PAFA and Bryn Mawr College Partner to Exhibit Art by Women
Beyond Boundaries: Feminine Forms

PAFA: September 15, 2017 – March 18, 2018
BMC: September 28, 2017 – January 28, 2018

PHILADELPHIA (August 15, 2017) — The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) and Bryn Mawr College (BMC) present Beyond Boundaries: Feminine Forms, a dual-sited exhibition of artworks from PAFA’s Linda Lee Alter Collection of Art by Women and BMC’s The William and Uytendale Scott Memorial Study Collection of Works by Women Artists.

The collaboration brings together two institutions, collections, and curatorial teams for an exhibition that highlights and re-examines each institution's inclusive efforts to collect artworks by women. Organized according to seven themes, the exhibition investigates the many ways in which women artists challenge stereotypes attributed to the female body, landscape, language, myth, and spirituality, inspiring new interpretive possibilities.

The exhibition features over 80 works on paper, photography, painting, and sculpture by over 70 artists, including many artists from the Philadelphia area, as well as recent acquisitions on view for the first time. Situated across two sites, the exhibition breaks institutional boundaries in order to unite and understand these inclusive collections.

The works on view range from revealing the uncanny within domesticity in works by Betye Saar, Louise Bourgeois, Sihn Ja An Whiteley; veiling and unveiling the body with Janice Becker, Nancy Grossman, and Miriam Shapiro; writing as a rite of passage with Lesley Dill, Faith Ringgold, and Diane Pieri; unearthing abstractions inspired by nature with Edna Andrade, Ruth Fine, and Joyce Kozloff; deconstructing unity in the work of Arlene Love, Nancy Spero, and Joan Mitchell; demystifying the muse with Patricia Mangione, Emily Mason, and Elizabeth Catlett; and rethinking the movement of time in works by Deborah Remington, Alison Saar, and Germaine Arnaktauyok.

Beyond Boundaries opens at PAFA with a reception on September 15, 6-7:30 p.m. and at Bryn Mawr College with a reception on September 28, 4:30-6 p.m. The exhibition is organized by Laurel McLaughlin and Mechella Yezernitskaya, art history graduate students at Bryn Mawr College, in consultation with Carrie Robbins, Bryn Mawr’s Curator for Art & Artifacts, Jodi Throckmorton, PAFA’s Curator of Contemporary Art, and Judith Thomas, PAFA’s Director of Exhibitions.

The dual-sited exhibition is accompanied by a publication, available at Bryn Mawr College, and programming at both institutions including:

September 15, 6-7:30 p.m.
Opening reception at PAFA

September 27, 12:30-2 p.m.
Keynote Scholarly Lecture at Bryn Mawr College: Visual Culture Colloquium featuring Dr. Jo Anna Isaak, John L. Marion Chair in Art History, Fordham University

September 28, 4:30-6 p.m.
Opening reception at Bryn Mawr College

October 6, 12-1 p.m.
Conservation talk at Bryn Mawr College: Corine McHugh

October 7, 2-3:30 p.m.
Points of View at PAFA: Exhibition curators on panel with artists Judith Brodsky and Eileen Neff

October 25, 12-1 p.m.
Art at Lunch at PAFA: Curatorial Talk with Laurel McLaughlin and Mechella Yezertniskaya

October 27, 12-1 p.m.
Museum studies lecture and tour at Bryn Mawr College: Kelli Morgan, PAFA’s Winston & Carolyn Lowe Curatorial Fellow for Diversity in the Fine Arts to give lecture on her doctoral dissertation work

November 10, 12-1 p.m.
Artist lecture at Bryn Mawr College: Neila Kun

December 8, 6:30 p.m.
Lesley Dill lecture/performance at Bryn Mawr College: co-hosted with The Center for Visual Culture, History of Art, English, Gender and Sexuality, History, Comparative Literature, Dance, The Hurford Center for Arts and Humanities, Haverford College

January 24, 4:30-5:30 p.m.
Closing reception and tour at Bryn Mawr College with Bill Scott, artist and PAFA faculty member

About Bryn Mawr College
Bryn Mawr College is a women’s liberal arts college committed to educating the next generation of leaders. Originally founded in 1885, for more than 130 years, smart, strong women have come to Bryn Mawr College to seek an unparalleled education and meaningful opportunities to contribute to the world. That tradition continues and grows today. Bryn Mawr offers a university of academic opportunities in an intimate setting; a close, connected community that fosters lifelong connections.