If I’m going to write about Janice Lowry, I need to also commemorate Nancy Spero. She was one of the pioneering feminist artists of the last century. Her work explored the power of women in all areas and portrayed women almost exclusively in her later works with a primitive hand that often times borrowed from Greek, Egyptian, and African style in a way that was celebratory of life. Spero also addressed modern day issues women faced in the here and now, illustrating current events to remind us of the strength of the feminine in the face of male and societal oppressors such as the torture of women in Nicaragua, the Holocaust, and the atrocities of the Vietnam War. She was a master of painting, drawing, printmaking and collage, often using a variety of media in large scale scrolls she became known for. She passed away on October 18th, 2009 at the age of 83.
Spero was featured in the Season 4 (2007) episode Protest of the Art:21–Art in the Twenty-First Century television series on PBS.
