Betty LaDuke
Shaped Images
My studio is empty. After five years of work, I miss Dreaming Cows, a series of large acrylic paintings on canvas that led to a one-hundred-foot mural project on plywood panels. I miss the images of cows, goats, ducks, pigs, alpacas and people from around the world who benefited from them and from the training provided by Heifer International, a humanitarian organization dedicated to relieving world hunger and providing a sustainable environment. (Our HI's unique collaboration began in 2003 after a first sketchbook journey to their project sites in Rwanda and Uganda.)
Inspired by HI's Cornerstone program of helping people help themselves, I expanded the Dreaming Cows series to thirty-two images reflecting programs in Latin America, Eastern Europe, Asia and the United States. Dreaming Cows then toured museums, art centers and university galleries across the United States and became a means of making visible the basic needs of people around the globe and providing ways to sustain those needs.
After two years of intense work, the Dreaming Cows mural panels (seven feet tall by four feet wide--or smaller) were shipped to Heifer Village --a green, free-to-the-public education center in Little Rock, Arkansas. In their permanent installation they would oversee exhibits designed to raise awareness of world hunger and present solutions leading to personal action.
My studio is empty. I miss painting on the rough-grained 3/4-inch plywood panels cut, shaped and routed by Barney Johnson, a neighbor, friend and studio assistant whose technical skills and encouragement I find invaluable.
Looking over years of work, I decided that many of the paintings with story-images needed to be released from their rectangular confines; thus began a new series of images free of their frames. I took my themes from Eritrea and Ethiopia, which I visited many times, between 1994-2002. The result was four panels entitled, After War, Dreaming Peace, and Reshaping The Land.
The Oregon Cherry Harvest panel reflects my Bronx and then Ashland roots as well as etchings that are a printmaking process on zinc plates. I did this work between thirty-two years of teaching at Southern Oregon State College, beginning in 1964, and retiring from Southern Oregon University in '96, Professor of Art, Emeritus. During this period, my studio companion was an antiquated, hand-turned etching press, and each zinc plate that I cut, shaped and printed bore a technical similarity to the wood panels in this show.
Shaped Images is selected from more than four decades of work that includes personal scenes of Oregon landscape and cultural explorations beginning with my first sabbatical to India, in 1972.
My studio is empty so that this exhibit can be full of images (both personal and political, past and present) that bridge people as well as continents. We are one.
Betty LaDuke
March 2009
EDUCATION:
1960-63 California State University, Los Angeles, CA, B.A. Degree, Master's Degree
1953-54 Instituto Allende, San Miguel, Mexico (scholarship)
1951-52 Cleveland Institute of Art (scholarship)
1950-51 Denver University (scholarship)
1947-50 High School of Music and Art, New York
TEACHING CAREER:
1964-92 Southern Oregon University, Ashland, OR. Professor of Art. Special Courses: Women and
Art and Art in the Third World. Faculty Award of Excellence 1986.
1961-64 Stevenson Jr. High, Los Angeles, CA
1957-58 Grand Street Settlement House, New York, NY
TRAVEL:
Eritrea 1997; Thailand and Eritrea 1995; Zimbabwe, Eritrea and Bolivia 1994; Burkina Faso and Zimbabwe 1993; Ghana, Togo, and Benin 1992; Cameroon 1991; Mexico 1990; Mali and Ivory Coast 1989; Morocco, Senegal and Mali 1988; Egypt, Kenya and Nigeria 1987; Yugoslavia and Nigeria 1986; Nicaragua and Jamaica 1985; Puerto Rico, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Bolivia and Brazil 1984; Haiti, Cuba, Grenada, Nicaragua and Mexico 1983; Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Cuba 1982; Chile, Peru, San Blas Islands and Nicaragua 1981; India, Borneo and Sulawesi 1980; Papua New Guinea and Australia 1978; Mexico 1976, 1977, 1979; People's Republic of China 1976; Indonesia, Thailand, Hong Kong 1975; India and Sri Lanka 1974; India 1972; Europe 1969; Europe and Israel 1956; Lived in Mexico 1953-56.
CURRENT TRAVELING EXHIBITS:
Sponsored by EXHIBIT TOURING SERVICE: Eastern Washington University, Cheney, WA
(1) Companeros: Women, Art and Social Change in Latin America
(2) Africa Through the Eyes of Women Artists, photographs and collected art based on book
of same title, Africa World Press, 1991
(3) Africa Between Myth and Reality, paintings, prints, and drawings, based on journeys to
Africa 1986-1993
BOOK PUBLICATIONS:
Woman Against Hunger, A Sketchbook Journey, Africa World Press, 1997
Africa: Women's Art, Women's Lives, Africa World Press, 1997
Women Artists: Multi-Cultural Visions, Red Sea Press, 1992
Africa Through the Eyes of Women Artists, Africa World Press, 1991
Multi-Cultural Celebrations, Betty LaDuke Paintings 1972-1992, Gloria Feman Orenstein, Pomegrante
Pub., 1993 (80 color reproductions).
Companeras: Women, Art, and Social Change in Latin America, City Lights, 1985
VIDEOS:
Betty LaDuke, An Artist's Journey from the Bronx to Timbuktu
Persistent Women Artists, Velarde, Okubo, Jones
Africa Between Myth and Reality
Eritrean Artists in War and Peace (filmed in Africa)
GRANTS AND AWARDS: (select list)
Ziegfield Award, National Art Education Association, 1996, for distinguished international leadership
in art education
United States Information Service, Academic Specialist Grant to Eritrea, Africa, 1995
Governor's Award for the Arts, 1993
Faculty Award of Excellence, 1986
Carpenter Foundation, 1973, 1974, 1978, 1980, 1983, 1984
Collins Foundation, 1974, 1976, 1995, 1996, 1997
Southern Oregon State College, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1984, 1986, 1987, 1992, 1997
Oregon Committee for the Humanities, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1982
Oregon Art Commission, 1980
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS:
College Art Association; National Women's Studies Association; Phi Kappa Phi; The Arts Council
of the African Studies Association
ART EXHIBIT THEMES (PAINTINGS, PRINTS, AND DRAWINGS)
(1) China, An Outsider's View; (2) Totems and Creation Myths; (3) East-West: A Feminine-Mythical View; (4) Print Impressions: Third World Cultures; (5) Impressions of Latin America; (6) Companeras: Women, Art, and Social Change in Latin America; (7) Africa Between Myth and Reality; (8)
Africa Through the Eyes of Women Artists; and (9) Multi-Cultural Celebrations.
INDIVIDUAL EXHIBITIONS (select list)
1998 Indianapolis Art Center, Indianapolis, IN
Albany Museum of Art, Albany, GA
1997 Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY
1996 California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA
Everett Community College, Seattle, WA
In Her Image, Portland, OR
Hanson Howard Gallery, Ashland, OR
1994 In Her Image Gallery, Portland, OR
Hanson Howard Gallery, Ashland, OR
Crealde School of Art, Orlando, FL
Green River Community College, Auburn, WA
University Art Galleries, University of South Dakota, Vermillion, SD
1993 In Her Image, Portland, OR
African American Caribbean Cultural Center, Fort Lauderdale, FL
Maier Museum of Art, Lynchburg, VA
1992 Schneider Art Museum, Ashland, OR
1991 Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR
1990 International Oasis Gallery, Savannah, GA
1989 Hanson Howard Gallery, Ashland, OR
In Her Image Gallery, Portland, OR
Lower Columbia College, Longview, WA
Appalachian State University, Boone, NC
Columbia Basin College, Pasco, WA
1988 Tarko College, Tarko, MO
Central Missouri State University, Warrensburg, MO
Florida Community College, Jacksonville, FL
Fresno Community College, Fresno, CA
Davidson Gallery, Seattle, WA
The Evergreen State University, Olympia, WA
1987 Portland State University, Portland, OR
South Western Oregon Community College, Coos Bay, OR
Maude Kern Art Center, Eugene, OR
1986 Women's Center, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA
Mount Hood Community College, Gresham, OR
Frostburg State College, Frostburg, MD
1985 Southern Oregon State College, Ashland, OR
University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV
San Jose State University, San Jose, CA
1984 Humboldt Cultural Center, Arcata, CA
Eastern Washington State University Cheney, WA
Casa Fernando Gordillo, Managua, Nicaragua
Fourth World Gallery, Modesto, CA
1983 Evergreen State College, Olympia, WA
University of Texas, Austin, TX
Women's Caucus for Art, Houston, TX
1982 Pro Arts, Oakland, CA
Spokane Falls Community College, Spokane, WA
Reed Whipple Culture Center, Las Vegas, NV
Washington State University, Pullman, WA
1981 Museum of Art, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
University of the Pacific, Stockton, CA
Mt. Hood Community College, Gresham, OR
Columbia College Art Gallery, Columbia, MO
1980 Lucian Labaudt Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Portland Community College, OR
California State University, Hayward, CA
International Monetary Fund, Washington, D.C.
Virginia Beach Arts Center, VA
1979 Bechtel International Center, Stanford University, CA
Cheney Cowles Museum, Spokane, WA
1978 California State University, Fresno, CA
Fort Hays State University Hays, KA
Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ
University of Washington, Pullman, WA
1977 Willamette University, Salem, OR
1975 University of Guanajuato, Mexico
1974 The March Gallery, Chicago, IL
Humboldt Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1973 Coos Art Museum, OR
1972 Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA
1965 Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR
1964 Brand Public Library, Los Angeles, CA
1958 Montclair Teachers State College, NJ
1956 Galerie Arte Moderne, Mexico City, Mexico
1955 Gallery Nuevas Generacions, Mexico City, Mexico
1953 Karamu House, Cleveland, OH
ART REVIEWED IN THE FOLLOWING BOOKS:
1996 From the Realm of the Ancestors: Essays in Honor of Marija Gimbutas, Joan Marler, ed.
Dictionary of Women Artists, Fitzroy, Dearborn Pub.
1995 Basic Printmaking, Bernard Toal, Davis Pub.
1991 Women Speak, the Eloquence of Women's Lives, Karen Foss & Sonya Foss, Waveland Press
1990 The Reflowering of the Goddess, Gloria Feman Orenstein, Pergamon Press
1989 Contemporary Graphic Artists, Gale Research Co., Detroit, MI
Northwest Originals, Oregon Women and Their Art, In Unison Publications, 1989
The Once and Future Goddess: A Symbol for our Time, Elinor Gadon, Harper & Row, 1989
PUBLISHED ART
Book Covers
1997 Embracing the Spirit, ed. Emilie Townes, Orbis Books
1996 Women in the Time of AIDS, Gillian Paterson, Orbis Books
Understanding Contemporary Africa, eds. Gordon & Gordon, Lynne Rienner Pub.
1995 Saga: Best New Writings on Mythology, ed. Jonathan Young, White Cloud Press
Common Era: Best New Writings on Religion, ed. Steven Scholl, White Cloud Press
Rise Up and Call Her Name, A Woman Honoring Journey into Global Earth Based Spiritualists,
ed. Elizabeth Fischer, Unitarian Universalist Women's Federation
Daughters of Anowa: Africa, Women and Patriarchy, Mercy Amba Oduyoye, Orbis Books
Changing Lives, edited by Committee on Women's Studies in Asia, Feminist Press
1994 Clothed with the Sun, Joyce Hollyday
Poem Rising from the Earth, Jim Grabill
1991 The Matter Is Life, J. California Cooper, Doubleday
This River of Courage, Pam McAllister, New Society Pub.
1990 Modern Secrets, Shirley Geok-Lin Lim, Dangaroo Press
Journal Covers
1997 Research in African Literatures, Indiana University Press
1996 The Other Side, Philadelphia, PA, May-June
1995 Horizons, Presbyterian Woman, Louisville, KY, March-April
1994 Illuminations, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Ashland, OR
Music Design Catalog, Spring
We'moon Almanac, Mother Tongue Ink, Estacada, OR
1993-95 Research in African Literatures, Indiana University Press
1993 Lady Slipper
Lilith, New York, NY, October
CSWS Review, Center for the Study of Women in Society, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR
Reflections, Portland, OR, Fall
Talking Leaves, Eugene, OR, Solstice
1992 The Other Side, Vol. 28, No. 3, Philadelphia, PA, May-June
1991 The Witness, Vol. 74, No. 12, Detroit, MI, December
Guide to the Arts, Jefferson Public Radio, Ashland, OR, February
1990 The Other Side, Philadelphia, PA, May-June
1988 Kalliope, Vol. 10, Nos. 1 & 2
1987 Yellow Silk, Winter
1986 Calyx, Vol. 10, No. 1, Corvallis, OR
1983 Calyx, Vol. 7, No. 3, Corvallis, OR
JOURNAL REVIEWS (select list)
1996 The Other Side
1995 CWSW Review
1994 Feminist Studies
Women's Art Journal
Surface Design
1993 Hemisphere, United Airlines
1993 Yoga
Magical Blend
1992 The Witness
CWSW Review
1991-93 The Other Side
1989 Women of Power
Yellow Silk
Calyx, Corvallis, OR
1988 Galerie Women's Art
In Unison
1986 San Jose Studies
MAJOR ART AWARDS, EXHIBITIONS AND COMMISSIONS
1996 Edwin Ziegfeld Award, International Society for Education Through the Arts, of the National
Art Education Society for Distinguished International Leadership in Art Education
Conference.
1993-95 Freedom From Hunger, Davis, CA, documentation of women's community projects in Ghana,
Burkina Faso, Bolivia, Thailand, and the U.S.A. for book Woman Against Hunger,
A Sketchbook Journey.
1995 Puppet Designs for The Amazing Adventures of Coca-Kaba, the Dwarf Wizard of Uxmal,
Tears of Joy Theater, Portland, OR
1994 Disneyland, CA, commission for Lion King Parade
1984 Casa Fernando Gordillo, Artists' Union, Managua, Nicaragua (Ser Humano - To Be Human,
Print Exhibit, one person)
1983-86 Visual Art Resources, Museum of Art, Eugene, OR - Sponsorship of Traveling Exhibit
Women Painters of India and Traditional Artists of Borneo and Sulawesi
1983 Hubert Herring Memorial Award for Best Article, Pacific Coast Council of Latin American
Studies ("Nicaragua: The Painter-Peasants of Soleniname")
1980 Hubert Herring Special Recognition Award for Best Book, Pacific Coast Council of Latin
American Studies (Mexico, A Sketchbook Journey of Easter, Evergreen, Colorado:
Impressions)
1976-77 Oregon Artists Bicentennial Traveling Exhibit, Museum of Art , Eugene, OR
1976 Cheney Cowles Memorial Museum, Spokane, WA (Fremont Lane Award, - Painting)
University of Guanajuato, Guanajuato, Mexico (Exhibition of Prints - Impressions of India)
1974-76 Visual Arts Resource, Museum of Art, Eugene, OR (sponsorship of Impressions of India
Traveling Exhibit)
1975 Collins Foundation, grant to create a Portfolio of four lithographs (The Karma Cycle)
1973 Medford City Hall, Medford, OR (Selected by Medford Arts Commission for Permanent
Collection - eight lithographs)
Carpenter Foundation, Grant to create a portfolio of eight lithographs (Impressions of India)
1972 Southern Oregon University, Ashland, OR (Commission to create print for the opening of the
Stevenson Student Union)
Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR (Commission to create membership print)
Coos Art Museum, Coos Bay, OR (Purchase Prize - Painting)
1971 Medford City Hall, Medford, OR (Selected by Medford Arts Commission - Painting for
Permanent Exhibit)
Graphics '71, Western New Mexico University, Silver City, NM (Purchase Prize)
1970 Oregon State Fair, Salem, OR (First Prize, Painting)
Westside Jewish Community Center, Los Angeles, CA (Second Invitational Traveling Biblical
Exhibit)
1969 Ninth Pacific Northwest Annual, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA (Purchase Prize - Print)
Rochester Religious Art Festival, Rochester, NY (Second Prize - Print)
1969 Summer Art Festival, Oregon College of Education, Monmouth, OR (Award - Print)
1967 Friends of the Museum, Museum of Art, Eugene, OR (Honorable Mention - Print)
1963 Downey Museum of Art, Downey, CA (Honorable Mention - Print)
1962 California State College of Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA (Graduation Exhibition, First Prize,
Printmaking)
1958 City Center Gallery, New York, NY (Honorable Mention - Painting)
1953-56 Five one-person exhibits sponsored by the Mexican government in Guanajuato, Durango, Leon,
Tuxtla-Gutierrez, and Mexico City.
BETTY LaDUKE: INTERNATIONAL PRESENTATIONS
1995 United States Information Service (USIS): ART WORKSHOP AND LECTURES in Eritrea,
Africa
1987 Paa Yaa Paa Gallery, Nairobe, Kenya: AFRICAN AND AFRICAN-AMERICAN WOMEN
ARTISTS
Writers and Artists Association, Cairo, Egypt: AFRICAN AND AFRICAN-AMERICAN
WOMEN ARTISTS
United States Information Agency, Lagos, Nigeria, and University of Ibadan, African Studies
Center: AFRICAN AND AFRICAN-AMERICAN WOMEN ARTISTS
1986 International Feminist Women Writers Conference, Dubrovnic, Yugoslavia: LATIN
AMERICA: WOMEN, ART AND SOCIAL CHANGE
United States Information Agency: Arts America, Lagos, Nigeria: WOMEN AND ART
1984 International Society for Education Through the Arts: World Congress, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil:
LATIN AMERICA: WOMEN, ART AND SOCIAL CHANGE
Casa Fernando Gordillo, Managua, Nicaragua
1978 International Society for Education Through the Arts: World Congress, Adelaide, Australia:
CHINA, AN AMERICAN ARTIST'S VIEW
1975 University of Guanajuato, Mexico
VISITING ARTIST PROGRAM (select list)
1996 Everett Community College, Seattle, WA
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA
1994 Crealde School of Art, Orlando, FL
1993 African American Caribbean Cultural Center, Fort Lauderdale, FL
Maier Museum of Art, Lynchburg, VA
1989 Appalachian State University, Boone, NC
Columbia Basin College, Pasco, WA
1988 Central Missouri State University, Warrensburg, MO
Florida Community College, Jacksonville, FL
Fresno Community College, Fresno, CA
The Evergreen State University, Olympia, WA
1984 Casa Fernando Gordillo, Managua, Nicaragua
1983 Women's Caucus for Art, Houston, TX
1982 Washington State University, Pullman, WA
1979 Bechtel International Center, Stanford University, CA
1975 University of Guanajuato, Mexico
BETTY LaDUKE: ART IN PUBLIC COLLECTIONS (partial list)
Gordon Gilkey, International Print Collection, Portland, OR
Ashland Community Hospital, Ashland, OR
Salishan Lodge, Oregon
Synanon, Los Angeles, CA
Southern Oregon University, Ashland, OR
Western New Mexico University, Silver City, NM
University of Oregon, Eugene, OR
Coos Art Museum, Coos Bay, OR
Eastern Oregon College, OR
Museum of Art, Eugene, OR
Medford City Hall, Medford, OR
University of Guanajuato, Mexico
Haseltine Collection of Northwest Art, Eugene, OR
Museo De Arte, Managua, Nicaragua
Fort Hays State University, Hays, KS
Temple Emek Shalom, Ashland, OR
Rogue Valley Medical Center, Medford, OR
Schneider Museum of Art, Ashland, OR
Freedom From Hunger, Davis, CA
United States Information Service, Asmara, Eritrea
ART IN PRIVATE COLLECTIONS (select list)
Jorge Juan Crespo de La Serna, Art Critic, Mexico
Victor M. Reyes, Director, Palacio Nacional de Belles Artes, Mexico
Lucas Foss, Composer and Conductor
Dr. Shifra Goldman, Art Critic, Los Angeles, CA
Bruce Guenther, Chief Curator, Orange County Museum of Art, CA
Edna Manley, Kingston, Jamaica
Pat Ramsy, Director of Mutual Life Gallery, Kingston, Jamaica
Anthony Radich, Director, Western States Arts Federation
Jean Fuller Anderson, Editor, In Unison
Maribeth Collins, Director, Collins Foundation, Portland, OR
Dunbar Carpenter, Carpenter Foundation, Medford, OR
Bill and Florence Schneider, Schneider Museum of Art, Ashland, OR
Michael Fostor, Oregon Art Commission, Salem, OR
Judy Howard, Oregon Art Commission
Justine and Michael Toms, New Dimensions, National Public Radio, San Fransicso, CA
Karen Love, Hillsborough, NC
Dan and Joan Thorndike, Ashland, OR
Cynthia Lord, Ashland, OR
Olive and Gary Streit, Ashland, OR
Rabbi David Zaslow, Ashland, OR
Ann Jory, Carmel, CA
Kassahun Chicole, Publisher, Africa World Press
Robert and Mary Houdak, Ambassador to Eritrea