Perhaps the effect is due to the fact that Pegge Hopper's women look self-assured. She intentionally puts a "hardness beneath the gentleness" - a contrast and duality that she explains is meant to convey much. "They are thinking, 'Don't underestimate me,' " she says. " 'Don't take me lightly. I may be a symbol for all the loveliness, the nurturing, tenderness. But I am more than that. I need something for myself, too.' "

Hopper draws with economy and understanding. The shapes of her subject's bodies are unmistakable, yet reduced to their essence. Leaf forms are stark, like shadows that need no details what they are. In the same manner, her faces contain everything essential to communication.