Issue 25

The Issue 25 Collective 

Main Collective: Emma Amos, Kathie Brown, Josely Carvalho, Pennelope Goodfriend, Elizabeth Hess, Avis Lang, Lucy R. Lippard, Robin Michals, Sabra Moore, Faith Wilding 

Associates: Ida Applebroog, Patsy Beckert, Joan Braderman, Gail Bradney, Cynthia Carr, Lenora Champagne, Chris Costan, Mary Beth Edelson, Su Friedrich, Janet Froelich, C. Palmer Fuller, Michele Godwin, Vanalyne Green, Kathy Grove, Harmony Hammond, Sue Heinemann, Lyn Hughes, Joyce Kozloff, Arlene Ladden, Ellen Lanyon, Nicky Linderman, Melissa Meyer, Linda Peer, Marty Pottenger, Carrie Rickey, Elizabeth Sacre, Miriam Schapiro, Amy Silman, Joan Snyder, Elke M. Solomon, Pat Steir, May Stevens, Michelle Stuart, Susana Torre, Cecilia Vicuna, Elizabeth Weatherford, Sally Webster, Nina Yankowitz, Holly Zox

Advisors: Vivian E. Browne, Ada Ciniglio, Elaine Lustig Cohen, Eleanor Munro, Linda Nochlin, Barbara Quinn, Jane Rubin

From the Issue 25 Collective 

Collective Statement

The Heresies education collective came together at Rutgers University. Several years have passed since we began working together, and some of us are no longer connected with that (or any other) university. We will, however, always be involved with the process of learning and will never cease being students and teachers.

Initially we believed that working on the Heresies education issue would serve to clarify ideas we had about the necessity (or lack thereof) of formal education and a university degree. We were also curious to hear about women’s experiences in other leamning situations. Once the collective began to meet, it became clear that the matter of formal education was a secondary one.

Of primary importance, it seemed, was the effect of education, both formal and informal. How have we, and all other women, been formed into who we are? What role models have we followed, what constraints and freedoms have we been taught? How has what we’ve been taught affected our dreams and expectations of what we can hope to achieve in our lives? These are some of the questions that helped shape this issue of Heresies.

Our collective developed a healthy respect for the many scholarly journals we combed for interesting subjects, formats, and ideas. Scholars and theoreticians write articles that reflect their years of research. University presses and associations (such as the College Art Association) provide an enormous service by publishing this work. The women who responded to our call for submissions, however, responded not with theoretical material but with personal accounts of their own experiences with education — formal and otherwise. We found that many women responded from the viewpoint of having been miseducated (or myth-educated; it seems there are an abundance of institutional horror stories to be told). But we also received many stories about learning that inspired and uplifted us. In our search for material we discovered that if rote learning, final exams, tenure hearings, lesson plans, and racial and sexual exploitation are integral to the process of education, so are warmth, introspection, and personal exploration.

The women who wrote to us have insights and visions to share that might not have found a place in the more “serious” publications. We desired to take our contributors seriously and become a platform for their voices.