Sordoni Art Gallery Presents Peasant War and Sacred Sisters Jan. 15 to March 1
The Sordoni Art Gallery at Wilkes University presents Peasant War and Sacred Sisters from Jan. 15 to March 1. The exhibitions offer insight into the female perspective through visual arts and poetry. During the exhibitions, the Sordoni Art Gallery will be divided into two spaces, each exhibition showing concurrently.
Peasant War is a series of etchings by Käthe Kollwitz that represents the brutal treatment of
peasants in 16th century Germany, their rise to revolution and battle, and their subsequent
humiliation and death. Kollwitz worked on these pieces from 1903 to 1908 and although
they are based on historic events, the series anticipates tragedies that unfolded
across Europe during the first half of the twentieth century. The exhibition is on
loan from the Trout Gallery at Dickinson College. Kollwitz’s artwork will be displayed
along with poetry from J.C. Todd, a Philadelphia poet with a forthcoming book on Kollwitz.
Todd was awarded the 2016 Rita Dove Poetry Prize and was named the finalist in the
2015 PSA Robert Winner Memorial Contest. She holds fellowships from the Pew Foundation,
the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, and the Ucross and Ragdale Foundations.
In conjunction with the exhibition, Todd will read her work at 4:30 p.m. on Jan. 23
in the gallery. The event is sponsored in part by the Allan Hamilton Dickson Fund.
Sacred Sisters is a collaboration between visual artist Holly Trostle Brigham and award-winning
poet, Guggenheim fellow and former Connecticut poet laureate, Marilyn Nelson. Brigham
is a figurative painter whose work explores feminist narratives through paintings
that are enriched by her research into the art, symbolism and history of her subjects.
Brigham's paintings depict eight nuns who represent many centuries, religions and
cultures. Each nun was an artist or writer. While Brigham imagines the nuns in the
midst of their creative work, Nelson gives voice to each nun with a poem phrased as
a prayer. Included in this exhibition is an artist book that Brigham collaborated
with artist MaryAnn Miller to create. It is an edition of 12 with one version housed
at the Smithsonian Institution artist book collection.
In conjunction with Sacred Sisters, an artist lecture and reception will be held at
5 p.m. on Jan. 30 in the gallery.
Wilkes students of the literary journal Manuscript are partnering with the gallery to host the Visual Poetry Project at 5 p.m. on Feb.
20. The Visible Poetry Project partners 30 filmmakers with 30 poets to create visual
interpretations of original and classic poems. Students will curate a selection of
films and pair them with their own creative pieces for a unique evening of reading
and viewing poetry. Light refreshments will be served.
For more information, visit www.wilkes.edu/sordoniartgallery.
The $3 million, 7,000-square-foot Sordoni Art Gallery is a culmination of a gallery
revitalization plan to enrich the arts for students, faculty and staff while contributing
to cultural life in the local community. More than double the size of the former gallery,
the new space opened in 2017 and is outfitted for high-end national art exhibitions
and includes versatile opportunities for teaching and learning. The gallery shares
space with the Karambelas Media and Communication Center at 141 S. Main St. in Wilkes-Barre.