ARTIST, AUTHOR &
ACTIVIST BETTY LADUKE
TO EXHIBIT AT THE GORDON
PARKS GALLERY
NEW ROCHELLE, NY,
January 31, 2008 – The College of New Rochelle’s (CNR) School of New
Resources (SNR) will present Surviving
War, Dreaming Home and Dreaming Cows, a dual exhibit of the
works of artist Betty LaDuke
at the Gordon A. Parks Gallery & Cultural Arts Center located on
the School’s John Cardinal O’Connor Campus in the South Bronx. The
exhibit will open on Thursday, February 21 and run through Friday, May
2. There will be an opening reception on February 21, from 6:30 – 8:30
p.m. The reception is by invitation only; press is invited to attend.
Surviving War, Dreaming Home is a collection of LaDuke’s
drawings and paintings inspired by her annual visits, in times of peace
and of war, to Eritrea and Ethiopia in Africa from 1994 to 2002.
Dreaming Cows was inspired by a 2003 Heifer International Study Tour to
Uganda and Rwanda.
Born in the Bronx to immigrant parents, LaDuke’s
artistic journey began there at age nine at the Worker’s Children’s
Camp where she was first introduced to African American art and Mexican
mural painting. She attended Denver University and the Cleveland
Institute of Art, before traveling to Mexico in 1953 to study at the
Instituto Allende, where she explored expressionism, cubism, and
pre-Columbian Aztec and Mayan art. A trip to India in the 1970s
was the beginning of LaDuke’s annual journeys around the world.
Her paintings reflect the identities, beliefs and lives of people she
has met along the way.
“Integral to my life and work as an artist and educator
are annual journeys to Asia, Latin America, or Africa. This ongoing
connection began with my first sabbatical from teaching in 1972 and
travel to India with a sketchbook for recording my impressions.
Thereafter, exploring cultural diversity, survival rhythms, and
people’s relationships to family, community, and environment became the
basic themes of my work,” says LaDuke.
The Gordon A. Parks Gallery & Cultural Arts Center
reflects the diverse interests of renowned photographer, film maker,
and writer Gordon Parks. The Center serves both Campus and community
through a variety of multicultural activities, including art exhibits,
lectures, poetry readings, and musical events.
