Panel discusses careers in the arts, why they’re important, and the challenges of being a strong woman
The Winthrop Women’s Coalition hosted its Women in the Arts panel discussion this past Thursday in Dina’s Place. The panel featured four well-known women artists from various fields: Audrey Flack, Cary Perkins, Deborah Obalil and Shanola Hampton.
Flack is an internationally recognized painter and sculptor and one of the creators of photorealism. One of her commissions, “Monumental Gateway,” is located in the city of Rock Hill at the intersection of Dave Lyle Boulevard and Gateway Boulevard and features four bronze female statues.
Perkins is an architect and associate principal at McMillan Pazdan Smith in Greenville, South Carolina.
Obalil is the president of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design and has more than 20 years of experience as a leader in the arts industry.
Hampton, who stars as Veronica in “Shameless,” is known for her successful acting career in shows such as “Criminal Minds,” “Scrubs” and “Things Never Said.” She earned her bachelor’s degree in theatre from Winthrop in 1998.
The women were chosen for the panel because of their passion for their crafts and their dedication to fields where women are severely underrepresented.
According to the Winthrop Women’s Coalition, 51 percent of visual artists are female, but on average, earn only 81 cents for every dollar made by male artists. Work by women makes up only three to five percent of major permanent collections in the country, and less than four percent of the artists in the Modern Art section of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art are women, but 76 percent of the nudes are female. Additionally, Women have never held more than 27 percent of leadership positions in American nonprofit theater.
“Women are not socialized to ask,” said Obalil. “It starts early in your career, and it is hard to catch up from that. My advice is to learn how to negotiate.”
“After a certain amount of time, you assume that your work speaks for itself,” Hampton explained. “You assume there will not be a question that you will get equal pay, that you will not have to beg for what is yours.” The fact is, she said, that this is not the case.
In a field where women are underrepresented, they must fight for what they deserve.
So how can this be changed? According to Flack, “I am trying to get things straight, but not with hate, but with a new vision … We each have a trajectory inside, and we just have to watch it happen. You have to be open. If you are open to things, you will allow it to happen.”
“You must educate yourself about what is fair and realistic in your chosen field,” Perkins said. “Then with this information, advocate for yourself … We have to be patient and teach people. We have to build each other up.”
Olivia Acheson, a freshman athletic training major who attended the event, said “I came because of Shanola Hampton, but I was really inspired [by the event] and I didn’t expect it at all.”
Josh Wiley, a sophomore general studio arts major who also attended the panel, was impressed by the speakers. “All of those women here were lovely, educated women and I am so glad they shared their knowledge with us,” Wiley said. “That is what young people need.”
The panel closed with questions from students and some final advice from the panelists. Hampton urged the audience to “go deep inside yourself and question the purity of what your dream is. Are you doing this for someone else or is it a passion inside of you? If it is a passion within you, there is no rejection, no ‘no’ that can hold you back … Be humble, be hungry, be kind, be confident. Period.”
