Irene Peslikis (October 7, 1943 – November 28, 2002) was an American

feminist art The feminist art movement refers to the efforts and accomplishments of feminists internationally to produce feminist art, art that reflects women's lives and experiences, as well as to change the foundation for the production and perception of co ...

ist, activist, and educator. She was one of the early founders and organizers in the women's art movement, especially on the east coast.

Life and career

Irene Peslikis spent her life in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. She was born into a Greek working-class family in

Queens Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...

. She began her studies in art at the Pratt Institute after completing high school in 1962, before breaking away in 1963 to help found The New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture. She graduated from

Queens College Queens College (QC) is a public college in the New York City borough of Queens. Part of the City University of New York system, Queens College occupies an campus primarily located in Flushing. Queens College was established in 1937 and offe ...

in New York in 1973 and earned an MFA from the City College of New York in 1983. Peslikis organized the first show of Second Wave women artists. She was a founder of the New York Feminist Art Institute, which ran a full-time radical feminist art education program for women for years. With another feminist artist, Patricia Mainardi, Marjorie Kramer and Lucia Vernarelli, Peslikis founded the journal ''Women & Art'', which helped to make the artist

Alice Neel Alice Neel (January 28, 1900 – October 13, 1984) was an American visual artist. Recognized for her paintings of friends, family, lovers, poets, artists, and strangers, Neel is considered one of the greatest American portraitists of the 20th ...

famous. She was a founder of th
NoHo Gallery
in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

, one of the first cooperative feminist art galleries. Her political cartoons, widely circulated in the early

Women's Liberation Movement The women's liberation movement (WLM) was a political alignment of women and feminist intellectualism. It emerged in the late 1960s and continued till the 1980s, primarily in the industrialized nations of the Western world, which resulted in g ...

years & published in feminist journals and in collections of the feminist movement lik
Dear Sisters: Dispatches from the Women’s Liberation Movement
Peslikis was one of the earliest members of Redstockings, the leading Feminist women’s theoretical and consciousness- raising group in New York City as well as a member of the earlier group

New York Radical Women New York Radical Women (NYRW) was an early second-wave radical feminist group that existed from 1967 to 1969. They drew nationwide media attention when they unfurled a banner inside the 1968 Miss America pageant displaying the words "Women ...

and was a key organizer and participant of the Redstocking abortion speak-out at Washington Square Methodist Church in 1969. She was also active in the Greek community.

Teaching

Peslikis taught courses on painting, drawing, visual arts orientation, women and art studio workshop, and contemporary perspectives on art at a number of post-secondary institutions including the

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a Public university, public research university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York ...

, the

College of Staten Island The College of Staten Island (CSI) is a public university in Staten Island, New York, United States. It is one of the 11 four-year senior colleges within the City University of New York system. Programs in the liberal arts and sciences and pro ...

, the College of New Rochelle and Ramapo College.

Writing on feminism and art

Peslikis wrote "Resistances to Consciousness" (printed in Notes from the Second Year), an important paper for understanding

consciousness raising Consciousness raising (also called awareness raising) is a form of activism popularized by United States feminists in the late 1960s. It often takes the form of a group of people attempting to focus the attention of a wider group on some cause or ...

and women's resistance to it. She also contributed to the

Archives of American Art The Archives of American Art is the largest collection of primary resources documenting the history of the visual arts in the United States. More than 20 million items of original material are housed in the Archives' research centers in Washing ...

"Art World in Turmoil"

oral history Oral history is the collection and study of historical information from people, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews. These interviews are conducted with people who pa ...

project with Patricia Mainardi. She published pieces on art and art history and criticism in Rozinanta, Demokratia and Eleftheri-Patrida.

References

External links

The New York Feminist Art Institute

Guide to the Irene Peslikis Papers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Peslikis, Irene 1943 births 2002 deaths 20th-century American artists Artists from New York City American feminist artists Queens College, City University of New York alumni American people of Greek descent City College of New York faculty New York Radical Women members Redstockings members