A woman-produced art exhibit that will debut this weekend at the Library Innovation Center in Greeley promises to offer more than just a display of creative expressions.
A woman-produced art exhibit that will debut this weekend at the Library Innovation Center in Greeley promises to offer more than just a display of creative expressions.
March is Women’s History Month, and for the second straight year, a local artist and teacher has organized an event designed to unite women and celebrate their lives.
HerStory is the brainchild of Greeley-based artist and teacher Felisha Bustos, who calls the concept “a creative way to celebrate Women’s History Month.”
The U.S. Congress designated March as Women’s History Month in 1987. Over the next five years, lawmakers passed additional congressional resolutions requesting and authorizing the president to proclaim March as Women’s History Month each year.
HerStory began in the fall, and its products of months of conversations, interviews and creating art will be on display with the HerStory Artists’ Reception from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday at the LINC, 501 8th Ave.
The reception is free of charge from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and $15 per person from 2:30-8 p.m. A portion of the proceeds from ticket sales will be donated to A Woman’s Place, the only domestic violence shelter in Weld County. The reception is free all day for children 12 and younger.
Food trucks will be on-site. A variety of live entertainment will run for hour-long intervals through the duration of the reception, starting at 11 a.m. with members of the Greeley Central High School dance and theater program.
To buy a ticket to the reception, go to herstoryconnects.com.
Purchase of a ticket will entitle the buyer to a $1 coupon off a drink at Weld Works Brewing Co. and Syntax Distillery and Cocktail Bar, both in Greeley. Proof of ticket purchase is required.
The first 200 ticket buyers will receive value cards redeemable at more than 20 northern Colorado businesses for various discounts and goods and services.
The art presented at the reception will take different forms, including song, dance, poetry, paintings and sculpture.
As an artist in the area for many years, Bustos reached out to friends and contacts to revive HerStory following its debut a year ago. In 2023, 47 women participated in the HerStory. This year, Bustos found 66 women interested in being a part of the event.
Ranging in age from 14 to mid-80s, the women drew names out of a hat. They were not paired up with the drawing. Instead, the drawing was more like an artistic Secret Santa exercise designed to create a web of connections.
The women then met, talked and created the art based on the story of their muse, as Bustos refers to the subjects of the art.
“It’s about connection,” she said. “Strangers are now friends. I love what happens inside of a person. Fears and insecurities come up, and they have to push through those. It’s an opportunity to grow and be strong.”
As she was thinking about HerStory and talking about it, Bustos thought about women of different ages and in different stages of their lives. An image of an older woman speaking with a teenager came to her mind.
“Yet, we have so much in common,” Bustos said of women. “If we sit at each other’s feet, there would be a connection and a takeaway we could put into our own lives.”
Bustos calls the 66 women participants rather than artists because there was a hesitation among some of the women to think of themselves as artists.
“They’re not necessarily artists> They’re females in the community who want to be part of something bigger than themselves,” Bustos said. “And who want to meet a stranger.”
For information on how to be part of HerStory in 2025, go to herstoryconnects.com.
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