UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — "Summer Reading," an exhibition of works by contemporary artists who take creative approaches to text and the book, will be on display at the Woskob Family Gallery in downtown State College from June 14 to Sept. 8. Curated by gallery director Ann Tarantino and curatorial assistant Lindsey Landfried, the artistic approaches represented in the exhibition range from investigating artist’s books as a structure, exploring storytelling in visual art, mining the narrative possibilities of language, and looking at the object-ness of material in circulation.
The included artists are Tauba Auerbach, Lenka Clayton, Erik Den Breejen, Lesley Dill, Joy Drury Cox, Colette Fu, Skye Gilkerson, Shanti Grumbine, Travis Head, Meg Hitchcock, Nina Katchadourian, Michael Mandiberg, Jill Moser, Charles Bernstein, Diane Samuels, Ward Shelley, Cassie Tompkins, Breanne Trammell, Anne Vieux and Dan Walsh. The exhibition is co-sponsored by Penn State University Libraries.
In addition to the works on view, the gallery will offer a number of events and engagement opportunities in conjunction with the exhibition.
- An opening reception will be held at the gallery from 5 to 7 p.m. on Thursday, June 14.
- On Friday, July 6, in collaboration with Webster’s Bookstore and Café, the gallery will host an evening of literary readings and refreshments. At 7 p.m. Nicole Miyashiro will present two new ekphrastic poems based on Diane Samuel’s piece, "Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas/Testimony Against Gertrude Stein," on view in the exhibition.
- During the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts, the gallery will host a papermaking workshop on Old Main Lawn for Children’s and Youth day on Wednesday, July 11. Additionally, visiting-artist Colette Fu will conduct an all-ages, pop-up bookmaking workshop from 5 to 8 p.m. on Friday, July 13, and a demonstration at 11 a.m. on Saturday, July 14.
- From 5 to 8 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 3, the gallery will host a bookmaking workshop. Gallery staff will lead beginning bookmaking throughout the evening while artist Kristina Davis will teach advanced projects at 5 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Preregistration is required for the advanced classes.
- A closing reception will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 7, featuring artist Breanne Trammell’s Pocket Poetry Mobile Zine Library project.
For more information on these events, visit woskobfamilygallery.psu.edu. All events are free and open to the public.
The Woskob Family Gallery is a contemporary art space that brings a cohesive and carefully curated program of exhibitions and events to central Pennsylvania. Run by Penn State’s College of Arts and Architecture, the gallery serves as a laboratory for exploring how the arts can catalyze creative placemaking. The Woskob Family Gallery is located at 146 South Allen Street in State College, Pennsylvania.
The gallery’s summer hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday. For more information, please contact Program Manager Haley Finnegan at hbs131@psu.edu, or visit woskobfamilygallery.psu.edu.