Irene Peslikis

Irene Peslikis (October 7, 1943 – November 28, 2002) was an American feminist artist, activist, and educator. She was one of the early founders and organizers in the women's art movement, especially on the east coast.

Life and career Irene Peslikis spent her life in New York City. She was born into a Greek working-class family in Queens. She began her studies in art at the Pratt Institute after completing high school in 1962, before breaking away in 1963 to help found The New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture.

Peslikis organized the first show of Second Wave women artists. With another feminist artist, Patricia Mainardi, Marjorie Kramer and Lucia Vernarelli, Peslikis founded the journal Women & Art, which helped to make the artist Alice Neel famous. She was also active in the Greek community.

Teaching Peslikis taught courses on painting, drawing, visual arts orientation, women and art studio workshop, and contemporary perspectives on art at a number of post-secondary institutions including the City College of New York, the College of Staten Island, the College of New Rochelle and Ramapo College. She published pieces on art and art history and criticism in Rozinanta, Demokratia and Eleftheri-Patrida.