East Coast / West Coast: Four Modernist Women September 15 - October 29, 2005 Reception Thursday, September 15, 5:30 - 7:30 pm "It's not easy being an artist, and it certainly was not easy being a woman artist during the 1930's, 40's and 50's. Was there a different sensibility in the art coming out of studios on the East Coast as compared to what was being created in the San Francisco Bay Area? The current exhibition focuses on four Modernist women painters, from different cultural milieus who gained recognition as successful artists in a field that was male dominated. "Ruth Gikow, born in the Russian Ukraine, immigrated to New York's Lower East Side and studied at Cooper Union, participated in the WPA Federal Arts Project and is represented in numerous public collections including the Smithsonian and the Whitney Museum.