Judy Chicago Dinner Party, 2014

Gertrude Stein was born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania in 1874. Her innovative writing was inspired by the exploration of time and place in cubist art, which she collected extensively at her welcoming salon in Paris. Along with her brother, she was among the first to recognize the genius of post- impressionist painters. At her salon she hosted artists and writers who were largely unknown at the time such as Ernest Hemingway,T.S. Elliot, Ezra Pound, James Joyce, and of course Picasso, who painted her portrait (a rendition of which appears on the plate). Her innovative literary style employs heavy abstraction although her only commercial success was her memoir (The Autobiography of Alice B.Toklas) which is a standard narrative. Stein's legacy stands as much on the merit of her fearless work, as on her larger than life personality, and the cultivation of a generation of great writers and artists. She died in 1946 in France.

Harriet Hosmer American sculptor was born in Watertown Massachusetts, and is credited with opening the field of sculpture to women during the repressive Victorian era. She had to overcome gender prejudice and skepticism during the early years of her career, yet she persevered and went on to become one of America's most respected artists. Hosmer was one of a notable group of expatriate writers and artists who gathered in Rome in the mid-nineteenth century and she had close friendships with Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning and fellow sculptors John Gibson, Emma Stebbins, Edmonia Lewis and William Wetmore Story. Hosmer inspired many by her classicized themes of female heroines such as Zenobia Queen of Palmyra and Beatrice Cenci. Though her many contributions and accomplishments had been overlooked and obscured by mainstream art history for years, Hosmer is now celebrated as a gifted sculptor and credited as having opened an important critique of women's position in nineteenth-century culture through her sculpture

I feel a bond over time and distance with Hrotsvitha- both of us single females of German extraction, dedicated to Christ,Education, and Drama living a thousand years apart. Her few known works reveal the same struggles we have today between the call of the World and the call of God. In her dramas, she specifically attempted to answer the question "why can't we write good theatre that encourages good behavior?" With the question of violence in media, and "sex,drugs and rock and roll" still plaguing society," I'd say we are still working on it. For me personally,it is nice to think of an ancestress "up there" cheering me on.

In 2006, Jefferts Schori was elected 26th Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church of the United States (ECUSA). She is the first female primate in the Anglican Church worldwide. Jefferts Schori is an active supporter of same-sex marriage and has approved the blessing of same-sex unions within the church. In a recent statement, Katharine Jefferts Schori wrote, "Healing is the primary work of people of faith and the communities of which they are a part. Christians, as disciples of One who came to save (rescue, heal,make whole) the world and its inhabitants,seek to heal their relationships with one another and with all that is. Episcopalians believe this is God's mission and we are its ministers or servants. We are meant to seek to repair what is breached and broken, to stitch up what is torn,to heal what is sick,to release what is imprisoned and oppressed,to comfort the dying,to encourage the ignored,forlorn, and grieving. Our life finds meaning in responding to the cries around u

Lizzie Siddal's face is recognized the world over:she was the face of the Pre-Raphaelites, the first "super­ model" muse who inspired some of the greatest artistic achievements of her day. Yet few now know her name. In her own right,she was a poet and an artist whose work at one point garnered greater success than the man who later became her husband: Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Struggling her entire adult life to navigate the Pre-Raphaelite artistic circle and her passionate relationship with Rossetti, it was the loss of a stillborn daughter and post-partum depression (considered shameful at the time) that irrevocably destroyed Siddal: she took her own life at the age of 32,possibly due to a second failed pregnancy. I celebrate Lizzie Siddal as one of the multitude of women whose accomplishments are overshadowed in life and death by the men whom they inspire.

Louisa May Alcott was a nineteenth-century American writer best known for the Little Women series and other fiction for children. She also wrote memoirs, adult fiction, and sensationalist fiction under the pseuclonym A. M. Barnard. What I most admire about Alcott is her independence. The quote on my plate reads "paddle my own canoe." In a journal entry, Alcott wrote that she'd rather be "a free spinster and paddle my own canoe." Along similar lines,she wanted her most famed character,Jo,to remain single avoiding the marriage plot. Pressures from her publisher made her marry Jo off, but Alcott remained single and lived a happy,successfullife. Ialso love that she grew up in a town of great American male writers--Emerson, Hawthorne,Thoreau,but she remains the most popular and arguably the most influential writer from Concord,MA. I also respect that Alcott wrote to raise her family out of poverty and remained dedicated to her family her entire life. And,finally,I am recognizing Alcott because she worked for social justice as a feminist and abolitionist.

My two siblings and I were all named after my aunt, Marjorie Ann Rickey, an artist and woman of faith who never married but traveled and painted in France, Hawaii, Ohio, Canada, louisiana, and elsewhere. She studied with artist Hans Hofmann in Provincetown, as well as at such institutions as Columbia University, Northwestern University, and Columbus School of Art and Design. Even today,her art graces my home and her influence my life. The niece of baseball legend Branch Rickey, who helped break the color barrier by signing Jackie Robinson, Marjorie (or "Mar," as we called her) was adventuresome, talented, independent,loving, funny, and supportive. During our frequent trips in her Volkswagen camper (accompanied by her constant companions,two dachshunds), she encouraged me to write. She would set up her easel;I would take out notebook and paper. In this way I learned, even as a child,the transformative power of art in all its wonderful and varied forms.

I first read the work of Margaret Atwood in the 1970s and was impressed by the way in which she was able to evoke deep thoughts and feelings in me. I particularly have found her poetry to be the best I have ever read. Her use of words and language is the most engaging I have ever read. l had the honor of hearing her deliver an address on the 'Future of Reading' five years ago and also had the pleasure of meeting her. One poem (not exactly quoted) that has struck me is:

I am honoring my great aunt, Maria Teresa Ruiz Rojas, born June 15, 1898 in Santa Clara,Cuba. In the early 1920s,Cuban women experienced profound prejudice and discrimination, and the majority of women of employment age did not work. Maria, however,graduated from the University of Havana Law School and became a lawyer in 1925. In the early 1940s, when only 100.16 of women were employed, she became the first female judge in Cuba. In 1960, her only son, Juan,had joined resistance efforts to stifle Castro's plans, and at age 18, had to escape late at night, on a cargo ship sailing to Spain to keep from being arrested and punished as a dissenter. He then came to the United States to live with our family. Maria was never allowed to leave Cuba,and passed away on March 7, 1968 in Havana, without ever seeing her son again.

I am honoring my great aunt, Maria Teresa Ruiz Rojas, born June 15, 1898 in Santa Clara,Cuba. In the early 1920s,Cuban women experienced profound prejudice and discrimination, and the majority of women of employment age did not work. Maria, however,graduated from the University of Havana Law School and became a lawyer in 1925. In the early 1940s, when only 100.16 of women were employed, she became the first female judge in Cuba. In 1960, her only son, Juan,had joined resistance efforts to stifle Castro's plans, and at age 18, had to escape late at night, on a cargo ship sailing to Spain to keep from being arrested and punished as a dissenter. He then came to the United States to live with our family. Maria was never allowed to leave Cuba,and passed away on March 7, 1968 in Havana, without ever seeing her son again.