Housing Crisis, Idea of Home Come Together in Art Gallery Exhibition
Joelle Dietrick’s “Sherwin’s Kinetic Contrasts 20” will be among the pieces featured in “The Sherwin Series: Works by Joelle Dietrick.” The mixed media series, representing the struggle to maintain identity in tough economic times and the role of home in today’s world, is on display from Oct. 24 to Nov. 18.
The 2008 financial crisis led to the foreclosure of countless homes and economic weakness throughout the country. Yet it is this tragic time from which Joelle Dietrick found inspiration for her recent series.
The Hope Horn Gallery will display “The Sherwin Series: Works by Joelle Dietrick” from Oct. 24 to Nov. 18.
The mixed media exhibition includes digital prints and paintings. Dietrick uses the Sherwin-Williams 2007 Color Forecast paints, the colors chosen just before the foreclosure crisis occurred, and stretched-out domestic architecture to represent the struggle to maintain identity in tough economic times.
Darlene Miller-Lanning, Ph.D., director of The Hope Horn Gallery, said the theme of the Sherwin Series is the role of home in today’s world.
“Traditionally, you had a home and settled down,” Dr. Miller-Lanning said. “Now, because of the global economy, people move about and home has changed. Something worldwide can affect you locally, such as the housing crisis in 2008.”
Dr. Miller-Lanning said that despite the art’s abstract quality, the message displayed is clear.
“Even if you don’t see a normal picture of a house, it’s very understandable,” Dr. Miller-Lanning said.
An American artist now residing in Tallahassee, Fla., Dietrick is a recent recipient of a Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst Dienst (DAAD) grant, which is a renowned international artists-in-residence program in Berlin, Germany.
Dietrick will give a lecture on the Sherwin Series on Friday, Nov. 4, from 5 to 6 p.m. A public reception will follow at The Hope Horn Gallery, from 6 to 8 p.m., as part of downtown Scranton’s First Friday.
In addition, The Hope Horn Gallery is offering collage workshops based on “The Sherwin Series: Works by Joelle Dietrick.” Participants will produce collages that respond to the built environment. School and community groups may call to schedule times.
The Hope Horn Gallery, located on the fourth floor of Hyland Hall, is open Sunday through Friday from noon to 4 p.m. and Wednesdays from 6 to 8 p.m. For additional information, contact The Hope Horn Gallery at 941-4214.
