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Judy Chicago: Dry Ice, Smoke, and Fireworks

CAE2002

Summary Note

This archive contains materials from Judy Chicago’s work with dry ice, smoke flares, and fireworks to create distinct bodies of work spanning from 1967 to 2019. Materials include limited edition prints, photographs, digital images, slides, 16 mm films, correspondence, technical drawings, maps, notes, maquettes, garments, presentations, and press materials.

Biographical Note

Judy Chicago is an artist, author, feminist, educator, and intellectual whose career now spans five decades, and during that time she has remained steadfast in her commitment to the power f art as a vehicle for intellectual transformation and social change and to women’s right to engage in the highest level of art production.

She was born Judy Cohen in 1939 in Chicago, Illinois, in the last year of the Great Depression. She grew up in a liberal environment; unusual for the time, her intellectual Jewish parents both worked to support their children and openly articulated their left-wing politics. Chicago began drawing at the age of three and attending classes at the Institute of Chicago starting in 1947. In 1957 she enrolled at UCLA where she majored in art and minored in humanities.

Judy Chicago was one of the pioneers of Feminist art in the 1970s. Inspired by the women's movement and rebelling against the male-dominated art scene of the 1960s, which lionized the Minimalist work of artists like Donald Judd, Chicago embraced explicitly female content. Creating works that recognized the achievements of major female historical figures or celebrated women's unique experiences, Chicago produced a rich body of work that sought to add women to the historic record and, more generally, to enhance their representation in the visual arts. Chicago also pioneered Feminist art and art education through a unique program for women at California State University, Fresno.

In 1974, Chicago turned her attention to the subject of women’s history to create her most well-known work, The Dinner Party, which was executed between 1974 and 1979 with the participation of hundreds of volunteers. The Dinner Party, with which she is often narrowly identified, has been the subject of countless articles and art history texts and is included in innumerable publications in diverse fields.

In addition to a life of prodigious art making, Chicago is the author of numerous books. In 2018 she was named both one of Time Magazine’s “100 Most Influential People” and a 2018 “Most Influential Artist” by Artsy Magazine. In 2019, she received the Visionary Woman award from the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago.

Scope and Content

Between 1968 and 1974, Judy Chicago executed a series of increasingly complex fireworks pieces that involved site-specific performances around California. These early pyrotechnic performances incorporated colored smokes, magnesium flares and road flares in a series titled Atmospheres whose purpose was to soften or ‘feminize’ the environment, if only for a moment. With a small team of friends, Chicago created progressively more ambitious projects that transformed beaches, parks, forests, deserts, construction sites and museums with explosions of brilliant colors that were organized according to the principles the artist was then developing in order to use color as a metaphor for emotive states.

During this period, Chicago produced fourteen Atmospheres. These were documented by still photographs and film footage that were combined to create a fourteen-minute DVD with a narration about the history of the artist’s exploration of fireworks. In 1970, Chicago pioneered the first feminist art program at Cal State Fresno (then called Fresno State College) and soon began to involve her students in her fireworks performances, producing nine pieces titled Women and Smoke. Her goal with this series was to explore the painted female body in relation to the landscape in order to create meaningful visual archetypes. All but one of these was documented with 16 mm film, which has been turned into a twenty- minute silent DVD. In addition, these performances were documented by dozens of slides.

In 1974, A Butterfly for Oakland was commissioned by the Oakland Museum as part of the museum’s Sculpture in the City project. Presented on the shores of Lake Merritt, this piece was the largest and most technically challenging Chicago had undertaken. For the first time, she utilized a technique called lance work, which is a traditional, labor intensive method of building a framework to support the fireworks effects. This foray into creating a recognizable image with fireworks was to be the artist’s last pyrotechnical enterprise for several decades. The record of this piece was later discovered by a curator at the Oakland Museum who created an exhibition about it in 2014.

Until 2011/2012, little attention was paid to this aspect of Chicago’s oeuvre but that changed with the advent of Pacific Standard Time (PST, the Getty funded initiative documenting and celebrating southern California art from 1960-85). In conjunction with PST, the Getty mounted a performance festival and Judy Chicago was invited to pick up where she had stopped in the 1970's with both fireworks and dry ice, another ephemeral material that she had employed.

In the 1960s, prior to working with fireworks, the artist had used massive quantities of dry ice with a subversive purpose in mind, one that was not understood for almost forty years. Working with two other artists, she used thirty-seven tons of donated dry ice to create two different pieces in the shopping mall of the newly developed Century City. In the second of these, the uninviting environment was visually softened as bright pink flares turned the swirling plumes of the sublimating dry ice into a soft environment through which people walked as the harsh concrete structures disappeared around them. (‘Sublimation’ is the term for the disintegration of the dry ice).

For the PST Performance Festival, she did another dry ice installation, which took place at the Barker Hanger at the Santa Monica airport on the opening night of the L.A. Art Fair. With the small architectural firm, Materials and Applications, Chicago created the Sublime Environment, a large-scale installation using twenty-five tons of dry ice and again, hundreds of road flares, to ‘subvert’ the art fair in that visitors left the commercial space in favor of walking through the wafting pink smoke generated by the sublimation of the ice.

By this time, it had become impossible to find colored smokes so the artist had to learn a new visual vocabulary involving aerial fireworks, which she employed for the first time in A Butterfly for Pomona at Pomona College. Although the technology of fireworks had changed by then, lance work had remained essentially the same. Working with Chris Souza and his mother, who are part of a six-generation fireworks family (Pyro Spectaculars), the artist created a gigantic butterfly form that filled the football field
that most male of sites
transforming it into a metamorphizing, erupting, female-centered image to the delight of twenty-two hundred viewers.

She was also invited to design a new fireworks piece for the opening of “Deflowered”, a survey show of her early work at the now defunct Nye + Brown Gallery in Los Angeles. Utilizing the back of the gallery as a canvas, Chicago created a series of petal forms in fireworks that erupted into colorful special effects around the back entrance to the gallery. These three performances were documented by extensive still photography and a 14-minute video that includes both music and narration.

Perhaps it was PST that initiated a growing interest in Chicago’s ephemeral work as unknown film footage from the Women and Smoke series was included in Philipp Kaiser’s “Ends of the Earth”, exhibition which took place in 2012 at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, then traveling to the Haus Der Kunst in Munich. Kaiser’s inclusion of Chicago’s work led to his writing the first scholarly essay on her performance pieces, which was published by Scala as part of the 2019 comprehensive monograph on her work.

In 2014, the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museum organized the exhibition, ‘Chicago in L.A.”, which highlighted her 1960's and 70's paintings and sculptures and included a digital slide show about Chicago’s fireworks, thereby introducing many viewers to her early work. In conjunction with the show, the artist created her most ambitious pyrotechnical display in Prospect Park (which is close to the museum). A Butterfly for Brooklyn brought swirling color and female-centered imagery to an audience of more than 12,000 people who
at the end of the twenty-minute piece
burst into spontaneous applause. This work was extensively documented by both still photography and video along with a 20-minute DVD that included a narrative discussion of the significance of the butterfly in Chicago’s work.

That year, the artist also resumed doing small-scale pieces in her backyard in New Mexico, in part because colored smokes became available again. The first was a holiday video in the garden of the Belen Hotel, where she and her husband/collaborator photographer Donald Woodman live and work, again incorporating a painted female body; a red and green ‘gif commissioned by the ‘London Guardian.’ A few years later, also in the garden, Chicago and friends did a private smoke piece that was connected to a presentation of the “Butterfly for Brooklyn” video at the local library. On July 20, 2019, Chicago created a ‘Birthday Bouquet’ of colored smokes in the street to commemorate both her 80th birthday and the opening of the Through the Flower Art Space, a center for educational resources and creative hub for residents and visitors that features changing art exhibitions, a video and book library, and an exhibition of Chicago and Woodman’s life and work in Belen.

In 2017, Chicago was invited to present a dry ice piece at SFMOMA in San Francisco as part of the one- year celebration of their new building. Working with Chris Souza of Pyro Spectaculars and a volunteer team of participants, she and Woodman built a 20-ton dry ice installation that spelled out “Truth” in a walkway adjacent to the building. At dusk, the words were illuminated with road flares that reflected in the side of the museum and - as a metaphor for an unfortunate current political reality - “Truth” slowly disappeared.

In 2019, in conjunction with the Miami ICA exhibition, “Judy Chicago: A Reckoning”, the artist presented A Purple Poem for Miami in the Design District’s Jungle Plaza. For this piece, Chicago employed a hand-built vertical structure of four tiers to support the fireworks which included road flares, colored smokes and a variety of fireworks effects. By this time, Chicago and her collaborators had decided to re-introduce the intimacy of her earliest pieces by hand-lighting the road flares, eliminating most aerial effects and emphasizing a more human scale. Unfolding over a period of twenty minutes, the piece gradually built from the ground upwards through a spectral series of colors to explode at the top and then quietly extinguish.

This archive contains materials from Judy Chicago’s work with dry ice, smoke flares, and fireworks to create distinct bodies of work: Dry Ice, Atmospheres, Women and Smoke, and Smoke Sculptures.

Materials include limited edition prints, photographs, digital images, slides, 16 mm films, correspondence, technical drawings, maps, notes, maquettes, garments, presentations, and press materials.

Arrangement

Series 1-11 in this archive are organized by bodies of work or project, which are further arranged by date. Series 12 is organized by subject.
  • Series 1: Dry Ice (1967 – 2017)
  • Series 2: Atmospheres (1969 – 1974)
  • Series 3: Smoke Holes and Northwest Coast Atmospheres (1970 – 1975)
  • Series 4: Women and Smoke (1971 – 2019)
  • Series 5: A Butterfly for Pomona (2012)
  • Series 6: The DeFlowering of Nye + Brown (2012)
  • Series 7: A Butterfly for Brooklyn (2014)
  • Series 8: Belen Atmospheres (2014 – 2019)
  • Series 9: General Smoke Tests (2016)
  • Series 10: A Purple Poem for Miami (2017 – 2019)
  • Series 11: Living Smoke: A Tribute to the Living Desert (Unrealized)
  • Series 12: Outreach and General Press (2012 – 2020)

Inclusive Dates

1967-2020

Bulk Dates

1968-2019

Quantity / Extent

3.5 cubic feet

Language

English

Related Archive Collections

  • CAE1042: Lita Albuquerque: Stellar Axis

Related Publications

Broude, Norma, Mary D Garrard, and Judith K Brodsky. The Power of Feminist Art: The American Movement of the 1970s, History and Impact. New York, NY: H.N. Abrams, 1994.

Chicago, Judy and Meyer Shapiro. Womanhouse. Santa Clara, California: California Institute of the Arts, 1972.

Chicago, Judy and National Museum of Women in the Arts. Judy Chicago: New Views. New York, N.Y.: Scala Arts Publishers, Inc.; Washington, DC: National Museum of Women in the Arts (U.S.), 2019.

Chicago, Judy, Alex Gartenfeld, and Stephanie Siedel. Judy Chicago: A Reckoning. Miami, Florida; Munich, Germany; New York, NY: Institute of Contemporary Art; DelMonico Books·Prestel, 2018.

Chicago, Judy, Carmen Hermo, Ane Pasternak, Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn, and the Brooklyn Museum. Judy Chicago: Roots of The Dinner Party. New York, NY: Salon 94, 2018.

Chicago, Judy, Donald Woodman, and Ben Uri Art Gallery. Judy Chicago. Farnham, UK; Burlington, VT: Lund Humphries, 2012.

Chicago, Judy, Frances Borzello, and Jane F Gerhard. The Dinner Party: Restoring Women to History. New York, NY: The Monacelli Press, 2014.

Chicago, Judy. Institutional Time: A Critique of Studio Art Education. New York, NY: The Monacelli Press, 2014.

Chicago, Judy. The Flowering: The Autobiography of Judy Chicago. New York, N.Y.: Thames & Hudson Inc., 2021.

Chicago, Judy. Through the Flower: My Struggle as a Woman Artist. Garden City, NY: Anchor Books, 1977.

Watson, Esther, and California Institute of the Arts. Feminist Art Program. Womanhouse. Valencia CA: California Institute of the Arts, 1972.

Archive S-Box 27 16-2#? T The New York Times Style Magazine, August 18, 2019

Container Listing by Series:

CAE2002/1 Series 1: Dry Ice, 1967-2017

Series 1 contains materials from Judy Chicago’s Dry Ice body of work, where she “softened” or feminized” the landscape by placing blocks of dry ice and sometimes colored flares in remote natural areas or open public space. As the dry ice evaporated, Chicago photographed the vapor and the human interaction with the work. There are four projects represented in this series: “Disappearing Structures” (folders 1 &2), “Sublime Environment” (folders 3-6), “Disappearing 100 Boxes” (folder 7), and “Be No More” (folders 8-13). Materials include slides, vintage prints, digital images, and video. Folders are organized chronologically by project and are further arranged by subject.

  • ARCH-FILE 82-1

    • 1-1 Disappearing Structures, Century City, Los Angeles, CA: Dry Ice Environment #1, Images, 1967
    • 1-2 Disappearing Structures, Century City, Los Angeles, CA: Dry Ice Environment #2, Images, 1967
    • 1-3 Sublime Environment, Santa Monica CA, Model, 2011-2012
    • 1-4 Sublime Environment, Tests, Belen NM, and Los Angeles CA, 2011 – 2012, 2011-2012
    • 1-5 Sublime Environment, Santa Monica CA, Event Images and Video, 19-20 Jan 2012, 1/19/2012-1/20/2012
    • 1-6 Sublime Environment, Santa Monica CA, Press Materials, 2011-2012
    • 1-7 Disappearing 100 Boxes, Brooklyn Bridge Park, Brooklyn NY (Unrealized), Site Visit Images, Drawings, and Model, 2013
    • 1-8 Be No More, SFMOMA, San Francisco CA, Materials and Site Research, 2003-2017
    • 1-9 Be No More, SFMOMA, San Francisco CA, Design, Model, and Logistics, 2017
    • 1-10 Be No More, SFMOMA, San Francisco CA, Dry Ice Test, Belen, NM, 3/2017
    • 1-11 Be No More, SFMOMA, San Francisco CA, Volunteer Meeting, 4/25/2017
    • 1-12 Be No More, SFMOMA, San Francisco CA, Construction Images, 4/26/2017
    • 1-13 Be No More, SFMOMA, San Francisco CA, Event Images and Video, 4/26/2017

Additional Materials

  • ARCH-OBJ 1

    • 1-3#7 Sublime Environment, 9 Piece Model, 2011 or 2012
    • 1-3#8 Sublime Environment, Half Pyramid (Singleton), 2011 or 2012
    • 1-9#46 Be No More, Letter R, Model with Edge Dam, 2017
    • 1-9#47 Be No More, Letter R, Model without Edge Dam, 2017
    • 1-9#48 Be No More, Letter U, Model with Edge Dam, 2017
    • 1-9#49 Be No More, Letter U, Model without Edge Dam, 2017
    • 1-9#50 Be No More, Small Letter T, Model with Edge Dam, 2017
    • 1-9#51 Be No More, Small Letter T, Model without Edge Dam, 2017
    • 1-9#52 Be No More, Letter H, Model with Edge Dam, 2017
    • 1-9#53 Be No More, Letter H, Model without Edge Dam, 2017
    • 1-9#54 Bag of Metal Human Figures, (three sizes), not dated

  • ARCH-OBJ 54

    • 1-9#44 Be No More, Large Letter T, Model with Edge Dam, 2017
    • 1-9#45 Be No More, Large Letter T, Model without Edge Dam, 2017

  • ARCH-OBJ 61

    • 1-12#128 Be No More, Judy Chicago 2017, Ball Cap, 2017
    • 1-12#129 Donald Woodman’s Coveralls, 2017

  • ARCH-OBJ 78 Objects

    • 1-7#31 Brooklyn Bridge Park NY Model, Foamcore and wood, 2013

  • Archive F7 Oversized Items

    • 1-5#47 Sublime Environment, Ed 1/20, Photographic Print, 2012

  • Archive S-Box 41

    • 1-7#2 Brooklyn Bridge Park (2), Photograph, 2013
    • 1-7#6 Brooklyn Bridge Park (6), Photograph, 2013
    • 1-7#10 Brooklyn Bridge Park (10), Photograph, 2013
    • 1-7#11 Brooklyn Bridge Park (11), Photograph, 2013
    • 1-7#14 Brooklyn Bridge Park (14), Photograph, 2013
    • 1-7#15 Brooklyn Bridge Park (15), Photograph, 2013
    • 1-7#16 Brooklyn Bridge Park (16), Photograph, 2013
    • 1-7#21 Brooklyn Bridge Park (21), Photograph, 2013
    • 1-7#23 Brooklyn Bridge Park (23), Photograph, 2013
    • 1-7#25 Brooklyn Bridge Park (25), Photograph, 2013
    • 1-9#58 Be Done For, Technical Drawing, 2017
    • 1-9#59 Be No More, SFMOMA, San Francisco CA, First Floor Overview, Technical Drawing, 2017
    • 1-9#60 Be No More, SFMOMA, San Francisco CA, First and Second Floor Overview, Technical Drawing, 2017
    • 1-9#61 Be No More, SFMOMA, San Francisco CA, Cross Sections, Dry Ice, Technical Drawing, 2017
    • 1-9#62 Be No More, SFMOMA, San Francisco CA, TRUTH, Technical Drawing, 2017

CAE2002/2 Series 2: Atmospheres, 1969-1974

Series 2 contains materials for fourteen Atmospheres projects created from 1968 – 1974, and the video created in 2016 of all the projects. This body of work is one in which Chicago worked with colored smoke as a gesture of liberation. Materials include slides, prints, an event invitation, and film.

  • ARCH-FILE 82-1

    • 2-1 Orange Atmosphere, Brookside Park, Pasadena CA, Images, 2/1969-10/1975
    • 2-2 Smoke Gun Atmosphere, Brookside Park, Pasadena CA, Images, 3/1969-3/1970
    • 2-3 Yellow Atmosphere, Brookside Park, Pasadena CA, Images, 3/1969-3/1970
    • 2-4 Purple Atmosphere, Santa Barbara Beach CA, Images, 5/1969-7/1969
    • 2-5 Desert Atmosphere, Palm Desert CA, Images, 6/1969
    • 2-6 Trancas Beach Atmosphere, Trancas Beach CA, Images, 8/1969-3/1970
    • 2-7 Santa Barbara Museum Atmosphere, Santa Barbara CA, Images, 8/1969-9/1969
    • 2-8 Multi Color Atmosphere, Pasadena Museum (now Norton Simon Museum), Pasadena CA, Images, 1/1970-3/1970
    • 2-9 Snow Atmosphere, Mt. Baldy, San Bernardino County, CA, 2/1970
    • 2-10 Fresno State College Atmosphere (Disappearing the Art Building), Fresno CA, Images, 4/1970
    • 2-11 Pink Atmosphere, Cal-State Fullerton, Fullerton CA, Images, 1971
    • 2-12 Bridge Atmosphere, Cal-State Fullerton, Fullerton CA, Images, 1971
    • 2-13 Campus White Atmosphere, Cal-State Fullerton, Fullerton CA, Images, 4/1970-5/2014

Additional Materials

  • Archive F15 Oversized Items

    • 2-1#17b Orange Atmosphere, Vintage Print, printed 1970
    • 2-4#32 Purple Atmosphere, Vintage Print, 1969
    • 2-8#14b Multi Color Atmosphere, Vintage Print, 1970

  • Archive S-Box 33

    • 2-2#1c Smoke Gun Atmosphere, Vintage Print, 1969
    • 2-3#18b Yellow Atmosphere, Vintage Print, 1969
    • 2-5#8b Desert Atmosphere, Vintage Print, 1969
    • 2-7#4c Santa Barbara Museum Atmosphere, Vintage Print, 1969
    • 2-9#29b Snow Atmosphere, Vintage Print, 1970
    • 2-9#30a Snow Atmosphere, Vintage Print, 1970
    • 2-11#5b Pink Atmosphere, Vintage Print, printed 1971
    • 2-12#4b Bridge Atmosphere at 12 Noon #3, Vintage Print, printed 1971

  • Archive S-Box 41

    • 2-9#1c Mt Baldy (Snow) Atmosphere 1, Detail of 30x45 @180 ppi, Color Photograph, 1970
    • 2-9#3c Mt Baldy (Snow) Atmosphere 3, Detail of 30x45 @180 ppi, Color Photograph, 1970
    • 2-9#8c Mt Baldy (Snow) Atmosphere 8, Detail of 30x45 @180 ppi, Color Photograph, 1970
    • 2-9#9c Mt Baldy (Snow) Atmosphere 9, Detail of 30x45 @180 ppi, Color Photograph, 1970
    • 2-9#10c Mt Baldy (Snow) Atmosphere 10, Detail of 30x45 @180 ppi, Color Photograph, 1970
    • 2-9#11c Mt Baldy (Snow) Atmosphere 11, Detail of 30x45 @180 ppi, Color Photograph, 1970
    • 2-9#12c Mt Baldy (Snow) Atmosphere 12, Detail of 30x45 @180 ppi, Color Photograph, 1970
    • 2-9#13c Mt Baldy (Snow) Atmosphere 13, Detail of 30x45 @180 ppi, Color Photograph, 1970
    • 2-9#14c Mt Baldy (Snow) Atmosphere 14, Detail of 30x45 @180 ppi, Color Photograph, 1970
    • 2-9#20c Mt Baldy (Snow) Atmosphere 20, Detail of 30x45 @180 ppi, Color Photograph, 1970
    • 2-9#22c Mt Baldy (Snow) Atmosphere 22, Detail of 30x45 @180 ppi, Color Photograph, 1970
    • 2-9#23c Mt Baldy (Snow) Atmosphere 23, Detail of 30x45 @180 ppi, Color Photograph, 1970
    • 2-9#26c Mt Baldy (Snow) Atmosphere 26, Detail of 30x45 @180 ppi, Color Photograph, 1970
    • 2-9#27c Mt Baldy (Snow) Atmosphere 27, Detail of 30x45 @180 ppi, Color Photograph, 1970
    • 2-9#28c Mt Baldy (Snow) Atmosphere 28, Detail of 30x45 @180 ppi, Color Photograph, 1970

CAE2002/3 Series 3: Smoke Holes and Northwest Coast Atmospheres, 1970-1975

Series 3 contains materials from a trip up the Northwest Coast of America in 1970, while placing smoke in various natural orifices along the way. In 1975, Judy Chicago created a series of eight panels (one for each individual project) with handwritten texts of the works. Materials include slides and a film.

  • ARCH-FILE 82-1

    • 3-1 Smoke Holes #1, Beach, Northern CA, Images, 9/1970
    • 3-2 Smoke Holes #2, California/Oregon Border, Images, 9/1970
    • 3-3 Smoke Holes #3, Beach, OR, Images, 9/1970
    • 3-4 Smoke Holes #4, Beach, OR, Images, 9/1970
    • 3-5 Smoke Holes #5, Pond, WA, Images, 9/1970
    • 3-6 Smoke Holes #6, Forest, WA, Images, 9/1970
    • 3-7 Smoke Holes #7, Rain Forest, Olympic Peninsula, WA, Images, 9/1970
    • 3-8 Smoke Holes #8, Vancouver BC, Canada, Images, 9/1970
    • 3-9 Northwest Coast Atmospheres, Various Locations, Images, 1971-1975

CAE2002/4 Series 4: Women and Smoke, 1969-2019

Series 4 contains materials for the eight projects of the Women and Smoke body of work, which focused on female power and early women-centered activities such as the kindling of fire or the worship of goddess figures. Materials include slides, vintage prints, negatives, contact prints, film and video. Folders 1-8 are project based, while folder 9 contains the videos for select Atmospheres and Women and Smoke works. Folder 10 is also project based. Folders are arranged chronologically by project.

  • ARCH-FILE 82-1

    • 4-1 Women Creating Fire, Fresno CA, Images, 2/1969-4/1992
    • 4-2 Woman with Orange Flares, Los Angeles CA, Images, 9/1970
    • 4-3 Woman Bathing, Fresno CA, Images, 1971
    • 4-4 Woman Dancing, Los Angeles CA, Images, 1971-1972
    • 4-5 Woman with Liquid Smoke, Los Angeles CA, Images, 1971-1972
    • 4-6 Bride with Liquid Smoke, Los Angeles CA, Images, 1971-1972
    • 4-7 Smoke Bodies, California Desert, Images, 1972
    • 4-8 Immolation, California Desert, Images, 1972
    • 4-9 Atmospheres and Women and Smoke, Compilation Videos, 1974-2017
    • 4-10 Harper's Bazaar Photo Shoot and Article, Miami Beach FL, 2019

Additional Materials

  • Archive Film Reel Box 1 Films

    • 4-9#1a Atmospheres, Duration Performance with Fireworks 1968 – 1974, Judy Chicago, 16mm Film (1 Reel)., 1974
    • 4-9#2a Judy Chicago, Women and Smoke, California 1971 – 1972, 16mm Film (2 Reels), 1972

  • Archive S-Box 33

    • 4-10#20 Harper’s Bazaar, Magazine, April 2019

CAE2002/5 Series 5: A Butterfly for Pomona, Claremont CA, 2012, 2010-2012

Series 5 is a single project series and contains materials for the 2012 work titled A Butterfly for Pomona, which was also part of the Pacific Standard Time exhibition in 2011-2012. Materials include design documents, slides, digital images, a compilation photograph, and video.

  • ARCH-FILE 82-1

    • 5-1 Site Visit, 12/14/2010
    • 5-2 Design, 2011
    • 5-3 Event Images and Video, 2012

Additional Materials

  • Archive F7 Oversized Items

    • 5-3#50 A Butterfly for Pomona, 1/20, Judy Chicago 2012: Photography by Donald Woodman, Photographic Print, February 1, 2012

  • Archive S-Box 33

    • 5-3#49 A Butterfly for Pomona, Judy Chicago 2012 Photographs by Donald Woodman, Photographic Print, 2012

CAE2002/6 Series 6: The DeFlowering of Nye + Brown, Los Angeles CA, 2012, 2012-2017

Series 6 is a single project series and contains materials for the 2012 performance titled "The DeFlowering of Nye + Brown." This series also contains a combined video of the three performances created in 2012 for the Pacific Standard Time exhibition. Materials include a design document, slides, digital images, and video.

  • ARCH-FILE 82-1

    • 6-1 Design, 2011
    • 6-2 Event Images and Video, 2012
    • 6-3 Press and Media, 2012-2017
    • 6-4 Video of Pacific Standard Time Exhibition Performances (Sublime Environment, A Butterfly for Pomona, and The DeFlowering of Nye + Brown), 2012

Additional Materials

  • Archive F15 Oversized Items

    • 6-3#5 Judy Chicago DeFlowered, Signed Poster, 2012

CAE2002/7 Series 7: A Butterfly for Brooklyn, Brooklyn NY, 2014, 2014-2015

Series 7 is a single project series and contains materials from the 2014 "A Butterfly for Brooklyn" performance held in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, New York, which was part of the April 4, 2014 through Sept. 28, 2014, exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum titled "Chicago in L.A.: Judy Chicago’s Early Work, 1963-74." This was Chicago’s most complicated performance as of 2020, requiring 43 technicians to execute successfully. Materials include design drawings, correspondence, research materials, budgets, schedules, slides, digital images, and video.

  • ARCH-FILE 82-1

    • 7-1 Proposal, Design, and Schedule, 2014
    • 7-2 Installation Images and Video, 2014
    • 7-3 Event Images and Video, 2014
    • 7-4 Press and Media, 2014-2015

Additional Materials

  • Archive F7 Oversized Items

    • 7-1#62 Layout, Judy Chicago’s Butterfly for Brooklyn on red grid, Design Drawing, 2014
    • 7-1#63 Layout, Judy Chicago’s Butterfly for Brooklyn on black grid, Design Drawing, 2014
    • 7-3#78 2015 Pyro Spectaculars by Souza, Calendar, 2015

  • Archive F15 Oversized Items

    • 7-1#64 Location of Butterfly for Brooklyn, Topographical Map, 2014
    • 7-1#65 Prospect Park Brooklyn NY, Google Earth Map, 2014

  • Archive S-Box 41

    • 7-1#30 #1-Road Flares Center 1 foot apart. Ignite with Black Match as Indicated, Design Drawing, 2014
    • 7-1#31 #2-Road Flares, Wings, 1 foot apart, Ignite with black match as indicated, Design Drawing, 2014
    • 7-1#32 #3-Veins, Red LED ½” Lights (Slowly), Design Drawing, 2014
    • 7-1#33 #4-Fuscia Strobes, Center, 20 Positioned as indicated, Design Drawing, 2014
    • 7-1#34 #5-Red Strobes, Wings, Discuss number + placement, Design Drawing, 2014
    • 7-1#35 #6-Strobes Overall, Fuschia, Red + White, Discuss suggested pattern, Design Drawing, 2014
    • 7-1#36 #7-Activate Veins and Center? How? Colorful? Gold Gerbs w/Purple Tips, Design Drawing, 2014
    • 7-1#37 #8-Saxons and ?, 2 or 3 different effects in sequence?, w-different colors (Discuss), Design Drawing, 2014
    • 7-1#38 #9-Butterflies in Red + Green, Design Drawing, 2014
    • 7-1#39 #9-Comets + Crossettes (Red version), Design Drawing, 2014
    • 7-1#40 #9-Comets + Crossettes (Red and blue version), Design Drawing, 2014
    • 7-1#41 #10-Sousa Comets, Design Drawing, 2014
    • 7-1#42 #10-Gerbs-Silver in Wings, Gold in Veins, OUT, (Unused) Design Drawing, 2014
    • 7-1#43 #12- Mines-At Different Levels, building in height, 15 ft, 60 ft, 240 ft, Design Drawing, 2014
    • 7-1#44 #13-48 Roman Candles in Center, in Sequence as Mines are getting higher, Design Drawing, 2014
    • 7-1#45 #14-Veins flicker and go out, Road flares are gradually extinguished, Design Drawing, 2014
    • 7-1#46 1. Road Flares, Center: 8 seconds, Pause: 30 seconds, Design Drawing, 2014
    • 7-1#47 2. Road Flares, Outline of Wings: 30 sec, Pause: 45 seconds, Design Drawing, 2014
    • 7-1#48 3. LED Veins, Pause: 5 min, Design Drawing, 2014
    • 7-1#49 4. Fuscia Strobes, Center, Fade out Veins: 30 seconds, Pause: 25 seconds, Design Drawing, 2014
    • 7-1#50 5. Red Strobes, Wings: 30 seconds, Pause: 30 sec, Design Drawing, 2014
    • 7-1#51 6. Strobes Overall, Fuscia, Red + White: 30 seconds, Pause: 1 min, Design Drawing, 2014
    • 7-1#52 7. Gerbs Purp Gold, Center: 20 sec fade veins on, Pause: 30 seconds, Design Drawing, 2014
    • 7-1#53 8. Saxons: Purple and Gold, blue and Gold Red and Silver, 20 seconds, Pause: 25 seconds Design Drawing, 2014
    • 7-1#54 9. Butterflies – Center only 20 sec veins off, Pause: 30 seconds, Design Drawing, 2014
    • 7-1#55 10. Sousa Comets-blue & gold tail, red and silver tail 45 seconds. This stage will end with Red Crossettes, 5 seconds, Pause: 30 seconds, Design Drawing, 2014
    • 7-1#56 FINALE 11. Mines-45 sec; Mines to be at different levels, building in height, 15 ft, 60 ft, 240 ft. in both center and wings. Red flash trays in center, Veins on slowly, (FINALE), Design Drawing, 2014
    • 7-1#57 Layout, Judy Chicago’s Butterfly for Brooklyn on red grid, Design Drawing, 2014
    • 7-1#58 Layout, Judy Chicago’s Butterfly for Brooklyn on black grid, Design Drawing, 2014
    • 7-1#59 Layout, Judy Chicago’s Butterfly for Brooklyn with notes, Design Drawing, 2014
    • 7-1#60 Layout, Judy Chicago’s Butterfly for Brooklyn with multi-color veins, Design Drawing, 2014
    • 7-1#61 Location of Butterfly for Brooklyn, Topographic Map, 2014

CAE2002/8 Series 8: Belen Atmospheres, Belen NM, 2014-2020

Series 8 contains information about four performances held in Belen, New Mexico, in 2014, 2019, and 2020: Garden Color (folder 1), Holiday Video (folder 2), A Birthday Bouquet for Belen (folders 4-9), and Garden Smoke (folder 10). Materials include technical drawings, slides, digital images, video, a portfolio, and press materials.

  • ARCH-FILE 82-1

    • 8-1 Garden Color, Images and Video, 11/26/2014-7/15/2015
    • 8-2 Holiday Video, 12/9/2014
    • 8-3 A Birthday Bouquet for Belen, Research and Design, 2019
    • 8-4 A Birthday Bouquet for Belen, Smoke Test #1, 4/6/2019
    • 8-5 A Birthday Bouquet for Belen, Smoke Test #2, 4/24/2019
    • 8-6 "On Fire at 80" Photoshoot, 5/29/2019-9/3/2019
    • 8-7 A Birthday Bouquet for Belen, Construction and Installation, 7/2019
    • 8-8 A Birthday Bouquet for Belen, Event Images and Video, 7/19/2019-7/20/2019
    • 8-9 A Birthday Bouquet for Belen and On Fire at 80, Press and Media, 7/25/2019-9/1/2019
    • 8-10 Garden Smoke Portfolio, 2020

Additional Materials

  • ARCH-OBJ 12 Objects

    • 8-10#14 Judy Chicago face mask, 2020

  • ARCH-OBJ 70

    • 8-7#66 Judy Chicago New Mexico Red Wine, wine bottle, 2019
    • 8-7#67 Judy Chicago New Mexico White Wine, wine bottle, 2019

  • Archive F7 Oversized Items

    • 8-5#28b On Fire at 80, Digital Image, 29 May 2019

  • Archive F15 Oversized Items

    • 8-3#9 Google Maps Street View of Belen 1, Google Map, 2019
    • 8-3#10 Google Maps Street View of Belen 2, Google Map, 2019
    • 8-3#11 Google Maps Street View of Belen 3, Google Map, 2019
    • 8-3#12 Google Maps Street View of Belen 4, Google Map, 2019
    • 8-3#13 Google Maps Street View of Belen 5, Google Map, 2019
    • 8-3#14 Google Maps Street View of Belen 6, Google Map, 2019
    • 8-3#15 Google Maps Street View of Belen 7, Google Map, 2019
    • 8-3#16 Google Maps Street View of Belen 8, Google Map, 2019
    • 8-3#17 Google Maps Street View of Belen 9, Google Map, 2019
    • 8-3#18 Google Maps Street View of Belen 10, Google Map, 2019
    • 8-3#19 Google Maps Street View of Belen 11, Google Map, 2019
    • 8-3#20 Google Maps Street View of Belen 12, Google Map, 2019
    • 8-3#21 Google Maps Street View of Belen 13, Google Map, 2019
    • 8-3#22 Birthday Poem, Technical Drawing on Tracing Paper, 2019
    • 8-3#23a Birthday Poem, Technical Drawing on Vellum, 2019
    • 8-3#23b Birthday Poem, Technical Drawing on Vellum, 2019
    • 8-3#24a Judy Chicago’s Bouquet for Belen Smoke Layout (1), Technical Drawing, 2019
    • 8-3#24b Judy Chicago’s Bouquet for Belen Smoke Layout (2), Technical Drawing, 2019
    • 8-3#25 Judy Chicago’s Bouquet for Belen Ignition Sequence, Technical Drawing, 2019

  • Archive S-Box 41

    • 8-3#7 Aerial View of Belen, Google Map, not dated
    • 8-3#8 Aerial View of Belen with Notes, Google Map, not dated

  • Archive S-Box 59

    • 8-3#22 Birthday Poem, Technical Drawing on Tracing Paper, 2019
    • 8-3#23a Birthday Poem, Technical Drawing on Vellum, 2019

  • Archive S-Box 68

    • 8-3#7 Aerial View of Belen, Google Map, not dated
    • 8-3#9 Google Maps Street View of Belen 1, Google Map, 2019
    • 8-3#10 Google Maps Street View of Belen 2, Google Map, 2019
    • 8-3#11 Google Maps Street View of Belen 3, Google Map, 2019
    • 8-3#12 Google Maps Street View of Belen 4, Google Map, 2019
    • 8-3#13 Google Maps Street View of Belen 5, Google Map, 2019
    • 8-3#14 Google Maps Street View of Belen 6, Google Map, 2019
    • 8-3#15 Google Maps Street View of Belen 7, Google Map, 2019
    • 8-3#16 Google Maps Street View of Belen 8, Google Map, 2019
    • 8-3#17 Google Maps Street View of Belen 9, Google Map, 2019
    • 8-3#18 Google Maps Street View of Belen 10, Google Map, 2019
    • 8-3#19 Google Maps Street View of Belen 11, Google Map, 2019
    • 8-3#20 Google Maps Street View of Belen 12, Google Map, 2019
    • 8-3#21 Google Maps Street View of Belen 13, Google Map, 2019
    • 8-3#24a Judy Chicago’s Bouquet for Belen Smoke Layout (1), Technical Drawing, 2019
    • 8-3#25 Judy Chicago’s Bouquet for Belen Ignition Sequence, Technical Drawing, 2019

  • Solander Rack E0

    • 8-10#1 Garden Smoke, Portfolio, 2020
    • 8-10#2 Confined in the Flowers, 1/12, Archive Print, 2020
    • 8-10#3 Circumscribed by the Garden, 2/12, Archive Print, 2020
    • 8-10#4 Restrained in the Foliage, 3/12, Archive Print, 2020
    • 8-10#5 Entrapped by the Leaves, 4/12, Archive Print, 2020
    • 8-10#6 Constrained on the Ground, 5/12, Archive Print, 2020
    • 8-10#7 Suppressed by the Wind, 6/12, Archive Print, 2020
    • 8-10#8 Restricted by the Trees, 7/12, Archive Print, 2020
    • 8-10#9 Hindered by the Light, 8/12, Archive Print, 2020
    • 8-10#10 Enclosed in a Trellis, 9/12, Archive Print, 2020
    • 8-10#11 Limited to a Walkway, 10/12, Archive Print, 2020
    • 8-10#12 Impeded by a Stairway, 11/12, Archive Print, 2020
    • 8-10#13 Curtailed by a Fence, 12/12, Archive Print, 2020

CAE2002/9 Series 9: General Smoke Tests and Technical Information, 2016

Series 9 contains general fireworks information and digital image files for various smoke tests conducted in 2016. Materials include digital images and video.

  • ARCH-FILE 82-2

    • 9-1 Fireworks Test Information, 2016
    • 9-2 Smoke Tests, Belen NM, 7/2/2016
    • 9-3 Smoke Tests, Belen NM, 10/12/2016
    • 9-4 Correspondence and Pyro Spectaculars Smoke Tests, Rialto and Lucerne Valley CA, 10/20/2016

CAE2002/10 Series 10: A Purple Poem for Miami, ICA Miami FL, 2019, 2017-2019

Series 10 is a single project series that contains materials related to the Performance A Purple Poem for Miami and the corresponding exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Art Miami (ICA Miami) titled Judy Chicago: A Reckoning.

  • ARCH-FILE 82-2

    • 10-1 Budget and Proposal, 2017-2018
    • 10-2 Smoke Test, ICA Miami, Miami FL, 3/20/2018
    • 10-3 Smoke Test, Orange Show Speedway, San Bernardino CA, 9/25/2018
    • 10-4 Smoke Test, Belen NM, 10/2018
    • 10-5 Logistics and Design, 2017-2019
    • 10-6 Conversation with Alex Gartenfeld from ICA Miami, 2/21/2019
    • 10-7 Installation Images, 2/21/2019-2/23/2019
    • 10-8 Event Remarks, Images, and Ephemera, 2019
    • 10-9 Event Images and Video, 2019
    • 10-10 Exhibition and Performance Press, 2018-2019

Additional Materials

  • ARCH-OBJ 1

    • 10-8#12 Pyro Spectaculars by Souza 2019, Enamel Pin, 2019

  • ARCH-OBJ 50

    • 10-8#10 Pyro Spectaculars T-shirt, 2019
    • 10-8#11 Pyro Spectaculars T-shirt, 2019

  • Archive F7 Oversized Items

    • 10-9#410a Purple Poem for Miami Triptych, Color Trial Proof, Photographic Print, 2019
    • 10-9#410b Purple Poem for Miami Triptych, AP 2, Photographic Print, 2019
    • 10-9#410c Purple Poem for Miami Triptych, Color Trial Proof, Photographic Print, 2019

  • Archive F15 Oversized Items

    • 10-5#29 Corner Leg, Photo Illustration, 2018
    • 10-5#30 Corner Leg with Notes, Photo Illustration, 2018
    • 10-5#31 Elevation / Section, Technical Drawing, 2018
    • 10-5#32 Elevation / Section, Technical Drawing, 2018
    • 10-5#33 Jungle Plaza Floorplan, Technical Drawing, 2018
    • 10-5#34 Layout Plan, Technical Drawing, 2018
    • 10-5#35 Layout Plan, Technical Drawing, 2018
    • 10-5#36 Leg Construction / Details, Technical Drawing, 2018
    • 10-5#37 Leg Construction / Details, Technical Drawing, 2018
    • 10-5#38 Site Plan Layout, Technical Drawing, 2018
    • 10-9#411 A Purple Poem for Miami Commemorative Print, Ed 20/20, Photographic Print, 2019

  • Archive S-Box 41

    • 10-5#39 10 Sec. Flares + MINES, Pyro Spectaculars Design Drawing, 2018 – 2019
    • 10-5#40 30 Sec. Flares, Pyro Spectaculars Design Drawing, 2018 – 2019
    • 10-5#41 PBR/Center Smoke, Strobes, Pyro Spectaculars Design Drawing, 2018 – 2019
    • 10-5#42 Jungle Plaza Floorplan, Technical Drawing, 2019

  • Archive S-Box 59

    • 10-5#29 Corner Leg, Photo Illustration, 2018
    • 10-5#31 Elevation / Section, Technical Drawing, 2018
    • 10-5#35 Layout Plan, Technical Drawing, 2018
    • 10-5#36 Leg Construction / Details, Technical Drawing, 2018
    • 10-5#38 Site Plan Layout, Technical Drawing, 2018

  • Archive S-Box 68

    • 10-5#30 Corner Leg with Notes, Photo Illustration, 2018
    • 10-5#32 Elevation / Section, Technical Drawing, 2018
    • 10-5#33 Jungle Plaza Floorplan, Technical Drawing, 2018
    • 10-5#37 Leg Construction / Details, Technical Drawing, 2018

CAE2002/11 Series 11: Living Smoke: A Tribute to the Living Desert (Unrealized), Desert X 2021, 2020-2021

Series 11 is a single project series that contains materials related to the unrealized performance Living Smoke: A Tribute to the Living Desert, which was supposed to occur as part of the Desert X 2021 Biennial but was cancelled. Folders are organized by subject and by natural progression of the project.

CAE2002/12 Series 12: Outreach and General Press, 2012-2020

Series 12 contains materials related to outreach activities and general press coverage. Specific press coverage or specific talks for events have been included with the appropriate event in prior series. Materials include digital images, video, and webpage captures.