Annual women’s art exhibition at Oakton honors working women

An art exhibition that pays tribute to working women opens Thursday, Sept. 29, at Oakton Community College’s Koehnline Museum of Art, 1600 E. Golf Road, Des Plaines. Enjoy a free gala reception with the artists on opening night from 5 - 8 p.m. “Beyond Rosie the Riveter: Women and Work” runs through Friday, Oct. 21.

This year’s collaboration between Women’s and Gender Studies (WGS) and the Koehnline Museum of Art will display more than 70 works by women artists from around the globe. This year’s theme invokes Rosie the Riveter, the cultural icon representing the contributions of millions of women to the U.S. labor force in factories, offices and shipyards during World War II.

The exhibition will celebrate the spirit of women in work in various facets, including families and society, factories, businesses, military and sports entertainment. Also, the exhibition will examine women who have managed to break through the glass ceiling to lead in boardrooms, political arenas and other avenues of power and decision making.

“The exhibition has attracted submissions from many nationally and internationally recognized women artists,” Koehnline Manager Nathan Harpaz said. “The theme encompasses the struggle for women’s rights as well as their contributions in the workplace, a topic that is particularly apropos this year with a woman presidential candidate.”

The museum is open Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. - 6 p.m., and Saturday, 11 a.m. - 4 p.m.

“Beyond Rosie the Riveter: Women and Work” is funded in part by a generous grant from the Oakton Educational Foundation.

For more information, visit www.oakton.edu/wgs or contact Kathleen Carot, WGS coordinator, at 847-376-7061 or kcarot@oakton.edu.