Women's Center Gallery Review

This week I made my first excursion to the Women's Center here at UCSB and while I wasn't blown away with the majority of the art I do like the fact that they circulate they're little gallery/conference room quarterly and feature only UCSB artists. Based on the fact that all the paintings in the gallery are the same size I'm going to assume it was either a workshop or class that did the pieces at the same time and weren''t done for the "good" factor but for meaning and it seemed as though the common themes where freedom and pride for who they are.
This particular painting caught my eye from the shapes which to me indicate a female body with an stomach area that is reminicent of the globe (with opposite colors) I've also tried to figure out the green/black/orange color combination that surrounds but have been unsuccessful, but I'm thinking national pride.

I appriciated this painting because it is shows that the artist considers herself equal parts of her heritage which are pretty neutral in terms of knowing what ethnicity she is except for the bindi on her forehead which I would assume indicates a Hindu predominant country or simply her religion.

Also featured this week in the SRB is the series "find name" which featured quilted pieces and three beautifully colored body-inspired paintings.

I love the use of colors in these pieces, it reminds me a lot of thermography. I like the second picture because her hair and breasts blend and her face is basically non-existant. It makes me think about the "my eyes are up here" saying when in actuality the subject has no eyes.

I like that these two quilted pieces incorporate the strong black and color in different ways but are still very cohesive. I'd like a pillow set like that.

Overall my experience at the women's center gallery was very pleasant. While the semi-permanent collection wasn't quite my cup of tea, I found the selection throughout the SRB was very nice.