Press Release
“Utah Women Making History,” which includes Utah artist Brooke Smart’s illustrations of Utah women (and a few men) who worked throughout the 20th century to advocate for women and advance their communities, will begin on Jan. 11 and run through Jan. 28 at Gallery East.
These watercolor illustrations were commissioned by Better Days 2020, a nonprofit dedicated to popularizing Utah women’s history and spearheading Utah’s statewide celebrations of these significant anniversaries. The USU Eastern Art program is pleased to host the “Utah Women Making History” exhibit at Gallery East.
The year 2020 marked three significant women’s rights anniversaries. Utahns commemorated the 150th anniversary of Utah women’s first votes when 25 women cast ballots in the Salt Lake City election on Feb. 14, 1870, and became the first American women to vote under an equal suffrage law. The 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which extended voting rights to women in the United States when it was ratified on Aug. 26, 1920, and the 55th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, which provided needed protections for minority voting rights on Aug. 6, 1965 will also happen in 2020.
Utah women were at the forefront of the national suffrage movement in many ways, but the fight for women’s voting rights was just one step in a long list of rights that have had to be gained. Even before the passage of the 19th Amendment, and especially since, Utah women have worked to better their communities in the arts, business, education, law, medicine, the military, music, writing, politics, religious and community organizations, science, sports, and more.
About Utah Arts & Museums and the Traveling Exhibit Program
Utah Arts & Museums’ Traveling Exhibit Program is a statewide outreach program that provides schools, museums, libraries and community galleries with the opportunity to bring curated exhibitions to their community. This program is supported in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. For more information on participating in the program, please contact Fletcher Booth at fbooth@utah.gov. For media inquiries, please contact Josh Loftin at jloftin@utah.gov or (801) 245-7205.
Utah Arts & Museums is a division of the Utah Department of Heritage and Arts (DHA). To enrich the quality of life for the people of Utah, DHA creates, preserves and promotes Heritage and Arts. The Division provides funding, education and technical services to individuals and organizations statewide so that all Utahns, regardless of race, gender, ethnicity or economic status, can access, understand and receive the benefits of arts and culture. Additional information on the programs and services can be found at artsandmuseums.utah.gov
Gallery East is located in the Central Instruction Building and its exhibits are free and open to the public during the academic year from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and is closed weekends and holidays. The gallery observes COVID-19 precautions, including face coverings and a limit of 10 people in the gallery at one time.
Contact Noel Carmack at (435) 613-5241 or email noel.carmack@usu.edu for any questions about the exhibit.
