The Amazing Women Artists of "Shattered Glass!"
𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘭𝘺𝘯 by Audrey Flack
We are proud of our recent installation of the artwork for the exciting and unique exhibit “Shattered Glass: The Women Who Elevated American Art.” (November 25, 2025 through March 1, 2026) at the Canton Museum of Art. Art, as in business, was an area in which women were not considered serious contributors. The clever title "𝘚𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘎𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘴" refers to breaking the "glass ceiling," a metaphor for the invisible barrier which prevents people, especially women, from moving forward in their careers. Part of the exhibit focuses on women who created art and exhibited under a male pseudonym, some of whom revealed their secret in the recent past or upon their death.
"𝘚𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘎𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘴" broke a barrier for the Canton Museum of Art in the fact that it is the first original exhibit held at the institution to display only female artists and their overlooked contributions.
Learn more about the exhibit here: https://www.cantonart.org/exhibits/shattered-glass-women-who-elevated-american-art-november-25-2025-march-1-2026
Audrey Flack
Audrey Flack, a New York artist, was a painter, sculptor and a pioneer of photorealism. Marilyn is one work from Flack's Vanitas series and the first featured art piece for the “Shattered” exhibit on the Canton Museum of Art’s website. Audrey Flack’s work also appeared at the VanDeb Editions Fine Art Prints table at Cleveland Museum of Art’s Fine Print Fair in April 2025. WOOD-LEE is also a proud supporter of Cleveland Museum of Art’s Fine Print Fair.
Alice Schille
Alice Schille (pronounced SHILL-ay) can be considered Columbus’ ‘favorite daughter.’ She is one of the 20th century’s most celebrated American watercolor artists. Schille was admired among art critics and fellow artists at a time when beginning a career as an artist was especially challenging for women. In addition to being an innovative watercolorist, Alice Schille was also an advocate for women’s rights and involved in the women’s suffrage movement.
Selme Burke
Selma Burke was one of the most distinguished African American sculptors of the 20th century. A true trailblazer, she was one of the first African American women to join the United States Navy during World War II, also. Burke created an image most Americans see almost every day: the relief portrait of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, which was the model for his image on the dime, though credit was given to a man.
Maija Grotell
Maija Grotell, often called the “Mother of American Ceramics”, was of Finnish descent and moved to America when she was 29 years old. Grotell, along with other Europeans, was responsible for bringing European wheel throwing techniques to the United States. A true innovator, Maija Grottel helped ceramics to be considered fine art. She served as the head of the ceramics program at Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Although working full-time, she still created ceramics, spending long hours in the studio. Her intense blue-green glaze was called "Grotell blue." Maija Grotell’s artistic contributions reached farther than the art world; one of her colored glaze formulas led to the use of colored bricks in architecture. Grotell’s colleague Eero Saarinen used her glazes for the exterior of the General Motors Technical Center.
Lee Krasner
Lee Krasner was the woman behind Jackson Pollock. She was a pioneer of Abstract Expressionism; her work influenced the drip paintings of her husband Pollock. She helped Pollock’s career by introducing him to key artists and critics. However, Krasner’s own contributions to Abstract Expressionism were overshadowed by her male contemporaries.
Migrant Mother
One of the most popular photographic images of the 20th century, Migrant Mother, 1936, by Dorothea Lange captures a mother’s uncertainty of the future during the Great Depression while her children lean on her literally and figuratively. In 1941, Lange became the first woman to be awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in Photography. Although the award was prestigious, Lange gave it up to document the mass evacuation of Japanese Americans to detention camps after Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor. She continued her photography work until her death in 1965.
We encourage to view this truly awesome show! "𝘚𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘎𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘴: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯 𝘞𝘩𝘰 𝘌𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘈𝘳𝘵" runs November 25, 2025 through March 1, 2026, at the Canton Museum of Art.