Contact: Eddie North-Hager, Rutgers University Press, (213) 220-1806

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Pioneer artist and feminist June Wayne leads June 30 panel at Santa Monica gallery

‘Then + Now’ combines works by 36 female Southern California artist from past 30 years

In the '40s June Wayne fought a City Hall that thought modern art was a Commie plot, according to the Los Angeles Times.

In the ‘60s, she resuscitated the dying craft of lithography, according to the New York Times.

In the ‘90s, Wayne railed in editorials and speeches against censorship as Congress threatened to end funding for arts and humanities groups.

And all the while Wayne has been a leader in the feminist art movement, according to the New York Times.

So it’s no surprise she was asked to lead the panel discussion for Women Artists of Southern California: Then + Now.

This exhibition, which combines work by 36 female artists from the '70s to this century who live in Southern California, is part of The Feminist Art Project. The project, which originated at Rutgers University, focuses national attention on women artists in the year 2007.

The symposium is at 7 p.m. Saturday, June 30 at Track 16 Gallery in Bergamot Station, 2525 Michigan Ave. The phone number is (310) 264.4678.

The discussion comes on the heels of Wayne's beautiful, meticulous and exhaustive catalogue raisonné, 1936-2006, “The Art of Everything.”

"The Art of Everything" starts with Wayne’s first solo exhibition in 1935 at the age of 17, through her work with optical art and Ben Day dots to yet another direction with last year’s digital graphic print, “Sects in the City,” at the age of 89.
 
The catalogue marks the first time Wayne’s art is available in one comprehensive volume, bringing together more than 475 examples of her paintings, prints, tapestries, drawings, films, and writings.
 
Of course Wayne’s founding of the Tamarind Lithography Workshop in 1959 is highlighted. Under her direction, this workshop not only revived printmaking in the United States, but gave Willem de Kooning, Louise Nevelson, and Ed Ruscha an opportunity to experiment in this format.
 
More information is available at June’s website, http://www.junewayne.com, and ours, http://rutgerspress.rutgers.edu.