Miriam Shapiro The Education Of Women As Artist Analysis

In Miriam Schapiro’s “The Education of Women as Artists: Project Womanhouse” she first introduces the Feminist Art Program at the California Institute of the Arts and how she and Judy Chicago would be working side by side during the second quarter in order to turn their experiences as artists into ways of teaching. Schapiro argues that Chicago and she went from artists to teachers as they pushed social expectations of women through the art displayed in Womanhouse as well as with the building of the actual house. The women did jobs such as flooring and wood work that were often jobs of men. Schapiro also argues that they guided the women to achieve their goals while also pushing them outside of their comfort zones.
In the second paragraph Schapiro …show more content…
With the help of the father of one of the students, lumber and glass were used to restore the house. The women also took on the role men usually were expected to and refurbished the floors amongst other “manly” activities. The Nurturant Kitchen as seen on page 268 of the article is the subject of the ninth paragraph. The article describes the kitchen as entirely pink from all of the appliances to the wall. As seen in the image, the kitchen has egg shaped structures on the ceiling that transform into breasts as they go down the wall. Three women were involved in the creation of the kitchen. As the kitchen is not mentioned until the second page although its image is seen on the first, much like it’s purpose as an introduction in the actual house, the kitchen acts as an introduction into the article. The reader must also keep reading the article in order to understand what is going on in the picture. In the tenth paragraph Schapiro transitions into the dining room with its images and sculptures of food and flowers as well as its intricate chandelier made of vinyl. The next room discussed in the eleventh paragraph is the Web Room which is seen on page 268. As described in the article, the room contains intricate crocheted web-like draping. Next to the Web Room was the laundry room which consisted of hanging stockings and a tub full of …show more content…
Schapiro talks about the different skills of the artists in paragraph fourteenth as three of the rooms focused on paint work instead of a 3D medium. One room contained oversized leaves that transitioned in color from bright to decay in a reflection of the artist. Another room contained a self-portrait of the artist with a raised hand in a “moonscape”. The last room showed the artist through her paint strokes of the furniture of the room. In the fifteenth paragraph another artistic style was used in which there was a miniature dollhouse that showed a kitchen, studio, bedroom, etc. This room allowed a childlike vision in its creation. In paragraph sixteen Schapiro talks about a student’s room which was messy and pink. The next room that she talks about in paragraph seventeen is the nursery that included oversized toys and structures as well as a six foot rocking horse for viewers to play with. In the eighteenth paragraph the obsessive closet with hundreds of shoes is mentioned as well as the linen closet as seen on the page (270). In the closet, a woman emerges from the shelves. In paragraph nineteen the Bridal Staircase is mentioned as a bride goes from beautifully appearing at the top of the staircase to crashing into the wall at the bottom of the staircase. In the twentieth and