Efforts for equity in art celebrate 50th anniversary in Fresno

Art galleries might be imagined to be quiet, pristine areas with stern signs warning: “Do Not Touch the Art.”

However, Gallery 25 defied all of these expectations last week, when celebrating their 50th anniversary. 

While guests strolled the gallery on Sept. 5, checking out art by founders as well as former and current members of the Gallery 25, an art gallery and cooperative, many exchanged jubilant greetings and warm hugs while munching on charcuterie.

“You won’t knock this piece over,” said artist and former Gallery 25 member R.G. Barnes. “It’s like, 1500 pounds… OK, so maybe closer to 400,” Barnes said of his cast bronze artwork. 

Gallery 25 is no stranger to going against the grain. For 50 years, members have shared one conviction: the belief that everyone, especially underrepresented communities, deserves a place to show their art. 

Gallery 25 began as a female-only art gallery and cooperative as a sort of extension to the Fresno State Feminist Art Program. The Fresno State Feminist Art Program, started in 1970 by now world-renowned artist Judy Chicago, was an all-female class in a time when the art world and arts scene was even more heavily male-dominated.

“I wanted my students to know how to pitch their artwork to galleries,” said Joyce Aiken, former president of the Fresno Arts Council and Fresno State professor emeritus. Aiken picked up the Feminist Art Program once Judy Chicago departed Fresno State for CalArts, and began Gallery 25 in 1974.

“I wasn’t really wanting to do it, but I realized that it’s a program that was very iffy with the administration, and unless someone with a tenure position took it over it probably would have been eliminated,” said Aiken. According to Aiken, the program’s art was often performance pieces, and it was difficult for administration to stomach due to being seen as “aggressive” or “radical”. 

“We carried that torch as best we could without getting kicked out of school,” said Jackie Doumanian, a former student of Aiken’s who co-founded Gallery 25, while chuckling. 

“One of my requirements for the class was that students make enough artwork to have their own solo show by the end of the semester, and it had to be all new work,” said Aiken. On top of these stipulations, students had to find a space to show their work, host an opening, and send press releases. “It was really a professional directed course,” said Aiken.  

Since there were more students than there were art galleries willing to host their shows, students got creative and began asking stores and banks, or having their shows in hotel rooms.

“Someone I knew tried to have their show at the bank, but I believe that once the bank saw the art that she was trying to show, they kicked her out and asked her to move the exhibition,” said Doumanian. 

In opening Gallery 25, Aiken, Doumanian, and other student artists hoped to solve multiple issues at once. The gallery would give the artists a space in which to hold their exhibitions, as well as give them experience hosting, setting up, and caring for a gallery space and exhibits. 

“We all paid monthly dues,” said Doumanian. “And we all took turns once or twice a month sitting and watching over the gallery.” The dues covered art supplies, such as paint and other mixed-media materials the group shared, as well as rent for a physical gallery space which housed the cooperative’s exhibitions. 

Gallery 25, which is now completely virtual, had two different brick-and-mortar locations in its 50 year history — one on Van Ness Avenue, and the other on Echo Street across from Fresno High School. “It was the pandemic that forced us to move online,” said Michele Sani, a member of Gallery 25 since 1994.

Sani also expressed the need for “fresh blood” in the group. “We’re all getting older,” Sani said. “I believe our youngest member is me, and I’m 60. We need new ideas, and new people who’ll be able to keep the gallery going.” 

Many current members of the gallery were able to join because they knew a member already in the gallery. “Basically, a current member nominated you, and then you had a selection process where they screened your work and voted on you,” said Sani. 

This entrance process has changed somewhat, though. Artists in the Fresno area can apply for  Gallery 25 membership by submitting their work portfolio, a written statement, and an art resume by contacting Valerie Runningwolf via the Gallery25 website. 

Looking Forward

The Feminist Art Program at Fresno State was largely all women, according to Aiken. “There was one young man who wanted ‘in’ to the program, and I said yes. Up to that point, no men had wanted to be in the program,” said Aiken.

“He came one time,” said Aiken. “One of the reasons it doesn’t work is because there’s a lot of personal stuff that is discussed, and a lot of art that is made that could be offensive to men.” 

“Well, he didn’t have a vagina,” said Doumanian.

In the 1980s, though, Gallery 25, which had limited its membership to women until that point, opened up to accepting male members. The decision, controversial at the time, disappointed many founding members, including Aiken and Doumanian, leading many to leave the cooperative. 

“We believe that everyone needs a place to show their art, men and women,” said Aiken at the September 5 ArtHop, where she gave a short speech. Regardless of the controversy of the decades-old decision, members across the decades appeared jovial and happy to see each other. 

“Old friend, I haven’t seen you in like, thirty years,” half-joked one of the cooperative’s former members to artist R.G. Barnes. 

While reminiscing both on their shared time at Fresno State and on memories within Gallery 25, the artist said, “We got into a lot of squabbles, but that was the fun part.” 

Though the Art Hop show was primarily an anniversary celebration, some of the art pieces on exhibit were for sale, starting at $95 and ranging to $3,500. 

Current members of Gallery 25 like Mariposa-based artist Karen LeCocq mention wanting new members, but LeCocq also make clear that they do not plan to stop working as artists any time soon.

“I plan to live until I’m 106.”