Judy Chicago
Artist
Judy Gerowitz (born 1939) was raised in Chicago and moved to Los Angeles in 1957 to attend UCLA, where she received her BA and MFA in painting and sculpture. Though she first came to attention for her minimalist sculpture and environmental pieces, she is best known as a feminist artist. In 1970 she legally changed her name to Judy Chicago to liberate herself from the perceived male dominance in the art world. Throughout the 1970s, Chicago pioneered feminist art and art education through a series of collaborative projects, including the Feminist Art Program at CalArts and Womanhouse (both co-founded with Miriam Schapiro), the Feminist Studio Workshop at the Woman’s Building, and The Dinner Party (1974–79), an installation tracing women’s history in Western art.