A collection of inspiring and provocative quotations from pioneering artist, feminist, and activist Judy Chicago A fierce activist for women’s rights and against climate change, Judy Chicago defines herself best: “I’m Judy Chicago, and I’m an artist and a troublemaker.” A leader of the Women’s Art Movement of the 1970s, Chicago also founded the first feminist art program in the United States. She is renowned for her monumental installation The Dinner Party (1974–1979), an iconic work that celebrates female luminaries from history and mythology, including Georgia O’Keefe, Emily Dickinson, Sojourner Truth, and Hatshepsut. Gathered from interviews and other sources, Judy Chicago-isms is an inspiring collection of the memorable and powerful words of a trailblazing artist. “You don’t have to be a man to support a patriarchal worldview, and you don’t have to be a woman to support feminist values.” “You have to choose hope. Hope comes from feeling that you’re on the side of right and fighting for it. If you’re a passive observer to what’s going on, it’s easy to give in to despair.” “Feminist art is all the stages of a woman giving birth to herself.” “[Women] should get fifty percent of the space in all institutions. That is what our mandate has to be.”

One of the founding forces behind the 1970s feminist art movement, Judy Chicago became widely known for The Dinner Party, a massive installation turning women's traditional household-bound role on its head by setting a feast for thirty-nine remarkable women - from Hildegarde of Bingen to Emily Dickinson - to shine a spotlight on women's contributions to history. Concluded in 1979, it was presented in San Francisco to popular success and proceeded to be shown internationally to an audience of over one million viewers through an unprecedented grassroots effort. Art critics, however, responded differently, annihilating it for its celebration of vaginal imagery and embrace of 'feminine' craft. For decades Chicago operated on the margins of the art world, her work shunned by most critics and institutions and her evolution as an artist eclipsed by the notoriety of The Dinner Party. Judy Chicago: In the Making accompanies the first exhibition to offer a thorough overview of Chicago's career. It traces the artist's practice back to its roots, revealing her unique working process and the origins of the formal and conceptual strategies she has applied throughout her oeuvre. Bringing together a selection drawn from every major series of her work, it also reproduces sketchbooks, journals and preparatory drawings that document her extensive process of research and development. With 225 illustrations in colour