Top Ten Tool Kit: Guerrilla Girls' Bedside Companion

The Guerrilla Girls. (1998). The Guerrilla Girls' Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art. New York: Penguin Books.  

The theme of this book poses the question, "What role do women have in the history of Western art?" and further looks into issues of gender inequality from ancient to modern times. The art work featured and explained in this book are all produced by women and this message impresses upon the reader that women have also contributed a lot to our artistic traditions. Furthermore, this book brings up issues of race and sexuality and the inequalities that modern women have had to face in regards to their art work. 

I was first introduced to this book last year in my Foundations of Art Education class. I think it's a great book to have in a high school art class because it tackles some complex issues relating to social justice, subjects no doubt young adults should be discussing in their history, social studies, and English classes. I would be reluctant to bring this book into a middle school setting because there are some themes regarding rape, sexuality, and there's a lot of boobage in this book. I don't know how the parents would feel about all that. =/ But most kids can maturely handle these things by the age of 14.

In regards to Art, you can ask most kids, "name me some artists," and they can prattle off about half a dozen male artists; da Vinci (and the other Ren artists that inspired the names of the Ninja Turtles... if kids still remember that show), van Gogh, Matisse, Dali, Polluck. Female artists? Georgia O' Keefe is about all they can come up with. And most don't know she painted more than just her famous vagina-flowers. Most of the students you will find in a high school art class room are young women, because for whatever reason art has become a "girly subject" for all it's creative-feeling-perceiving aspects. It's empowering for girls to know who paved the way for them in the artistic traditions, because the fact of the matter is that few women were allowed to express themselves in any matter at all, much less given the opportunity to create art. 

In regards to the literacy component of this book, it is highly approachable. It is filled with art work, illustration, photography, and collage, so all these visual cues lend themselves to an active reading process. Important blurbs of information are highlighted in text boxes apart from the main body of text. Some stories are presented in the form of a comic or news article. You can pretty much flip to any page and start reading and get some kernel of information from it. It can be read from cover to cover, but I think it's more fun to hone in on one chapter or one artist in the book and open it for discussion.

My one discretion: how do you open the floor for a feminist-oriented topic that doesn't devolve into male-bashing? This is my one beef with the women studies undergrads, to tell the truth. We must keep in mind that we do not raise women up by putting down the men for all of society's past social injustices. Girls today are being raised by parents who tell them they can be pretty much anything they want. Boys are growing up with the understanding that girls are just as capable as they are. And I think it's important to dismiss this notion that just because a woman did it (wrote it, created it), doesn't mean it must be enjoyed exclusively by women. Young men can appreciate the creative work of women as well.

All images scanned by me.