Lorraine Serena, Founder of Women Beyond Borders and the Board of Directors of Women Beyond Borders has announced that the Art, Design and Architecture Museum of University of California, Santa Barbara will receive the Women Beyond Borders archive and website as part of their permanent art collection. The archive which includes all the artwork produced by women around the world, the numerous quality ephemera and the WBB website will enhance the prestige of the Art, Design and Architecture Museum and will provide an important foundation for teaching, research and exhibition.
Women Beyond Borders is confident that the professional leadership team at the Art, Design and Architecture Museum will support and enhance the women’s art contained in the WBB collection. Lorraine Serena and the Board of Directors of WBB are truly grateful to Dr. Gabriel Ritter, Director, and his staff for seeing the value of supporting women artists and the WBB archive.
In addition, an Endowment Fund in the amount of $106,000.00 pledged over a five-year period will also be provided to ensure support of the WBB archive and website. WBB has been working for several years to find a proper supportive home for the valuable women’s art made from those little boxes.
An Excerpt of UCSB’s Announcement
Lorraine Drammer Serena, B.A., Art, 1963 and M.F.A., Art, 1975, UC Santa Barbara), is the Artistic Director, Founder, and Artist who created Women Beyond Borders (WBB). Encouraged at a young age by her parents, she pursued her love of art and dance throughout her entire life. She has taught many young students to enjoy and appreciate the arts, and several of her students have pursued successful careers in the arts. In 1984, she was named “Art Advocate of the Year” for her work in the arts in Santa Barbara. Recognizing her collaborative exhibition, Women Beyond Borders, she was honored as one of the “21 Leaders in the 21 Century” in 2008, in New York City. Her husband, Frank A. Serena, (B.A., Economics, 1963, UC Santa Barbara), a native of Santa Barbara, is the Founder and Owner of The Serena Company. Frank was also a student athlete, who played Gaucho baseball. After three-years of service in Germany as an officer in the U.S. Army, he pursued a career in real estate development and general contracting in the Santa Barbara area.
Lorraine and Frank met at Santa Barbara High School in 1956 and were married during their senior year at UCSB. One year after graduation, Lorraine and Frank found themselves in Germany. They have two children, David (Ph.D., Computer Science, UC Santa Barbara), and Stephania (M.F.A., 1991, School of Visual Arts, NY), and four grandchildren: Wade Warren, Serena Warren, Liam Serena and Steven Serena. Frank has enthusiastically provided encouragement and support for Lorraine’s art endeavors and especially for the extraordinary WBB project. Early on and recognizing the need for a non-profit vehicle to provide financial support for the WBB and the exhibition, he established a nonprofit corporation, Women Beyond Borders, a California Non-Profit Corporation. Establishing relationships with people in other countries became a natural obsession and lead in part to Lorraine’s desire to collaborate with artists and curators around the world. A major catalyst in her pursuit of public art was her attendance at a workshop in Aspen, Colorado entitled “Making Art as if the World Mattered.” From that workshop, inspiration grew to give women around the world a voice through their art and it became Lorraine’s life work. As the exhibition grew from humble beginnings, countries began expressing interest in participating, and as it traveled, more women artists contributed to the exhibition. Previously, in several venues, where women artists had not been represented in the collections or exhibitions, as a response to the WBB exhibition, these institutions began collecting and exhibiting art created by women. WBB received acclaim and interest at each venue around the world, including in many communities in the United States. A website entitled “womenbeyondborders.org” was also established. It contains extraordinary content about women’s voices, visions, and struggles and continues to be a source of academic research. It is a component of the promised gift to the university. (See attached WBB promised gift document). From Afghanistan to Zambia, women are offered opportunities, through their art, to express themselves to the world. It has become one the most profound websites for women artists. Lorraine Serena’s website, that shows images of her artistic practice, is also closely associated with the WBB website and another component of the promised gift to the university. (See attached Lorraine Serena promised gift document). The theater community was enlightened to WBB when the Rubicon Theatre, in Ventura, California, under the inspirational leadership of Karyl Lynn Burns, created the play entitled, “Women Beyond Borders.” It was originally performed at the Rubicon Theatre in 2019 to rave reviews.
As proud alumni of UC Santa Barbara, Lorraine and Frank, with the support of board members Carol Vernon and Bob Turbin and other past board members, are establishing The Women Beyond Borders Endowed Fund to provide support for the collection and other materials that are promised to the Art, Design, & Architecture Museum at UC Santa Barbara. (See attached WBB Promised Gift document). The Fund is established through a generous gift from Women Beyond Borders, a California non-profit corporation. Lorraine and Frank believe it is fitting to establish an endowment along with the gift of the WBB archive and a sampling of original artwork by Lorraine because they regard the Art, Design & Architecture Museum as one of the shining jewels of the UC Santa Barbara campus. They believe that its leadership team will continue to enlighten the community through its exhibitions and academic work.