As students, teachers, mentors and professionals, women from Parsons have been at the forefront of design study and practice since the school’s founding in 1896. INSPIRING WOMEN offers glimpses into the education and professional lives of 16 women who attended and taught at Parsons between the 1910s and the 1990s. Through original design work, photographs, notebooks, publicity materials, correspondence, clippings and business records, INSPIRING WOMEN explores changes in the worlds of graphic, interior and fashion design over the course of the 20th century, changes often spearheaded by Parsons’ women as they broke new creative and professional ground, mentored and promoted one another, experimented with new modes of representation, and won expanded opportunity and recognition for women in design.

INSPIRING WOMEN is being held in conjunction with the conference, NO LONGER IN EXILE: The Legacy and Future of Gender Studies at The New School, which will take place adjacent to the exhibit in the Theresa Lang Center, March 26-27, 2010.

This exhibition was made possible in part with support from the School of Art and Design History and Theory.