Collaboration and Consciousness-Raising
In the five years that Judy Chicago worked on The Dinner Party, she kept meticulous journals documenting the process of creating the massive installation. The journals include accounts of Chicago’s changing ideas, setbacks, accomplishments, and struggles in her own words. These journal entries are a great source of information that provide historical context about The Dinner Party from the conception of the artwork to its completion. In this excerpt from her journal, Chicago describes her feelings after The Dinner Party volunteers and workers expressed their gratitude to her on the last night of a summer workshop in 1977:
…I have found a way to provide a profound learning experience simultaneously with work on a project. What a long way from Fresno and even from Womanhouse. I see the progress finally – fusing my own artmaking with an educational context that allows me to operate fully (if not with as much private space as I’d like) while providing context in which women can grow…Someone tonight mentioned how they liked being in the studio ‘cause they felt powerful (and we all know women don’t feel like that too often in the world). The thing I’m wondering is whether the world will acknowledge the power in the piece. [10]
Chicago’s journal entry references her time at Fresno State College, where she taught the first art program for women that focused not just on producing studio art, but on raising the consciousness of her female students in a group-therapy style setting that allowed them to be honest with themselves and each other. [11] This style of group work that focused on sharing the female experience was used in Chicago’s other ground-breaking art installation Womanhouse, a collaborative project that transformed a condemned house into a feminist art installation. During the five years that The Dinner Party was in production, hundreds of volunteers and workers, the vast majority of whom were female, participated in its creation. Chicago used this opportunity to share a feminist experience with participants and educate them about consciousness-raising through group discussions that allowed them to share their knowledge and experiences. [12]
Collaboration with groups of women was common in feminist art of the Second Wave as women began to redefine their relationships with each other and the world around them. [13] As they shared work, women also shared knowledge and experiences, making the process of creating art just as important as the final result. [14] Through their discussions, women became more aware of how they had experienced sexism in their everyday lives, resulting in a raised-consciousness, which was Chicago’s goal. Having a raised-consciousness resulted in a greater chance of these women sparking social change, which made gathering to create art a political act. [15] Chicago’s journal entry highlights how important it is to her that the women working on The Dinner Party are not just having a good time making art, but sharing a meaningful, educational, and empowering feminist experience.