Celebrate visionary artist and UIowa MFA alum Elizabeth Catlett’s birthday with the premiere and encore screening of Standing Strong: Elizabeth Catlett at FilmScene.

April 15t 1 p.m. screening to be followed by reception, light refreshments and a post-show discussion with the filmmaking team and other experts, including Melanie Herzog, author of Elizabeth Catlett: In the Image of the People and Elizabeth Catlett: An American Artist in Mexico. For more information, visit FilmScene’s website. View the film’s trailer here.

Artist and activist Elizabeth Catlett was a pioneer of The Black Arts Movement who lived and worked in Mexico after being the first artist to receive an MFA from the University of Iowa in Studio Arts in 1941, where she studied under Grant Wood. Her connection to human rights led to her imprisonment during the McCarthy era and the declaration of her as an “undesirable alien,” after which she renounced her U.S. citizenship. As a Mexican citizen she exhibited her work worldwide and continued to buoy her efforts in activism fueled by the Black Power and feminist movements of the ’70s. Her monumental works of Mahalia Jackson and Ralph Ellison are awe inspiring, but her most iconic works are those of Black women and mothers, which speak to obstacles she battled throughout her life.

After the April 15 screening, a selection of works will be on view in the Stanley Museum of Art’s Visual Classroom, from 3 to 4:30 p.m. View details for that event here.