Woman, Spirit of the Universe Sculpture Exhibit

Model having fun posing behind bronzed collar

The artist, Carolyn Marks Johnson, created the exhibit, Woman: Spirit of the Universe to be a celebration about women who had spirit and a desire to accomplish things for other women. Through bronzed collar sculptures, Johnson exemplifies 21 women who made a contribution to all women in the effort to gain equality:

Abigail Adams, advocate for women’s rights

Elizabeth Blackwell, the first medical school graduate and the first woman’s medical school founder

Myra Bradwell, the first lawyer

Margaret Brent, first woman in the English North American colonies to appear before a court of the common law

Deborah Sampson Gannett, who wanted to be a soldier and put on men’s clothing and fought bravely

Ruth Bader Ginsberg, who knew that what is good for women is good for men and that what is good for men is good for women. She inspires us to say that reason exists that men and women were placed here together but we have a duty to stand with other women, to join them in bringing improvement for all women, to share power, when we get it, with them, to work and promote them, and to be proud of the progress they made. If we do that, woman will truly be the spirit that holds the Universe together.

Barbara Jordan, Texas State Senator and Congresswomen who was a leader in the Civil Rights Movement

Dorothea Lange, whose photographs influenced the development of documentary photography and humanized the consequences of the Great Depression

Sen. Mazie Keiko Hirono, one of the first Asian women of color to enter congress

Dolores Huerta, who brought labor rights to grape pickers

Chief Wilma Mankiller who led the Cherokee Nation

Patsy Takemoto Mink, one of the first Asian women of color to enter congress

Georgia O’Keeffe, who is the Mother of Modernism in American Art

Nancy Pelosi, first woman as Speaker of the House of Representatives

Ann Richards, 45th Governor of Texas

Sally Ride, who broke the glass into space

Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, who redefined the role of the First Lady, she advocated for human and women's rights

Betsy Ross, seamstress of “Old Glory”

Margaret Louise Higgins Sanger who believed women had a basic right to know and understand their own bodies

Sonya Sotomayor first Latina, first Hispanic, and first woman of color to become a Supreme Court justice

Sojourner Truth, carried the message of abolition to every part of America she could reach

Harriet Tubman, the Moses of her time, known for freeing enslaved people

Over the last six years, artist Carolyn Marks Johnson designed and created each special sculpture piece to honor a woman who made a difference for other women.” The collars begin with hand-stitched and hand-worked cotton; they end with the permanence of bronze, each a celebration of a single woman’s accomplishment! The late Philip Renteria (1947 -1999), a sculpture teacher at Glassell School of Art in Houston, donated the name of the exhibit and the idea in conversation with the artist about one of his own works. He believed that the spirit of the universe is feminine and woman’s spirit holds the universe together.

Museum Gallery Hours: Tuesday – Saturday; 10 a.m.– 4 p.m.