For those who consider themselves outside of the “art world,” walking into a gallery can be intimidating. This isn’t the case when you open the doors to Woman Made Gallery, located just between West Town and the West Loop in Chicago.
This two-floor gallery space on Milwaukee Avenue is sophisticated and yet welcoming—a feeling that reflects their mission to support female-identified artists through exhibitions and programs that enrich the community.
“We were founded in 1992 by Beate Minkovski, who was the Executive Director until December 2014,” said Melanie Demos, Gallery Coordinator. “She was, and still is, a force to be reckoned with. She did everything concerning the gallery and brought it from the ground up.” Demos continued to explain that Woman Made Gallery began as a school project for Minkovski, who is an artist herself.
“People really supported what she was doing and were like, ‘keep going!’” said Demos, who heard a story that Minkovski sold coffee and donuts to pay rent while the gallery was in its early stages.
Minkovski’s dedication paid off. Over the past 23 years, Woman Made Gallery has allowed over 7,500 women artists to exhibit work, and has initiated and welcomed numerous community programs for people of all gender expressions in their space as well.
Most recently, they welcomed Black Girl in Om, a pop-up yoga group, to the gallery. “It was open to everyone,” said Vivian Le, Gallery Assistant. “They're bringing wellness to people that aren’t typical ‘yogis.’ The classes happened downstairs in the exhibition space.”
The program was a perfect fit for the downstairs exhibition, “Aesthetics of Wellness,” curated by Sydney Stoudmire, the gallery’s new Executive Director. Under Stoudmire’s leadership, the gallery is looking forward to moving in new and exciting directions.
“She’s young and very active in the community in the arts world,” said Demos. “She’s always talking to people and making new connections. We’re trying to do more outreach and bring in new people into the space and broaden our demographic.”
When compared to many of the other galleries in town, Woman Made is still relatively young. That being said, they’ve made a strong name for themselves in the art world because of Minkovski, who recently started a website about women artists—a new way of spreading the same mission the gallery supports.
“We always try to be inclusive, and always try to get people to enjoy the work but also facilitate discussion and feel like they’re at home,” said Le. “This is a more friendly space, and we try to be approachable for people that are coming in. The programming definitely helps with that.”
Woman Made is currently getting ready for “Adorn,” a gallery-wide exhibition that challenges the traditions of jewelry, fashion, and wearable art. The exhibit, which opens on September 18, will tie in with their fall fundraiser on October 16 and will include a fashion show displaying some of the exhibit’s pieces.
