Experience Powerful Message at New Exhibition at Cultural Council For Palm Beach County
Posted by: Linnea Bailey
February 20, 2025
Artist Quimetta Perle’s series ‘Protectors of the Women’ addresses women’s rights and safety through the use of patterned silks, cottons and seed beads adhered to rag paper
LAKE WORTH BEACH, FL — When Delray Beach-based artist Quimetta Perle creates her vivid and intricate mixed media works, she starts with a vision of what she wants to convey.
She then takes photographs to frame the story (often with her friends as models), which serve as the inspiration for each piece. Paying special attention to faces, posture and hands, the works grow and evolve, created with dazzling fabrics and beadwork.
Perle’s solo exhibition Protectors of the Women will take place at the Cultural Council for Palm Beach County’s Gayle and Paul Gross Gallery from February 28 through April 5. Free and open to the public, hours are Tuesday through Saturday from noon to 5 p.m. All work in the exhibition is available for purchase.
Her work powerfully addresses women’s rights and safety through the use of patterned silks, cottons, and seed beads adhered to rag paper. Her series in the exhibition features guardians of different races and ages, standing as one body with domestic tools as their weapons, symbolizing resistance against the erosion of women’s rights.
“This body of work has two sides to it. It celebrates the beauty and autonomy of women, and it’s about spirit and the natural world — but it’s also about defiance, solidarity and standing up for human rights,” she said.
Perle’s work has long focused on women’s lives and feminist art. She spent years as an active member of WARM Gallery, a women’s collective in Minneapolis, followed by solo shows at WARM, Glen Hanson Gallery and showings at the Minnesota Museum and Minneapolis Institute of Art. Following a collaborative project with NY Feminist Art Program, she moved to New York and began showing with the famed art collective Political Art Documentation/Distribution.
A poet, educator, curator and interdisciplinary artist, Perle has performed at Franklin Furnace in Brooklyn and has collaborated with jazz and spoken word artists on numerous multimedia performances with projections. The recipient of a prestigious grant from Women’s Studio Workshop, she collaborated with the digital media arts center Harvestworks on the groundbreaking digitally distributed performance The Madman and the Technophobe in 2000.
Spanning two years of work, Protectors of the Women will feature a collection of 14 large-scale, brightly colored pieces on wood panels, heavy paper and unstretched canvas. The exhibition will be curated by Jessica Ransom, the Council’s director of artist services.
“Quimetta’s intricately patterned and layered works are meticulously crafted and visually stunning,” Ransom said. “They lure the viewer with vibrant and sparkling imagery, then convey a potent narrative about the strength and resilience of the contemporary woman. This thought-provoking exhibition should initiate conversations on important topics of our time.”
Selected through a highly competitive application process, Perle is one of six Palm Beach County-based professional artists whose work was chosen by a committee of visual art professionals for one of the Cultural Council’s coveted Gayle and Paul Gross Gallery solo exhibition spots during its 2024-2025 season.
Based in both Delray Beach and Brooklyn, Perle’s work has been displayed in numerous solo shows across the United States, most recently at Arts Warehouse in Delray Beach. Her work has been seen in several of the Cultural Council’s Main Gallery exhibitions, including She. Her. Hers. and Whimsy and Wonder, and her mixed media work is in numerous private collections. Her work can also be seen at Carter Burden Gallery in New York City. She holds at Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Minneapolis College of Art & Design and a Masters of Fine Arts in digital art from the School of Visual Arts.
Quimetta Perle: Protectors of the Women will run from February 28 through April 5 at the Cultural Council’s headquarters in Lake Worth Beach. Visit palmbeachculture.com for more information or to register for the opening artist reception on Thursday, February 27, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.; to RSVP, visit palmbeachculture.com/perle. To see more of her work, visit www.quimettaperle.com or on Instagram at @quimetta.
About the Cultural Council for Palm Beach County
The Cultural Council for Palm Beach County is the official support agency for arts and culture in The Palm Beaches, Florida’s Cultural Capital®. Headquartered in the historic Robert M. Montgomery, Jr. building in Downtown Lake Worth Beach, the Council presents exciting year-round exhibitions and performances featuring artists who live or work in Palm Beach County. The Council features spectacular work by Palm Beach County-based professional artisans in its Roe Green Uniquely Palm Beach Store and offers complimentary resources for visitors in its Jean S. and Frederic A. Sharf Visitor Information Center. The Council is open to the public Tuesdays through Saturdays from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. For more information and a comprehensive calendar of cultural events in The Palm Beaches, visit palmbeachculture.com.
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Media Contact:
Linnea Bailey (561) 713-0673
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Calendar item:
Exhibition: Quimetta Perle: Protectors of the Women — February 28 – April 5
Quimetta Perle’s work powerfully addresses women’s rights and safety through the use of patterned silks, cottons, and seed beads adhered to rag paper. Her series, “Protectors of the Women,” features guardians of different races and ages, standing as one body with domestic tools as their weapons, symbolizing resistance against the erosion of women’s rights. This free public solo exhibition will take place in the Gayle and Paul Gross Gallery at the Cultural Council for Palm Beach County, located in The Robert M. Montgomery, Jr. Building at 601 Lake Avenue in Lake Worth Beach. Hours are Tuesdays through Saturdays from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. Call (561) 471-2901 or visit palmbeachculture.com