Last Sunday, on Jan. 12, the Goshen College Hershberger Art Gallery presented an opening reception for the exhibit “Aspects of the Feminine” by Laurie Rousseau, a local artist from South Bend, Indiana.

The artist talked about her previous work and what led her to create “Aspects of the Feminine,” then followed her talk with questions from the public, which was partially made up of students from different art classes.

Sara Method, assistant professor of art and chair of the art department said, “One of our big goals with our art gallery is to show a variety of artwork from a variety of artists from different backgrounds, so the students have access to a lot of different types of artwork that they might not see otherwise.”

Method highlighted that Rousseau’s inclusion in the gallery is part of their ongoing effort to bring more diversity to the artists represented.

“We invited Laurie here because we’ve been trying to find diversity in our artist as well, so being able to represent our local woman artists … is important,” Method said.

Rousseau is an art educator at Good Shepherd Montessori School in South Bend, where she teaches students ages 3 to 13 and describes it as “the best job ever.” She creates her artwork at Taylor Street Art Studio in South Bend, and is inspired by nature and the human body.

For this exhibit, she was inspired by ancient goddesses and feminine energy. She was working on her environmental work when she started thinking about the figure that looked like a butterfly.

“I was thinking about what it feels like to be in the human body,” Rousseau said.

Nayo Ulloa, professor of Spanish and international studies at GC mentioned how Rousseau uses the moon and the sun on the figure in some prints where the moon represents reproduction, and the sun represents life.

“My favorite ones are the ones with the lights coming from behind the picture, it’s really cool to see them in person,” said Camila Pérez-Diener, a junior art education major.

Mireya Alemán, a first year art and history double major, highlighted the Egyptian goddess of the sun as one of her favorites.

“I like the way that Laurie represented this goddess and I also like how she paid attention to the details like her facial features — her fingers and her toes. It makes it feel not like something that people worship, but almost like an actual being that is here,” said Alemán.

Events like this help the students at Goshen College engage more with local art and support local artists.

Method said, “In all of our classes we have an assignment that we give the students for any of these types of events, to come and engage with the artist.”

Pérez-Diener said, “I found it really inspiring to hear that she teaches education for younger kids and that she finds hope with those younger kids, to then continue her work, and it’s sort of like an art therapy for her to continue making art.

“I hope to find that kind of energy to create art in the future,” she added.

“Aspects of the Feminine” will run through March 16 at the Goshen College Music Center, in the Hershberger Art Gallery.