The Women Artists Archive contains information on over 1,000 women artists from the Middle Ages through the present day. The collection includes slides books, periodicals, vertical files and other miscellaneous materials including unpublished ephemera. It is housed at the California State University at Sonoma. It has a distinct scholarly flavor and contains a wealth of research materials and images.
Most of the top menu layers are text based, although there are a few images. Links are embedded in the text and lead the user to more images and further information. The first screen explains the holdings of the collection and the access policy. Subsequent layers give statistics on women artists by century and period. A user can click the relevant century or period and a list of artists active at the time will appear. Unfortunately, the names on these lists are not linked to biographies of the artists, images of their artworks or other sites that might contain information about the artist. The current incarnation is an excellent start, though, and the implication is that some information about each artist can be found in the physical archive itself.
On the first page, one choice is "Interesting Facts about Women in the Arts." This section gives statistics, as well as some information on bias in the art field. Some of the information on this page comes the "Guerilla Girls." There is no explanation of the Guerilla Girls, or their qualifications, for browsers and patrons not in the field. I would like to see this area beefed and more complete citations and references provided.
One excellent part of this site is the exhibit area. The top of the Home Page provides information on the current exhibit. Certain artists' works are displayed in part along with their curriculum vitae and other biographical information. I saw the Mary Curtis Ratcliff show. Her works are comprised of fashion related art.
The Ratcliff exhibit included a number of images which were medium sized and not ardous to load, a personal statement, resume', and bibliography, as well as a list of exhibits elsewhere. This is great exposure for the artist. Apparently the exhibits change periodically.
The graphics are interesting, but users with text browsers can also benefit from this site due to the large amount of text. This is an excellent site for scholars.