New Arts Program in Kutztown schedules artist reception [Spotlight]
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Jan. 1—The opening reception for Patricia Johanson's Sculptural Landscapes, "McMaster Monarch" and "Mary's Seven Sorrows," will be held on Jan. 13 from 6-9 p.m., with a gallery talk with the artist at 7:30, at New Arts Program, 173 W. Main St., Kutztown.
The exhibition will run Fridays through Sundays, 10 a.m.-1 p.m., through April 16.
"For over 40 years, Patricia Johanson has patiently insisted that art can heal the Earth," writes Caffyn Kelley in the preface to "Art and Survival." "Her designs satisfy deep human needs for beauty, belonging and historical memory, while also answering the needs of birds, insects, fish, animals and micro-organisms. Her art reclaims degraded ecologies and creates conditions that permit endangered species to thrive in the middle of urban centers."
As early as 1969, Johanson's site-specific designs, which combine art, ecology, landscaping and functional infrastructure, have established her as a leading pioneer in the field of ecological art (or eco-art).
During the 1960s and 1970s, she worked for Joseph Cornell and Georgia O'Keeffe and designed a series of 150 gardens for House & Garden magazine.
Her major projects have transformed municipal flood basins, sewers, water-treatment systems, flood control structures and restored habitats into accessible landscapes that are framed by sculpture and used and enjoyed by the public.
Johanson's work has been featured in over 150 exhibitions worldwide, and her writings have been translated into11 languages. She is the author of "Creative Solutions to Environmental Problems" (1992), "Preserving Biocultural Diversity in Public Parks" (1996) and "The City as an Ecological Art Form" (1998).
Johanson's project drawings and models are preserved in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Museum of Modern Art, both in New York City.
Designed in 2008, a mammoth land reclamation garden in Scranton, in conjunction with Marywood University, informed the "Mary's Seven Sorrows" drawings included in this NAP installation.
"My plan for McMaster University's new research campus in Hamilton, Ontario, (2019-2022) is based in nature, and my goal has been to design the entire project as 'Land Art' encompassing 45 acres—a massive swath of territory within an urban setting," Johanson said. "'McMarsh,' is an extensive mosaic of wetlands that would replace a thousand-car parking lot with ponds, marsh, and wet woodlands, all linked together and deployed to purify stormwater and provide food and habitat to birds, waterfowl, amphibians and turtles.
"Plants have been selected to remove specific pollutants from the water, as well as frame educational and research interests.
"The overall image for McMaster's West Campus is the monarch butterfly, which begins its epic 3,000-mile journey from this site in Canada every year to overwinter in Mexico."
For more information, call 610-683-6440
Culture
The expanded digital edition of "Pennsylvania Dutch Treats," a collection of dialect, English and bilingual studio and live field recordings commemorating Berks and surrounding counties and their folkloric performers, with 50 tracks (several hours of audio), has just been released worldwide on all major digital music distribution platforms such as Amazon Music, Spotify, Deezer, Apple iTunes, etc.
Visit https://music.apple.com/us/album/pennsylvania-dutch-treats/1661032024
The CD version is available at Dietrich's Meats & Country Store, 660 Old Route 22, Greenwich Township.
For more information, contact Dave Kline Productions, 610-741-8499,
