by Susan Jones, May 25 2016.

Tate Modern will show more women’s
art and Freelands Foundation’s £100,000 award for female artists
marks progress, but there is more work to be done.

Nowadays there are more than twice as
many female students than males on fine art courses, according to
data obtained from the HE Statistics Agency. However, many
contemporary galleries and exhibitions still need to realise the
value of women’s art. New
research from Freelands Foundation revealed that the contemporary
visual arts world is lagging behind when it comes to enabling
artistic equality for today’s up-and-coming female artists.


While at least half of
all visual artists are women, female artists are getting just 42% of
the shows in London’s non-commercial galleries, or 40% elsewhere
across England, Scotland and Wales.



It is progress compared
to the situation in 1991, when the May issue of a-n’s
(then printed magazine) Artists Newsletter revealed how some
established female artists joined forces to “bring the Fanny Adams
experience to the art world’s attention” – and their shocking
pink poster revealed that 83% of solo shows in London’s commercial
galleries were going to men. More than 30 years ago, a
major
enquiry named The Economic Situation of the Visual Artist noted
that 35 was the age at which many women were forced to drop out. It’s something to which
I can relate. My career as a practising artist started to show some
successes in my 30s and early 40s through exhibitions and purchases
for public collections. But the conflict between maintaining a studio
practice, keeping that toehold in the exhibition world and income
generation meant my day job as an arts manager crowded the art making
out.


This is a problem still
faced by many female artists now – and it won’t go away, because
there are twice as many women than men graduating from our art
schools.


The burgeoning careers of
many of today’s artists can stall at that pivotal age, when women
have to grapple with starting a family, alongside the expectations of
the art world that artists be available to undertake commissions and
projects wherever they may be (and be visible within national and
international networking).



When it comes to juggling
childcare and art production costs, many of today’s up-and-coming
female artists find themselves both time- and cash-poor.


In the subsidised visual
arts, where funding compliance is able to secure an acceptable
bottom line, gender equality in programming is on the way,
mirroring positive achievements made in the visual arts workforce as
a whole.



And while female artists
have in the past decade been under-represented in selections for the
Venice Biennale, we can find a model of good practice instead in
Glasgow International’s 2016 programme balance.



Although some might agree
with George
Baselitz – that female artists will get due attention when
their work’s good enough – here are four better ways to create
some positive action.

Galleries
should exhibit overlooked artists

Acknowledging the
contribution made by many who have been previously overlooked, Tate
Modern’s expansion and its commitment to showing the real history
of art (beyond the European and North American canon) means that
director Frances Morris has pledged more space for women’s art.

In May, seminal works by
Margaret
Harrison – a co-founder of the first Women’s Liberation Art
group in 1971 – provide a focus for examination of the environment
for feminist art then and now.

Recognise
lesser-known female talent with awards

Who can fault Freelands
Foundation’s new award,
aimed specifically at female artists who have not yet achieved the
acclaim and public recognition their works deserve.


The foundation’s
founder, Elisabeth Murdoch, wants the award to be about pushing
boundaries and helping artists and arts organisations fulfil their
potential. Worth £100,000 and selected from nominations, it will
enable a mid-career female artist to make new work for exhibition in
collaboration with a regional arts organisation.

Champion
residencies for those excluded by personal circumstances

On a micro-scale, artist
and mother Nicola Smith (for whom I’m a mentor) has become a
champion of family-friendly artists’ residencies. Responding to the
many programmes that have unrealistic expectations and artists who
said it was money and family commitments that prevented them from
pursuing their practice through residencies, she’s launched a new
micro-research residency: We
Are Resident.



Supported by Finland’s
Tampere Artists’ Association, it’s aimed specifically at an
artist (male or female) in north-west England whose family or
personal circumstances limit participation in normal residency
opportunities.

Support
your peers

Mothers
Who Make is an London initiative generated by artist Matilda
Leyser.
It acts as a peer support group for actors, dancers,
writers, painters and film-makers who are mothers, to share the
particular wonders and struggles of being a mother and maker. Find it
popping up in other places such as Manchester
– or start your own.

The Guardian