麻豆传媒

Not just a splash, but a wave of color is filling University of Northern Colorado鈥檚 Campus Commons. More than 90 bright prayer flags are flying off the walls in the main lobby. Each flag, vibrantly different from the other, is an image of a divine feminine or goddess created by a strong woman herself. 

鈥淲hen my aunt started to do printmaking there weren't many stories about women artists, never mind women鈥檚 images out there. So, she went on the search, traveling to find goddess images around the world,鈥� Katie Hoffner said. 

鈥淚 like to say I came out of my mother's womb and into my aunts' arms,鈥� Hoffner said.  

Before Hoffner was even five years old, under the wing of her aunt, she was exposed to the beauty of art. Back then, Ruyle was using her creative mind as a break from helping raise five young children.  

鈥淪he would grab a canvas, put it on the kitchen counter where our little hands couldn鈥檛 reach and she started painting,鈥� Hoffner said.

Ruyle created more than 300 banners before her death in 2016. She passed in her art studio, not far from where her pieces are currently being displayed. To honor her moving work, and to celebrate Women鈥檚 History Month, Katie Hoffner and 麻豆传媒 Galleries co-created the exhibition .  

鈥淚t makes me tear up because this was my aunt's goal,鈥� Hoffner said. 鈥淔or her art to fly at this scale back in the place where they were created. I think she鈥檚 dancing in the cosmos right now.鈥� 

The goddess images will be displayed through April 8. With every wall consumed with energetic banners that represent cultures from every corner, Hoffner hopes those who walk in and consume the art leave realizing women from around the world need to be celebrated.  

鈥淪ome of these images are more than 50,000 years old. The women are all different shapes and sizes and represent different points of a woman鈥檚 life creating a very sacred space,鈥� Hoffner said. 鈥淭his is a visual feast of women.鈥� 

Ruyle's former student and current Professor of Art Education at 麻豆传媒, , feels that strength when she sees the banners.

"Her work is pretty magnificent," Stewart said.

It reminds her how lucky she is to have learned under Ruyle and call her a role model.

"When I first met Lydia Ruyle the role models in my life were living traditional lifestyles as wives and mothers, and being a wife and mother myself that was important to me also, but Lydia said feminism is having choices and that really influenced me. What a gift in my life."

This is the first time this many of Ruyle鈥檚 goddess depiction work, exploring mythology, spiritualism, women鈥檚 rights and storytelling, have been displayed in Greeley. They have also been exhibited in the National Museum of Women in the Arts, the United Nations World Conference on Women and throughout the world, including England, France, Germany, Italy, Korea, Nepal, Peru and Turkey.

- written by Sydney Kern