Art Ventures recently opened a new exhibit, “From the Heart — The Power of It!” at the gallery at 20 S. Hill Ave. in Fayetteville. The show features the work of Cheri Bohn, Cheryl Buell, Ana Buitrago, Lee Ann Dodson, Amy Eichler, Karolyn Farrell, Bia Furtado, Carol Hart, Justice Henderson, Eloa Jane, Hannah Jeremiah, Cheryl Kellar, Diana Michelle, Denice Nicholson, So-eun Park, Lourdes Valverde, and Mim Wynne.

The exhibit, dedicated to women artists, “honors women’s social, economic, cultural, and political achievements, despite structural opposition. It is a celebration of how women continue to advocate for themselves and the world around them,” according to a release from the gallery. The show includes painting, sculpture and weavings displayed throughout the two stories of the house converted into a gallery.

The show is intended to highlight women artists and their contribution towards making the world a better place, says Eric Andre, an artist who co-curated the show with Sharon Killian, board president for Art Ventures. “We brought in some new artists, namely Mim Wynne, Ana Buitrago, Bia Furtado, Soeun Park. Other AV artists recommended some artists, and others are students from the School of Art, University of Arkansas,” adds Andre.

When asked about his favorites in the show, Andre shares there’s a list: “Breaking Through” by Eloa Jane; 妥 [“Properly Appropriate”] by Soeun Park; “Magnolias, Violets, and Meadowsweet” by Mim Wyne; “Out of the Blue” by Kathleen Siegfried; “Leticia” by Denice Nicholson; and “A Light in the darkness” (Una luz en la obscuridad) by Lourdes Valverde.

“From the Heart — The Power of It!” will be on display through March 27. Museum hours are noon to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. More information on Art Ventures at artventures-nwa.org.

Tiger Style installment

Killian also curated an installment to accompany the play “Tiger Style!” at TheatreSquared. The comedy involves two Chinese siblings who are struggling with their parents and the pressures of family and cultural expectations.

“This exhibit focuses on Chinese culture. One of the best ways to get a taste of culture is to enter it through centuries long celebrations — these celebrations maintain and promote cultural outlook through dress, especially ceremonial garb. This exhibition includes both traditional and ceremonial garb and in this case, the artists are the cultural holders who have kept the dress designs alive over the centuries for their communities,” Killian explains.

“I chose the pieces for the exhibit by going to the closet of my friend Cathy Luo, who is the founder, and with dedicated community members, the heartbeat of the Chinese Association of Northwest Arkansas. Along with ethnic majority Han Chinese there are 56 different recognized ethnicities in China that include among them Tibetan, Mongolian, Uyghur (Turkic), Korean and Hmong (Miao in China). The Chinese Association of Northwest Arkansas aims to represent the diversity of China’s ethnicities, both majority and minoritized communities.”

The installment will be on display through April 3 at TheatreSquared in Fayetteville.

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FYI

The Women’s Project

Arkansas People’s History Project recently launched a multimedia exhibit called “The Women’s Project.” According to a release from the APH: “The Women’s Project was founded in 1980 as a grassroots organization aiming to help Arkansas women access tools to address violence in their lives and communities. The Women’s Project understood gender-based violence as connected to racist, homophobic, and other forms of hate violence. By the 1990s, their work included everything from rural organizing around child abuse to confronting the Ku Klux Klan to convening conferences for Black women from across Arkansas to share skills and strategize.”

The exhibit brings history and its lessons to life through text, photos, documents, videos, and audio clips drawn from oral histories, story circles, and archival sources.

More information at womensprojectstory.org.