StudentFeb 5, 2018University News
By: Eric Eiden ’19, student correspondent

The Beauty of Nature with Berenice D’Vorzon

Darlene Miller-Lanning, Ph.D., discussed “The Berenice D’Vorzon Collection at The University of Scranton” at an art gallery lecture Feb. 2.
“Swamp Study” by artist Berenice D’Vorzon is among her featured works on display in the exhibit “Berenice D’Vorzon: Works on Paper,” which runs through March 9 at the University’s Hope Horn Gallery in Hyland Hall. The exhibit is free of charge and open to the public during gallery hours.
“Swamp Study” by artist Berenice D’Vorzon is among her featured works on display in the exhibit “Berenice D’Vorzon: Works on Paper,” which runs through March 9 at the University’s Hope Horn Gallery in Hyland Hall. The exhibit is free of charge and open to the public during gallery hours.

“When I first met Berenice D’Vorzon I was 17, a freshman art major at Wilkes College in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, and she was my adviser. I was terrified of her,” Darlene Miller-Lanning, Ph.D., said. “Her reputation preceded her. She was thought to be a very tough teacher, very passionate, and she would not let you get away with taking the easy way.”

Dr. Miller-Lanning, director of the University’s Hope Horn Gallery spoke at an art gallery lecture for “The Berenice D’Vorzon Collection at The University of Scranton.” A collection of D’Vorzon’s work is on display in the Hope Horn Gallery through Mar. 9.

“If you told me that I would be standing here tonight talking about her work – that would’ve been unimaginable,” Dr. Miller-Lanning said.

D’Vorzon was an abstract painter, whose works mainly portrays nature through her eyes.

“She painted many images that dealt with the idea of landscape,” Dr. Miller-Lanning said. “The idea that life, death, nature and creative energy are very dynamic – that whole cycle and process is very important – that is what she wanted to address in her own work.”

D’Vorzon’s love for nature allowed her to do a series of works that featured swamps in Alabama and Florida.

“She would talk a lot about the idea that everything is born and lives, grows and dies but sometimes that takes a very long time,” Dr. Miller-Lanning said.  “Things changed very rapidly in the swamp, so that was very interesting to her.”

D’Vorzon travelled frequently and the places she visited impacted her work.

“She liked water, rivers, volcanos, glaciers, storms, hurricanes and downpours in the tropics, all of these things were subjects that attracted her attention,” said Dr. Miller-Lanning.

D’Vorzon died in 2014 and many of painting were donated to The University of Scranton. Her memory still lives on in her abstract paintings of nature, which are displayed throughout the Loyola Science Center.

Eric Eiden ’19, Throop, is a journalism/electronic media major at The University of Scranton.
Eric Eiden ’19, Throop, is a journalism/electronic media major at The University of Scranton.
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