The reACT #WomenKnowStuffToo Opening Reception, an art exhibition that featured women’s artwork, took place Tuesday in Morrill Hall.

The opening reception was the first part of a series of events that will take place throughout March; the exhibition will run from March 2 to April 3 in the Reiman Gallery of the Christian Petersen Art Museum in Morrill Hall as a way to commemorate women artists, their impact on the arts and expertise as makers in different media.

The reception features guest co-curators Ruxandra Looft, director of the Margaret Sloss Center for Women and Gender Equity, Emily Morgan, assistant professor of art and visual culture and Jennifer Drinkwater, assistant professor of art and visual culture and community art specialist. All three spoke at the event.

“We want to celebrate women’s expertise, skill and command [in art],” Morgan said as she welcomed the public. “#WomenKnowStuffToo is a hashtag because we hope it becomes a conversation starter, a discussion beyond the boundaries of this exhibition.”

This program is part of a series anchored by the reACT art exhibition titled #WomenKnowStuffToo, with the purpose to engage community members in an ongoing conversation celebrating women artists and makers, as well as their impact on the arts and expertise in the field.

Through an art exhibition, gallery talks by artists, film screenings and two events focused on varied histories of women’s quilting, #WomenKnowStuffToo will engage community members in an ongoing conversation celebrating women-identified artists and makers, women’s impact on the arts and women’s expertise in a wide variety of fields and media.

“In doing so, we hope to continue to challenge the notion of what women in the arts know, contribute and create,” according to the Margaret Sloss Center for Women and Gender Equity website.

The reACT exhibition series is sponsored by the Office of the Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Women’s and Gender Studies Program and the Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching.

#WomenKnowStuffToo is a partnership with University Museums, the Margaret Sloss Center for Women and Gender Equity and the College of Design with additional support from the University Library, the Ames Public Library, Reliable Street and the Des Moines Art Center.

This program is supported by Humanities Iowa and the National Endowment for the Humanities. The views and opinions expressed by this program do not necessarily reflect those of Humanities Iowa or the National Endowment for the Humanities.

The next event in the #WomenKnowStuffToo series is the “Collective Mending Sessions” with Catherine Reinhart, a local Ames artist.

This series of workshops cultivates care for cloth and community through the meditative practice of slow stitching. Sessions will last two to three hours and attendees of all skill levels are invited. All workshops are free and open to the public. Registration is encouraged.

These sessions are located at Reliable Street, a nonprofit arts organization located in Ames seeking to engage the community through the arts. The sessions will take place from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on March 4, 11, 18 and 25.