UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Pennsylvania Center for the Book and the Art Alliance of Central Pennsylvania present “Fem-Fusion: Visual Art + the Written Word,” an art exhibit in the spirit of Words of Art — an online collection of audio poems in response to artwork (ekphrastic poetry) by Nicole Miyashiro. The exhibit is sponsored by the center as an interdisciplinary exploration and supplement to group and self-led poetry lessons.
Stacie Bird, photographer, Penn State alumna, and board member of the Art Alliance, approached Miyashiro to collaborate on bringing visual and written works together for an exhibition, and the two developed a plan to invite visual artist and writer pairs to create new pieces in their respective modes of expression by responding to each other’s work.
With an all-female group — ranging from photographers, painters, printmakers and tattooists, to fiction writers, poets and essayists — "Fem-Fusion" aims to celebrate feminine spirit, strength and unity.
Featured artist and writer pairs include:
— Stacie Bird, Art Alliance of Central PA + Alison Jaenicke, Penn State English Department
— Ingrid Booz Morejohn, Art Alliance of Central PA + Cate Fricke, Penn State University Press
— Natalie Burkey, Juniper Studio + Lisa Mangini, Penn State English Department
— Jordan Haines, Paper Moon Tattoo Co. + Nicole Miyashiro, Pennsylvania Center for the Book
— Wendy Snetsinger, Bellefonte Art Museum + Robyn Passante, Penn Stater Magazine
— Jennifer Tucker, Bellefonte Art Museum + Abby Minor, Ridgelines Language Arts
— Adrienne Waterston, Art Alliance of Central PA + Rachael Lyon, Penn State English Department
The "Fem-Fusion: Visual Art + the Written Word" exhibition debuts at the Art Alliance — Art Center, located at 818 Pike Street, Lemont, Pennsylvania — at 10 a.m.-6 p.m. on Saturday, June 5, featuring a reading by participating writers at 4-5:30 p.m. "Fem-Fusion" will remain on display 10 a.m.-6 p.m. on Saturdays and noon-4 p.m. on Sundays, through June 13.
The Art Alliance of Central Pennsylvania is a nonprofit organization that serves students, artists and the art-loving public in Centre County and beyond by offering art education, opportunities for practicing artists, quality exhibitions and sales to the public, and to collaborate with other organizations on arts outreach programs.
The Pennsylvania Center for the Book is an affiliate of the Center for the Book established in 1977 at the Library of Congress. It encourages the state's citizens and residents to study, honor, celebrate and promote books, reading, libraries and literacy.
In addition to Words of Art, which received support from the Penn State University Libraries and Can Serrat International Art Residency –- Spain, the Pennsylvania Center for the Book administers the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award, the Lynd Ward Graphic Novel Prize, the Public Poetry Project, Letters About Literature, A Baker’s Dozen: The Best Children’s Books for Family Literacy, Poems from Life, and the interactive Literary & Cultural Heritage Maps of Pennsylvania.
For more information about “Fem-Fusion: Visual Art + the Written Word,” contact Nicole Miyashiro, writer-in-residence, at nmm16@psu.edu.