Drexel Curates Major Exhibition of Contemporary Chinese Women Artists

An historic exhibition of contemporary Chinese women artists, Half the Sky: Women in the New Art of China, will be presented at Drexel University from Friday, September 23 to Saturday, November 12, 2011.  Co-curated by the National Art Museum of China (NAMOC) and the Leonard Pearlstein Gallery of the Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design at Drexel University, this survey-scale exhibition will be the first of its kind in the United States.  More than 60 pieces of artwork, including photography, sculpture, video, painting and installation, by 22 women artists will be on display.  An opening reception is planned for Friday, September 23 from 6 – 8 p.m. at the new Leonard Pearlstein Gallery (3401 Filbert St). 

The exhibition will be free and open to the public, Tuesdays – Saturdays from 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. For more information, please visit www.drexel.edu/westphal.

It has been decades since Mao Zedong set communist ideology by proclaiming that women “hold up half the sky,” and yet Chinese women artists have yet to receive the attention they deserve on the world stage.  Half the Sky attempts to redress this situation by representing a cross-section of gifted women artists currently working in China and across the Chinese diaspora.

A select group of Chinese dignitaries and artists will be in attendance at the opening reception including Fan Di’an, Director of the National Art Museum of China, and Yin Xiuzhen, an internationally acclaimed artist who represented China in the 2007 Venice Bienniale, and was featured at the Museum of Modern Art in 2010. Additionally, artist Cui Xiuwen, a world renowned photographer, will attend.  Her work has been featured in some of the world’s most prestigious galleries and museums, including in London’s Tate Modern and Victoria and Albert Museum.

About the Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design:
Drexel University’s Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design offers sixteen undergraduate and five graduate programs in media, design and the performing arts. Programs are taught in small studio settings, featuring hands-on learning and an award-winning faculty of industry practitioners who emphasize the use of the latest technologies. Westphal College is home to the Mandell Theater, the Pearlstein Gallery, Drexel’s television (DUTV) and radio (WKDU 91.7 FM) stations, the Rudman Institute for Entertainment Industry Studies, MAD Dragon Records and Drexel’s Historic Costume Collection.  Allen Sabinson is the dean of the Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design. For more information about the College, go to: www.drexel.edu/westphal. 

News Media Contacts:
Zeek Weil, Director, Communications and Events, Westphal College, 215-895-2629 or zw36@drexel.edu
Alex McKechnie, News Officer, University Communications, 215-895-2705 or
amckechnie@drexel.edu