HONESDALE, PA — “The WCAA Dinner Party: Setting the Table for Women,” an exhibit of work by 240 students that honors the women they admire and the women in their lives, will close on Saturday, March 29. The exhibit is sponsored by the Wayne County Arts Alliance (WCAA).

It’s a don’t-miss collection that riffs on “The Dinner Party,” a permanent installation at the Brooklyn Museum of Art by American multimedia artist Judy Chicago. 

Chicago’s “The Dinner Party,” created between 1975 and 1979, imagines a banquet for 39 historic or mythological women, each commemorated with a unique place setting. 

For “The WCAA Dinner Party,” art teachers from Wayne County’s three school districts and the Cooperage Pop-Up Club asked students, “If you could have dinner with any woman, historical or contemporary, who would she be?” 

Students’ answers included Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish, Rosa Parks and Harriet Tubman, Clara Barton and Helen Keller, Greta Thunberg and Amelia Earhart, Michelle Obama, Aphrodite and their own mothers and grandmothers. The young artists then made two- or three-dimensional works celebrating their choices. 

“Challenged to explore the impact of women—both past and present—these young artists have truly embraced the task, creating powerful works that reflect their personal inspirations and the strength of those who have shaped our world,” writes Kathy Higgins, art department chair at Honesdale High School. The WCAA show “offer[s] Wayne Highlands students a unique opportunity to connect with the community through their creativity.”

Debby Pollack worked with the art teachers in all three Wayne County school districts to ask the students, “If you could have dinner with any woman, past, or present, who would she be?” Their answers are on display now, along with the rest of the exhibition.

“The WCAA Dinner Party” is supported by area restaurant and business owners, who have made monetary contributions and will offer discounts during March and April in honor of women’s history and community art. Funds raised will go to the art departments of the participating school districts.

Area sponsors include A.M. Skier Insurance Agency, Dave’s Super Duper Supermarket, Dunkin’, Elegante Restaurante and Pizzeria, Green House, Half Baked Sandwich Joint, Here & Now Brewing Company, Hotel Wayne, JoRob’s Naturals, Laurel’s Hometown Café, Moka Origins, Native Food and Drink, Nature’s Grace Heath Food and Deli, Paulie’s Hot Dogs, Scarfalloto’s Towne House Diner and Restaurant, Tablespoons Kitchen, The Inn at Woodloch Resort, The Mustard Seed Café, The Red Schoolhouse, The Settler’s Inn, Tick Tocks on Terrace, Two Guys From Italy, Weis Market and Wood Winery.

According to the alliance, 534 visitors came through the gallery on March 1 for the opening. “Proud parents, teachers and students excited to see their art displayed on gallery walls, filled the gallery with energy,” a press release reads.

The gallery is located at 959 Main St. Regular hours in the gallery and Artisan Shop are Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. For information about this and other WCAA projects, visit www.waynecountyartsalliance.org.