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Women & Their Work is a nonprofit visual and performing arts organization located in Austin that exhibits contemporary art created by women living in Texas and beyond. Since 1978, Women & Their Work has brought art to Austin with exhibitions, performances and programs.

History
Women & Their Work was founded by artists Rita Starpattern, Deanna Stevenson, and Carol Taylor in 1977 and incorporated in 1978. Women & Their Work's mission is to foster growth of women visual and performing artists by encouraging them to take creative risks and make new adventurous work; to ensure that women from diverse backgrounds are equitably represented in all forms of art; and to educate a wide range of audiences about contemporary art.

Since 1978, Women & Their Work has created ongoing opportunities for artists and audiences to experience contemporary art through exhibitions, commissions of new work, performances and programs that inform audiences of al ages.

From that original effort in 1978, Women & Their Work has grown to present over 50 events a year featuring exhibitions and performances of Texas women artists and bringing artists of national and international stature to Texas. In 1982, it was the first organization in Texas to receive a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts in visual art. National Public Radio featured the organization and its production of an original play about Black Texas woman whose grandparents were enslaved in a six-minute segment on Morning Edition.

In 2012, Women & Their Work commissioned THIRST, a large scale public art installation on Lady Bird Lake in Austin which called attention to the catastrophic drought in Texas and was viewed by over 185,000 people. It received international attention including features in The New York Times, The Huffington Post, The Atlantic, on a segment on Canadian public television, and on a 30-minute documentary on KLRU, Austin's PBS station. Art critic Jeanne Claire van Ryzin, then of the Austin American Statesman cities THIRST as setting a new standard for public art in Austin. Women & Their Work has been named Best Art Gallery by readers of the Austin Chronicle 8 times between 2010-2022.

Women & Their Work has actively developed the career of more than 2,000 women artists; as of May 2023, they have presented 336 visual exhibitions, 164 music, dance and theater events, 30 spoken word and literary performances, 16 film festivals, and 821 education programs. The organization helps meet a need in Texas providing exhibition and performance opportunities and helping to attract critical attention to the work produced in Texas; it is one of the only organizations of its kind in the region and one of the few organizations in the United States that dedicates itself to the work of women artists.

Under the leadership of Chris Cowden, the director since 1986, Women & Their Work obtained its first gallery space in 1987 at 1501 West Fifth Street in Austin TX, thus achieving a more visible identity within the community. In 1990, the organization moved to more spacious quarters at 1137 West Sixth Street. In 1995, the organization moved again to 1710 Lavaca Street in Austin, TX where it remained for 25 years. In 2020, after 42 years of renting spaces, Women & Their Work purchased a property at 1311 East Cesar Chavez that includes gallery space for exhibitions, performances, and programs; an adjacent building for education programs; and a multi-purpose outdoor courtyard.

In 2020, the Smithsonian Archives Of American Art acquired the 42-year (1978-2020) archive of Women & Their Work ensuring that the history of the work of women artists, and Women & Their Work's website will be preserved. All 142 of its publications featuring women artists will be available in the Smithsonian Library.

Exhibitions & Performances
Women & Their Work has hosted visual artists, performers, poets and scholars among them Laurie Anderson, Coco Fusco, Ellen Fullman, the Guerilla Girls, Deborah Hay, Maxine Kumin, Young Jean Lee, Liz Lerman, Lucy Lippard, Beili Liu, Audre Lorde, Bebe Miller, Okwui Okpokwasili, Grace Paley, Howardena Pindell, Adrienne Rich, Muriel Rukeyser, Betye Saar, Margo Sawyer, Ntozake Shange, Cauleen Smith, Judith Somogi, Marcia Tucker, and Urban Bush Women.

In 1979, Women & Their Work exhibited Woman-In-Sight: New Art In Texas, the first statewide juried exhibition of women artists ever held in Texas. Marcia Tucker, former curator at the Whitney Museum Of American Art and founder of the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York was the juror of the exhibition. (Oct 17, 1979 - Dec 9, 1979).

A selection of exhibitions includes:

In !981, Women & Their Work sponsored and shared offices with Black Artist Alliance. In 1985, Women & Their Work, Laguna Gloria and Black Arts Alliance joined Dance Umbrella to become early members of National Performance Network.
 * Slouching Toward 2000: The Politics of Gender curated by Lucy Lippard (Sep.24, 1992 - Nov. 15, 1992), Reviewed in Art Forum
 * Jean Behnke, Sculpture More Like Thoughts (July 2, 1992 - August 9, 1992)
 * Adrian Piper, Political Drawings and Installations, 1975 - 1991 (January 25, 1993 - February - 21, 1993)
 * Betye Saar, Personal Icons (June 21, 1996 - August 10, 1996)
 * Regina Vater, Shellife (April 3, - May 10, 2003)
 * Tre Arenz, One of Us: A Retrospective (February 21 2004 - May 27, 2004)
 * The Activist Impulse curated by Regina Basha (October 10,2008 - November 15, 2008)
 * Beili Liu, The Mending Project (March 3, 2011 - April 2, 2011)
 * We Know Who We Are. We Know What We Want. curated by Vicki Meek (July 24, 2021- September 21, 2021)

In 2010, Women & Their Work began partnering with Fusebox Festival to co-present contemporary art performances during the annual spring festival:


 * 2011 - Young Jean Lee Theater Company: The Shipment
 * 2014 - Miya Matreyek's: The Work Made Itself
 * 2015 - Michelle Ellsworth: Preparation for the Obsolescence Of Y Chromosome
 * 2016 - Okwui Okpokwasili: Bronx Gothic
 * 2017 - Wura - Natasha Ogunji: House of Wahala
 * 2020 - Autumn Knight: Eating In Costume
 * 2022 - Gesel Mason: Yes, And
 * 2023 - Amrita Hepi: Rinse