[ID Begin: A series of two photos. The first is of a large group of people with their attention on a piece from the gallery. The artwork consists of a long piece of fabric hung from the ceiling with a word embroidered repeatedly in rows and columns. The second photo is of Sophia, she was leading the guided tour through the gallery exhibit. Behind her is a painting on the wall. It is of a woman doing embroidery. The piece is by Keerat Kaur and is titled “Mother.” ID End.]
We had the opportunity to be guided through the Hope exhibit at the Two Rivers Art Gallery. It began with an explanation of the premise behind it, giving credit to the curator, Sandeep Johal, and artists: Sara Khan, Keerat Kaur, Farheen Haq, Aman Aheer, Sunroop Kaur, Mustaali Raj, and Minahil Bukhari. We were then invited in to explore the artworks on our own. After some time, Sophia asked if we wanted to know anything more about any of the pieces and walked us through some of them – including insights that the artists had given previously. After our viewing experience, we were brought upstairs to create our own art inspired by the last pieces we had discussed. They were about finding hope in the future, however that may look.
[ID Begin: A close up of the painting from before. It includes the detailed hands working on an embroidery piece that contains a pomegranate and anatomical heart. The embroidery is stitched into the painting’s canvas. ID End.]
[ID Begin: Three paintings with royal blue borders. Each painting features a portrait of a woman against a gold background. This work is called “Matriarchs” and is done by Sunroop Kaur. ID End.]
The Two Rivers Art Gallery is just one place of many to have students explore for a field trip. I would very much like to bring future classes to explore and interpret future exhibits.