Friday, April 19: 5-7pm
The Benton County Historical Society is hosting an opening reception for artist Betty LaDuke’s newest exhibit, Bringing the World Together at the Philomath Museum (1101 Main Street Philomath, Oregon). LaDuke will give a short talk about her work at 6pm.
LaDuke’s current exhibitions focus on social justice from multiple perspectives, with colorful, elaborate totems and turtles carrying messages of resilience. This retrospective art exhibition includes paintings, prints and panels created between 1972 and 2023. Other recent exhibits by Betty LaDuke include Fire, Fury, and Resilience: Totem Witnesses and Totem Wisdom, and Turtle Wisdom: Personal, Political, and Playful. Many of these pieces will be included in the upcoming issue of CALYX Journal, Vol. 34:2, which features a retrospective on LaDuke’s work and her numerous collaborations with CALYX.
In 1993, La Duke received the Oregon Governor’s Award in the Arts. In 1996, she received the National Art Education Association’s Ziegfeld Award for Distinguished International Leadership and the Oregon Medallion Award 2019.
“The myth, magic, and reality of people and places, Betty LaDuke has met and visited flow through her paintbrush into images that tell of war, survival, border crossings, rites of passage and the common humanity among cultures.” – Lee Husk, Eminent Women, 1859 Oregon Magazine, 2015
In 2001, UN Secretary-General Kofi Anon wrote LaDuke: “We were delighted to learn that the original painting Eritrea – Ethiopia Grandmother’s Dreaming Peace has been donated to UNIFEM . . . and we hope that you will be able to continue to create your unique images with their timeless perspective.”
Johnnetta B. Cole, Director of the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, told LaDuke in 2017: “You will always have a special place in my heart, and I will continue to admire your artistry and respect your activism in the interest of peace with justice.”