July 14, 2011
International pride: New Kemper Art Gallery display chronicles work of Heifer International
Submitted by Audrey Taggart-Kagdis
Artist Betty LaDuke has traveled the globe documenting the nonprofit organization Heifer International’s work.
LaDuke's documentation resulted in 22 individual paintings titled "Dreaming Cows.” The series of paintings is now on display in the William T. Kemper Art Gallery and will run through Aug. 30. The gallery will be open during regular hours of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Located on the first floor of the K-State Student Union, the Kemper Gallery is free and open to the public. For a complete list of all UPC activities, visit UPC or call the UPC office at 785-532-6571.
The exhibit, sponsored by the Union Program Council, depicts LaDuke’s experiences in Uganda, Rwanda, Ecuador, Peru, Poland, Vietnam and Cambodia. These paintings from around the globe symbolically portray people’s pride and renewed hope for the future.
“My food for inspiration continues to be the Heifer International program of helping people to help themselves. I am impressed by how diverse communities, with the guidance of Heifer International veterinarians, agronomists and community organizers, work together to make barren land fertile, maintain healthy animals and respect the environment as renewable sources of food, energy and life,” LaDuke said.
Heifer International is a humanitarian organization dedicated to ending world hunger and saving the Earth by providing livestock, trees, training and other resources to help poor families around the globe become self-reliant.