Wise words from women

To move forward in uncertain times.

Original art by Caitlyn Grabenstein, image via Instagram @cult.class

I hoped the topic of this post would be a celebration of the first female president of the United States and the first woman of color to boot. But that wasn’t to be. So, a pivot was necessary. I decided to look to the women throughout history who were challenged by their circumstances and chose to see opportunity instead of falling into despair. If you’re in need of a shift in perspective, I hope they help.

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Starting with art & literature.

I wrote about artist Lee Krasner in an earlier post. Krasner was one of the five American painters whose lives and work were chronicled in Mary Gabriel’s Ninth Street Women: Lee Krasner, Elaine de Kooning, Grace Hartigan, Joan Mitchell, and Helen Frankenthaler: Five Painters and the Movement. Post World War Two, female artists were largely dismissed, and their paintings were deemed unworthy of being exhibited or collected. Despite the reality of their circumstances, these five women relentlessly pursued their art and, in doing so, changed the way the art world saw them.

From Helen Frankenthaler:

“I don’t resent being a female painter. I don’t exploit it. I paint.”

“There are no rules. That is how art is born, how breakthroughs happen. Go against the rules or ignore the rules. That is what invention is about.”

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Image from The Paris Review on Instagram