By Emily Rodriquez
sac-ranger@alamo.edu
A schedule of events honoring women in art and politics begins today, as part of the 21st annual Women’s History Week at this college.
Unlike other years, there is no theme for this year’s Women’s History Week.
“It fell into different categories. We thought it was OK to do different themes,” said art history Professor Debra Schafter. “We all come from different disciplines. Everybody had good ideas, but they went in different directions.”
Library Coordinator Eileen Oliver said the purpose of the weeklong event is to show the importance of women in the country and the world that students may not hear in class.
Three events will take place today in Room 120 of the visual arts center.
Art Professor Marleen Hoover will present “Women of the Armory Show” at 10 a.m.
Hoover’s presentation will discuss women artists who were involved in the 1913 Armory Show of Modern Art and will go over some of the women’s biographies and works.
The Armory Show brought modern art to America with the works of 300 internationally famous artists. Only 45 out of 300 were women.
At 11 a.m., Elizabeth Roath, from the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, will present a proposal discussing the 1941 docent-training course for the members of the Junior League, the importance the organization held at the time and the difficulty of historically researching women.
At noon, artists H. Jennings Sheffield and Gissette Padilla will discuss aspects of memory in their artwork that reflects stages of awareness from childhood to womanhood.
A reception for both artists will be 1 p.m.-3 p.m. on the second floor of the visual arts center gallery.
Sheffield’s work “Tethered” and Padilla’s “Recent Works” began their exhibition in the center Jan. 22, and will be on display through March 27.
On Wednesday, two lectures about women in the Middle East and Islam are in Room 120 of the visual arts center.
At 10 a.m., political science Professor Asslan Khaligh, will discuss “The Changing Status of Women in the Middle East and Beyond.”
At 11 a.m., Sarwat Husain, a founding president of the San Antonio Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, will discuss women and Islam.
On Thursday, speakers from Fuerza Unida will discuss the formation of their company and present a fashion show displaying their designs 12:15 p.m.-1:30 p.m. in the Fiesta Room of Loftin Student Center.
A pizza lunch will follow the presentation and fashion show.
Fuerza Unida works to create awareness of women in the work place and the environment.
According to the Fuerza Unida website, the local group was formed in 1990 when one of the Levi Strauss factories on the South Side of San Antonio closed, leaving more than 1,150 workers without jobs and contrasting severance pay.
As a result of the plant closure, the women together demanded fair compensation, as well as better working conditions for workers in other factories.