Pennsyltucky: Are we there yet?" is unique title of a four person art exhibit currently on display at Clarion University in the University Gallery, Level A, Carlson Library. The exhibit runs through March 4 and is free and open to the public.
The exhibit features the work of four artists, Clarion University alumni Jason Larh, Christen Herr, Lee Millard, and Bill Rodgers, who were born and raised, and/or live and work, outside of the major city centers of Pennsylvania. All four of the artists will be attending a closing reception in the University Gallery, March 4 at 5 p.m. The reception is free and open to the public.
Gallery hours are Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, 1 p.m.-5 p.m. and Wednesday, 1-8 p.m.
"Herr, Lahr, Millard, and Rodgers explore the complex makeup of identity that comes from personal experience and other's perception," said Mark Franchinno, chair of the art department at Clarion University and curator of the exhibit. "Their art asks the question: Are we what we make ourselves to be, or are we what others believe we are? The exhibition uses the pejorative term "Pennsyltucky" as a starting point for this discussion and ends with a sincere look at what it means to grow up."
Herr of Lancaster City received his BFA from West Chester University in 2007 and the following year attended Millersville University as an emerging artist in residence. Throughout this body of work, He develops surrogate relationships with the past and present in his work, providing viewers with a rare opportunity to consider state history through the eyes of a brilliant and comic personal iconography that has solidified into a unique language.
Lahr received his B.F.A. in painting from Clarion University and his M.F.A. in drawing and painting from Penn State University. He is represented by Packer Schopf Gallery in Chicago. Lahr's paintings, drawings, and installations integrate darkly comic texts with appropriated images in ever shifting narratives of identity as constructed by popular culture.
Millard lives and works in Bloomsburg. He received his B.A. from Bloomsburg University and M.F.A. from The University of the Arts, Philadelphia. He operated his own photography business in Berwick, is the coordinator of Haas Gallery at Bloomsburg University, and is an adjunct professor/instructor at Marywood University, Scranton.
Rodgers went on to receive his M.F.A. in photography from Ohio University in 2005 after completing his B.F.A. at Allegheny College. Since then he has been working in Pittsburgh as manager/director of the non-profit organization Artist Image Resource.
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