Women's art organization connects with the UA, stimulates local art economy, now seeks architectural assistance

DAVID HARDEN/Arizona Daily Wildcat

Linn Lane, executive director of WomanKraft, takes a break from setting up for an upcoming show. The new show will be housed in a Victorian style house called the "Castle," located at 388 S. Stone Ave.

Local women's art organization WomanKraft has a long history of assisting female artists' growth and incorporating UA interns into its accomplishments.

The organization established its mission early in its existence, and this mission continues to the present day.

The group became incorporated as a non-profit cultural organization in 1974. Its mission was to claim, validate and empower women artists, said Linn Lane, executive director of WomanKraft.

Through the years, the organization has grown into a community facilitator for art, culture and education.

"Right now I think the greatest value of WomanKraft is the sense of community that all the people that come here get from being a part of the art activities and the exchange of ideas," Lane said. "I think there is a need to develop new ways of doing things and this is a place where people can turn for inspiration and magic."

WomanKraft offers many opportunities for University of Arizona students to be involved in the organization. Primarily, they need assistance with repairs and renovations of the "Castle," the group's somewhat decrepit 1918 Victorian shelter.

"On Dec. 1 of 1992, we signed the papers to buy the 'Castle,' which is where we are now," Lane said. "It is a historic building that was originally called the Castle Boarding House, and we call it the WomanKraft Castle Art and Cultural Center."

Having just received a $25,000 grant for a new roof from Tucson Mayor Bob Walkup's "Back to Basics" program, the organization is now seeking UA students to help them to design a new library for the art house.

"One of our biggest plans is to create an art and library room for members and friends in one of our rooms," Lane said. "What we are looking for is an architecture student who would be willing to do some architectural drawings and plans."

WomanKraft also holds inexpensive art classes, which are open to the community and to UA students who may be interested in teaching or attending art classes.

"If a student at the UA has a craft that fits within the school of art and writes a proposal, then we would like to hire them as a teacher at our school," Lane said.

In the past the organization has recruited interns from the UA art department to work at WomanKraft.

"We brought interns from the university to WomanKraft to work in the gallery. They did internships and learned our whole process with press releases, jurying shows and being here for receptions," said Gayle Swanbeck, director of exhibits at WomanKraft.

WomanKraft has also worked with the UA to bring prominent female artists as guest speakers to Tucson.

"Historically over our 26 years, we have brought in public speakers for the university such as the artist Judy Chicago, who did 'The Dinner Party.' She spoke at the UA in the late '80s. We have also worked with the artist and muralist Judy Baca," Swanbeck said.

Another opportunity for UA participation in WomanKraft is its holiday bazaar, which is currently on display at the 'Castle.'

"We are looking for crafts and arts in the lower price range to stimulate the local artist's economy - to give local artists a place to put out their work and to get it sold."

The bazaar is a chance for people to buy items that cannot be found at conventional shopping venues, Lane said, "to encourage the idea that people can buy items with intrinsic value and not just go to the mall and buy work made by Chinese prisoners."

In addition to generating local profits, the group strives to include work from a variety of age groups and cultures.

"We try to incorporate from the different cultures that are in Tucson - we have older artists that are sharing part of their heritage and we have younger artists who are taking some of the traditional styles and are doing new and different things with them," Swanbeck said.