HONESDALE, PA — There’s a “Dinner Party” happening now and you’re all invited! Read on to find out how you and your family can spend an afternoon enjoying art and celebrating Women’s History Month this March—all for free. 

“The Dinner Party: Setting the Table for Women” opens the Wayne County Artist’s Alliance (WCAA) gallery’s 25th season with a riot of color and imagination. 

“Setting the Table for Women” was inspired by “The Dinner Party,” the multimedia installation at the Brooklyn Museum of Art.  The permanent presentation by American artist Judy Chicago features an enormous banquet with 39 ceremonial place settings that commemorate important women from history.   

For WCAA’s “Dinner Party,” all of the artwork has been created by 240 students from all three Wayne County school districts (Wayne Highlands, Western Wayne and Wallenpaupack), as well as members of the Cooperage's Pop-Up Club. Its success hides the scope of the project. Debby Pollak, co-curator of the WCAA Gallery shows, worked closely with the county's art teachers to coordinate the works on display.

Called by some the resident Mad Matter, as she wears many hats, Pollak took me down the path through the many doorways that students had to cross before their artwork finally arrived at the gallery.

The idea

We walked past the main entrance of the Cooperage Project, down the alley to the Stone Works Youth Center.  The mission of the Cooperage Project is to offer a chance for people of all ages to embrace diversity and shared experiences, creating a deeper sense of community.  Here we met Jessica Kjera, youth program coordinator at the Cooperage Project and one of the teachers at the Pop-Up Club. 

The Pop-Up Club is a grant-funded program open to all students in Wayne County—including Wayne Highlands, Wallenpaupack and Western Wayne districts, as well as homeschooled students or those in private school. Pop-Up Club programs are open to students in kindergarten through 12th grade, and any student can join at any time.

For the “Dinner Party” place settings, students were encouraged to explore creative expression with a focus on women’s history. Using molding clay, paper and any other multimedia of their choice, the young artists created place settings that they felt honored the woman of their choice, while focusing on the question, “If you could have dinner with any woman from the past or present, who would she be?”  

Twenty years ago, when Debby Pollak’s own daughter, Maggie Dekker, was a young student, she created a place setting celebrating women. “Maggie chose Rosa Parks, and her portrait and place setting for Rosa are among my favorite pieces of art she’s ever made. The portrait hangs in my studio and I use the plate a lot.”

“Making art with kids is an amazing thing,” Pollak continued, “and the work the students made for this show, and the work their teachers did to inspire it is a hopeful thing.” 

While many children picked historical figures such as Michelle Obama, Amelia Earhart and Harriet Tubman, other students chose a grandmother, mother or sister.

The presentation

When the place settings were finally ready to be collected, teachers from all the neighboring Pop-Up clubs brought the students’ artwork to the gallery. There were specially made T-shirts featuring Frida Kahlo for the student artists to wear at the opening. 

Once the pieces arrived, volunteers meticulously planned and curated, carefully hanging and arranging the pieces for display. Each place setting evokes an energy that passes through to the viewer—emotion, color, imagination, freedom, style—all magnified simultaneously. Imagine the excitement of seeing your own art on a gallery wall! The place settings display the artists’ points of view and evoke conversation between all—and perhaps inspire future artists to create artwork of their very own. 

The community

“The WCAA’s efforts, like the Great Wall of Honesdale, our Summer Arts Project, Artists Studio Tour and Life Drawing Sessions, provides another opportunity for local students to be part of our Main Street Gallery,” said Jay Hostetler, co-curator of the gallery shows at the WCAA.  “The local community has truly been exceptionally supportive to the WCAA and recognizes that art can bring a community together in ways that makes us stronger.”

“Dinner Party: Setting the Table for Women,” on view now at the Wayne County Arts Alliance Gallery, will run through Saturday, March 29. The gallery is located at 959 Main St. in Honesdale. To learn more, visit waynecountyartsalliance.org or call 570/729-5740.

Learn more about the Cooperage Project at www.thecooperageproject.org.

Edited to clarify the number of students and school districts involved, as well as Pollak's role.