Talk and Book Launch with Janet Zandy + Greenwood Books
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Join us for an engaging and thoughtful talk by author Janet Zandy on the occasion of launching her new book: "Working-Class Girls Don’t Become Artists."
Do working-class people feel estranged from the worlds of art, culture, and the academy? Class location, identity, lineage, and associations are inherent to how art is curated, judged, analyzed, and promoted. Yet, class perspective is rarely acknowledged in how art is seen and selected. This talk links labor and art in the work of nine artists—Käthe Kollwitz, Elizabeth Catlett, Ruth Asawa, Marilyn Anderson, Milton Rogovin, Jens S. Jensen, Mark Rogovin, Ralph Fasanella, and Raymond Mason—whose work aligns with the histories and living conditions of working-class people. The quiet, steady theme of this book is that Everyone needs art. The deprivation of seeing and making art harms people.
The new title will be available for purchase and signing thanks to Greenwood Books.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Janet Zandy is emerita professor, College of Liberal Arts, Rochester Institute of Technology. She is the author of the award-winning Hands: Physical Labor, Class, and Cultural Work and Unfinished Stories: The Narrative Photography of Hansel Mieth and Marion Palfi as well as other books, articles, and essays on working-class cultures. She is a practicing visual artist specializing in encaustic.
Learn more: https://www.rochestercontemporary.org/events/working-class-girls-dont-become-artists/?event_date=2026-09-10
Visitors will also enjoy three exhibitions on view: "Fire & Form", "Detour" by Aaron Steffer and "Still, Moving: A Firefly Meditation" by Katharine Torgersen
Do working-class people feel estranged from the worlds of art, culture, and the academy? Class location, identity, lineage, and associations are inherent to how art is curated, judged, analyzed, and promoted. Yet, class perspective is rarely acknowledged in how art is seen and selected. This talk links labor and art in the work of nine artists—Käthe Kollwitz, Elizabeth Catlett, Ruth Asawa, Marilyn Anderson, Milton Rogovin, Jens S. Jensen, Mark Rogovin, Ralph Fasanella, and Raymond Mason—whose work aligns with the histories and living conditions of working-class people. The quiet, steady theme of this book is that Everyone needs art. The deprivation of seeing and making art harms people.
The new title will be available for purchase and signing thanks to Greenwood Books.
____________
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Janet Zandy is emerita professor, College of Liberal Arts, Rochester Institute of Technology. She is the author of the award-winning Hands: Physical Labor, Class, and Cultural Work and Unfinished Stories: The Narrative Photography of Hansel Mieth and Marion Palfi as well as other books, articles, and essays on working-class cultures. She is a practicing visual artist specializing in encaustic.
Learn more: https://www.rochestercontemporary.org/events/working-class-girls-dont-become-artists/?event_date=2026-09-10
Visitors will also enjoy three exhibitions on view: "Fire & Form", "Detour" by Aaron Steffer and "Still, Moving: A Firefly Meditation" by Katharine Torgersen
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Where is it happening?
137 East Ave, Rochester, NY, United States, New York 14604
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.
Host or PublisherRochester Contemporary Art Center
