"Feminist Art and the Counterculture" is the topic of a talk by History of Art and Architecture Associate Professor Kate Mondloch at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art on Wednesday, February 20, at 5:30 p.m.

In it, she’ll discuss West Coast feminist art of the 1970s, specifically the Feminist Art Program housed at California Institute of the Arts and its Womanhouse installation, an abandoned building turned into a massive art installation in 1972 that is now a major historical precedent for feminist art.

Mondloch’s talk is part of a panel discussion, “Before Utopia: The Political and Historical Context of West of Center,” celebrating the museum show “West of Center: Art and the Counterculture Experiment in America, 1965-1977.” The exhibition opens with a free public reception on Friday, February 8, from 6 to 8 p.m.

Panelists with Mondloch include UO professors Joe Lowndes (political science) and Marsha Weisiger (history), with museum Executive Director Jill Hartz moderating. The group will discuss the social and political context of the “West of Center” era, including the complicated relationship between the New Left and the counterculture, feminist art and counterculture in California, and the connection between “earth art” and environmental activism.

Above: Associate Professor Kate Mondloch

In the heady and hallucinogenic days of the 1960s and ’70s, a diverse range of artists and creative individuals based in the American West – from the Pacific Coast to the Rocky Mountains and the Southwest – broke the barriers between art and lifestyle and embraced the new, hybrid sensibilities of the countercultural movement. “West of Center” explores their unique integration of art practices, political action, and collaborative life activities.

Featuring videos, photographs, drawings, constructions, ephemera, and other artifacts, the exhibition addresses the experiential art activities that incorporated dance, video, performance, political action, and communal life, all aimed at creating utopian lifestyles, personal growth, and social transformation. The countercultural movement has typically been associated with psychedelic art, but “West of Center” presents psychedelia as only one dimension of a wider integration of art practices.

Curated by Elissa Auther and Adam Lerner, from the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver, “West of Center” will be at the JSMA through April 28, after which it moves to Mills College Art Museum in Oakland, California, from June 12 to September 1.

For more information, visit the exhibit’s webpage.