Message from Executive Director

Susan Martin

    Happy Women's History Month!  Women’s History Month is a celebration of women’s contributions to history, culture and society and has been observed annually in the month of March in the United States since 1987.

    Did you know that Women's History Month began as Women's History Week?  According to womenshistory.org, Women’s History Month began as a local celebration in Santa Rosa, California. The Education Task Force of the Sonoma County (California) Commission on the Status of Women planned and executed a “Women’s History Week” celebration in 1978. The organizers selected the week of March 8 to correspond with International Women’s Day. The movement spread across the country as other communities initiated their own Women’s History Week celebrations the following year.

    In 1980, a consortium of women’s groups and historians—led by the National Women’s History Project (now the National Women's History Alliance)—successfully lobbied for national recognition. In February 1980, President Jimmy Carter issued the first Presidential Proclamation declaring the Week of March 8th 1980 as National Women’s History Week.

    Subsequent Presidents continued to proclaim a National Women’s History Week in March until 1987 when Congress passed Public Law 100-9, designating March as “Women’s History Month.” Between 1988 and 1994, Congress passed additional resolutions requesting and authorizing the President to proclaim March of each year as Women’s History Month. Since 1995, each president has issued an annual proclamations designating the month of March as “Women’s History Month.”

    Bower Center for the Arts would like to recognize and thank all women who have contributed and continue to contribute to arts, culture and our society.  Visit Bower Center to view current contributions to the arts by our Studio Artists and artists currently showing in our exhibit.  And visit https://womenshistorymonth.gov/ for more exhibits, collections and virtual events.

Sincerely,

Susan 

CREATE. INSPIRE. CONNECT. GROW.

Up Next

Artist Spotlight

     We have FOUR NEW EXHIBITS coming in March! The first will be the Bedford County Public Schools Elementary Art Show from March 14-19, 2022. This show ONE Week only, with extended hours on Friday, March 18th from 11-7pm! So come celebrate the brilliant young artists in our community!

    This Exhibit will be followed by 3 Exhibits: Barry Koplen: Men at Work, Robert Hunter: Saucer Dreams, and Itsy-Bitsy Art. This exhibits will run from March 22 - April 23, 2022. Barry Koplen: Men at Work will be featured in the Sara Braaten Gallery, Itsy-Bitsy Art will be in the Art Around the Corner Gallery Space, and finally Robert Hunter: Saucer Dreams will be on display in the Terrace Gallery.  

Veronica Jackson, BCA Studio Artist

INTERPRETIVE EXHIBIT DESIGNER + CONTENT DEVELOPER + VISUAL ARTIST

    Veronica Jackson’s artwork is autobiographical and responds to the travails of her ancestors. Her multidisciplinary visual art practice is built upon an interpretive exhibit design and architecture career spanning more than three decades. She tells stories using every-day objects such as felt-lined bulletin boards, clothing, hair, handmade paper, timecards, and text.

    Jackson’s initial project—The Language of Invisibility—responds to an environment indoctrinated to view her through a singular stereotyped lens, or not see her at all.

Her body of work constantly evolves as individual yet integrated projects are incorporated into its realm.

    Jackson believes that studying visual culture is a transformative experience. Her goal is to introduce audiences to ways that visual culture incites the imagination to view the world differently, and empowers them to creatively contribute to it. As a cultural producer Jackson’s practice is a performance in social justice, which she defines as the agency to reclaim her body, to live and love her truth, and to reveal to anyone who has ever felt disenfranchised or “othered” that they may unapologetically do the same.

Looking Back

February 2022

Bower Center For The Arts

305 N. Bridge Street

Bedford, VA

540.586.4235