The De Pree Art Center and Gallery at Hope College will feature the exhibition “MOTHERROOT” by Becci Davis from Friday, March 1, through Thursday, March 28.
Davis will present an artist talk on Friday, March 1, at 4 p.m. in Cook Auditorium in the De Pree Art Center followed by an opening reception that will run until 6 p.m. The public is invited to the exhibition, artist talk and opening reception, and admission is free.
“MOTHERROOT” honors Black motherhood and nurturing. By drawing connections between motherhood and plant life, the exhibition emphasizes the role that care, legacy, environment and nourishment play in creating the conditions for one to flourish. Davis has dedicated the exhibition to the memory of Mary Denise Lee and Rebecca Robenia Stephens.
Davis was born on a military installation in Georgia named after General Henry L. Benning of the Confederate States Army. Her birth began her family’s first generation after the Civil Rights Act and its fifth generation post-Emancipation. As a visual artist, Davis finds inspiration in exploring archives, commemoration practices, memory, landscapes and connection to place.
Davis lives and works in Providence, Rhode Island, where she is a member of the WARP Collective and serves on the city’s Special Committee for the Review of Commemorative Works. Davis is also a lecturer at Brown University, teaching Studio Foundations in the Department of Visual Art.
Davis earned her MFA from Lesley University College of Art and Design. Davis received the Public Humanities Scholar Award, given by the Rhode Island State Council for the Humanities in 2021, and has also been awarded the St. Botolph Club Foundation Emerging Artist Award in Visual Art, the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts Fellowship in New Genres, and the RISD Museum Artist Fellowship. Davis’s work has been shown nationally in spaces such as the Newport Art Museum, TILA Studios, Biennial of the Americas, the Photographic Museum of Humanity and Jane Lombard Gallery.
Programming in conjunction with “MOTHERROOT” also includes studio visits and a workshop in the Department of Art and Art History sponsored by the college’s Cultural Affairs Committee.
The De Pree Gallery is open weekdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., although the hours will be reduced — from noon to 4 p.m. — during the college’s spring break running Friday-Friday, March 8-15. Those without a Hope College ID, which is necessary to gain access through the front door, should call the Department of Art and Art History at 616-395-7500 to gain entry.
To inquire about accessibility or if you need accommodations to fully participate in the event, please email accommodations@hope.edu. Updates related to events are posted when available at hope.edu/calendar in the individual listings.
The De Pree Art Center and Gallery is located at 275 Columbia Ave., between 10th and 13th streets