EXHIBITIONS
The Center collects Midwest Art, American Decorative Arts, International Folk Art, including a significant collection of Mexican Folk Art and the worlds' largest public collection of Haitian Art. Selections from our collections are always on display. We also feature changing exhibits in five separate galleries throughout the building.
GALLERIES
UP COMING EXHIBITIONS
DOT DAY EXHIBITION
Longfellow-Hurlbut Concourse Gallery & Watkins Grand Foyer
On View September 2-November 4
What begins with a small dot on a piece of paper becomes a breakthrough in creativity, confidence, and courage. The Dot Day movement was sparked in 2009 by teacher Terry Shay, a Waterloo resident, who introduced The Dot to his students after recognizing its powerful message. This invitational exhibition of “dots,” featuring beloved local and regional artists, has been organized by Jessica Young.
CIELO Y TIERRA: MEXICAN PAINTING TRADITIONS
West Gallery
On View September 4-April 19
The Waterloo Center for the Arts has a breathtaking collection of Mexican folk arts, from intricately patterned huipils and otomis to remarkable ceremonial masks, capes, retablos, and even forged iron grave markers. This exhibition centers on the numerous, ingenious painting media and techniques found in Mexico as well as a rich tradition that simultaneously celebrates cosmic forces and earthly delights.
MILTON WOLSKY: A MID-CENTURY NEBRASKA ARTIST
Law-Reddington Gallery
On View September 30-March 15
Milton Wolsky (1916-1981) was a prolific artist from Omaha, NE who worked in areas ranging from illustration to abstract expressionist painting. Wolsky’s career blossomed in New York City in the 1940s where he worked as a modern artist and illustrator for national publications such as Good Housekeeping, Collier’s, McCall’s, TIME, Life, and Redbook. A career-spanning collection of his artwork is housed at Gallery 1516, a non-profit arts organization in Omaha, and is on loan to the Center as part of the gallery’s traveling exhibition outreach program.
TURTLE WISDOM: PERSONAL, POLITICAL, PLAYFUL
Watkins Grand Foyer & Creative Connect Corridor
On View September 30-February 15
The works of Betty LaDuke have many times graced the walls of the Waterloo Center for the Arts. This new body of work is 21 shaped, carved, and painted wood panels that are based on artist sketches drawn decades ago during travels in African, Latin American, and Asian countries. The themes speak to dreams, dreamers, expectations, love, hope, nostalgia, and resilience. The exhibition is supplemented by major LaDuke paintings and prints from the WCA collection.
CHRIS WUBBENA:
RECENT WORKS
On View November 25-April 12
Featuring interdisciplinary artist Chris Wubbena’s most recent bodies of work titled Demos and in the midst of things. His mixed-media sculptural compositions, multi-media installations, and large-scale public sculptures have been presented nationwide for the past two-and-a-half decades. He has a B.F.A. from UNI and an M.F.A. from San Francisco State University and is currently Professor of Sculpture at Southeast Missouri State University.
TIME AGAIN
On View September 30-February 15
Accomplished muralist, installation artist, and educator Brent Houzenga is a New Orleans-based artist originally from Fulton, IL. His work has been featured in publications such as Time Out Chicago, Art+Design New Orleans, and the Rizzoli book Stickers: From Punk Rock to Contemporary Art. He is also the subject of an independent documentary film titled Brent Houzenga: Hybrid Pioneer. Houzenga is known for his portraits of anonymous people painted with a Pop aesthetic. His influences include punk rock, street art, comic books, mysticism, and psychology. He states, “I’m interested in portraiture, but I’m equally interested in abstraction and the space between representation and the void.”