She’ll offer her first presentation, an informal gallery talk, at 3 p.m. Sunday, March 7, in the chapel, College Avenue. Her second lecture, titled Honor the Earth: A Multicultural Spiritual Journey, will be given at 4:30 p.m. Monday, March 8 (International Women’s Day), in Skelton Lounge, Chase Hall, 56 Campus Avenue. This talk will present her story as an artist who sees and portrays the world spiritually, politically and aesthetically in shades of struggle and hope.

LaDuke will lead a two-hour participatory workshop on art, activism and spirituality at 7 p.m., March 8. Preregistration is required for the workshop. The public is invited free of charge to attend the talks, the exhibit and the workshop, all sponsored by the Office of the Chaplain. For more information or to preregister for the workshop, call 207-786-8272.

To LaDuke, art and life are intimately interwoven. Her journeys around the world, particularly through Latin America, Asia and Africa, have inspired her to produce sketches and acrylic paintings that document the survival of hope in the face of great political, military and economic disturbance. Particularly moved by women’s diverse creative expressions, LaDuke’s art emphasizes the hope that fuels the struggle toward self-determination and dignity.

Focusing on the common concerns that bond people across the globe — relationships to land, food production, family and community — LaDuke’s art has explored the experiences of people in Nicaragua, Chile, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Chiapas, Mexico, among other places.

An acclaimed printmaker and painter, the Bronx-born LaDuke has spent as many years advocating for social change, racial equality, the rights of women, children and the environment.

The Bates display features work based on LaDuke’s annual travels to Eritrea and Ethiopia. A small nation in the Horn of Africa bordering the Red Sea, Eritrea fought a 30-year war of liberation against Ethiopia, its larger and more populous landlocked neighbor. 

LaDuke arrived in Eritrea in 1994, just three years after the long struggle between the two countries concluded. “I was delighted to see the people’s expressions of exuberance during this period of peace and reconstruction,” she said. LaDuke also witnessed the eruption of a 1998 border skirmish that quickly escalated into a two-year war. “I never expected to visit a war zone,” she said, but during periods of relative calm between major confrontations, she traveled throughout the region with Eritrean artists, visiting war-torn villages, relocation centers and camps for displaced persons.

LaDuke returned home to Ashland, Ore., to begin a series of acrylic paintings that symbolized survival and endurance in the harsh conditions of war, refugee camps and endless waiting. While such experiences are common worldwide, says the Bronx-born artist, “this was the first time I witnessed these conditions and responded from an artist’s perspective. While Africa has been the catalyst for this exhibit, its themes and emotions are universal.”

An acclaimed printmaker and painter whose work focuses on multicultural issues, LaDuke has visited Asia, the South Pacific, Central and South America and Africa during the past 40 years. A member of the art faculty at Southern Oregon University, where she taught drawing and painting for more than 30 years, LaDuke has spent as many years advocating for social change, racial equality, the rights of women, children and the environment.  Since 1986, her keen interest in the people and cultures of Africa has led her to portray the color, texture and rhythms that dominate African rural life.