Arlene Raven facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Arlene Raven
Born	Arlene Rubin July 12, 1944 Baltimore, MD
Died	August 1, 2006 (2006-09) (aged 62) Brooklyn, NY
Nationality	American
Occupation	Art historian, art critic, curator, and writer
Years active	1972-2006
Notable work	Established the Los Angeles Woman's Building

Arlene Raven (born Arlene Rubin; July 12, 1944 – August 1, 2006) was an important American art historian, writer, and critic. She was also an educator and a curator. Raven helped start many art groups in Los Angeles during the 1970s. These groups focused on art made by women.

Life and Work of Arlene Raven

Arlene Raven grew up in Baltimore, Maryland. Her parents were Joseph and Annette Rubin. Her father owned a bar, and her mother was a homemaker.

Raven studied art at college. She earned a degree from Hood College in Maryland in 1965. Later, she got a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in painting from George Washington University. In 1975, she earned a PhD in art history from Johns Hopkins University.

Supporting Women in Art

Arlene Raven was a key person in the Feminist Art Movement. This movement worked to help women artists. It gave them chances to create and show art about their lives.

In 1973, Raven helped start the Feminist Studio Workshop. She worked with Judy Chicago and Sheila Levrant de Bretteville. This art school was a place for women artists to work together. It was located in the Los Angeles Woman's Building. The goal was to create art based on shared experiences as women. They focused on teamwork and support.

That same year, Raven also co-founded The Center for Feminist Art Historical Studies. She started it with Ruth Iskin, another art historian. This center did serious research on women artists. It also created a way to study art history from a woman's point of view. They built a collection of slides showing art by women.

Raven also helped start and edit a magazine called Chrysalis. It focused on women's culture. In 1976, she was a founding member of The Lesbian Art Project. This group explored art from a perspective that included their experiences as lesbian artists. They also researched past lesbian artists, like Romaine Brooks. Raven also helped start the Women’s Caucus for Art.

Teaching and Writing

Besides the Feminist Studio Workshop, Arlene Raven taught at several universities. These included the California Institute of the Arts and UCLA. In the 1980s, she became the main art critic for the Village Voice newspaper.

She organized ten art exhibitions. Some were for the Baltimore Museum of Art and the Long Beach Museum of Art. One important show was "At Home." It featured many artists and ideas she had supported for years.

In 2000, Raven became a critic-in-residence at the Maryland Institute College of Art. In 2002, she won the Frank Jewett Mather Award for her art criticism. This award is given for excellent writing about art.

Arlene Raven passed away from cancer on August 1, 2006. She was 62 years old. She died at her home in Brooklyn, New York. She was survived by her father, her sister Phyllis, and her partner of 23 years, Nancy Grossman.

Books by Arlene Raven

Raven wrote or edited nine books. Some of them include:

• Feminist Art Criticism: An Anthology (1988) OCLC 581561464 ISBN: 0835718786
• Crossing Over: Feminism and Art of Social Concern (1988) OCLC 901903194 ISBN: 0835720179
• Art in the Public Interest (1989) OCLC 502660046 ISBN: 0306805391
• New feminist criticism : art, identity, action (1994) OCLC 27816089 ISBN: 0064309096

She also wrote books about specific artists:

• Nancy Grossman (1991)
• June Wayne: Tunnel of the Senses (1997)

See also

In Spanish: Arlene Raven para niños