For our earlier exhibits, click on each year: 2016 and 2017 2018 2019 2020
2021 EXHIBITS
"Cash & Carry VIII"
Marking the eighth annual show in which we provided the substrate for artwork, we gave away hundreds of 8" x 8" medium-density fiberboard (MDF) panels. Artists could paint on them, draw on them, glue photographs and collages on them, knit around them, use them to build sculptures on (no more than 8" high, of course) -- anything at all.
The show opened with more than 250 pieces on the walls, and by the middle of the next week we had 325. The 100+ artists, from eight Pennsylvania counties, included university art professors and other regional artists with decades of experience; they also included almost a hundred elementary-, middle-, and high-school students as well as preschool children as young as two years old. Our heartfelt thanks go out to Central Columbia Middle School art teacher Laurie Witmer, Mifflinburg High School art teacher Theresa Koch, and Bloomsburg High School art teacher Steffanie Bowes for inspiring their students to do such fine work and for bringing it to the Gallery. We thank ALL of the artists for their enthusiastic participation.
An artist could take up to three panels at a time, leaving their contact information; when those three came back as art, the artist could take three more.
Every piece sells for $25, with the artist receiving $20 and the rest going to support the Exchange Gallery's ongoing operations; sales begin at 6 p.m. on Friday, December 3rd, during Downtown Bloomsburg's holiday event: All attendees wishing to buy will receive numbers; when sales start, the person with #1 may choose one piece from the walls, and if she wants a second piece, she must get another number and go to the back of the line. So on with #2, #3, etc. This prevents any one buyer from getting "all of the good stuff", and it makes for a lot of fun.
Oh, and one can pay with cash, check, or charge card; we just like the name "Cash & Carry" -- and it does indicate that, unlike our other shows, one may take one's artwork home right then and there, rather than waiting until the end of the show. They make great holiday gifts!
The show runs through Thursday, December 30th, 2021, at 24 East Main Street in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania. Many thanks to former Exchange board member and Gallery committee member Chad Andrews for coming up with the show's theme back in 2014; Chad has a number of pieces in the 2021 show. Thanks too to Gallery committee member Mary Chamuris for help hanging the show. And many thanks to Exchange Gallery artist Scott Canouse for making the video about the show (and for having some of his beautiful photos in the show too); you can watch the video here.
"Art Grows on the Farm"
The Exchange Gallery and Rohrbach's Farm Market, Bakery and Gift Shop (rohrbachsfarm.net) invited artists to go out to the farm and make art. From May until mid-October, people painted, photographed, and otherwise captured the landscape and the activities at one of our most vibrant local businesses. The exhibition runs at both the Exchange Gallery and at the Farm Market from Monday, October 18th, through Friday, November 20th, and it includes more than fifty pieces by twenty artists from five Pennsylvania counties.
"Haunting The Exchange"
The Exchange Gallery sought artwork that conjures up thoughts of Halloween and Fall festivities -- full moons, fall foliage, ghosts, goblins, and cute or scary, classy or kitschy: What comes to mind when artists think of Halloween? We asked them to help us transform the gallery into a dazzling seasonal attraction -- and they did!
The show "Haunting The Exchange" has 100 pieces in it by 45 artists from eight Pennsylvania counties -- among them, 14 people from three generations in three families, the first time we have had so many relatives involved at one time. The youngest exhibitor turns three years old during the run of the show; Michael's work appears along with his five-year-old sister Rosie's, his mother's, and his grandmother's. (Chris Stametz, his grandmother, retired from a career as an elementary- and middle-school art teacher and has shown dozens of pieces at The Exchange.) Michael, Rosie, and Molly join 22 other first-time exhibitors here as our Gallery continues to reach more broadly and deeply across and into our region's art community -- as we help BUILD that community.
You can watch a video about the show at youtube.com/watch?v=kQghltM9gtU; made by artist Scott Canouse, it includes four of the "Haunting" artists talking about their work: Chris Stametz, Laurie McCants, Brian Spies, and Tara MacNish.
The show runs from Monday, September 13th, through Friday, October 15th, and we will have a reception that last evening from 6 to 8 p.m. -- perhaps with palm-reading and some ghost-stories.
"Watermark: A Community Album of the 2011 Flood"
Show runs August 2nd through September 10th, 2021
In September 2011, the worst flood in recorded history hit Bloomsburg. In the wake of Tropical Strom Lee that had come up from the Gulf of Mexico, dumping prodigious quantities of rain across eastern Pennsylvania, the gauge by the airport reported the Susquehanna River cresting at midday on Friday, the 9th, at 32.75 feet, a foot and a half higher than Agnes in 1972 (and 5/8" higher than the 1904 crest, already forgotten in the subsequent years that Bloomsburg's West End filled up with houses and buildings vulnerable to high water). Flow in the river peaked at more than 300,000 cubic feet per second; before the gauge at Charmond Road in Orangeville got swept away, it showed the flow on Fishing Creek at almost half as much, 140,000 cubic feet per second -- more than a million gallons per second.
A quarter of Bloomsburg's four square miles lay under water, no automobile traffic could enter or leave the town except by way of Route 487 to the north, Interstate 80 closed because of water covering the roadway, and destruction down the valley of Fishing Creek remains visible to this day.
For a history of the storm, visit weather.gov/ctp/TSLeeFlooding.
"Watermark: A Community Album of the 2011 Flood" solicited artwork and other memorabilia from anyone and everyone who lived through the event, anywhere in the Bloomsburg area. The exhibition has photos by Eric Foster, Anthony Heier, Oren B. Helbok, and Robyn Madara Jay; artwork by Bob McCormick and Laurie McCants; and newspaper clippings provided by Anthony, Mitzi Lennartz, and Bob Webber..
We hope that on September 10th we can host an artists' reception in the Gallery; to help make that happen, wear your mask: Yours protects me, and mine protects you.
"Bugs & Botanicals"
Show runs June 21st through July 30th, 2021
The natural world offers a great deal of intrigue and inspiration. The Exchange Gallery sought artwork that depicts plant and/or insect life, real or imagined. Whether tiny clovers or massive sequoia trees, beautiful butterflies or creepy crawlies, we want to see what plants or insects inspire artists in our region.
The show has work by fifty (50) artists from seven Pennsylvania counties and also a former Pennsylvanian now living in Delaware, and twenty (20) of them have work at The Exchange for the very first time -- very exciting to see so many new artists' work here!
For the video about the exhibition, featuring artwork in it and words from Gina Dignazio, who came up with the theme and who helped hang the show, visit our Youtube page.
We look forward to announcing a reception for the show to take place in late July.
"Images In A Deliberate Sequence"
Show runs May 3rd through June 18th, 2021
Comics are a staple in visual storytelling, but what do “comics” encompass, and how can we identify that? Over the past couple decades, the term “comics” has been reimagined several times to reflect the temperaments, styles, and themes that come in and out of fashion. The Exchange Gallery sought artists of all ages and levels of experience to define what comics mean to them and to produce their own interpretations of a visual narrative. Silver age, noir, manga, alternative – all styles and genres welcome in this celebration of comics.
The show has work by sixteen artists from six Pennsylvania counties and also a Pennsylvania transplant now living in Arizona; three currently attend Bloomsburg University, and at least four others graduated from Bloom U., recently and not so recently.
You can purchase pieces directly through the ArtOfPA Web site's e-commerce page devoted to this show; if you would like your piece(s) shipped to you, contact us before you buy so we can figure the shipping cost -- 570-317-2596, Exchange@ExchangArts.org. You can of course also purchase pieces in person at the Gallery; click here for our hours, which vary from week to week. (Whether you purchase in person or through the Web site, all pieces will remain on the wall here until the end of the show, June 18th.)
For the virtual tour of the show by video, click here.
For the first time with any of our shows, we feel it appropriate to alert viewers: Some people may find some of the work here not to their tastes, and some of it might provoke strong negative feelings. We respect your feelings and ask you to respect our artists' right to free expression; the Exchange Gallery provides a venue for all of this work without condoning or condemning any particular ideas or points of view.
Susquehanna Greenway Traveling Photo Gallery
Show runs March 31st through April 30th, 2021
The Susquehanna Greenway Partnership has sponsored a photo contest every year since 2012, attracting work by people throughout the 500-mile corridor along the North Branch, West Branch, and main stem of the Susquehanna River -- Pennsylvania's longest and one of the oldest in the world. The Susquehanna Greenway corridor includes the river itself as well as the parks, trails, and communities that line the river’s banks. Categories in the 2019 contest included Treasured Landscapes, Treasured River Towns, Susquehanna Adventures, and Bridges; in the 2020 contest (for which Exchange executive director Oren B. Helbok served as one of the jurors), categories included Treasured Landscapes, Treasured River Towns, Susquehanna Adventures, and Wildlife.
In addition to seeing the 2019 and 2020 winners at The Exchange, you can look at each one of them on the Web at susquehannagreenway.org/8th-annual-winners and susquehannagreenway.org/9th-annual-winners.
For this show, we will not have an e-commerce page; if you would like to get in touch with any of the photographers to purchase a piece, please do so through the Susquehanna Greenway Partnership, 570-478-0178 or info@SusquehannaGreenway.org.
For information about how to enter the 10th annual contest, visit susquehannagreenway.org/photocontest.
"In Opposition"
Show runs February 22nd through March 26th, 2021
This moment in American culture seems to be dominated by oppositional ideas. People are certain that their ideas are correct, while in complete contradiction to others in their community. The Exchange Gallery invited artists to make work about opposition: Each artist could make two pieces, or she could team up with someone to between them make two pieces, and the pair would demonstrate some kind of opposition. The contrast could be conceptual, political, or formal; it couldbe as simple as complementary colors or as complicated as political disagreements. For the most part, one side of the gallery displays one piece, and on the opposite wall we hung the oppositional piece. The viewer can stand between the two ideas, picking a side – or not. The show includes 2-D and 3-D pieces, and as always we encouraged work by artists of ALL ages and levels of experience; "In Opposition" includes work by Bloomsburg University art professors, students, and graduates, and it also includes work by two four-year-olds and a five-year-old -- the four-year-olds now in their third shows here, the five-year-old in his first.
Sales have ended, but you can still visit the "In Opposition" e-commerce page, with complete information about each piece; click here.
For the virtual tour by video, click here.
"What I Did In Quarantine"
Show runs January 9th through February 19th, 2021
The Exchange Gallery invited artists to submit work that they have made since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis in early 2020. We invited all media, 2-D and 3-D, including videos; as always, we encouraged work by artists of ALL ages and levels of experience. The work may or may not have COVID itself as a theme, but in any event if the artist could tell us the story of how the crisis informed the work, all the better. More than 50 artists from seven Pennsylvania counties (and the Bronx) responded to the call, with more than 100 pieces; they work in painting, drawing, photography, printmaking, sculpture, digital arts (including video), fibers, and 2-D and 3-D mixed media. Some of the artists have shown here for years; some have never shown here before -- and at least a couple have never shown their work in any gallery anywhere before. Some have made art for decades (for one of them, upwards of eight decades); two have not entered kindergarten yet.
Sales have ended, but you can still visit the "Quarantine" e-commerce page, with complete information about each piece; click here.
For two video tours of the show that focus on the twelve artists who provided words to accompany their pieces, click here and here.
Our gratitude goes out to ALL of these artists for sharing their work with us; without them, we would have an empty room here -- but with them, because of them, we have the miracle of human creativity to share with YOU.
For our earlier exhibits, click on each year: 2016 and 2017 2018 2019 2020
