WYOMISSING, Pa. — The Penn State Berks Freyberger Gallery will present “Apprentice,” an exhibition of work by visiting artist Abbey Muza that tells the story of the college’s predecessor institution — Wyomissing Polytechnic Institute — and its apprentice program. The exhibition will open April 10 and run through May 9, with the opening reception to be held in the gallery from noon to 3 p.m. on April 10. The event is free and open to the public, and light refreshments will be served.
The artwork in the exhibition is based on Muza’s archival research on the history of the textile industry in northeastern Pennsylvania and the history of Penn State Berks, whose forerunner was Wyomissing Polytechnic Institute (WPI), a training school established by the owners of Textile Machine Works (TMW) to provide training its workers. WPI operated a work/study program for apprentices in local industry from 1929 to 1958. Textile Machine Works produced machinery for the manufacture of stockings and hosiery.
Machine parts, photographs, tools and promotional materials are pulled from the archives of the WPI and TMW, held in the special collections of the Thun Library at Penn State Berks, and assembled into drawings and handwoven textiles. Artworks in the exhibition include drawings, textiles and sculpture, which were fabricated with the assistance of Roy Thompson, supervisor of mechanical engineering labs at Penn State Berks.
Muza uses weaving, drawing, printmaking and sculpture to explore narration, identity and image-making. They frequently use archival and historical materials to make work that mediates narrative through material translation and abstraction. Muza has shown their work in solo and two-person exhibitions at spaces including Tusk, Slow Dance and the Fondation des États Unis. They have been an artist in residence at ACRE and Alternative Worksite, and have been a Fulbright France Harriet-Hale Wooley Awardee, a Leroy Neiman Fellow at the Oxbow School of Art, and a Visiting Artist at the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. Muza holds a bachelor of fine arts degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a master of fine arts in fiber and material studies from the Tyler School of Art and Architecture.
The exhibition is open to the public on Thursdays and Fridays from 1-6 p.m. and by appointment. For more information, contact Muza at AZM7325@psu.edu.