Feminist Art Program

The Feminist Art Program was a series of arts programs developed in the 1970s by artist Judy Chicago and others in various California educational institutions.

The original Feminist Art Program was developed by artist Judy Chicago. The first such program was launched in the fall of 1970 at Fresno State College, now California State University, Fresno. In the spring of 1971, It became a full 15-unit program. This was the first feminist art program in the United States. Fifteen students studied under Chicago at Fresno State College: Dori Atlantis, Susan Boud, Gail Escola, Vanalyne Green, Suzanne Lacy, Cay Lang, Karen LeCocq, Jan Lester, Chris Rush, Judy Schaefer, Henrietta Sparkman, Faith Wilding, Shawnee Wollenman, Nancy Youdelman, and Cheryl Zurilgen. Together, as the Feminist Art Program, these women rented and refurbished an off-campus studio at 1275 Maple Avenue in downtown Fresno. Here they collaborated on art, held reading groups, and discussion groups about their life experiences which then influenced their art.

The Fresno Feminist Art Program served as a model for other feminist art efforts, such as Womanhouse, a collaborative feminist art exhibition and the first project produced after the Feminist Art Program moved to the California Institute of the Arts in the fall of 1971. Sheila de Bretteville and Arlene Raven also taught in that program. Womanhouse, like the Fresno project, also developed into a feminist studio space and promoted the concept of collaborative women's art.

After Chicago left for CalArts, the class at Fresno State College was continued by Rita Yokoi from 1971 to 1973, and then by Joyce Aiken in 1973, until her retirement in 1992.

Later, Chicago and Miriam Schapiro reestablished the Feminist Art Program (FAP) at California Institute of the Arts.

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