Guest blogger Gail Sachson owns Ask Me About Art, is Vice-Chair of the Cultural Affairs Commission and a member of the Public Art Committee

A woman artist, lets call her Jane, is contemplating changing her name to ‘Joe’ in order to make more sales. At the Texas Sculpture Association Symposium last weekend, Jane complained that too often when collectors find out that the heavy, masculine-looking sculpture she does is made by a woman, they don’t want it. Why is that?

Another artist moaned that she is tired of the uncomfortable feelings and wolf-whistles she hears when scouring junk yards, of not being taken seriously at lumber yards or when ordering steel. Why is that?

And yet another spoke of the fear she and her female artist friends have of pricing their work too high – because they are women. Ridiculous.

Eleven years ago, the cover of Art News proclaimed “Women in Art, We’ve Come a Long Way,” then at the very bottom of the page, added the word “ maybe.”  Well, maybe we haven’t come a long way – yet!

Tonight at the McKinney Avenue Contemporary in Dallas, I will be on a panel with three well-respected Dallas gallery directors to discuss the status, the popularity, the reputation and careers of women artists. The directors are Cris Worley of Pan American Projects, Cheryl Vogel of Valley House Gallery, Marty Walker of the Marty Walker Gallery and Nancy Whitnack of Conduit. We will discuss:

Is there a bias for or against art made by women?  A media bias?  A collector bias? A curator bias? A gallery bias? Is there no bias at all?

Do feminist statements sell?

How many female artists do they represent and how were they selected?

What must Dallas women artists do to gain more recognition, show more, sell more and have their work priced fairly?

Or is it all about quality, and we have nothing more to discuss, just have some cookies and go home to make art? Join us at 6:30 tonight.