“A Portrait of Remarkable Women" at the Quad City Arts International Airport Gallery -- September 2 through October 31.
Wednesday, September 2, through Saturday, October 31
Quad City Arts International Airport Gallery, 2200 69th Avenue, Moline IL
Held in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment, which guarantees and protects women's constitutional right to vote, A Portrait of Remarkable Women serves as the latest exhibition at the Quad City Arts International Airport Gallery, its display from September 2 through October 31 celebrating a milestone of democracy and the achievements of women, especially in the arts.
The airport gallery's new exhibit features portraits painted by Davenport's Heidi Hernandez and Cecile Houel of Fort Madison, Iowa, as well as sculptures by 11 female artists living within a 250-mile radius: Kristin Garnant, Hilde DeBruyne, Lisa Mahar, Liz Wakita, Judy Bales, Joan Webster-Vore, Stephanie J. Baugh, Elizabeth Rhoads Read, Lori Roderick, Karen Brinson, and Justine Zimmer. In doing so, A Portrait of Remarkable Women offers glimpses of of both the extraordinary women artists in our community as well as the women commemorated by Hernandez and Houel.
“One hundred years ago,” says Quad City Arts' visual arts director Dawn Wohlford-Metallo, “female artists struggled to be taken seriously in the profession, which meant being included in important exhibitions alongside men and selling their work at comparable prices. Now female artists can be self-supporting, have work purchased for museum collections, can own an art gallery, be curators, esteemed educators, critics, writers, and speakers. We now have numerous outstanding female artists here in our region to celebrate and share with the public. These artists can all stand on their own merit and many have had solo exhibitions, previously, but this anniversary provides us an opportunity to highlight talented women living here, now.”
As part of this special exhibit commemorating women, Houel will exhibit six female Nobel Peace Prize Winners at the airport gallery, and has said she plans to do portraits of all 107 Nobel Peace Laureates. Working from her studio in Fort Madison – a two-minute walk from the Mississippi River -- she typically completes 10 of the intensely personal four-foot by four-foot portraits each year. Hernandez, who will also be exhibited at the airport, chose to paint local and national female artists she admires, saying, “The collection of portraits I painted capture an exterior, a façade judged unfairly based on stereotypes and bias. Hidden truths gleaned during interviews with the artists, are presented behind the portraits, peeking out underneath the edge of the painting, inviting the viewer to take a closer look.”
In addition to Portraits of Remarkable Women, the Quad Cities will see the openings of five additional exhibits dedicated to women artists over the next several months: Nobel Peace Prize Collection: Peace Starts Within at the Beréskin Gallery & Art Academy; Nobel Peace Prize Collection at the German American Heritage Center; works by Cecile Houel and Rose Moore in a Davenport RiverCenter/Adler Theatre display (all three running August 28 – October 28); Liberated Voices/Changed Lives at the Putnam Museum & Science Center (through November 4); and Seen & Heard: The Art of Empowerment at the Figge Art Museum (through May 2, 2021). Together with the Quad City International Airport Gallery, these six Q-C venues provide visual art and historic displays that reflect the importance, power and struggle of female artists, as well as all people who have worked tirelessly for the equality of women, world peace, and the advancement of humankind.
The Quad City International Airport Gallery is located opposite the airport's gift shop and restaurant, there is a $1 fee for parking, and more information on the A Portrait of Remarkable Women exhibit on display from September 2 through October 31 is available by calling (309)793-1213 extension 108 or visiting QuadCityArts.com.
