Hera Gallery is a small, non-profit

artist cooperative An artist cooperative (also co-operative or co-op) is an autonomous visual arts organization, enterprise, or association jointly owned and democratically controlled by its members. Artist cooperatives are legal entities organized as non-capital sto ...

Wakefield, Rhode Island Wakefield is a village in the town of South Kingstown, Rhode Island, United States, and the commercial center of South Kingstown. Together with the village of Peace Dale, it is treated by the U.S. Census as a component of the census-designated ...

USA. Created within the context of the

feminist art movement The feminist art movement refers to the efforts and accomplishments of feminists internationally to produce art that reflects women's lives and experiences, as well as to change the foundation for the production and perception of contemporary ar ...

, Hera Gallery was a pioneer in the genesis of

artist-run space An artist-run space or artist-run centre (Canada) is a gallery or other facility operated or directed by artists, frequently circumventing the structures of public art centers, museums, or commercial galleries and allowing for a more experimental ...

s. Its founding objective in 1974 was to provide a venue for

women artists The absence of women from the canon of Western culture, Western Art history, art has been a subject of inquiry and reconsideration since the early 1970s. Linda Nochlin's influential 1971 essay, "Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?, Why ...

, under-represented at the time in commercial galleries. As the cultural climate changed in the 1980s, the gallery broadened its scope to include visual artists of both genders. Concurrently, Hera curated more topical exhibitions with a broadened spectrum of social awareness and activism. To this day, the gallery provides contemporary artists with the opportunity to address cultural, social, and political issues and to maintain creative control.

History

Hera Gallery was created in 1974, the year that the alternative gallery movement burst beyond major cities and into locations as remote as a village in rural southern Rhode Island. It was conceived from a

consciousness-raising Consciousness raising (also called awareness raising) is a form of activism popularized by United States feminists in the late 1960s. It often takes the form of a group of people attempting to focus the attention of a wider group on some cause or ...

group consisting mostly of artists, and often associated with the nearby

University of Rhode Island The University of Rhode Island (URI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Kingston, Rhode Island, United States. It is the flagship public research as well as the land-grant university of the state of Rhode Island ...

, that started meeting in 1969. One of the common topics to discuss were the difficulties of balancing the domestic responsibilities of being wife and mother with a professional artistic career. The women discussed the difficulty in having their work represented in Manhattan galleries, where apparent sexism from gallery owners caused their work to be disregarded. Hera Gallery was thus created in order to foster a professional community of women artists, in the vein of other recently established women-run artist cooperatives, such as New York City's A.I.R. Gallery. At the time, a Providence Journal writer commented that "...a women's art center named after a bitchy Greek goddess and housed in a barn that used to be a laundry is New England's only art gallery completely owned and controlled by women..."

Organizational structure

Initially the organization of Hera Gallery consisted of non-hierarchical egalitarian committees, influenced by feminist ideals. As the gallery grew, its board of directors, once only represented by artist-members, was appended with a community Advisory Board from 1986–2000, according to the gallery's unpublished “Addendum to the History of Hera”. Furthermore, when the Advisory Board was discontinued in 2000, the Board of Directors began including external community members (Addendum). Since 1992 (Addendum) there has also been a Gallery Director part-time paid position. Hera Gallery offers its members an annual solo exhibition, inclusion in group exhibitions, curatorial opportunities, and positions on the Board of Directors. It serves the surrounding community by “encouraging ethnic and cultural diversity in both audience and program development. ”

Developments

Since its inception, Hera Gallery has resided in a building that was a garage in the 1920s, then a laundromat, and later a flea market, before finally being outfitted by the founding artists and their loved ones. Its landlord throughout this time was a sympathetic URI professor who kept the rent low for them. After his recent demise, the family put the land on the market but waited for a buyer whose plan included preserving the gallery. In September 2007 it was announced that a buyer plans on demolishing the existing building to create a

mixed-use development Mixed-use is a kind of urban development, urban design, urban planning and/or a zoning type that blends multiple uses, such as residential, commercial, cultural, institutional, or entertainment, into one space, where those functions are to some ...

including residential condominiums and inclusion of the gallery.

Selected artists

Dale Chihuly Dale Chihuly () (born September 20, 1941) is an American glass artist and entrepreneur. He is best known in the field of blown glass, "moving it into the realm of large-scale sculpture". Early life Dale Patrick Chihuly was born on September 20 ...

* Judy Gelles *

Ana Mendieta Ana Mendieta (November 18, 1948 – September 8, 1985) was a Cuban-American performance artist, sculptor, painter and video artist who is best known for her "earth-body" artwork. Born in Havana, Mendieta left for the United States in 1961. Earl ...

Italo Scanga Italo Scanga (June 6, 1932 - July 7, 2001), an Italy, Italian-born List of American artists, American artist, was known for his sculptures, prints and, paintings, mostly created from found objects. Career Italo Scanga was an innovative neo-Dadais ...

Carolee Schneeman Carolee Schneemann (October 12, 1939 – March 6, 2019) was an American visual artist, visual experimental artist, known for her multi-media works on the body, narrative, human sexuality, sexuality and gender. She received a Bachelor of Arts, B.A ...

* Susan Weil * Roberta Richman, a founding member.

References

External links

Hera Gallery
Official Site
Hera Gallery Official Blog
More frequent updates on Hera Gallery news
“Mixed use explored for Hera’s, Phil’s”
2006 South County Independent article {{Feminist art movement in the United States Art museums and galleries in Rhode Island Buildings and structures in Washington County, Rhode Island Arts organizations established in 1974 Artist cooperatives in the United States Tourist attractions in Washington County, Rhode Island Art galleries established in 1974 1974 establishments in Rhode Island Arts organizations based in Rhode Island