Fiber artists' reception draws eager audience
Thursday, June 12, 2025
Photos by Alexandra Butler, photographer/photo editor
At the reception for “Five Artists: Explorations and Conversation," visitors listen to the exhibitors discuss their individual processes and decade of collaboration. The exhibition is on display through July 24 in The Gallery at Penn College.
About 100 visitors savored an afternoon of artistic exchange in The Gallery at Penn College, as the summer exhibition reception celebrated “Five Artists: Explorations and Conversation.”
“Visitors enjoyed the gallery talk offered by the five artists on Sunday; they discussed techniques, studio practices, the medium of fiber and the special bond they have forged as a critique group,” said Penny Griffin Lutz, gallery director.
The June 8 gathering presented a panel with Meredith Eachus Armstrong, Elizabeth Z. Bennett, Jean E. Downing, Peggy Blei Hracho and Cecilia J. Rusnak. They were comfortably seated for the conversation, as was most of the audience gathered in the gallery, located on the third floor of The Madigan Library at Pennsylvania College of Technology.
Exploring the beautiful gallery space on the third floor of The Madigan Library at Pennsylvania College of Technology.
The fiber artists hail from five Pennsylvania counties: Berks, Bucks, Centre, Columbia and Montour, yet they have convened monthly for ten years to support one another’s process and brainstorm solutions.
Ranging in themes and styles, their works include representational, abstract, landscape, imaginary and remembered places, ancient scripts, creatures, and portraits.
“Five Artists: Explorations and Conversation” in on display through July 24. Summer hours at The Gallery at Penn College are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays; and 1 to 4 p.m., Sundays. (The gallery is closed Mondays, Fridays and Saturdays and will also be closed July 3-7.) Admission is free.
The Gallery at Penn College's summer exhibit reveals a range of themes, styles and techniques.
The fiber artists discuss their work (from left): Meredith Eachus Armstrong, Jean E. Downing, Elizabeth Z. Bennett, Peggy Blei Hracho and Cecilia J. Rusnak.
Guests mingle midst art pieces like "Sarah and Roselynn" by Hracho.
Piecing together Bennett's "Fragments #6: Etruscan Writing"
A detail from Armstrong's "Covid Cross"
Downing talks about her work, “Dancing with Lobsters.”
On this wall: Rusnak's "Eruption," in small frame on left, and Downing's "Face 2"
An opportunity for quiet contemplation ...
... or artistic conversation.
An example of Hracho's rich, dense surfaces in her piece, "GAG"
A close-up of Armstrong's "Barnyard Surprise"
The gallery's summer showcase draws enthusiastic interest.
There's so much to see!