EXHIBITION
Art is Her: Mel Kolstad
Feb 15, 2020 – Mar 31, 2020
TMA Atrium
The year 2020 marks the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, guaranteeing women’s right to vote. The passage is the largest expansion of democracy in U.S. history. Throughout 2020, Art is Her celebrates women artists and explores the relevance of equal rights in art today.
About Mel Kolstad
Mel Kolstad is an artist, speaker, instructor and arts advocate who makes her home in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. She is a printmaker, collagist, fiber artist, and papermaker, specializing in tiny art. She is also delighted to be a Certified Papermaker for Arnold Grummer, Inc.; a member of Wisconsin Visual Artists – Northeast Chapter; a member of ArtSpace Collective in Oshkosh; and curator for the Langdon Divers Gallery, located inside the Fond du Lac Public Library. She has also given a talk for TEDx Fonddulac about her artwork.
Mel has participated in many artist residencies throughout Wisconsin and also teaches various classes all over the state.
Statistics to think about:
- Nearly half (45.8%) of visual artists in the United States are women; on average, they earn 74¢ for every dollar made by male artists. —National Endowment for the Arts 2019
- A recent data survey of the permanent collections of 18 prominent art museums in the U.S. found that out of over 10,000 artists, 87% are male, and 85% are white. —Public Library of Science 2019
- In a study of 820,000 exhibitions across the public and commercial sectors in 2018, only one third were by women artists. —The Art Newspaper 2019
- Only 13.7% of living artists represented by galleries in Europe and North America are women. —artnet News