Ferris Olin is an American feminist scholar, curator, educator and librarian. Olin was born in Trenton, New Jersey, on June 27, 1948.[1] She has been a Professor Art and Library Science in the Rutgers University School of Arts and Sciences since 1976.[2] With Judith K. Brodsky, Olin co-founded, and co-directed several initiatives and institutions, including the Institute for Women and Art,[3] the Women Artists Archive National Directory,[4] the Miriam Schapiro Archives on Women Artists, and the Feminist Art Project.[5] She was the founding director of the Margery Somers Foster Center: A Resource Center and Digital Archive on Women, Scholarship and Leadership at Rutgers University.[6][2] In 1975, Olin worked on a design team to found the Training Institute for the Sex Desegregation of the Public Schools in New Jersey, United States, as well as the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.[6]

Ferris Olin
Ferris Olin in 2012
Born	(1948-06-27) June 27, 1948 (age 74) Trenton, New Jersey
Movement	Feminist Art, Librarian, Art Historian
Awards	Women's Caucus for Art Lifetime Achievement Award 2012

Education

She studied art history, women’s studies and library science at Douglass College and Rutgers University.[2]

Publications and exhibitions

Olin co-authored, with Judith K. Brodsky, the book The Fertile Crescent: Gender, Art, Art and Society (2012).[7] Olin and Brodsky co-curated a parallel exhibition at the Princeton University Art Museum, which included the work of Shirin Neshat, Laila Shawa, Mona Hatoum, and Parastou Forouhar.[8]

Books and exhibition catalogs

• Brodsky, Judith K.; Olin, Ferris (2006). How American women artists invented postmodernism, 1970-1975. New Brunswick, NJ: Margery Somers Foster Center, Mabel Smith Douglass Library. OCLC 85257667.
• Brodsky, Judith K.; Olin, Ferris (2012). The fertile crescent : gender, art, and society. Mason Gross School of the Arts (Rutgers University). Galleries. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Institute for Women and Art. ISBN 978-0-9790497-9-8. OCLC 794365492.

Awards and honors

Olin was awarded a Women's Caucus for Art Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012.[9] In 1980, Olin received a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to found, at Radcliffe College, the Women in the Community Project.[6]

References