For those who need something to do between class and lunch Thursday, University Museums will be having a local artist discuss her work.

As part of the reACT series #WomenKnowStuffToo, the department of University Museums, in collaboration with the Margaret Sloss Center for Women and Gender Equity, the College of Design, supported by Humanities Iowa and the National Endowment for Humanities, will present a talk with Linda Emmerson, a local woman artist and alumna of Iowa State whose work is featured on campus.

The reACT series, run by University Museums, is focusing on women’s contributions, knowledge and mastery of the fine arts.

“The exhibition and program series was designed to celebrate Women’s History Month through the celebration of women’s expertise in the arts,” said Emily Morgan, an assistant professor in art and visual culture and co-curator of the exhibition. “The exhibition is focused on highlighting women’s expertise, women’s skills, women’s accumulation of knowledge about particular forms of art making.”

Emmerson’s work, according to the Facebook event page covering this exhibition, includes commemorating some of the biggest moments in a person’s life: births, wedding days, anniversaries and other special events.

Emmerson also does illustrations for books, poems, calendars and nursery rhymes. Emmerson creates art through the unique medium of paper cutting. According to Morgan, Emmerson worked as a draft artist for an architectural firm. This gave her some of the skill and knowledge that she could put to work in her paper cutting, such as the ability to render and present space on a flat surface.

The Gallery Talk will give students, faculty members and the community the chance to talk face to face with a professional and successful artist about her work and techniques.

“We would really love it to start a conversation,” Morgan said. “One that can continue both beyond the walls of the gallery and also beyond the time frame of the exhibition. It’s one of the reasons why we used for the exhibition and program series a hashtag. We’re hoping it will become a conversation starter.”

This Gallery Talk is the first of three such exhibitions to come to campus, all including the artists that are featured in the respective events, and part of a broader series of events coming to campus this month that include workshops, movie screenings, gallery exhibitions and more.

The event is scheduled for 12:30 p.m Thursday and will be held in the lower Reiman Gallery of the Christian Petersen Art Museum in Morrill Hall.

“That was part of the goal,” said Lilah Anderson, program coordinator and educator for visual literacy and learning for University Museums. “This kind of short lunchtime slot that we put this in. We wanted it to be something that was accessible, something you can fit into your day and still have that experience.”