30 Years of Working Women
Women & Their Work

Executive Director Chris Cowden has Turned her Admiration for Artists into the Driving Force behind a Nationally-Recognized Organization

Story by Lyssa Myska Allen
Photos Courtesy of Women & Their Work

English major and former banker Chris Cowden is perhaps an unlikely head of one of Austin's most innovative contemporary art galleries. And while the petite, fashionable executive director claims she's not an artist, she certainly has an eye for artistic talent. In her 22 years with Women & Their Work, Cowden has brought local and national acclaim to the organization, calling attention across the country to women and their work.

Women & Their Work is a white-walled, concrete-floored space, a blank canvas exhibitors are to transform. Over 1,794 artists, who are chosen by a jury of past exhibitors, have presented their work since the gallery's inception. Cowden explains, "We choose the artist based on their past work but encourage them to create new work. So this is a really huge opportunity to take over 2,000 square feet, to commandeer it, and to develop a whole new body of work."

Past exhibits have included spectacular paintings and variations on visual art, innovative twists on photography and videography, and even such oddities as a pile of hay or artfully draped fabrics. Next up is a digital exhibit by Austin-based Yoon Cho that questions identity and character by blurring the lines between – and on – photos and reality. The gallery also hosts performing arts in its space, or sponsors performances at other venues.

Cowden is quick to point out "that while the focus has been on women artists, it really has emphasized the very best work in contemporary art. So there never is a definition of what a woman artist would make." Because the gallery isn't commercial – though its works are for sale – artists have a lot of freedom to experiment: "to push their work in a new direction… with a new technique or a new medium." Artists at all stages of their careers relish the opportunity to create in such a supportive space.

Women & Their Work celebrates their 30th anniversary this year. The organization grew out of a national movement in the '70s focused on artists seizing control of their own fate. In Texas, Women & Their Work started out as a two-and-a-halfmonth- long, multidisciplinary showcase that was so successful, three artists joined together to create the organization two years later. Operating out of a one-room office over a drugstore, with no permanent gallery space, the group managed to establish its name despite a distinct lack of publicity. They eventually moved from their one room into a storage closet, then to Sixth Street, and now Women & Their Work rests comfortably in airy digs on Lavaca Street in the shadow of the Capitol.

Cowden was lured to Women & Their Work from New York City, where friends who had heard about the organization passed on a job tip for a "really good writer to work on grants." Once an aspiring English professor, Cowden was working for a Wall Street bank, which she calls "fabulous training in business, The Man, and all of that." But a love affair with a Texan resulted in marriage and, once there was a job, a move. "You know," says Cowden, "when you're involved with a Texan, often you end up back in Texas!"

After earning her first C ever in seventh grade art class, Cowden says she withdrew from art. But she came back through writing, and now makes sure that literary criticism is a part of all the exhibits. As for a love of art, she says, "I think it's a vicarious thing. I admire the artists' creativity and I admire their doggedness, because it's really hard to be an artist. But even more than that, I admire how, in American culture where art really isn't respected that much, artists are able to bring their whole being to bear on creating art. It's a very spiritual act, because it's very much faith in what you're doing despite what everyone else might say or do."

Cowden could be talking about herself – although she isn't – when she speaks of an artist having faith in her work. It is Cowden's faith in the mission of the gallery and the principles of the organization that have lent it the strength to survive. Founded upon the idea that art is a profession that should be paid for as an accountant or architect is paid for their work, Women & Their Work has weathered recessions and outlived that drugstore it once sat atop.

Cowden talks about the changes the gallery has witnessed, and been a part of, and laughs: "In the early days we'd get calls for secretaries or for maids. And now we get calls for job incubators, starting new business, do we counsel women going into high tech?" They may not be job incubators for women, but for a number of schoolchildren, they are art incubators. Women & Their Work has developed a strong education program that started with six schools in East Austin and has spread across the city. Their program includes materials for teachers in the classroom, bussing classes to the gallery to see the work, facilitating discussions, letting the students meet the artists and training the teachers.

"Since a lot of the students have never been in a gallery or seen art, they're very open to art," Cowden says. "So they're often open to very experimental work, which is pretty cool. To see what somebody who is open can see – they're not concerned with what they don't see, that they don't see the painting. They see a pile of hay and say, 'oh, what is this? What do you do here?'" They also have the chance to create their own art in the classroom, with Women & Their Work providing materials and space on their website to showcase the results.

As Austin has grown, Women & Their Work has been able to grow as well. "There's a lot of talent here but there hasn't been lots of infrastructure," Cowden points out. Recently the scene has started to grow, and Cowden thinks the city is just catching up to her artists. She places a lot of value on Austin's open vibe, saying "Austin was open and educated and tolerant, so there was an openness to an identity-based or gender-based art space, even though there were backlashes against it."

Her latest vision for the gallery is more inclusive; already, male artists are sold in their fundraisers – they host more than 50 events a year – and are sometimes shown in the gallery in collaboration with a female artist. Often a woman holds the curatorial voice, as a choreographer or director, but men perform her works. "This is something we're going to be doing more going forward – if there is a collaboration or discussion, we're going to include that more," Cowden says. "But there will always

Although she claims she isn't one herself, Chris Cowden really is an artist: in Women & Their Work she has created a space for artists to play, for audiences to learn, and for experimentation to flourish. She says, "It's really great fun bringing all of these really interesting people and all of these different fields – dance, literature, music, theater, visual art – together…every day I come in and am surrounded by art and working with artists. It's very joyous."

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