Women artist-educators' democratization of the modern American art world : the case of Elsa Ulbricht, Otellie Loloma, and Samella S. Lewis
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In the mid-nineteenth century, American women artists increasingly pursued careers as professional fine artists. However, at the turn of the century, they were largely excluded from participating in the fine arts world. Subsequently, twentieth-century American women artists forged alternative professional art careers through the adjacent field of art education, making up the phenomenon of the artist-educator. Artist-educators both actively practice art and teach it and contributed much to America's twentiethcentury visual arts landscape through their art, pedagogy, and institutional initiatives. This research examines three women artist-educators of disparate racial, ethnic, and artistic backgrounds as case studies to exemplify the socially conscious art initiatives twentieth-century women artist-educators' employed and how their contributions democratized the modern American art world. By examining the work of Wisconsin craftsperson Elsa Ulbricht, Indigenous ceramicist Otellie Loloma, and African American painter and printmaker Samella S. Lewis, I demonstrate that women artist-educators created a far more inclusive and diverse art world than the one portrayed in textbooks. On the Works Progress Administration Milwaukee Handicraft Project, Ulbricht professionalized working women of disparate identities, equipping them with essential industrial skills by producing art-craft objects for public institutions. At the Institute of American Indian Arts, Loloma codified and espoused contemporary approaches to Indigenous art making that challenged settler perceptions and empowered future generations of Native American artists. Lewis founded cultural institutions and an academic infrastructure for African American art and artists, developing an African American art history canon. Despite their accomplishments, these women remain largely absent from art historical and art education scholarship; but my dissertation draws upon both historically entwined disciplines, building a dialogue between and among different cultural identities, artistic styles, and professional spheres. Through archival research, I analyze each artist's body of work, pedagogy, and institutional contributions to demonstrate how women artist-educators of different identities used art education to access the mainstream art world but also employed similar teaching and artistic ideologies to envision socially conscious art initiatives.
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Ph. D.