Floyd Bettiga Gallery

The College of the Redwoods Creative Arts Gallery presents “Between the Bottomlands & the World,” an installation of experimental documentary videos, photographs, and narrative writing about Beardstown, Illinois, a rural town transformed by immigration and global agricultural production. The exhibition runs from September 3 to October 3, 2019, with a public reception on Tuesday September 3 from 4:00pm to 6:00pm.

Beardstown is home to enormous agribusiness operations, towering grain terminals, and a massive meatpacking plant. Following the research of scholar Faranak Miraftab, Chicago-based artists Ryan Griffis and Sarah Ross traveled to this region, documenting its economy, geography, and infrastructure, as well as the lives of the people who live and work within this vast agricultural commodity system. 

The Annual Faculty & Staff Exhibition features work diverse in content, media and vision and reflects the interests and explores the studio practices of the artists working at College of the Redwoods.

Participating artists include Brittany Britton, Cindy Hooper, Dave Zdrazil, David Wilson, Dean Smith, Emily Silver, Erica Botkin, Kit Davenport, Hannah Meredith, Mina Cohen, Natalia Margulis, Ruth Jensen, Ben Funke, Shannon Sullivan, Tova Lund and Willa Briggs. Work shown ranges from paintings to sculptures, mixed media to digital media, and includes watercolor, ceramic, found objects, fabric, photography, video and more.  

The Dirty Canteen: Contemporary Art Made by Military Veterans features work by Jesse Albrecht, Drew Cameron and the Combat Paper Project, Amber Hoy, Aaron Hughes, Ash Kyrie, Giuseppe Pellicano, and Ehren Tool. This exhibition and associated programming is supported by College of the Redwoods Veterans Services, College of the Redwoods Student Equity, and the College of the Redwoods Clay Club.