I have devoted my research to women artists of the past few centuries. My two critical anthologies, Voicing Our Visions and Voicing Today's Visions bring together writings by more than thirty women artists. Each volume is introduced by an analytical essay, and each artist by a consideration of her life and work.  Writing has played an important role in helping women artists to articulate their visions and gain their artistic voices.

I was trained as an art historian and received my Ph.D. from Cornell University in 1978. My undergraduate study was at Queens College, CUNY, where I was an English major. I have been teaching art history since 1971, and have been on the faculty of the University of New Hampshire since 1977. I specialized in medieval illuminated manuscripts in graduate school and my dissertation An Archaeological Investigation of the Winchester Psalter offered a codicological analysis of a 12^th century English psalter. My first publications are in that area.  

I always was torn between studying the middle ages and the modern world, and my secondary area of expertise was in Modern Art. In the 1980s I began teaching about women artists and researching their writings. My later publications have all been related to that interest. In addition to Voicing Our Visions and Voicing Today's Visions, I also authored a monograph Mary Cassatt: A Private World, and served as a consultant and author for The Dictionary of Women Artists. My current project, The Gendered Artist, is a series of essays that explore strategies used by women artists to maintain their artistic authority. 

I became a member of the University of New Hampshire Women’s Studies core faculty in 1986, and served as the Program's coordinator from 1996 to 2003 and again in 2004-05. In 1985 I began a series of personal essays, and have continued to explore memoir writing over the years. At the dawn of the 21^st century I decided to pursue my love of glitter by making stained glass panels.  Although in some ways, I have become a piece of lichen on the granite in the Granite State, I also see myself as a citizen of the world, a perennial seeker.  All these interests are reflected on this site.

 Contact Mara Witzling