Betty LaDuke
Dreaming Cows Mural Project
April 2 - May 26, 2008
Right: Practical experiences about food production are included in the curriculum at Gibbs Elementary School, Little Rock, AR. This role model project is composed of worm composting bins, a fenced hen house and a vegetable garden. Heifer International promotes this Dunbar Urban Farm Project, where children learn lessons that can be repeated at home about growing their food and maintaining a sustainable environment.
Wild Rice Harvest
The Worm Story
Pachamama
Tree of Life
Right: Husband and wife are like a tree of life that continues to expand its branches. Working with Heifer International staff, they learn new organic methods to enrich the soil to increase their food production and animal reproduction. As valuable as the gift of sheep, cows, rabbits, and guinea pigs is the knowledge they share with their community.
Right: “The cow’s name is Nora. She is the only source of income I have. She was pregnant when I received her from Heifer International and had twins. One was very weak and I was told she would die. But I had already lost too much, so I fed her with bottle-milk and covered her with a blanket. She survived and did well, and now I have passed her on. I still have Nora.”
Left: “We are poor but our culture is great and our hearts are open to everyone! No one from our state institutions has ever come to visit us. We thank you for coming from so far away to be with us. We thank you for the cows, the training and the hope we now have for the future."
Our Culture Is Rich (diptych)
Left:
Cows are like family; well-loved, sheltered and fed. They
in turn provide milk and yogurt for family and neighbors, manure for fertilizer,
bio-gas for cooking and light. Families dream of increasing their cow
herds and their opportunities.
Right: Nanfuka Teopista was trained in goat management by Heifer International
before receiving her goat. As a result, she now has three goats that provide
nourishment for her and two orphans, fertilizer for a vegetable garden,
and additional income for the children’s school supplies and uniforms.
She has also passed on the gift of a goat to the Nalukenge Rose family.
Village Market
Left: In addition to raising livestock for improved family nutrition, fruit and vegetable gardens are an integral part of the agricultural process. Extra produce is brought to the village market.
Mekong River Market Day
earn income from their gardens.
Building Community Leaders
Shegasi
Community:
Daru Goats Project
Heifer International
Betty LaDuke
Celebrating
cultural diversity has been the focus of my sketchbook travels and art
for over 50 years. In Ashland, Oregon my large acrylic paintings evolve
in my studio as a personal interpretation of worldwide communities,
cultural traditions, physical and spiritual survival. They are organized
as circulating educational exhibits such as: Impressions of India 1974;
China, an Outsiders Inside View 1976; Papua New Guinea, Totems and Creation
Myths 1982; Latin American Impressions 1984; and Africa, Myth, Magic
and Reality 1990 and have been presented nationally and internationally.
These experiences have prepared me for a new challenge!
In
Dreaming Cows, a current exhibit, I conclude “the cup is half
full,” as I am inspired by Heifer
International (HI), a humanitarian organization concerned with world
hunger and a sustainable environment. During my first visit to an HI
project site in Rwanda 2003, I found a country reeling from genocide
nine years earlier. How could the gift of a cow or goat make a difference
for a family’s survival in body as well as spirit? Since then
I continue to explore this theme with HI in Africa, Latin America, Asia,
Eastern Europe, and the United states.
My
32 Dreaming Cows paintings are symbolic stories which invite you with
their diverse shapes, colors, and textures to meet the eyes of the people
who inhabit them. We are global neighbors and our future survival depends
on our greeting each other with mutual respect. The stories of the Dreaming
Cow paintings are now presented in another format.
In 2007 I
was invited by HI to create a mural for their Murphy-Keller Education
Center in Little Rock, AR scheduled to open in 2009. This Dreaming Cows
Mural Project, 7’ tall x 90’ wide, evolved as a series of
individually cut and shaped plywood panels, approximately 7’ x
4’ each, representing HI projects around the world. Since they
are also reproduced in gicleé print format, it is possible to
present the Dreaming Cows Mural Project as a circulating exhibit.
These
recent challenges are joyous experiences. For the first time I am partnering
with an inspiring organization with outreach around the world that values
my artistic work as a way to share their story of world hunger and sustainable
solutions.
Location:
Third Floor Galleries
Curator: Betty LaDuke
This
page was modified April 29, 2008. K.M.J. |