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A free public reception for artist Faith Ringgold will be held at Gonzaga University’s Jundt Art Museum from 6-7:15 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 22. “Faith Ringgold,” an exhibition of prints, paintings, soft sculptures, tankas and story quilts opened Jan. 19 in the Jundt Galleries of Gonzaga’s Jundt Art Museum and runs through April 4, 2007.

Ringgold is a painter, mixed-media sculptor, educator and writer, as well as the recipient of more than 75 awards, including 15 honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degrees. In 1978 she was honored with the Arts Award for Sculpture by the National Endowment for the Arts. Her public commissions include two 25-foot mosaic murals installed in Manhattan and the “Crown Heights Children’s Story Quilt,” featuring folklore from 12 major cultures. Her work has been exhibited in major museums and galleries in the United States, Europe, Asia, South America, the Middle East and Africa, and her work is in collections at the Solomon T. Guggenheim Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art. She is a professor of art at the University of California-San Diego.

Ringgold began her art career as a painter more than 35 years ago. Today she is best known for her painted story quilts, which are works of art that combine painting, quilted fabric and storytelling. The Jundt Art Museum “Faith Ringgold” exhibit will include several story quilts, including “ Tar Beach #2,” along with numerous works on paper, soft sculpture and prints.

Ringgold’s first published book, “Tar Beach,” has won more than 30 awards, including the Caldecott Honor and the Coretta Scott King award for the best illustrated children’s book of 1991. Ringgold, an African-American, has written and illustrated nine children’s books, including works on Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, and the Harlem Renaissance.

The Feb. 22 reception for the artist at the Jundt Art Museum will be followed by a free public lecture and book-signing by Ringgold in the Jepson Auditorium at 7:30 p.m.

Admission to the Jundt Art Museum is free and open to the public. The Museum is open from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday through Friday and Saturday from noon-4 p.m.; it is closed on Sundays and school holidays. During this exhibition, the Museum will be closed Feb. 17-19.

The 28-minute videos, “Faith Ringgold Paints Crown Heights” and “Faith Ringgold: The Last Story Quilt” will be shown on Saturdays for the duration of the exhibit in Jundt Room 110 from noon-3 p.m. For more information, please call Karen Kaiser, assistant curator for education, at (509) 323-6613.