Seeds of Hope

Ripon College Office of Community Engagement Hosts Powerful Art Exhibition on Poverty in Wisconsin

From Tuesday, March 22 through Friday, March 25, the Ripon College Office of Community Engagement hosted a powerful art exhibition in the Rodman Center for the Arts called “Our Hidden Community: Images of Hope” that depicts poverty in Wisconsin communities through compelling and personal photographs and stories. An artist’s reception was held on Tuesday, March 22 at 4:30pm so that members of the campus and surrounding community could hear firsthand accounts from the artists. Several artists conducted a brief program and were available for informal discussion during the reception.

The “Images of Hope” exhibition is a collection of photographs and stories by local Wisconsin residents depicting their personal experience with poverty. The exhibition is a project of “Seeds of Hope”, a community action group started by Green Bay area charitable agencies. The mission of the program is to “engage our community in the elimination of poverty.” Bobbie Lison, the operations manager for Catholic Charities, the “Images of Hope” exhibit coordinator and one of the artists explains, “We wanted to bring about a call to action to actually have people involved in solving or reducing poverty. We felt we had to make the community aware that poverty does exist. It’s just not very visible.”


Included in the exhibition is the story of Jennifer Dirks and her husband Matthew, both of whom attended Ripon College with Matthew graduating in 1993. The Dirks chronicle their journey through struggles and triumph and explain how their education played a key role. “I have hopes that the Seeds of Hope Project not only shows how many people struggle with daily necessities, like we do, but also shows that sometimes in order to overcome obstacles you need to embrace and educate those around you,” Ms. Dirks explains, “Often, things aren’t what they appear to be and stereotypes can be disproved if you look closely.”

The Office of Community Engagement is proud to sponsor the exhibition for students, staff, faculty and community members. “We are very lucky to have the “Images of Hope” exhibition and artists on campus to help us all understand the extent and complexity of poverty in our communities,” says OCE director Lindsay Blumer, “When we talk about educating socially responsible citizens this is part of that educational journey; learning ways in which one can work collaboratively to end poverty and contribute to the common good.”




The mission of the OCE is to empower Ripon College students to develop leadership skills and practice responsible citizenship by connecting them to a variety of communities through service, educational programs and cultural immersion.