. Next to the tower of books was an engraved wooden cutout of a child that was anchored on a metal stool. The child, whose gender isn鈥檛 revealed, is looking up at the books but their eyes are covered by felt fabric.
鈥淏ooks banned by the blind, they don鈥檛 want to see, they don鈥檛 want others to see.鈥� Maysen said.
All sales from the fair goes to artists. Victoria Brill, a painter in Dallas, said she likes that Texas Vignette allows artists to participate in the art fairs more than once. Like other artists this year, this was Brill鈥檚 second time at Texas Vignette Art Fair.
鈥淓ven though a lot of work has been done to show female artists and represent women artists prominently, I still think it鈥檚 really important to push that and Texas Vignette just does an amazing service for women in Texas,鈥� Brill said.
Arts Access is an arts journalism collaboration powered by The Dallas Morning News and 四虎影院.
This community-funded journalism initiative is funded by the Better Together Fund, Carol & Don Glendenning, City of Dallas OAC, The University of Dallas at Texas, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, Eugene McDermott Foundation, James & Gayle Halperin Foundation, Jennifer & Peter Altabef and The Meadows Foundation. The News and 四虎影院 retain full editorial control of Arts Access鈥� journalism.
