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Forsberg Riverside Gallery

Enjoy Ongoing and Changing Exhibitions

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The Raymond T. Forsberg Riverside Galleries are located near the Grand Foyer/Café and feature ongoing changing exhibitions, in addition to exhibitions that are planned to interpret and expand upon the permanent collection and focus on Midwest Art, American Crafts, and Haitian and Caribbean Art.​​

Now Displaying

Collecting Light: 
Gifts from the
Gessen Family 

On view April 28-August 16, 2026

Between 2009 and 2025, the WCA received several major gifts of Haitian paintings, metals, sculpture, and drapo from collectors Edward and Ann Gessen. Thanks in part to the Gessens, our institution is now the leading repository of Haitian art in the country. This exhibition is a cross-section of that collection, providing an enticing glimpse into the collectors’ astonishing perception and sensitivity to Vodouyizan artistic expression.
 

A Donor's Celebration 
Panel & Reception 

Thursday, May 14, 2026 | 6:00-7:00pm
Free Admission

​Join us for A Donor‘s Celebration Panel & Reception. This event will feature a panel discussion that includes art donors Dot Long and Ed Gessen, as well as former WCA Executive Director Kent Shankle. Dot Long is the widow of Florida-based artist Woodie Long who is the subject of the WCA exhibition Memories of Woodie Long. Ed Gessen and his late wife Ann donated hundreds of art objects to the WCA’s Haitian art collection, many of which are on display in the exhibition titled Collecting Light: Gifts from the Gessen Family.

Waterloo Center for the Arts

225 Commercial Street | Waterloo, IA 50701-1313

(319) 291-4490

museum@waterloo-ia.org

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The Waterloo Center for the Arts stimulates inquiry, provokes dialogue & connects people through the arts

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