The Evanston History Center is showcasing a new exhibit titled “Unveiling Evanston Women Artists” that focuses on the history of female-created art in the city.
Inspired by Evanston artist Blanche Gildin, who died in 2024 at the age of 95, the exhibit will run through April 12 and costs $10 for admission for non-members.
Kris Hartzell, who curated the exhibit as the center’s director of facilities, visitor services and collections, explained that Gilden seldom exhibited her work when she was alive. According to Hartzell, the center created this exhibit after Gilden’s daughter gifted several pieces to the EHC.
“I’m happy to have the opportunity to showcase her to people who didn’t know that she just lived right around the corner this whole time,” Hartzell said.
The exhibit also showcases around a dozen local female artists who Hartzell said didn’t get as much recognition as male artists of the time.
In addition to Gilden’s work, the exhibit also highlights art by Lucile Roebuck Keeler. The EHC has a large collection of Keeler’s paintings and sculptures in its collection.
In curating the exhibit, Hartzell tried to pull pieces she thought were representative of Keeler’s work.
“It’s interesting when you curate an exhibit because a number of factors come into play: how the cases tell related or distinct stories, how they relate to each other visually, how they fit in this room,” Hartzell said.
She compared art curation to playing the classic puzzle game Tetris, with each block needing to come together to create one cohesive presentation.
Most of the artwork in the exhibit was created in the 1960s and 1970s, with some pieces from the early 20th century, according to Hartzell. The exhibit consists of mostly paintings, with some sculptures, commercial art and book illustrations.
“That must have been a really creative time,” Hartzell said. “Everything was free, and people — women — were coming into their own, and civil rights, and that was a very active time. It was interesting to see that we had this body of work that was mostly of the time.”
Miriam Buchwald, who visited the exhibit, said she was surprised by the wide range of art from different eras visible in the exhibit.
Buchwald’s favorite piece was from artist Rosemary Zwick, titled “Dunes and Sandpiper.” The piece depicts a beach, with a circle of color highlighting a trio of sandpipers.
“I appreciate that it’s across a lot of different time periods, which is very interesting. I thought it was just going to be (contemporary) artists,” Buchwald said.
Hartzell said the EHC is hoping to increase knowledge about their collections and inspire more donations of art by artists of color.
Evanston resident Lesa Rizzolo said she appreciates the impact the Evanston History Center has on Evanston.
“It’s a gift to the community,” Rizzolo said.
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