University of Houston-Clear Lake Art Gallery presents the exhibition “Faith Wilding: Fearful Symmetries.” Opening Reception: Thursday, Sept. 1, 6-8 p.m. Exhibition On View: Sept. 2 – Dec. 8, 2016.

The first retrospective for this highly influential feminist artist features a selection of works from Wilding’s studio practice spanning the past forty years. The nationally touring exhibition highlights a range of works on paper – drawings, watercolors, collage and paintings – exhibited together for the first time.

Taking up key, allegorical imagery in Wilding’s work, “Fearful Symmetries” focuses on themes of “becoming,” both the transformative event itself and the threshold to transfiguration. Imagery of leaves, chrysalides and hybrid beings fill Wilding’s work.

Videos of her two prominent performances, “Waiting,” 1974, and “Wait-With,” 2007, also explore such liminal circumstances. The tour’s fourth stop marks Wilding’s first solo exhibition in a Texas visual arts space.

Wilding immigrated to the United States in 1961 from Paraguay. In the early 1970s she was a key figure in the formation of the first Feminist Art Program in Fresno and at the California Institute of the Arts, where she also received her MFA.

Be the first to see the works on view and meet the artist at the opening reception on Thursday, Sept. 1, 6-8 p.m. At 7 p.m., Wilding will join exhibition curator Shannon Stratton to discuss her artistic process. This program is located in the UHCL Art Gallery and free parking will be available in the Visitor Lot or Student Lot D. Complimentary refreshments including craft beer from Saint Arnold Brewing Company will be served.

“Faith Wilding: Fearful Symmetries” is a traveling exhibition curated by Shannon R. Stratton in collaboration with Faith Wilding. The exhibition originated at Threewalls in Chicago in January 2014 with an archive, reading room and screenings curated by Abigail Satinsky. Assistance in presenting the exhibition at UHCL is provided by Verva Densmore and is funded in part by a grant from the City of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance.