As Claire and Melissa close out the first season of The Gallery Gap, they have created a special three part series that celebrates the institution that inspired The Gallery Gap’s creation, the National Museum of Women in the Arts, or NMWA, located in Washington, D.C.
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The Gallery Gap began in March of 2017 during National Women’s History Month after a call to action from NMWA, asking if members of the public could name, without hesitation, five women artists as part of their #5womenartists campaign.
Begun in 2016, #5womenartists has expanded to include hundreds of museums, and in 2017 was honored by the American Alliance of Museums, who gave it a Gold award in Digital Communities at the annual Media & Technology MUSE Awards.
Also in 2017, NMWA has been celebrating its 30th anniversary. As part of that celebration, the museum is featuring the landmark exhibition Magnetic Fields: Expanding American Abstraction, 1960s to Today, on view until January 21, 2018.
In this episode, Claire and Melissa introduce the three part series, and Magnetic Fields, before exploring NMWA’s founding, mission, and history with NMWA’s Director, Susan Fisher Sterling, who reflects on the past 30 years and looks to the institution’s future.
Produced by Lacy Scarmana