Mixed media collage on a white background, with various papers, fabric textures, and small print snippets, including a colorful bird illustration and small floral patterns.

Reminiscence + Transformation

AN EXHIBITION OF WORKS BY MONIQUE AUITO + LAURA SUMMERHILL

On view November 7, 2025 — January 11, 2026

The Lanecia A. Rouse Gallery is delighted to showcase Reminiscence and Transformation, a shared exhibition of works between artists Monique Auito and Laura Summerhill, curated by Sarah Sudhoff. Building upon Monique and Laura’s mutual identities as women, wives, mothers, and workers, the exhibition will present a variety of works across different artistic disciplines that connect their histories.

"Reminiscence and Transformation extends forwards and backwards in time, not only in the gallery setting, but also in the artists’ unique and yet similar journeys as artists and mothers. Together, these artists’ works provide a delicate dance around profound topics of mothering, memory, and hard truths, offering viewers a multi-sensory experience.

Memories have the ability to serve as portals, allowing us glimpses into our past, some echoing louder than others, making their way into the present. Our fondness for a special person or specific time and place lingers in everyday objects, activities, or rituals.

All at once in Monique’s collages, I’m transported to my childhood bedroom, Sunday school class, and my mother cooking in the kitchen. I am invited to move through these memories and consider why their imprint remains. Laura’s soundscape and animation keep me grounded in the present, enveloping me in sounds and scenes more familiar to my current life as a mother and artist. Yet her interactive work invites me to examine the forgotten memories or those we’ve chosen to keep hidden. Reminiscence and Transformation reinforce the importance of human presence through repetitive gestures in every object held, every memory recorded, and every transformation, seen and unseen.” — Sarah Sudhoff, Guest Curator

About the artists.

A woman with long hair, wearing a light-colored sweatshirt, stands in front of a wall decorated with various small pictures, including a child's portrait and an outdoor scene. She is holding a paintbrush to her forehead, looking thoughtful or focused.

Monique Auito (b. 1973) , a Brooklyn-based artist, grew up in Tecumseh, Michigan, and then moved to New York City where she studied at The Cooper Union (BFA, 1996) and Columbia University (MFA, 1998). An early childhood teacher for 20 years and a musician in the band The Welcome Wagon (Asthmatic Kitty Records), Monique has maintained a practice as a visual artist. Her recent work in collage combines paper, paint, and drawn elements, as well as keepsake materials—wallpaper, wrapping paper, greeting cards, etc.—that were collected by her grandmother. Using this approach allows for the examination of the passage of time and our relationships with past generations.

Black and white photo of a woman with shoulder-length hair and large glasses, wearing a black shirt, standing in front of a wall with art and hanging items, with a dog in the background.

Laura Summerhill (b. 1972), a Houston-based artist, has been honing her skill with needle and thread since childhood. Descending from multi generations of Southern sewists and quilters, Laura blends her love of textiles with almost 30 years’ experience in the field of social work. Using cloth, paper ephemera, printmaking, and abstract + traditional design, Laura’s work is inspired by the history of women’s crafts and explores the intersection of the past, place, separation + loss, spirituality, social problems, and that which we carry into the future. Techniques include both hand + machine sewing, quilt + garment construction, and chainstitch embroidery on a 1930’s Singer 114w103 Bonnaz machine.