1. Joyce Aiken, The Coffin, 1972, sculpture, artist's private collection; Honoring Death: An Artist's Last Performance, 2001–2012, art exhibition, artist's private collection.
2. We will be referring to Joyce Aiken as Joyce (instead of Aiken) throughout the rest of the essay. To call her Aiken textually distances our writing from her. Since surnames are traditionally used to trace patriliniage, we have decided to forego the use of Joyce's last name. Calling her Joyce is a feminist-inspired stylistic decision that aims to include her as an active participant in this history instead of a removed subject of analysis.
3. Norma Broude and Mary D. Garrard, eds., The Power of Feminist Art: The American Movement of the 1970s, History, and Impact (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1994).
4. Ibid., 21.
5. Established in 1911 as Fresno Normal School, the name of California State University, Fresno has changed over the years. For example, at the inception of the US Feminist Art Movement, the university was called Fresno State College. Today, the university is informally and popularly referred to as Fresno State. Throughout this essay we will refer to the university as Fresno State.