The Riverside Art Museum (RAM) hosted three receptions during a free event Saturday evening to showcase the Winter exhibits on current display.
Opening receptions celebrated Sonya Fe’s “Are You With Me?,” an oil painting collection, William Catling’s “The Weight of Memory,” a piece that took decades to complete, and “The 52 Project 2021,” featuring artists from last year. Receptions were held from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Fe’s “Are You With Me?” combines 27 oil paintings and 18 mixed-media drawings, taking the viewer into her life and mind as a Chicana artist. Her collection centers the cultural issues faced by women and children in the Latinx community and embraces their stories seldom portrayed in modern art forms.
Fe said each of her pieces were created with a vision to help bring multiple communities together by showing that most feelings are universal and transcend past race, class, and gender.
Sonya Fe (right) stands next to one of her oil paintings during the one-night reception held at the RAM Saturday, Feb. 5. (Courtesy of Brandon Villarreal).
“I paint what I know and I paint what I experience. I want minorities and whites to see that we really are the same. We just have different skin colors but we are basically all human. We all have heartaches, we have joys, we’re really not that different,” Fe said of her inspiration.
Her work can be found in the museum’s Art Alliance Gallery.
Located in the museum’s Members’ Gallery, Catling’s “The Weight of Memory” exhibit is on display with over 30 clay pieces.  His work, often described as “heavy” and “haunting” incorporates statues, each characterized with subtle yet bold details. Some of the statues resemble human-like figures with crooked spines and heavy eye bags created by mixing together the rough and rigid clay. Their awkward poses illuminate the dark emotions seen across each piece.
Upstairs, “The 52 Project 2021” features artwork from nine artists who participated in last year’s iteration of the project. The exhibit is on display through March 13, 2022.
Catling’s “The Weight of Memory,” is on display at the RAM through May 15, 2022 and Fe’s work has been extended through May 29, 2022. For more information visit riversideartmuseum.org.
Danyella Wilder is a freelance journalist. Danyella graduated from California Baptist University with a B.A. in journalism and new media and has a M.S. in journalism from Northwestern University.
