Walters Cultural Arts Center will open its March show with a First Tuesday reception from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, March 1.
The main gallery will show “Body Language,” a group show featuring artists Alison Gayne, Fong Chi NG, Forrest Solis, Jessica Orlowski, Meredith Re’ Grimsley and Molly Keizur.
The basement gallery will present “Protective Custody: Within a Prison Nursery,” by Cheryl Hanna-Truscott, and art from Miller Education Center students.
“Body Language” is an exhibition of figurative art that looks beyond traditional portraiture and into narrative postures. Viewers will discover artwork that is about identity, relationships and reflection. The artists chosen for this exhibit, all women, are varied in age and origin.
• Molly Keizur of Hillsboro is 16 and her drawings speak of longing, freedom and coming-of-age. While her drawings share the look of manga, her sense of composition and subject choices are quite mature, said Carl Annala, curator.
• Fong Chi NG is a Malaysian-born artist living in France. Her skillfully rendered works depict the female form overlaid with patterns that recall wallpaper or tattooing.
• Arizona artist Forrest Solis paints images that question stereotypes about women through recycling children’s books juxtaposed with focused investigations of women’s bodies.
• Alison Gayne’s work depicts, in her words, “moments of play which represent dreams and aspirations often connected with childhood.”
• Ceramic artist Jessica Orlowski is new to the Hillsboro area and her work rides the line between what she calls “cute and creepy,” and focuses on childhood personal dynamics and the theme of play.
• Meredith Re’ Grimsley’s work combines sculpture, painting and fiber arts, presenting the viewer with bound hands, limbs and obscured bodies of women. Her intention is that the work will reflect moments of meditation over spiritual growth, faith, sacrifice and a pursuit of grace.
“Protective Custody: Within a Prison Nursery” is a photography project by Cheryl Hanna-Truscott that exposes the lives of women who are parenting infants behind prison walls. This show raises awareness for the needs of these women and is a benefit for the Family Justice Initiative of Hillsboro.
The 16 fine-art portraits by Hanna-Truscott are of mothers and their babies who participate in the prison nursery program at the Washington State Corrections Center for Women in Gig Harbor.
The exhibit was shown initially at Mercy Corps headquarters in Portland, then moved to Ashland and on to The Portia Project at the University of Oregon Law School. It will travel next to the Galleria at the State Capitol in Salem, where it will be displayed April 29 to May 2.
Voices Set Free, WCRC and Sponsors Inc. will have a table with information in support of prison nurseries and alternative sentencing that would allow mothers who pose little threat to public safety to live in the community with their children.
Students of the Miller Education Center will also present their recent work created at the Arts Center.
The center is at 527 East Main St., Hillsboro. Refreshments will be by Claeys Catering, an art demonstration will feature arts center ceramics instructor Jessica Orlowski and the house concert will be by the Hillsboro Symphony Orchestra woodwind quintet.
Gallery hours are 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., Monday through Thursday; 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Friday; and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.
For information, contact Glenn and Viola Walters Cultural Arts Center at 503-615-3485 or go to www.ci.hillsboro.or.us/wcac.
