Judy Chicago's legacy as an artist is inseparable from her pioneering role in Feminist art and education. She founded Through the Flower, an influential educational non-profit organization, in 1978.

The Dinner Party, Birth Project and the Holocaust Project , monumental collaborative works which explored her deepening feminist vision, were sponsored, documented, exhibited and preserved by Through the Flower. Chicago's reputation as a major influence on postmodern art stems from the maturing of a younger generation of artists and scholars who saw and studied her milestone feminist projects, thanks to the non-profit organization she started and still inspires.

When The Dinner Party opened at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in 1979, Through the Flower offered programs and information documenting women’s unsung roles in history. It managed subsequent exhibitions, mostly initiated by community groups, in fourteen cities: seven in the United States, three in Canada, two in the United Kingdom, and one in Germany and Australia. The art was stored and cared for by Through the Flower until it was acquired and donated by Dr. Elizabeth A. Sackler to The Brooklyn Museum. A Getty Conservation grant was awarded to Through the Flower in preparation for permanent housing. While almost a million people saw The Dinner Party between 1979 and 1996, its powerful influence has only recently been acknowledged by leading art critics.

The Birth Project engaged Chicago with 150 needleworkers around the U.S. and in Canada and New Zealand. Through the Flower organized the execution of 85 works in various needle and textile techniques and planned and implemented a varied and successful multi-year exhibition tour to 100 venues. It also cared for the art until most of it was placed by gift in other non-profit institutions.

The Holocaust Project required a tremendous commitment of research and preparatory work for which Through the Flower was a fiscal umbrella. The resulting art by Judy Chicago, Donald Woodman, and selected artisans has been shown across the United States in exhibitions designed and administered by Through the Flower.

Today, Through the Flower serves as a nonprofit resource in Feminist art education, providing images and information to scholars and students around the world. A team of art educators is developing curriculum materials and distance learning resources to share Chicago's feminist artmaking approach and teaching practices.

A dedicated volunteer board and small professional staff maintain Through the Flower's responsiveness to a public that has steadily grown for thirty-five years.