Reverse Ekphrasis:
Artists Responding to Poetry

15 Artists and 15 Poets A Poetry Collaboration with Bridge Literary Artists

Weekends Friday, May 29 to Sunday July 5

The Poetry Reading & Art Exhibit cheese and wine reception is on Saturday, May 30, 2 to 4 PM

Reverse Ekphrasis is a joint effort between the Bridge Literary Arts Center and the Red Brick Gallery.  Fifteen artists will create original pieces in response to fifteen works of poetry submitted by writers.  The works will be presented side by side in a celebration of collaboration and richness of culture in our region.

Weekend RBG hours are: Fridays, 1-6 PM; Saturdays, 11 AM to 7 PM; and Sundays, 12 noon to 5 PM. The Red Brick Gallery and Gift Shop is located at 17 Main Street, Foxburg, PA 16036

The RBG exhibits and opening receptions are open to all.

Artists included are: Mary Alessi , Joseph Allgeier , Sr. Angelica Cummings, Zoe Angiolelli , Patti Baldwin, Jamie Borowicz, Chris Palotas Bowler, Gary Cardot , Justus Cotterill , Anne Cameron Cutri , Marsha Langman Cisek, Barbara Crone, Heather Denning , Lori Ditrich, Lindsey Edwards, Sarah Everett, Rich Forsgren, Luke Gehring , Sheila Dwyer Grove , Hubert Haisoch , Heather Hertel , Joy Hogan,Jodi Staniunas-Hopper, Tom Hubert , John Luchin, Ernie Mauthe , Steve Mik , Theresa Musatto ,Marie Tarasovitch Peterson, Joe Pizzat , Kathleen Plaza Johnson , Evan Pontoriero , Garrett Pontoriero, Alexa Potter, Aurora Risto, Kris Risto, Mary J. Rosiak, Mark Santillano , Todd Scalise, Fran Schanz , David Schroeck, Deborah Sementelli Hoenes,Lita Tirak Ph.D. , Bryan Toy

Capacities of Care | Curated by Aaron Knochel  

Art Alley | HUB-Robeson Center   

February 14, 2025 – June 1, 2025   

Reception Date: February 14, 2025 | 4 - 6pm   

University Park, PA – HUB-Robeson Galleries is excited to present Capacities of Care, a group exhibition curated by Aaron Knochel, Associate Professor of Art Education in Penn State’s School of Visual Arts, showcasing artworks thematically engaged with care ethics as a multidimensional space of relation that needs tending and sustenance. Capacities of Care is on view in Art Alley from February 14th, 2025 – June 1st, 2025. All are welcome to join us for a celebratory reception on February 14th from 4 - 6pm in Art Alley, HUB-Robeson Center.   

There is a blossoming understanding of the impact of the arts on the health and wellbeing of our communities and institutions. Whether it be in the medical humanities or advances in neuroscience and the impact of the arts (or neuroarts), there is a growing need to understand how creativity, aesthetic experience, and critical practice may impact our capacities of care.

The capacities of care is a concept framework to understand and explore how care relationships manifest in our lives in distinct and interconnected ways. The capacity of care framework includes five interlinking domains:

•           self-care: acts in consideration of one’s own wellbeing

•           caregiving: acts invested in the wellbeing of another

•           care receiving: awareness of another’s contribution to one’s own wellbeing

•           community care: collective acts whereby individual and group considerations for wellbeing are exchanged

•           artificial care: awareness of nonhuman, sometimes technological, contributions to wellbeing

Works in the exhibit, which include painting, photography, sculpture, textile, and new media, weave these capacities together in nuanced ways from the deeply personal to the collective, asking questions of what it means to care for ourselves and for others in times of uncertainty.

Aaron D. Knochel is a mixed methods researcher, curriculum theorist, and artist with interests in transdisciplinary learning, critical social theory, and media arts. He has worked in various visual arts learning spaces, including schools, museums, and community arts programs, both domestically and internationally. Most recently, he was a 2022-23 Fulbright Scholar in the Digital Culture program at the University of Bergen, Norway. Capacities of Care is a part of a larger effort in research creation in arts in health focused on care ethics, creative practice, and narrative inquiry. Knochel’s research project led by an interdisciplinary team of Penn State faculty titled “Expanding Capacities of Care: Methodological and Pedagogical Opportunities in Narrative Ethics and Creative Inquiry for Nursing Education and Professional Development.” The project has many different activity streams from developing art exhibitions to workshops engaging creative practice and resilience for healthcare and educational professionals. The research is jointly funded by Penn State’s College of Arts & Architecture and Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences.

Featured Artists: Eric Berdis, Rachel Epp Buller, Anne Cutri, Rachel Fitzpatrick, Brandi Lewis, Zsuzsi Nagy, Jessica Roseman, Steve Rubin, Sue Uhlig, Helen Valasquez, & Emily Van Wallegen. 

For more information on this and other exhibitions, contact HUB-Robeson Galleries at (814) 865-2563, or visit their website at studentaffairs.psu.edu/hub/art-galleries. Class, student organization and office visits are welcome! Email Galleries@psu.edu with inquiries. Keep up to date with HUB-Robeson Galleries by signing up for their Listserv or follow them on Instagram @hubrobesongalleries.    

Contact: Robert Sparrow Jones, Curator and Senior Gallery Manager, HUB-Robeson Galleries (814) 865-2563, rkj5315@psu.edu  

Group invitational show at the Red Brick Gallery in Foxburg, Pennsylvania on June 2, 2024 from 4-6 pm.

Poets respond to the work and read their poetry during this time.

These 3 older works will be on display- Opening May 3, and closing June 21 at the Sweetwater Center for the Arts in Sewickly, PA.