Art Collectives
Turning Through Time, Workwoven (1975) poster from the Chicago Women's Graphic Collective
This is a poster produced by the Women’s Graphics Collective (1970-1983) in Chicago, a workgroup of the Chicago Women’s Liberation Union (CWLU). The Women's Graphics Collective brought women designers and activists together to produce art and posters for the growing women’s liberation movement. These works were created to advance the movement and were inexpensively produced and distributed.
Re-prints of this poster, and others, are available to purchase at the Chicago Women’s Liberation Union Herstory Project.
Notice the wild hair
The Collective rejected authority and egotism in art. They rejected the notion that art could only be created by ‘great men,’ and believed that art suffered from ‘great man syndrome’. This, coupled with male camaraderie in art collectives, squeezed female artists out and relegated women to being either muses or assistants. Women were expected to stick to appropriate themes in art.
The Collective actively spurned the cult of individual authority by creating posters by committee. Their process and their tools ensured that it was always more than one person designing and making the posters and it was done laboriously by hand, without machines (Carole, 2018).
The majority of their posters reflected the diverse spectrum inside the CWLU movement. The posters depicted women’s labour, sisterhood, abortion and birth control, lesbianism, rape and other feminist issues. They also created posters for other movements, like the African liberation, anti-war and even the United Farm Workers struggle.
The Collective fell apart when new members wanted to change the focus from reflecting the diversity in the movement to separatism in the women’s movement.
Poster advertising Women's Studies at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, representing the cumulation of years of advocacy
This women's studies poster (left) references the movement to recognize women’s history and establish it as an academic discipline. This was something second-wave feminists were seeking in this time period, and this poster represents the culmulation of that activism. Activism undertaken by individuals such as Karen Rowswell, but also larger organizations.
One organization that called Edmonton home was The Alberta Status of Women Action Committee (ASWAC). It emerged from a series of workshops offered in 1975 (Rise Up, n.d.). By the 1980s, they were transformed into a registered non-profit society. Waning interest and lack of funding eventually saw the organization close in 1997. During their time the organization took action for Planned Parenthood, reported on women’s matters in elections to their membership, advocated for the changes to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms that resulted in the update in 1981 (ASWAC, n.d.).
There is renewed interest in the history of Feminist Unions in Western Canada. This is a poster for a lecture by Dr. Julia Smith delivered in 2019. In her talk she addresses how feminist union and labour groups were using different tools and strategies to achieve their goals. They aimed to eliminate sex-based disadvantages. Despite differing political bases, these groups all believed that women needed to use their power as workers to address inequality they faced as women (AWMP, n.d.).
References
Alberta Status of Women Action Committee (ASWAC) (1975-1997). Alberta Status of Women Action Committee fonds (PR0307). Provincial Archives of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta.
The Alberta Women’s Memory Project (AWMP). (n.d.) History and Classics, University of Alberta Presents: "Working Women Unite! Feminist Unions and Labour Organizations in Western Canada, 1970-1990". Retrieved July 8, 2023 from http://awmp.athabascau.ca/news/
Carol, E. (n.d.) Chicago Women’s Graphics Collective. Chicago Women’s Liberation Union Herstory Project. https://www.cwluherstory.org/chicago-womens-graphics-collective/the-chicago-womens-graphics-collective-an-introduction
Carol, E. (2018). The Chicago Women’s Graphics Collective: A memoir. Feminist Studies. 44 no 1 (pp. 104-124)
Carter, S., & Langford, N. L. (Eds.). (2020). Compelled to act : histories of women’s activism in western Canada. University of Manitoba Press.
Chicago Women’s Graphics Collective. (1972). Lesbian Pride. [Lithograph on Paper] Chicago Women’s Liberation Union Herstory Project. Chicago, Illinois. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/555557d5e4b0cc5c1ed71116/1473631174573-ZD1TPRELM77UJ1SD3WMI/Lesbian-Pride-1000px.jpg
Chicago Women’s Graphics Collective. (1972). Liberation school for women. [Lithograph on Paper] Chicago Women’s Liberation Union Herstory Project. Chicago, Illinois. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/555557d5e4b0cc5c1ed71116/1475526328652-LQBCP279KIJGZQJTFZ42/Liberation-School-1000px.jpg
Chicago Women’s Graphics Collective. (1972). Women are not chicks. [Lithograph on Paper] Chicago Women’s Liberation Union Herstory Project. Chicago, Illinois. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/555557d5e4b0cc5c1ed71116/1473630934725-A8NZWQVOYCNCUGC1IVGA/Chicks-1000px.jpg
Rise Up. (n.d.). Alberta Status of Women Action Committee. Rise Up! Feminist Digital Archive. https://riseupfeministarchive.ca/activism/organizations/alberta-status-of-women-action-committee/?highlight=ASWAC