Art Across at The Portico Library - in collaboration with contemporary artist Jane Fairhurst

'Seventeen artists*

*who just happen to be women'

1^st-29^th September 2018; 12^th January - 9^th February 2019

This series of four sessions presented seventeen artistic personalities, selecting some examples of female artists from different centuries.

The project emerged from the collaboration between Sara and contemporary artist Jane Fairhurst (photo 6): as a research-based, feminist woman artist, Jane has been researching and drawing inspiration from women artists of the past throughout her career, and has been working on a piece of embroidery (photo 7) to celebrate all these personalities. This piece has been the starting point for Sara's deeper engagement with the subject, which led to the creation of this series.

As the title suggests, the personalities are looked at primarily as artists, and only as a result of the analysis of their biographies is their identity as female artists acknowledged, observing how that affected their careers, their work and their role for the following generations.

The same series has been also delivered to Rawtenstall Library, between April and May 2019.

Photos 1-6 by Steven Heaton © Steven Heaton 2020