“Our museum will hold one of the most significant collections of feminist art in the region. In addition, that will influence how we teach, how we exhibit, and how we inspire for generations, Mark Shaker, interim director and president of DAI, told an audience of dozens at the ribbon cutting ceremony. “The collection is not just a group of works, it’s a statement, it’s a declaration that women’s creative contributions deserve not only to be preserved but to be centered.”
Standing in front of the new gallery, Shaker added that the couple’s contribution to the institute also included funding for a curator focused solely on art by women. Dr. Mariah Postlewait, who was chosen for the role, would ensure that the “works and the ideas behind them” were actively researched and shared with the public for decades to come, according to Shaker.
Addressing the crowd, art collector Sara M. Vance Waddell commented on the persistent gender disparity in the art world.
“I want to change this,” Sara M. Vance Waddell said. “And we are starting right here, right now, at the Dayton Art Institute.”
The opening of the new gallery comes as a result of the Vance Wadells donating their collection of art by women to the museum. This followed the success of the “Riveting: Women Artists from the Sara M. and Michelle Vance Waddell” exhibition in 2024, where art enthusiasts had a chance to see a wide-range of work by women artists from around the world.
“We got so much support from the community and Sara and Michelle were so happy with how that went they decided to gift their collection to us,” Postlewait told the Dayton Daily News. “They have invested in all of these ways in art, in women, in underrepresented artists and this opening is celebrating that moment and a chance to unveil it and reveal it to the community.”
Sara M. Vance Waddell called the opening a “game changer” she hoped would inspire other museums.
“Dayton is a good friend and they’re a good place for me to have this work and I think the stewardship and friendship is going to bring a lot of great things in the future,” she said. “I want more institutions to see what they’re doing in Dayton, pick up on it, and continue this conversation. My hope is one day we’ll have more space for women artists.”
According to Postlewait, the institute will be receiving pieces from the Vance Waddell collection over several years. For the first full year, the new gallery will have a three-part exhibition.
“This first part I am thinking of as ‘Feminism 101’. It doesn’t matter if you know nothing about feminism, come on in, we’ll tell you a little a bit about it. Then the second part is up from June 20-September 20 and that will be ‘Pivotal issues and Influential Figures’. And then the third part will be ‘Rallying Cries and Civic Engagement’ because feminism as a movement really began with the call for women’s right to vote and the abolition of slavery,” Postlewait said.
Throughout that time, visitors to the museum will have a chance to see some of the most prized pieces of the Vance Waddell collection. According to Dr. Postlewait, that includes work by Cindy Sherman, Deborah Kass, Jessica Harrison and Shelley Brenner Baird.
“I am hoping that through this process we have the chance for this full first year to use this kind of umbrella of exploring feminism, that’s kind of the overarching exhibition for this first year, to help folks understand what feminism is, who it represents, and what a feminists can be,” Postlewait said.
The new collection represents what the curator referred to as a full circle moment for the institute, one that sheds a light on its unique heritage.
“In the Dayton Art Institute, the very first work to ever come into the collection was gifted by one of our founding benefactors, Julia Shaw Patterson Carnell, a woman. And it was created by a woman artist: Harriet Frishmuth, and it depicts a female subject which is a water nymph,” Postlewait said.
“For a museum to have its very first object donated by a woman, created by a woman, and depicting a female subject is incredibly rare and very few museums can claim that history and origin. So, for us coming to this moment that now we have a gallery that’s dedicated to that kind of subject and spirit feels right like we’ve come full circle.”
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