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18

The Group Project and the Nature of Collaboration in Feminist Education:

The group project played an important role in feminist education from the beginning. In 1971, the women in the feminist program at California Institute of the Arts, their teachers Miriam Schapiro and Judy Chicago, and several invited artists from L.A., transformed an old house (condemned to be destroyed shortly thereafter), into what became nationally known as "Womanhouse." Womanhouse reflected women's feelings, oppression, fantasies, and dreams associated with the home through an environmental art work.11 In the F.S.W. program (during the first and third year), the group project was the renovation of the physical space in which the program was housed: The transformation of the structure into which we had moved, into "a building of our own," the Woman's Building. (The first building in 1973, the second in 1975). The definition of spaces as serving our needs and making a public statement about our identity and values and the actual physical renovation were all integral aspects of the group project. The women in the program participated in all stages of the work: They learned how to build walls by constructing frames and attaching sheet rock; they learned how to tape, plaster, scrape, and paint walls, sand and varnish floors; they learned how to use power tools, paint signage and organize the opening for the public. Through participating in this project, the women were able to change the sense of alienation that most women have about their abiltiy to use the strength of their bodies and to learn the simple skills of using power tools. The group renovation project also