Art is everywhere: the music we hear every day, murals on city streets, museums filled with stories, coffee shops and their unique aesthetic, the posters hanging on the walls of an average household. More factually, art is defined as “the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination.” 

I took a “contemporary art class” this semester, a class that I did not know I would enjoy so much. I have always loved looking at artwork and going to museums or exhibitions where the walls tell stories, and you can travel to the past or get into someone else’s mind. When the class ended (it was a half semester one), the things I had learned lingered in my mind whenever I would see sculptures or murals on the streets. Walking through downtown shops I ran into a beautiful book that had a hard cover with a colorful design that promised to contain mainly women’s art. So I decided to give it a try.

Danielle Krysa is a Canadian visual artist. She was first known for her blog and Instagram under the name “The Jealous Curator,” where she would feature various contemporary artists. In an interview she said that she was “jealous of everyone who was living a creative life” so she built one for herself, converting her jealousy into admiration. She later wrote books and became more known for her artwork that blends collages with paint and texture. 

Krysa saw a need in the world for female artists, knowing that most of the recognized artists are male, but there were many artists like herself who just did not receive the deserved recognition because of their gender. For instance, Guerrilla Girls, a feminist activist group that wants to eliminate sexism in the art world, shows discouraging research that less than 5% of art in museums is created by women. Since books would not teach her about female artists, she decided to write one herself. Krysa’s art book is a compilation of many female artists all over the world. 

Something that I really appreciate about the book is the fact that she is very intentional about showing a currently working artist and pairs them with one that has passed away, but had some similarities in technique or inspiration. The pages are filled with color and art, as well as a well-organized text that fills the page with information that can be helpful to understand the artists’ work better. Her descriptions are very personal and many times refer to the artists as colleagues and even friends. Krysa also added an exercise for the reader to do at the beginning of every new chapter, and I can’t wait to actually have some time to try them all out. 

I am still in the process of finishing the book because life as a senior right before the ACE festival and an internship does not leave a lot of time to be creative. However, overall if the entire book is just as I have read so far, I give it a 9/10. If you are an art lover and have always wondered, “Where are all the female artists?” this book is a great resource to have.