Connecticut Women Artists Council Show 2026
East Hartford Raymond Library
East Hartford
June 17, 2026
Who are the most famous painters and visual artists of all time? You might mention some of the usual suspects: Picasso, Rembrandt, Monet, Basquat. For the truly initiated, there are probably many lesser-known names whose body of work can lay claim to that title.
Did you think of any female artists for the list? I’ll be honest and say that with the exception of Georgia O’Keefe, I have a hard time naming any women painters. That’s what makes the Connecticut Women Artists Council Show at the East Hartford Raymond Library such an important event.
The exhibit features art from a dozen women artists spread across three floors in the library’s atrium. The works include paintings using various styles and materials, mixed media, photography and more. All of the women on display are talented, accomplished artists with professional pedigrees.
All are members of CWA as well, an organization that traces its roots all the way back to 1929, when Jessie S. Goodwin Preston Helen Townsend Stimpson were asked by the director of the Wadsworth Atheneum to start an artists group for women. It wasn’t enough to simply display the artwork of women, but instead to support, nurture and grow women artists in the state.
So they did, and the association is now closing in on its 100th anniversary. Art is a paradoxical undertaking, in that the artist may work alone but needs a community of support to be as successful as possible. CWA provides that community for women, and encourages them to become even more skilled at their crafts.
Why, you might wonder, is such an organization still necessary today? Surely, in nearly 100 years, the status of women and the general cause of equality has improved enough that they no longer require professional associations for their benefit.
To that, allow me a slight digression. I’ve participated in the relatively new field of esports (that’s competitive videogames) for over 20 years. I’ve been to dozens of events. I’ve coached esports. Without exaggeration, I can count the number of women I’ve seen competing at events on two hands.
The traditional reasons used for excluding women from male-dominated professional sports, such as physical differences, don’t apply to esports. So what accounts for this? To put it bluntly, men make the esports space uncomfortable for women at best, and actively hostile at worst. I’m not speculating about that – several of the women I saw at events I had trained myself and accompanied to compete. None of them returned, and they told me why.
Yes, the world has changed in the last 100 years, but not as much as it could, because people remain the same. The same impulses that result in misogyny, chauvinism and exclusion thrum through a world that has slightly more women but is run almost entirely by men.
The CWA is not a relic of the past, but instead a guarantor of a future for women artists in Connecticut. By putting on exhibitions like the one at the library, CWA is working to make sure that the names of the women making incredible art today are not forgotten or ignored tomorrow.
NEXT
The Connecticut Women Artists Council Show 2026 continues through June 26 at the East Hartford Raymond Library.
Jamil goes to Windsor to learn about overtone singing.
