TAOS, NM.- In Judy Chicago: the Birth Project from New Mexico Collections, the famed artist, author, feminist, educator, and intellectual, designed and executed dozens of pieces that incorporated painting and needlework to explore and celebrate the various dimensions of the birth process. The Birth Project was created in the 1980s in collaboration with 150 needle workers after Chicago observed the absence of iconography about the subject of birth in Western art. The Birth Project pieces that are in the Harwood's exhibition are drawn from several collections, including the University of New Mexico Art Museum, Through the Flower, (Judy Chicago's non-profit, feminist art organization), the Albuquerque Museum, and the Harwood Museum of Art.

This exhibition, opening on June 2, 2019, and on view through November 10, 2019, is especially noteworthy since this is the first time these New Mexico institutions have collaborated to present a selection of Birth Project works never before seen together. Additionally, this exhibition is significant because Chicago has been a Belen, New Mexico resident since the 1980s. Recently, Belen Mayor Jerah Cordova proposed a museum in the town, honoring the work of the its most famous resident. However, some residents opposed the idea, claiming that Chicago's work, which has included representations of genitalia in the past, was too controversial for their town, and the plans to work directly with the city were scrapped. Through the Flower has begun planning to open an Art Space independently from the city due to the considerable amount of support the proposed project received from the local community and throughout New Mexico.

"This is a serendipitous moment for an exhibition of Birth Project pieces in New Mexico," said well-known art critic Lucy Lippard, also a New Mexico resident. "This is a moment when the world is belatedly recognizing Chicago's art and when the debate on women's control over their own bodies is current, again. Judy has lived in the state for decades and is the recipient of a Governor's Award for the Arts. Beyond New Mexico, she has starred on magazine covers, spent time with royalty, won awards, shown in endless museums and is the subject of books, including a biography. Yet this work will be new to most of the audience and to young feminists," she said.

Since the late 1960s, Judy Chicago has been a pioneer and constant innovator in the feminist art movement. Chicago's relentless representation and reinterpretation of the role of women in culture, and throughout history, has brought inspiration through a wide variety of media. From iconic works like The Dinner Party (1979), to the Birth Project, and well as her series, PowerPlay, which confronts the constructs of masculinity, Chicago continues to dive into a range of subjects including the Holocaust and most recently, mortality, and extinction.

The pieces from Birth Project, now in their fourth decade, have lost neither their impact nor importance. "It is interesting to me that the work seems as relevant today as it was over 30 years ago when I first created it," says Chicago. Her fascinating insight into the cultural, historical, and individual power of childbirth is shown through her observation that birth "is how we all arrive in the world."

Chicago was named one of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People in 2018, one of the most influential artists of 2018 by Artsy.net, and called "The Godmother" of feminist art by the New York Times T Magazine in the February 2018 issue, where she was featured on the cover. For over six decades, she has remained steadfast in her commitment to the power of art as a vehicle for intellectual transformation and social change and to women's right to engage in the highest level of art production. As a result, she has become a symbol for people everywhere, whose work and life are models for an enlarged definition of art, an expanded role for the artist, and women's right to freedom of expression.

For this reason, along with many others, Judy Chicago: the Birth Project from New Mexico Collections is a perfect opportunity for New Mexicans and Taos visitors alike to view one of Chicago's most resonant and lively collections. "I have always loved Taos," said Chicago. "I have many friends there, notably, Janet Webb, who designed the Birth Project book, and my old pal, Larry Bell."