Painting for Equality
Donation protected
My name is Jerri Whitman and I am an artist.
This GoFundMe is to help cover the expenses of a project that is important to me
In 2022 when I took my granddaughter to the Maine State House she asked me a question I could not answer: why were there so many portraits of men hanging on the walls ( over 300) and only one of a woman.
I had no answer so I researched it. In the past 100 years over 479 women have been elected to positions and served the people of Maine yet only one portrait hangs in the State House: Margaret Chase Smith. Truly a giant of a woman and well deserved but there are others who also deserve recognition.
I decided that this inequality in representing the women serving Maine should be corrected. So I am painting portraits of those women who have served Maine. They are 16 X 20 oil portraits and I currently have completed 25, but the list is long and the supplies expensive. Each one takes about 40 hours to complete.
My goal is to continue to paint the women who have been elected to the Maine state legislature and US Congress to educate people on equality and diversity and to show how these women have worked for Maine and our country.
I am seeking funding to continue this project.
The first exhibit will be March 18, 2024 in the Hall of Flags at the State House from 8AM – 4PM.
May 20, 2024 to Nov. 27 2024 at the Margaret Chase Smith Library in Skowhewgan Maine. After that we will exhibit these portraits in schools, businesses, libraries, and anywhere there is a DEI program.
Attached is the Lincoln County News article and an interview on the news program 207.
You can follow (Portraits of Maine Women Lawmakers, History in the Making
Organizer
Jerri Whitman
Organizer
Cedar Grove, ME