Archive

ARCHIVE OF RECENT EXHIBITIONS & EVENTS

Unfamiliar Skin
an installation by Martha Posner
October 19 - November 19, 2006
Martha Posner has said of her work: "I live in the middle of the forest on the original homestead of a farm from the 1760’s. I make life size empty garments. They are bestial, and fairy tale-like. More skin and body and hair than fabric or clothing. I make these garments as stand-ins for the memory of body. I say memory of body because they are about remembering and knowing things in a more primal and physical way. They are about how fragmenting sensations can turn them into memories, as in the way we think of someone through their smell, texture, or warmth or the coolness of skin and hair. And how these sensation hold us so strongly to a memory, real or created. • "For many years the focus of my work had been fairy tales and how they related to the garment. For example magical cloaks, the powers of certain color, transformation through clothing etc., at this same time I had also been searching for a new material that would creep out toward the viewer and me. Something that would feel visceral and primal, tingly and emotional like skin and memory. I had just begun to work with unbleached beeswax, muslin and hair on life-size wire armatures made from the discarded old fences of farmers that I had found on the borders of my property. The beeswax melted into muslin sprouting hair and stretched over torsos and full bodies began to feel like skin, stretched tight over bone, or just stretched skins."

Inner Circles
January 29 - February 29, 2004
Reception: Thursday, Jan. 29, 4:00 - 6:00 p.m.
A group exhibition featuring David Foss, James Fuhrman, Michelle Marcuse, Antonio Puri, Vincent Romaniello,and Tremain Smith. Guest curated by Dr. Debra Miller, this project is supported by Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts (PPA), the regional arts funding partnership of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency. State government funding comes through an annual appropriation by Pennsylvania's General Assembly and from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. PPA is administered in this region by Berks Arts Council.
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Mexico Illuminated / Mexico Iluminado
September 13 - November 16, 2003
A project featuring contemporary Mexican art at the Sharadin Art Gallery, the Freedman Art Gallery at Albright College, the Freyberger Art Gallery at Pennsylvania State Berks County Campus, the Reading Public Museum, and other venues in and around Kutztown and Reading Pennsylvania. This project was partially supported through a Social Equity Grant from the Office of the Chancellor, Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education.
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Contemporary Mexican Video Art: A Program of Short Works Hosted by Ruben Gutierrez
Oct., 16, 2003
Co-sponsored with Berks Filmmakers, Inc.
An exciting program with an assortment of the freshest and most interesting video work currently being produced by Mexican artists. Program will include not only Mexican artists residing in several Mexican cities — Guadalajara, Mexico City and Monterrey — but also Mexican artists currently residing in the U.S. The program featuring short videos — many of them shot on mini-dv — will be presented by Ruben Gutierrez (Monterrey & NYC), whose own work is included. The program also includes works by: Artemio, Gonzalo Lebrija, Edgar Orlaineta, Mauricio Alejo, Rodrigo Loyola, Jose Davila, Luis Miguel Suro, Maria Alos, and Mario Garcia Torres.

A Journey Toward Healing:
Collages by Janette Maley
Photographs by Arthur Hand
February 6 - March 9, 2003

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Future Imperfect:
On entering the new century
February 6 - March 11, 2001

This exhibition featured work in a variety of mediums by artists Ruth Borgenicht, Kathryn Frund, Brian McCutcheon, Michelle Oosterbaan, Andrew Tomasulo, and Chris Vecchio. Curated by art critics Tom Csaszar, Robin Rice, and Miriam Seidel, the exhibition presented work that embodies or points to a philosophical, aesthetic, or technological transition into the 21st century. The project featured a panel discussion by project participants. An online catalog is available.

		half moon rising a multimedia installation by Carolyn Healy & John J.H. Phillips January 25 - March 4, 2007 Tuesday, Feb. 6, 7:00 p.m. Lecture by Healy & Phillips The artists will present an illustrated lecture on their work. KU Alumni Auditorium, Student Union Building, Room 183 Philadelphia-based artists Healy & Phillips have created a site-specific installation at the Sharadin Art Gallery. This new work combines abstract sculptural forms comprised of industrial and found materials, lighting and shadows, multiple loudspeakers and several projected videos. The sound and moving images animate the gallery space and immerse the visitor in an ever-changing sensory-rich environment. Healy & Phillips have created a number of similar installations in the past in locations in this country and abroad. To see documentation of some of their previous works, and for information about the artists, please visit: http://terragizmo.net/Healy&Phillips (pictured: half moon rising, mixed media installation, 2007; photo courtesy of the artists). This project is supported by Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts (PPA), the regional arts funding partnership of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency. State government funding comes through an annual appropriation by Pennsylvania’s General Assembly and from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. PPA is administered in this region by the Berks Arts Council.
*Unfamiliar Skin* an installation by Martha Posner October 19 - November 19, 2006 Martha Posner has said of her work: "I live in the middle of the forest on the original homestead of a farm from the 1760’s. I make life size empty garments. They are bestial, and fairy tale-like. More skin and body and hair than fabric or clothing. I make these garments as stand-ins for the memory of body. I say memory of body because they are about remembering and knowing things in a more primal and physical way. They are about how fragmenting sensations can turn them into memories, as in the way we think of someone through their smell, texture, or warmth or the coolness of skin and hair. And how these sensation hold us so strongly to a memory, real or created. • "For many years the focus of my work had been fairy tales and how they related to the garment. For example magical cloaks, the powers of certain color, transformation through clothing etc., at this same time I had also been searching for a new material that would creep out toward the viewer and me. Something that would feel visceral and primal, tingly and emotional like skin and memory. I had just begun to work with unbleached beeswax, muslin and hair on life-size wire armatures made from the discarded old fences of farmers that I had found on the borders of my property. The beeswax melted into muslin sprouting hair and stretched over torsos and full bodies began to feel like skin, stretched tight over bone, or just stretched skins."
Fern Shaffer & Othello Anderson, One Year of a 9 Year Healing Ritual, April 9, 1998, ritual performance on the summit of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia.		In Response to Healing October 20 - November 20 , 2005 Making art in response to healing is practiced in many ways by artists across time and cultural differences. What is rarely explored is public display of this artwork in museums, galleries or public spaces because the work crosses the boundaries of science and medicine, religion and spiritual practices, cultural practices, personal content, social issues, psychology/psychoanalysis, and therapy. This exhibition will include artworks for healing, about healing, and generated during healing. Healing includes emotional, physical, spiritual, and mental healing as it is applied to the individual and as it applies to broader concerns for society, culture and the earth. Featured artists include: Charlee Brodsky, Anna Kuo, Darcy Lynn, dominique mazeaud, Tyler & Susan Medicine Horse, Fern Shaffer & Othello Anderson, Jo Spence, Frank Stack, and Rhonda Wall. Curated by Dr. Peg and Glen Speirs for the Sharadin Art Gallery.
In Our Own Backyard September 8 - October 9, 2005 The Sharadin Art Gallery is pleased to present, In Our Own Backyard, an exhibition of works by recipients of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Individual Fellowship Award in 2002-2003. Organized by the Lancaster Museum of Art, the exhibit includes works in a variety of mediums including photography, crafts, mixed media, painting, works on paper, sculpture, music, performance, literature, folk art and media arts. The mission of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (PCA) is to foster the excellence, diversity and vitality of the arts in Pennsylvania and to broaden the availability and appreciation of those arts throughout the state. The Fellowship Program of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts supports outstanding Pennsylvania artists by awarding Fellowships for up to $10,000 in a variety of disciplines. The awards are considered unrestricted funds and are intended to assist artists in developing their career.		Vicki DaSilva, Lock Ridge #1, Vibrachrome print
		Torrid January 20 — February 27, 2005 This mid-Winter exhibition explores the notion of extreme heat – both physical and psychological – through artworks in a variety of mediums including painting, sculpture, photography, and new media works produced by 16 artists (most from the greater Southeastern Pennsylvania region). Through direct representation and metaphorical allusion, works in the exhibition depict an array of situations and instances that provide or generate heat in our lives. The show is eclectic, ranging from representational paintings of erupting volcanoes, to conceptual meditations on the oppression of summer heat and traffic. These disparate approaches are mediated by the exhibition's common theme. Participating artists include: Scott Atiyeh, Michael Barker, Ingrid Goldbloom Bloch, Diane Burko, Micah Danges, Michael Demers, Tom Judd, Christianne Kapps, Nancy Lewis, Rob Matthews, Brian McCutcheon, Robert Raczka, Josh Lucian Rickenbaugh, Veronica Scarpellino, Nicki Stager, Krista Leigh Steinke / Sherman Finch, Rhonda Wall. (Pictured: Brian McCutcheon, Trailer Queen II, 2003, Weber grill, speed parts, steel autopaint, 34 x 36 x 42 inches.)
I Can Live With That: Unique Functional Furniture October 21 - November 21, 2004 Reception, Thursday, October 21, 4 - 6 p.m. Regional exhibition of one-of-a-kind contemporary pieces. This exhibition featured work by Seth A. Barrett, Andy Brehm, Michael Brolly, Bob Marsh, Nathan Druckenmiller, Brian Kolakowski, Jack Larimore, Warren Muller, Z.M, Robbins, Ben Schachter, and David Zelman. (Pictured: Cradle by Michael Brolly).
		Inner Circles January 29 - February 29, 2004 Reception: Thursday, Jan. 29, 4:00 - 6:00 p.m. A group exhibition featuring David Foss, James Fuhrman, Michelle Marcuse, Antonio Puri, Vincent Romaniello,and Tremain Smith. Guest curated by Dr. Debra Miller, this project is supported by Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts (PPA), the regional arts funding partnership of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency. State government funding comes through an annual appropriation by Pennsylvania's General Assembly and from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. PPA is administered in this region by Berks Arts Council. More information...
Mexico Illuminated / Mexico Iluminado September 13 - November 16, 2003 A project featuring contemporary Mexican art at the Sharadin Art Gallery, the Freedman Art Gallery at Albright College, the Freyberger Art Gallery at Pennsylvania State Berks County Campus, the Reading Public Museum, and other venues in and around Kutztown and Reading Pennsylvania. This project was partially supported through a Social Equity Grant from the Office of the Chancellor, Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education. More information...
		Lecture by Maria José de la Macorra November 11, 2003 Maria José de la Macorra works in a variety of mediums including sculpture, video, and installation. She will discuss various aspects of her work in this slide-illustrated lecture. Her work Clouds and Rain is currently on view in the gallery (the gallery will open thirty minutes prior to the lecture). Sylvia Vega, Director of Mexico's Monterrey Museum said on the occasion of de la Macorra's 1998 solo exhibition at the museum: "Inspired by natural elements and their transformation processes, Maria José de la Macorra has developed a discourse in her body of work of surprising metaphorical dimensions and clearly defined aesthetic intent, delineating in her artistic proposal a style of her own through a careful process of purification." More information...
Contemporary Mexican Video Art: A Program of Short Works Hosted by Ruben Gutierrez Oct., 16, 2003 Co-sponsored with Berks Filmmakers, Inc. An exciting program with an assortment of the freshest and most interesting video work currently being produced by Mexican artists. Program will include not only Mexican artists residing in several Mexican cities — Guadalajara, Mexico City and Monterrey — but also Mexican artists currently residing in the U.S. The program featuring short videos — many of them shot on mini-dv — will be presented by Ruben Gutierrez (Monterrey & NYC), whose own work is included. The program also includes works by: Artemio, Gonzalo Lebrija, Edgar Orlaineta, Mauricio Alejo, Rodrigo Loyola, Jose Davila, Luis Miguel Suro, Maria Alos, and Mario Garcia Torres.
		Public Lecture by Visiting Artist William Christenberry Oct. 8, 2003 William Christenberry is widely known and respected for his work based on the cultural and geographic realities of the towns in and around Hale County Alabama. His paintings, drawings, photographs, and objects about the area resonate with melancholy, sympathy, and a restrained passion. Unfortunately, the area’s economic and social conditions provide a fertile ground for the Ku Klux Klan – but rather than ignoring this aspect of his cherished birthplace, Christenberry has actively explored the hate group in a variety of works since the early ‘60s. More information...
A Journey Toward Healing: Collages by Janette Maley Photographs by Arthur Hand February 6 - March 9, 2003 More information...
		Site Unseen: Recent Work by Ben Polsky October 10 - November 10, 2002 More information...
Environmental Interactions October 18 -November 18, 2001 Reception: Thursday, Oct. 18, 4 - 6 p.m. The participants in this exhibition work in an expanded arena that incorporates issues from the fields of physical, social, and health sciences. In this broader context of the cultural and ecological environments, the artists have orchestrated a range of interactions that address current issues and suggest alternative ways of participating in the world. By acknowledging real-life concerns, they demonstrate expanded possibilities for art and suggest a complex web of extended meanings and associations. Participating artists included: Cheri Gaulke, Helen Mayer Harrison / Newton Harrison, dominique mazeaud, Fern Shaffer / Othello Anderson, and Mierle Laderman Ukeles. Guest curated by Dr. Peg Speirs of the university's Art Education & Crafts department, this exhibition was held in conjunction with the University Art Education Conference (Nov. 2, 2001).
		Call & Response: A Shrine for Healing September 17 - October 7, 2001 An evolving exhibition featuring responses to the events and aftermath of September 11, 2001. The physical exhibition was held in the Lobby Gallery of the Sharadin Art Building. Our open call drew responses from approximately 200 participants including the university community, artists from the region, and mailed and electronically submitted pieces from artists throughout the country, Canada, Mexico, and Europe. After the physical show ended, we continued to maintain a web presence as a venue for ongoing artistic expressions on the subject. The site is now closed to submissions, but is presented here as a statement on those tumlultious times. More information...
Future Imperfect: On entering the new century February 6 - March 11, 2001 This exhibition featured work in a variety of mediums by artists Ruth Borgenicht, Kathryn Frund, Brian McCutcheon, Michelle Oosterbaan, Andrew Tomasulo, and Chris Vecchio. Curated by art critics Tom Csaszar, Robin Rice, and Miriam Seidel, the exhibition presented work that embodies or points to a philosophical, aesthetic, or technological transition into the 21st century. The project featured a panel discussion by project participants. An online catalog is available. Click for more information.
		Joe Lewis: PhotoAlchemy October 19 - November 19, 2000 This exhibition featured photoworks by Los Angeles-based artist Joe Lewis. Mr. Lewis' pieces are derived from a multi-step process that incorporates digital and chemical manipulation. The works subtly address a variety of contemporary social issues including the environment and racism. Mr. Lewis is a frequent contributor to Art in America and was a cofounder of Fashion Moda in New York City. The artist presented a gallery talk about his work during the exhibition's reception. An online catalog is available. Pictured: Nuclear Reactors as Vessels , 2000,mixed mediums, 20 x 24 inches. View additional information on the exhibition
Contemporary Young Korean Metal Arts Invitational September 7 - October 8, 2000 Curated by Komelia Okim, this exhibition featured 85 decorative and functional objects including wearable and tabletop pieces made by 21 Korean artists living in Korea, the US, and Canada. Okim says of the show: "As the organizer and curator of this international exhibition, I selected artists who are ambitious, well trained, and cosmopolitan minded, with strong individual values and sensitivities. I highly value the educational accomplishments and professional endeavors of these artists." Ms. Okim presented a gallery talk during the exhibition. Pictured: Young-Ock Kim, Eye I, 1997, copper, brass, lens, steel, 5 x 5.5 x 3 inches Click here for more information on this exhibition.
		allTURNatives: Form and Spirit February 3 - March 12, 2000 This exhibition featured more than 40 lathe turned objects and 17 documentation photographs produced during the 1999 International Turning Exchange Residency program organized and sponsored by the Woodturning Center in Philadelphia, PA. The program brought together lathe turners Henri Groll (France), Dina Lisa Apelian (USA), Betty Scarpino (USA), Remi Verchot (France); photojournalist Terry Martin (Australia); and artist/furniture maker David Rogers (USA) for an intense period of shared creativity. Mr. Rogers is a professor in Kutztown University's Art Education and Crafts department.
Four Philadelphia Sculptors Carpenter, Donegan, Jaffe, and Porter October 14 - November 14, 1999 Syd Carpenter, Steven Donegan, Jeanne Jaffe and Cynthia Porter are united by their affinity for abstracted organic form occasionally punctuated by figurative elements. Their pieces are realized in a variety of materials including clay, wood, fiber, and metal. Pictured: Veil of Forms: Red Hue and Signing, by Jeanne Jaffe, 1995, paper and hair, dimensions variable.
		Bad Marriage Mantra March 25 - April 1, 1999 This mini exhibition featured an aural installation by Erik Belgum. The Dictionary of the Avant-Garde said of Belgum: "(he is) among the best of the younger writers of fiction, let alone experimental fiction." With the publication of his book Star Fiction, in 1996, the American Book Review, said, "Belgum takes his place among the important writes of short fiction." His writings have appeared in dozens of literary journals including Chicago Review, Central Park, Black Ice, Avec, and Caliban. Pictured: the CD that contained the sounds of the installation.
Women of the Book: Jewish Artists, Jewish Themes February 4 - March 7, 1999 This exhibition, curated by Judith A. Hoffberg, features books by 93 women artists from the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Israel, Italy, England, and South Africa. The books cover a spectrum of form from one-of-a-kind pieces that are essentially sculptural in nature, to small edition works that function comfortably within the traditional notion of "book." The pieces deal with a range of topics including family rituals, traditions and liturgy, the Holocaust, the integration of Jewish culture into the arts, cultural memory, the celebration of festivals, and humorous takes on being "Jewish." Pictured: Diaspora Menorah, by Alyssa C. Salomon.
		Anxious Assumptions October 22 - November 22, 1998 This exhibition included work by Pamela G. Ayres (Bethel, CT), Mona W. Brody (Montclair, NJ), Marion Held (Montclair, NJ), Delanie Jenkins (Pittsburgh, PA), Kaz McCue (Bethel, CT), and Margaret Wagner (Dorchester, MA). The group is eclectic, embracing a variety of contemporary approaches and strategies that find form in a range of material. Pictured: detail of Mistranslation: XOX, by Margaret Wagner, 1998, Plexiglas and maple light boxes, 3 boxes, 25 x 25 x 4 inches each.
Matter at Hand September 10 - October 11, 1998 This exhibition featured pieces by four women who are deeply involved in production that fuses a "craft" sensibility and dexterity with concerns and issues typically associated with a fine art context. Participating artists included Nancy Azara (New York, NY), Sally Brogden (Knoxville, TN), Rebecca Hutchinson (Richmond, VA), and Laurie Wohl (Chicago, IL). Pictured: Circle with Seven Hands, by Nancy Azara, 1997, gold leaf on carved and painted wood, 60 x 40 inches.
		Alberto Rey: Silence and Darkness October 7 - November 9, 1997 Alberto Rey's paintings and sculpture are meditations on the artist's Cuban-American heritage. Incorporating recollections, research, and personal reflections, Rey's recent pieces are like fugitive fragments of a conversation between long-estranged lovers; the work declares longing, desire, and a profound sense of nostalgia. Pictured: Interior, 1997, oil on plywood, approximately 18 x 12 inches.