I was 19 years old in 1971 and all this made
a great impression on me.
I loved the Feminist Art Program at CalArts.
Put 30 women together and see what happens.
A nightmare.
It was simultaneously one of the best and worst
experiences of my life.
To be in the you-count-too environment
at CalArts freed me in a profound way.
The over-all experience of a group of women
trying to critique and analyze
patriarchal authority and come to terms with
power dynamics within the
feminist group ñ the intensive combination of all of these elements was,
as I always describe it, BOOT CAMP FOR FEMINISTS!
My experience in the Feminist Art Program taught
me
a lot about the dangers of dogma and entrenched
positions
and gave me a life-long alertness to the need for staying
open to invention, change, fluidity. This is the heritage
which I try to pass on to my students.