Breaking The Bronze Ceiling

Bringing together everything from bronze and ceramics to duct tape and wool, Breaking The Bronze Ceiling reflects on the relationship between women and sculptural practice with artworks from The Dowse Collection.

The term 'bronze ceiling' is a play on the earlier expression 'glass ceiling' – the latter referring to the invisible social barriers that prevent women and minorities from climbing the corporate ladder. Today, the bronze ceiling references the lack of female representation in statues and more recently, women making public sculpture: both issues currently being addressed by initiatives around the globe.

Breaking The Bronze Ceiling will break through the assumption that sculpture is a predominantly masculine domain: assessing the materials woman have used, the themes they have explored, and—in keeping with The Dowse’s unique history—how these elements show a cross-over between fine art and craft practices.

Artists featured in this exhibition are Andrea Gardner, Ann Verdcourt, Emily Siddell, Joan Calvert, Judy McIntosh-Wilson, Kate Newby, Lisa Walker, Lonnie Hutchinson, Marte Szirmay, Mary-Louise Browne, Niki Hastings-McFall, Ruth Buchanan, Ruth Castle, Shelley Norton, Shona Rapira-Davies, Sue Clifford and Tanya Ashken.

Breaking the Bronze Ceiling is part of The Dowse Art Museum’s 50th Anniversary programme. It’s the second in a series of exhibitions in 2021 that explores different aspects from The Dowse Collection, as explored in such projects as Solid Ground (2019) and Short Traditions: Abstraction from The Dowse Collection (2014).

Image: Ruth Buchanan, BREAK, BREAK, BREAK. BROKE, 2018. Collection of The Dowse. Photo by Bridget Reweti