May 30 – July 5, 2026
Visiting Artist Tanya Wilkinson presents Ruling the Little Girls, a multimedia exhibition that addresses the sadness and injustice of gender-constraining rules. On the walls are two series, one of vintage children’s dresses collaged on canvas, and another of dresses made for dolls, each adorned with a familiar rule for girls.
Wilkinson’s work is her form of activism, creating images for impact, showing the weight of important questions. Her theme is (female) gender messaging. Ladylike dresses for little girls carry a complex messaging and the gallery is a tangle of childhood rights and wrongs, one rule on every collage —Wait to be Asked. Sit still. Never Talk About Yourself. These rules are taken from lived experience; they were collected in a survey of 50 women of diverse backgrounds and ages. They are parental or societal rules probably given as sensible and simple guidelines, but their simplicity is the problem. To suggest that a single rule applies to every situation is a dangerous assumption in our complicated world. Also, because these are gender-specific demands, the conformity is stifling and unjust. Wilkinson hopes the exhibit will lead people to fight against what is unacceptable, consider where these rules will lead, and reflect on the way we act and teach our children.
Bio
I began as a hand papermaker, then progressed to printmaking, painting, collage, assemblage and mixed media sculpture. The political, biographical and narrative elements typical of the Feminist Art Movement are part of my work.
An artist is essentially a story teller. Where do the stories come from? The artist takes in experience, sorts it, reconstructs it and gives it a shape. Having elaborated and refined a world inside herself, she then stands on the threshold between that inner world and this outer world, trying to make some part of the internal narrative visible to others. The sources and building blocks of an artist’s inner world are many. Gender politics and personal experiences (which are also political) are vital sources of inspiration for me, as are archetypal stories—fairytales, legends and myths.