Womans Building

They came from all parts of the country to Los Angeles. They were art school students from the Midwest, writers from the East, housewives from Orange County, second-time-around college students from the Inland Empire, women making the trek to a new feminist mecca. The time: mid-'70s. The place: the Feminist Studio Workshop, later to become the Woman's Building. The quest: to find themselves, to make art, to change the culture. It was a heady time, and their destination was a place like no other.

When Sheila de Bretteville was teaching graphic design at CalArts in the early 1970s, at a time when so much education was tailored to male students, she lobbied her male dean for the chance to devote her two days of teaching each week entirely to female students. Surprisingly, she says, he eventually relented. It fueled an admittedly utopian idea: What would it look like to start a center for feminist culture and education run by women for women where she didn't need permission from that dean?

On a desolate stretch of Spring Street, beyond downtown's high-rise chessboard and the pungent crush of Chinatown, the only signs of life besides the occasional passing sedan or pacing yard dog are pink balloons, tied to the facade of an old brick warehouse and tugged by an intermittent wind. Even without balloons, the stout red-brick building has long resembled some sort of out-of-season blossom.

An unremarkable three-story brick building sits on North Spring Street in downtown Los Angeles, hard by the concrete channel of the Los Angeles River and the railroad yards behind Union Station. The unwelcoming industrial district was called "Dog Town" by local gangs because an animal shelter was once located there. But, for 16 years, the structure served as the site of the Woman's Building and, therefore, as ground zero in the feminist art movement.

When Sheila de Bretteville was teaching graphic design at CalArts in the early 1970s, at a time when so much education was tailored to male students, she lobbied her male dean for the chance to devote her two days of teaching each week entirely to female students. Surprisingly, she says, he eventually relented. It fueled an admittedly utopian idea: What would it look like to start a center for feminist culture and education run by women for women where she didn't need permission from that dean?

For the first time in its 13-year existence, the Woman's Building has asked men to curate an exhibition. Ten male collectors, curators and arts administrators each have selected a woman artist whose work is displayed in "Gentlemen's Choice," running through Thursday. "This is definitely different from anything we have done before," said Terry Wolverton, development director of the Woman's Building.

Eighteen visual and performance artists who have been censored or are "likely to be censored" will participate in a 3-hour "freedom of art-making marathon" at the downtown Woman's Building on Saturday. Called "Taking Liberties," the event begins at 10 a.m. and is open to the public. The resulting combination of images and written works, which the artists will make directly on the gallery walls, will be on view through Dec. 28.

The Woman's Building, founded on the anger and righteousness of 1970s feminists, today celebrates its 15th anniversary with an open house, a birthday party and a display of pure, delicious playfulness. "Birthday cakes," made by artists in myriad non-edible media, are on exhibit at the woman's art and culture center.

As the Woman's Building art center prepares to honor 11 women on Sunday who have made "significant contributions" to all the arts in Southern California, it seems that some local women working in the visual arts are happier about their status than they were about this time last year. The three of this year's sixth annual Vesta Awards brunch, named after the Roman goddess of the hearth, "is pretty much what it always is," says Woman's Building spokeswoman Terry Wolverton.

Cheryl Lindheimer had a long-standing dream of building a beautiful house. The dream became reality recently, and she showed a visitor through the completed Victorian-style residence she had built in the Naples area of Long Beach. She created the architectural design and worked daily with her contractor. She also learned to use a lathe, router, band saw and other tools so that she could make the ornamental "gingerbread" that is one of the glories of that architectural style.

On a desolate stretch of Spring Street, beyond downtown's high-rise chessboard and the pungent crush of Chinatown, the only signs of life besides the occasional passing sedan or pacing yard dog are pink balloons, tied to the facade of an old brick warehouse and tugged by an intermittent wind. Even without balloons, the stout red-brick building has long resembled some sort of out-of-season blossom.

They came from all parts of the country to Los Angeles. They were art school students from the Midwest, writers from the East, housewives from Orange County, second-time-around college students from the Inland Empire, women making the trek to a new feminist mecca. The time: mid-'70s. The place: the Feminist Studio Workshop, later to become the Woman's Building. The quest: to find themselves, to make art, to change the culture. It was a heady time, and their destination was a place like no other.

Eighteen visual and performance artists who have been censored or are "likely to be censored" will participate in a 3-hour "freedom of art-making marathon" at the downtown Woman's Building on Saturday. Called "Taking Liberties," the event begins at 10 a.m. and is open to the public. The resulting combination of images and written works, which the artists will make directly on the gallery walls, will be on view through Dec. 28.

The Woman's Building, founded on the anger and righteousness of 1970s feminists, today celebrates its 15th anniversary with an open house, a birthday party and a display of pure, delicious playfulness. "Birthday cakes," made by artists in myriad non-edible media, are on exhibit at the woman's art and culture center.

Cheryl Lindheimer had a long-standing dream of building a beautiful house. The dream became reality recently, and she showed a visitor through the completed Victorian-style residence she had built in the Naples area of Long Beach. She created the architectural design and worked daily with her contractor. She also learned to use a lathe, router, band saw and other tools so that she could make the ornamental "gingerbread" that is one of the glories of that architectural style.

As the Woman's Building art center prepares to honor 11 women on Sunday who have made "significant contributions" to all the arts in Southern California, it seems that some local women working in the visual arts are happier about their status than they were about this time last year. The three of this year's sixth annual Vesta Awards brunch, named after the Roman goddess of the hearth, "is pretty much what it always is," says Woman's Building spokeswoman Terry Wolverton.

An unremarkable three-story brick building sits on North Spring Street in downtown Los Angeles, hard by the concrete channel of the Los Angeles River and the railroad yards behind Union Station. The unwelcoming industrial district was called "Dog Town" by local gangs because an animal shelter was once located there. But, for 16 years, the structure served as the site of the Woman's Building and, therefore, as ground zero in the feminist art movement.

For the first time in its 13-year existence, the Woman's Building has asked men to curate an exhibition. Ten male collectors, curators and arts administrators each have selected a woman artist whose work is displayed in "Gentlemen's Choice," running through Thursday. "This is definitely different from anything we have done before," said Terry Wolverton, development director of the Woman's Building.