For Julie Lapping Rivera, the meditative process of carving a woodblock to bring forth an image is a source of endless fascination. As a longtime printmaker, painter, and teaching artist, Julie works with images like poets write, with an implied, open-ended narrative thread that reaches the reader/viewer and ties them to meaning. She teaches at Smith College, Zea Mays Printmaking, and other locations.

Look Again: Portraits of Daring Women is on view at the D'Amour Museum of Fine Arts in Springfield, MA through February 2025. This ongoing portfolio of woodcut and collage portraits was originally inspired by the New York Times “Overlooked” series, which since March of 2018 has been sharing the stories of remarkable people who were overlooked by the NY Times obituaries in the past.

To further illuminate their lives and legacies, each of these portraits is accompanied by a portrait poem, written by a woman poet. The poets created their pieces in response to both the women’s stories and to the portraits.

As part of the exhibition's events, Julie collaborated with NYT Journalist Amy Padnani in a presentation at the D'Amour Museum in Springfield, as well as a poetry reading with contributors to the series.

After this exhibition, Look Again will travel with Exhibit Envoy and is currently available for booking.