Making room for art: Case studies of midwestern women artists and their studios

Most of the world's artists are not the celebrated ones, and most art studios are not the legendary places associated with famous artists. The majority of artists and their vernacular surroundings have been largely ignored in scholarship. This dissertation investigates three intersecting problems: the disregard for vernacular, or everyday, architecture and how artists use such buildings; the invisibility of most women artists; and the lack of attention to non-formal art education. In light of this multifaceted problem, I argue that studios created by ordinary women reflect numerous ways that art fits into everyday life and that these studios are instructive for the field of art education. This work offers paths to more egalitarian and democratically accessible notions of and approaches to art.;Women featured in four interpretive, qualitative case studies tell histories that have been hidden in plain view. Recording women's narratives as artists in or near their homes reveals archives of determination, ingenuity, lifelong learning, and survival, both economic and artistic. At once fabricators of studios and creators of objects, these women discuss their work in accounts that interweave issues of gender, family history, and socio-economics. Using a feminist approach to inquiry and traditions of folklore practice, data collection included interviews, video documentation, reflexive photo-interviews, and observation.;The findings of this study suggest that assumptions about women, domestic space, art making, and success as an artist are complex issues. By shifting the lens of art study from end products to contexts, it becomes clear that these women could not make art without first making a studio. Analysis of themes such as organization, work, time, and compromise provides a potential framework for new art curricula that could incorporate these ideas and emphasize lifelong learning and the built environment.