Women artists, long victims of the grip of critical subjugation, are beginning to get their due, thanks in part to groundbreaking exhibitions like Gwen Chanzit’s Women of Abstract Expressionism at the Denver Art Museum. With a national show of that scope on the local lineup, Cecily Cullen of Metropolitan State University of Denver’s Center for Visual Art decided to do something similar for Colorado’s healthy contingent of female abstractionists, andWestword critic Michael Paglia, a scholar of abstract art with a unique knowledge of who’s who in the state, was the clear choice to curate the CVA’s satellite exhibit. The result,Colorado Women in Abstraction, opens with a reception at 6 p.m. on July 15.

The exhibit includes a diverse cross-section of work by more than thirty artists — a “wonderful take on different approaches to abstraction,” according to Cullen — and has an educational bent, as well, with a comprehensive slate of panels and talks scheduled throughout its run, including one moderated by Paglia on August 25 and a lecture by Chanzit on September 13. “We’ll have a lot of opportunities for the community to hear from artists and experts and really learn about the abstract-art movement,” Cullen notes. “And it’s beyond time to set aside the ridiculous notion that men and women have different skills or levels of talent. Women are now being recognized for their skills as ‘artists.’”

Colorado Women in Abstraction runs through October 1 at the CVA, 965 Santa Fe Drive. For a schedule of events and more information, visit the website at msudenver.edu/cvaor call 303-294-5207.