A.I.R. Gallery Retrospective 1972-1979

(via werkstattgallery.com)

A.I.R Gallery Retrospective: 1972 - 1979
May 2 through June 14, 2008
Opening Reception May 1, 6 – 9 pm
55 Great Jones Street between Bowery and Lafayette

DOTTY ATTIE	RACHEL BAS-COHAIN
JUDITH BERNSTEIN	BLYTHE BOHNEN
MAUDE BOLTZ	DONNA BYARS
AGNES DENES	SARI DIENES
DARIA DOROSH	SARAH DRANEY
LORETTA DUNKELMAN	MARY BETH EDELSON
MARY GRIGORIADIS	HARMONY HAMMOND
ANNE HEALY	LAURACE JAMES
NANCY KITCHEL	LOUISE KRAMER
PAT LASCH	ROSEMARY MAYER
ANA MENDIETA	KAZUKO MIYAMOTO
PATSY NORVELL	HOWARDENA PINDELL
SYLVIA SLEIGH	NANCY SPERO
CLOVER VAIL	SUSAN WILLIAMS
BARBARA ZUCKER

“The gallery is being planned with a strong feeling of optimism. There is mutual confidence in each other's work and there is the knowledge that we are letting fresh air into the current scene.”
— Nancy Spero

“A.I.R. has acted as both a gallery and a service organization from its beginnings – a service organization committed to keeping up an on-going dialogue between women artists, writers and critics, and between New York based women artists and women artists all over the world.”
— Corinne Robbins

Werkstätte is pleased to present The A.I.R. Gallery Retrospective: 1972 – 1979.

Opened on September 17, 1972 at 97 Wooster Street, The A.I.R. Gallery was the first women's cooperative gallery in New York. Founded in response to inadequate representation of women artists, and steeped in the ongoing discourse of the women's movement, the principal focus of the gallery was to exhibit the best, if non-traditional, work by female artists. Supplementing its rigorous exhibition schedule (the gallery exhibited 16 shows in its first year) was the “Monday Nights” program: a discursive educational program that utilized a time when galleries are traditionally closed. On select Monday evenings A.I.R. opened its doors to varying speakers, performances, and how-to seminars that covered topics ranging from tax preparation to organizing a cooperative gallery.

This exhibition, co-curated by Werkstätte and Patsy Norvell, surveys the work of the gallery's members from 1972 – 1979. At a time when the New York art scene is again moving downtown, the retrospective seeks to examine an organization that helped to pioneer the SoHo art scene in the seventies. Incorporating painting, sculpture, photography and video, and often utilizing such non-traditional materials as fabric, plastic bags and human hair, the exhibition demonstrates the wide range of work shown at A.I.R. Gallery during these years.

Werkstätte will supplement the exhibition with its own series of “Monday Night” programming including a women's poetry night, a performance by Kazuko Miyamoto and panel discussions featuring curators, critics, and current A.I.R. director Kat Griefen.

The exhibition runs through June 14, 2008. The gallery hours are Tuesday–Saturday, 11-6pm. The gallery is located at 55 Great Jones Street, NY, NY. If you require further information, please call 212 228 2996 or email alexis@werkstattegallery.com