Current Exhibit - January 14, 2021

View this exhibit in the virtual tour of the gallery 

The Town of Danville presents 

traces

Featuring the artwork of Members of the Women Eco Artists Dialog (WEAD)
Virtual Exhibition Dates: January 14 - March 12, 2021

View this exhibit in the virtual tour of the gallery

We can see some of the traces humans leave: from magnificent art, architecture, and monuments, to air and water pollution, the desertification of lands, plastic clogged oceans, extinct species. In this exhibit, many of the artists are tracing their responses to these environmental concerns. 

We can see traces of influence and action more specific to women, too. We see them: in the values inculcated in the children who women birth and nurture; in the attunement of women to the cries of the climate and ecosystems for attention; in women’s instinctual “heart monitoring” of the many species silently taking their last breaths; and in the honoring of women’s personal ancestry. 

We can trace a lineage of women who bravely “kicked over the traces”, defying the harness of cultural norms and prejudices to demand the rights of women: to vote, to equal pay, to shatter the glass ceiling. And ultimately to demand the right of their children and children’s children, onward, to survive as a species on a life-sustaining planet. 

The women artists of WEAD (Women Eco Artists Dialog) are proud to continue on the path trodden by those women before who raised their voices to protect and defend all life in the face of injustice and environmental violations. The WEAD mission is nothing less than the health and well-being of all peoples, all species, all life. 

WEAD was created by Jo Hansen, Susan Leibovitz Steinman, and Estelle Akamine. Since 1996 WEAD has been a pioneering network of feminist eco-artists, educators, curators, and writers working toward the goal of a just and healthy world. The member artists focus on women’s unique perspectives in ecological and social justice art. 

For this exhibit artists were invited to submit work referencing this “Traces” theme, as expressed above. The result is an array of subtle and nuanced interpretations that are delightful and surprising. The viewer is invited to participate in discovering the relationship between the artwork and the theme.