Special Event

Stretching the Canvas and the Feminist Art Movement: Gallery Talk and Reception
Thursday, December 6, 2007
3:00-4:30pm (remarks at 3:30pm)
Old Perk Gallery, 2nd floor Perkins Library (outside Gothic Reading Room)

Exhibit curators and Bingham Center interns Amy McDonald and Beth Ann Koelsch will speak about how they created their respective exhibits, developing the themes and selecting the materials from the Bingham Center's collections, and envisioning how the space would be used to convey ideas about women's artistic expression. Bingham staff will also be on hand to answer questions about items in the exhibits.  Refreshments will be served. Highlights from both exhibits are featured in an online gallery.

Article about exhibits in The Duke Chronicle

Exhibits in Perkins Library

Stretching the Canvas: Women Exploring the Arts
On display October 2007 - May 2008
Old Perk Gallery (2nd floor, Perkins Library)

A non-traditional art exhibit that brings a "behind the scenes" perspective to the process of  art-making. Using documentary pieces as well as artwork—from Duke women undergraduates and women artists in the Bingham Center collections—this exhibit considers different facets of women's artistic practice. Highlights from this exhibit are featured in an online gallery.

The Feminist Art Movement, 1970s-1980s
On display October 22- December 31, 2007
Old Perk Gallery Annex (2nd floor, Perkins Library)

The Feminist art movement originated in the early 1970s and was directly inspired by second-wave feminism. The art exhibit will showcase the work of Kate Millett and Irene Peslikis and also demonstrate how feminism influences art forms such as comics and music. Other highlights include feminist art publications, LPs, songbooks and concert flyers from the women’s music movement, including material from the Common Woman Chorus. Highlights from this exhibit are featured in an online gallery.

Hidden and Forbidden: Literary Secrets and Transgressions
On display October 22- December 31, 2007
Biddle Rare Book Room exhibit cases

This exhibit highlights the Bingham Center's collection of secret, private, unknown, and transgressive writings by women. From love letters, diaries, and narratives of rape and abortion, to pirated editions of Robin Morgan's Monster, which was barred from publication in the British Commonwealth due to the inclusion of a poem accusing British poet Ted Hughes of driving Sylvia Plath to suicide, the exhibit challenges and complicates the romanticized image of the female writer.

Picturing Home: Family Albums as Historical Memoir
On display through October 28, 2007
Special Collections Hallway Gallery

This evocative exhibit documents the history of four generations of the Davis family of Hampton, Virginia. Chloe Tarrant Campbell created the first photography album in the 1870s prior to moving from Alabama to Mississippi. Her daughter, granddaughter, and great-granddaughters continued the photographic tradition, creating a rich record of African American life from Reconstruction to the civil rights era. The exhibit is drawn from the Special Collections Library's Davis Family Papers Collection.

Related Bibliographies 

• Women and Artistic Expression Subject Guide
• Artists' Books by Women
• Women in Music
• Music and Musicians of the Women’s Movement, 1960s-present

• About the Center
• Finding Materials
• Subject Guides
• News and Events
• Research Grants
• Visiting the Center
• Newsletters
• Collections Overview
• Ask a Question
• Center Staff