Women’s history, activism focus of exhibit to open March 29

“A Time of Expectant Hopes,” artwork by Pete Railand and Jenna Valoe, will be on view March 29 through May 4 in Caestecker Gallery, C.J. Rodman Center for the Arts, on the Ripon College campus. An artist’s talk and opening will begin at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 29, in the lobby of Rodman Center.

Gallery hours are 1-5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday; 7-9 p.m. Saturday; and 2-6 p.m. Sunday, as well as one hour before evening performances in the center.

This exhibition is a collaboration between the two artists, with banners incorporating visual references to historical banners made in support of women’s suffrage and unionization as well as recent social activism.

Railand was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and raised in the north woods. He identifies as a printmaker, educator, bike rider and self-taught musician. He earned his B.S. and M.Ed. from Portland State University and an M.F.A. from the University of New Mexico, and he is a founding member of the Justseeds Artist Cooperative.

His work, informed by historical and contemporary printmaking, comes from and is fueled by social and environmental justice activism, music, collaboration, travel, and time spent in forests.

Valoe is a self-taught textile artist with a bachelor’s degree in cultural anthropology from the University of WisconsinMilwaukee. She attributes her innate fiber skills to the abundance of makers in her ancestry. Considering place-making, symbolism and magic in daily life, she employs large color planes in unique combinations to capture the calm of skylines and the sacred geometry of nature.

She has displayed quilts at the Milwaukee Art Museum in conjunction with the 2014 exhibit “Uncommon Folk,” had a patchwork piece in the Kohler Arts Center’s 2016 “Waysides” exhibit, and participated in a group textile show at Grove Gallery in Milwaukee during 2017.