ON OUR MINDS
A Women,s Newsletter, Towson State College
Baltimore, Maryland Volume 2, Number S May, 1976
LETTER TO A. YOUNG WOMAN ARTIST:
The first thing you need of
course is strength. Strength means
that you don't demand pity or special
consideration from others or indulge
too often in self-pity either,
that you look firmly outward when
you most want to collapse squashily
inward; that you don't take over
stereotypes or counter-stereotypes
in your work or in the way you think
about yourself and the world; that you
stop caring about what a relatively abstract,
but sometimes painfully concrete,
entity called "men" may think of you or your
work; that you realize that you are fully entitled
to failure; that you are deeply aware
that "success" as the world, the media, or even
many of your friends and supporters may define it
may not really be success at all. Perhaps some of
these points may seem far from the initial requirement
of "strength," but somehow I find them related.
It might also be helpful to read the English novelist
Dorothy Richardson's article, "On the conflicting
demands of humanity and art,"' in the 1925 Vanity
Fair. The article may seem somewhat outdated, but
what she has to say still rings true, still raises
a major dilemma confronting many women: perhaps as
women artists you will have ultimately to redefine
both humanity and art - no small undertaking.
Good luck and bonne courage.
Linda Nochlin, Dept. of Art, Vassar College
From Anonymous was a woman, a collection of letters
to young women artists. Valencia, Calif.: Feminist
Art Program, California Institute or the Arts, 1974.
The Berkshire Conference on Women's History will
be held this year at Bryn Mawr College, Philadelphia,
from June 9-11. For information about the
schedule or speakers or about registration, call
the Women's Studies Office, 321-2860.
TYSON AND CULVER IN CONCERT
The Towson State College Women's
Center is sponsoring an evening
of Women's Music, featuring singers-
songwriters Willie Tyson and
Casse Culver, on Thursday, May 6,
8 pm, College Center. Admission
is free to students and the community.
Beer, wine, and food
will be available. Willie Tyson
and Casse Culver, feminist musicians
and composers, are among the
favorite performers in the women's
movement. When Willie and Casse sing
and play, they delight audiences with
their wit, their energy, their obvious
rapport with each other, and their joy
in being women. They began their respective
careers as "loner musicians." "Recently,
however," says Cassie, "we have been
performing more and more together, overcoming
that 'lone singer' tradition. It feels
very courageous to stop subscribing to the
competitiveness fostered between women."'
Willie and Casse consider music to be a
vital force in the feminist movement and a
central force in their own lives. For them,
as for Janis Ian, "Music is an artistic
outlet to maintain sanity in an insane
world."
A THOUGHT FOR THIS ISSUE:
TSC is a coeducational institution. Why then
does the most recent edition of the
catalog state the objectives of the College
in masculine terms: "To develop an understanding
of himself 1n relation to others
in his community..."' and "to develop the
skills necessary to prepare himself... "'
(p.l, Bulletin, 1975-6 edition)?
