The art of women was heavily featured, when Moorpark College celebrated the works of female artists with the rest of the world.
On Wednesday, March 24 Moorpark College celebrated Support Women Artists Now Day, a day where women artists are featured and support for women in the arts is emphasized.
The event was organized by Sandra Hunter and Kathryn Adams, who put together this SWAN day to raise awareness. Adams helped organize it as part of the Year of Service.
“We feel it is a service to women artists,” Adams explained. “Even in the U.S., women artists don’t receive the same funding as their male counterparts.”
“Quite often art is their way of helping society,” Adams added.
The art walk, which was featured in front of the PAC, featured the work of many of the female artists in the art department. Both students and teachers were featured, as well as local photographer, Marie Gregorio-Oviedo, in a show that displayed the talents Moorpark’s women had to offer.
Shelley Ann Moore, one of the artists featured in the art walk, was inspired to make the piece she featured.
Another featured artist was Wanda Buczkowski, who like Moore featured a piece with a message.
“[There’s] chaos in the world, internal chaos in the mind and a quiet and isolated feeling,” Buczkowski explained. “[It’s a] swirling vortex of lines and figures.”
The other portion of the event featured professors Beth McGill of dance and Cynthia Minet of art as well as author of “Scandalosa!” and key-note speaker, Michele Serros.
“When I create, I have to keep doing it to keep it alive,” said McGill. “Performing arts have a life of their own.”
Professor Cynthia Minet explained the difficulties of being a female artist, not only in the past but also today.
“Lots of successful women artists remain completely anonymous,” Minet explained.
A large reason many of these women are anonymous, according to Minet, is because of the Guerrilla Girls movement. A group of female artists wore gorilla masks to prove their point that women artists have it harder than men by emphasizing the use of their bodies in art instead of the faces of the women behind the art.
The movement may have helped because according to Minet the situation has begun to improve within the last 20 years.
The featured speaker was Michele Cerros, and author and former Ventura County resident, who read excerpts from her books. Many of the excerpts Cerros read talked about her life, growing up in El Rio.
“One could combat financial fascism, [it was called] a Tupperware party,” Cerros said in one of many events she highlighted from her childhood.
“I was surprised to see such a small turnout,” said Adam Whipple, a 20-year-old graphic design major, who expected the talk to be in the larger Main Stage, instead of the smaller Black Box.
Sandra Hunter, co-organizer of SWAN Day was pleased with Cerros’ talk.
“She’s a wonderful speaker, [with an] element of being between two cultures, living on borders,” Hunter said.
