The Ecocritical Eye and the "New Woman": Representations of Labor in Appalachia

Historically, the Appalachian region has been neglected as its own unique regionalism in the history of American Art. However, artists working in the region are distinct within the scope of modernism and beyond, producing informed work that combines aspects of craft and fine art, religion, labor, and elements of flora and fauna district to the regional voice. Lesser known are the contributions of women artists in Appalachia, and the valuable visual opinions that highlighted their experiences and recorded history and culture. Through looking at these artists from an ecocritical lens, one can trace the toll the industrial revolution was taking on the environment in one of the most exploited areas of the country in the early 20th century, and the need for its inclusion in Appalachian visual culture.

Artists like Blanche Lazzell and Patty Willis among others, branched out from their Appalachian upbringings as independent "New Women," choosing education, a bohemian lifestyle, and artistic freedom over marriage, children and tradition. Both women trained in major metropolitan cities and Europe, and then returned to the region to make work that was ecocritical to the destruction of their home environments through fossil fuel and material extraction, yet also paid homage to the modernization that gave them the means to advance as female artists. This paper will explore Appalachian "New Women" artists in the early 20th century and how their subject matter was informed by their independence, specifically in the context of environmental exploitation and the agency to represent it through visual means.