The Tarble Arts Center will host a series of several programs throughout the fall semester. The overarching theme of the programs is the roles of women in art, art history and art institutions.

Tim Abel, the museum education manager, said the fall programs will be treated as a full narrative, with the “In the Eye of the Beholder” exhibition at the core of all the events. As a survey of women artists from 1968 to present, Abel said “In the Eye of the Beholder” gives voice to all the necessary topics from the past to the present.

“There’s artists from 1968 all the way up to artists working today,” Abel said. “A lot of it’s about that conversation that has started and is continuing in the dialogue of the old and the new and the transitional work.”

The show is co-curated by Rehema Barber, the director and chief curator at the Tarble Arts Center, and Erin Gilbert, the curator of African-American manuscripts at the Smithsonian Archives of American art. “In the Eye of the Beholder” was in the works for two years, and Barber said she is grateful to have worked on the show with Gilbert and is very proud of the whole team that brought the exhibition together. “I think that great art not only makes you think and is pleasing to behold,” Barber said. “It also stays with you and creates conversation. It’s something that you have to talk to someone about or share with someone.”

Going along with the women in art theme, In the Eye of the Beholder includes works by well-known artists such as Marina Abramović, Barbara Chase-Riboud, Judy Chicago and Yoko Ono, as well as works by emerging artists such as Tanya Aguiñiga, Zoë Buckman, Bethany Collins and Mariu Palacios. Following the theme of women in art, another program happening each month at the Tarble is the Tarble Cinema, which includes showing films that highlight this theme. “I feel really good about having such a globally-situated film series this year,” Barber said. “I’m super stoked about that.”

Abel said he is really looking forward to the Ugly Art Paint n’ Sip in November. “It’s art that challenges things that are beautiful but also brings up very challenging ideas,” Abel said. “That might seem ugly, so we’re playing with this idea that art doesn’t have to be beautiful.” Some other programs taking place during the fall semester include Tarble Reads, poetry readings, and gallery talks. “Every single thing that we’ve put together this year is going to be really amazing,” Barber said.

Mercury Bowen can be reached at 581-2812 or mjbowen@eiu.edu.