What is “Women’s Work”

“Women’s Work” can be described as the societal expectations and pressures placed upon women around the world, expecting them to look, feel, work, and live a certain way, in order to maintain the status quo. Dressing desirably, cooking, cleaning, tending to their child, catering to a man, and working within careers that are emotionally challenging are all examples of what society views as “Women’s Work.” Although “Women’s Work” is physically, emotionally, and mentally exhausting, through out history, society has constantly viewed it as less valuable compared to the work of a man.

What is Art?

Depending on who you ask, the definition of the term art always seems to vary. Some things that people consider to be are are: cooking, music, paintings, nature, trees, shoes, cars, electronics and even life itself. The list can go on and on, but one this that is undeniable about art is that almost everything is perceived in some way as art. Art is something that can be viewed, felt, heard, and really has no boundaries in who it can effect, or the way it can effects them.

“Women’s Work” is also Art

The true meaning behind the sentence, “Women’s Work” is also really controversial, and like art can mean different things to everyone. A commonly grasped interpretation of this sentence is that there is something beautiful in what women do on a day to day basis. Creating life is something that a women’s body does naturally, and due to their primal instincts, women are very nurturing and maternal. This type of unconditional love, care, and delicacy for the creation of life is viewed as art to many. There are many things that women sacrifice in order to be a great mother and wife, and the willingness to give unconditionally and provide for her family time and time again, are in their very own way, a beautiful form of art. Although “Women’s Work” does not hang in museums, and cost millions to purchase, “Women’s Work” is also appreciated as art because it shows that there is so much more art in our everyday lives, than what could ever hang in museums.

Maintenance Art

Maintenance Art is an idea that was created by an Artist named Mierle Laderman Ukeles. As a woman, mother, wife, and artist, she saw first hand that much of her responsibilities in life had to do with maintaining and preserving her household. Ultimately, Ukeles began to realize that all of the maintenance she did on a daily basis was in fact a form of art, which she called “Maintenance Art.” She believed that Maintenance Art is the act of”[keeping] the dust off the pure individual creation,” so that it can be enjoyed and preserved for future generations.

Maintenance Art at USU

Preforming Maintenance Art around the USU was a good experience. It made me prideful to be apart of preserving the beauty of Pitor Kowalski’s abstract statue known as “NOW.” As I was picking up trash, I realized that I was not only preserving the statue, but I was also preserving the earth and the environment around it.

Mierle and Serra Differences and Similarities

Mierle Laderman Ukeles cleaning the steps of an art museum and Richard Serra flinging molten lead against the walls of an art museum are both very different but do contain some similarities. A main difference between the two, according to Ukeles is that Serra’s sculpture is a form of Development art. Ukeles believed there was a form of art called Development Art, which is the exact opposite of Maintenance Art. She described Development Art with the adjectives, “the new, change, progress, advance, excitement, flight or fleeing.” I believe that the way Ukeles described development art best suits the Serra sculpture. The sculpture shows possible destruction, which could lead to a new beginning. It also showed a lot of change and excitement because the sculpture could possible represent the death of old renaissance art, which can lead people to exciting, fresh ideas of art. On the other hand, we have Mierle practing a form of Maintenacne art buy cleaning the Stairs of an art museum. The photo of her cleaning the museum steps shows how we should appreciate, preserve, and defend our museums and the art work it holds inside. These two pieces of art are both revolutionizing the way that art can be viewed. It can be erratic, like the sculpture, or as ordinary as cleaning steps, but either way, these pieces of art art seen as beautiful and the message of both is still widely understood and respected.

What makes Mierle’s performance art?

Mierle’s Performance at Wadsworth was art. The fact that she did it at a museum makes adds vaule and impact to the art, but had she simply been a janitor at a factory and preformed that job for 6 months, it still would be a form of her own art because it would display her own struggle, and her identity, and the way she provides for her and her family. Something meaningless can be art, something powerful can be art as well. Anything, with any substance, mass, texture, color, rhythm, being can be art.

Medium or Intention?

An object or and action can be considered art regardless if its medium or intention. All paintings on canvas are art, not because art is hung on canvas in museums, but because it is something that a person made with their thoughts and emotions. Just as canvas paintings are art, house paintings can be considered art as well because the home is the blank canvas, and even if they are just paining it one solid color. Even though we don’t see painted houses in museums, they are maintenance art because the paint is protecting and preserving the house and the wood that holds it together. A painting on both canvas and a house can always be a form of art.

Is “Women’s Work” ever art?

Both Mierle Laderman Ukeles and Jennifer Lopez have made me think differently about “Women’s Work” because I never really knew what this concept was before hand. “Women’s Work is always art, no matter the circumstances, it is art.

Whose Star would you clean?

I would clean Steve Carell’s star on Hollywood Blvd.