Reading, Pa. – Albright College will kick-off the fall 2017 semester by presenting the following two exhibitions running concurrently in the Freedman Gallery. Both are free and open to the public:
Faces of Reading + 10, on view in Main Gallery and Foyer, Aug. 20 to Oct. 13
Ten years ago, in Faces of Reading: 1000 Portraits of a City, John Pankratz, Ph.D., Albright professor of history, documented the diversity of the city’s population by photographing personal portraits of 1,026 city residents. Now, a decade later, Pankratz, with the collaboration of alumna Angela Cremer ’17, have set out to document how those faces have changed in the new exhibit Faces of Reading + 10.
This latest installment includes portraits of nearly 900 Reading residents from all walks of life. Nearly 200 are portraits of people Pankratz photographed for the original Faces of Reading in 2005, so then/now comparisons are abundant. A vast wall of faces will teach visitors to see each person as an individual and to see all as part of a community.
Exhibition-related events include:
Aug. 20, 1 to 4 p.m., Freedman Gallery – Opening Public ReceptionAug. 30, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Campus Center Main Lounge – Art-in-a-Minute: #CFAselfieAug. 31, 5 to 7 p.m., Freedman Gallery – Opening Albright Campus Reception
Ed Williford: nine variations on touching and thinking, on view in the Freedman Gallery’s Project Space, Aug. 31 to Oct. 13
Ed Williford, an artist from Magnolia, Miss., creates unique mixed media works of art. Williford notes, “In my experience, things are not necessarily what they look like they are. The exhibition is an invitation to look at these nine objects and try to get some sense of what they are or might be. The pieces seem to be investigating their environment and maybe even themselves. I like to think they also may be inviting an observer to investigate the pieces themselves, not only with eyes but with their own fingers too. In touching and handling the pieces, the observer’s understanding of the object may change and shift at the same time that the piece itself moves and changes.”
Exhibition-related events include:
Sept. 14, 4 to 5 p.m., Klein Lecture Hall – Artist’s LectureSept. 14, 5 to 7 p.m., Freedman Gallery – Opening Reception
The Freedman Gallery in the Center for the Arts is located on 13th and Bern streets in Reading. Exhibitions and programs in the visual arts at Albright College and The Freedman Gallery are generously supported by The Silverweed Foundation in honor of Doris C. Freedman, the Pennsylvania Council of the Arts and its partner, the Berks Arts Council, and the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development.
For more information about the exhibitions, visit www.albright.edu/freedman.
