Pash Galbavy, a performance artist and mask maker, April 2016 Honoring Spring and Earth Day.

In 2016, the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, DC, asked the question, "Can you name five women artists?" Surveys revealed that most people could rattle off five male artists but stammered when naming five female artists. This led the organization to start an annual campaign on social media every March for Women's History Month. The question is posed using the hashtag #5WomenArtists. The campaign highlights the fact that women have not been treated equally in the art world and continue to be dramatically underrepresented and undervalued in museums and galleries. From 2016–2019, more than 1,500 cultural institutions from seven continents and 54 countries participated!

Now in its fifth year, #5WomenArtists recognizes how women are using art to make change and raise awareness about globally relevant issues and topics. NMWA is asking museums, galleries, and other cultural institutions to share art and information about artists who explore key social issues, including gender equity, immigration, LGBTQ rights, racial justice, climate change, and more.

In the spirit of this campaign, the City of Sedona's Arts and Culture program joined forces, hashtagging five women artists on our Instagram and Facebook accounts every week in March. The five Sedona visionary artists we honored in March 2020 included: Dorothea Tanning (posthumously), Ruth Waddell, Theodosia Greene, Jacque Jordan Jackson, and Harriet McInnis.

“Art has always been the raft onto which we climb to save our sanity.” 

One of the foremost surrealist painters, Tanning's work is featured in museums internationally. In Sedona, she created some of her most iconic pieces, displaying her enigmatic versions of life on the inside, looking out: The Guest Room, The Truth About Comets, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, Interior with Sudden Joy, Insomnias, Palaestra, Tamerlane, and Far From. 

Ruth Waddell

“In beginning each new painting, pastel, drawing or sculpture there is more unknown than known. My wish is to deliver the emotional impact that the subject has on me.” 

Ruth works in multiple mediums. Full of vibrancy and soft focus, her art is reminiscent of both Van Gogh and Renoir, but with a distinctive flavor that reflects her unique life experience. She received her BA at the University of Chicago and her BFA from the Art Institute of Chicago in 1949. She reentered the studio and plein air painting around 1995.

Theodosia Greene

"My muse is the beauty, spirit and humor of the world."

Green is best known for her whimsical metal relief and painted bone sculptures, her light-filled watercolor landscapes, seascapes, and abstracts, her sensitive pastel portraits, and her fanciful greeting cards, each with a mini painting. She studied Fine Arts at Scripps College and the École des Beaux-Arts in Geneva, Switzerland. She learned metalwork at the Institute of Art in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, and at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Jacqueline Jordan Jackson

“My work reflects the mystery of both my inner and outer landscape.”

For the 60th anniversary of the Chapel of the Holy Cross, Jacqueline Jackson created four stunning silk hand-painted hangings that were formally consecrated and installed at the Chapel. Using the French Serti technique, she incorporated holy water in the creation of these pieces, in keeping with the sacred nature of this commission. Jackson has worked in nearly every medium, from ceramics to oils. All of her beautiful designs are inspired by nature and have an evocative, sensual connection to the world around her. Her work is represented in Goldenstein Gallery.

"When I approach a painting I am eager to express what I see and feel."

Harriet McInnis majored in Art and Design, but like many female artists of her generation, she ended up putting her creative vision on hold when she got married. Her pieces depict a soft, resonant style, with haystacks in particular being reminiscent of Monet, featuring a soft use of light and gentle strokes. She was a Fine Arts major at Syracuse University, specializing in Art History and Graphic Arts.