Judy Chicago Dinner Party, 2014

Georgia O'Keefe's life has had an extended effect upon mine. As a younger woman, I looked for role models. I wanted to embrace feminism,but I was uncomfortable to shrug away the influence of my Mother and Aunt:women who had sacrificed their ambitions for the sake of their husband and brother (my father). Art was my refuge, and O'Keefe became my inspiration. She saw the Universe in minutiae. She was like ME,in that way. I picked up stones, wood, and flowers,and examined these things up­ close. I imagined that, like me,she felt natural things on her face. Maybe she would taste them,like I did. And, like me, she would lie down and look up- as I did,in a field, and take in the slightly earth scent of dirt,moss, trees, and sun.