What inspires our founding member and trustee, Patti White?

I have been involved with UK Friends of NMWA since before it formally existed. In 2006, Sarah Treco, the first chairperson, asked many of her friends if they knew someone who could help incorporate the group and get charity status. Because of another charity board I served on, I was able to introduce the group to Jayne Adams who very generously helped us through all the legal issues and paperwork. Jayne then served on the board of trustees for 10 years and was invaluable with her knowledge of charity law. The power of networks. And of women working together. Once we were a functioning charity, Sarah asked me to serve as a trustee and I have never looked back.

I have stayed involved with UK Friends of NMWA for two reasons: 1) I come to the UK frequently (or did until March!) and love the programs and the people involved, and 2) the mission is SO important: writing women back into the history of art and celebrating current great women artists in the UK. It doesn’t hurt that I moved to the DC area where the Museum is located and have been able to continue supporting this important mission over here.

The focus on women in the arts has skyrocketed in the past few years. I think this has been driven by many things, but I give a lot of the credit to the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, DC which has been championing art by women since 1984. When UK Friends of NMWA first started, very few of the people in the art world in London had ever heard of the Museum and there were even fewer exhibitions of women artists. Now almost every museum and gallery in London is eager to include and feature women. I think that has led to a more inclusive attitude towards other groups that are under-represented in the art world. But there is a lot more to be done!

There are so many! To celebrate the Museum’s 30^th anniversary and UK Friends of NMWA's 10^th anniversary, we arranged for an exhibition at Whitechapel Gallery. Photography from the National Museum of Women in the Arts: Terrains of the Body was a huge deal. If we had known how much work it was going to be, we might have had second thoughts. But we pulled it off.

I am also extremely proud of the major pieces of art by British women which we have donated to the Museum: Lords and Ladies by Rose Wylie, New Bird II by Elisabeth Frink and 30 Pieces of Silver (Exhale), 2003, by Cornelia Parker. It is so gratifying to pave a path to the world stage for UK women artists!

Image: New Bird II, 1965, Dame Elisabeth Frink, RA. Gift of the UK Friends of NMWA, 2012, in honour of the 25th anniversary of the National Museum of Women in the Arts.

What inspires our UK Friends of NMWA team?