By Irina Rusanova
With the coming of 2019 and a new semester, Saint Vincent College has brought in two new opportunities to view art in the flesh. Due to a possible difficulty in finding time as a college student to go to a museum or show outside campus, these two exhibits are an opportunity to peruse a selection of visually pleasing artwork in the confines of the Saint Vincent campus.
The opening reception for the “Common Threads: Weavers of Western and Central Pennsylvania” collection took place on Jan. 24 in the Fred M. Rogers Center’s McCarl Coverlet Gallery, kicking off the exhibit until its close on June 7. The exhibit features masterful handiwork of weavers from a variety of backgrounds and counties.
The gallery is open to viewing from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesday through Friday and from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Wednesday. Saturday and Sunday visits to the exhibit will only occur by appointment through Lauren M. Churilla at (724) 805-2188.
“A Hidden Wholeness: The Zen Photography of Thomas Merton” is an exhibit featuring photographs on loan from Bellarmine University’s Thomas Merton Center, also opened on Jan. 24, finding a temporary home in the Saint Vincent Gallery located in the Carey Center. The exhibit features a selection of “Zen photographs” – photographs taken to immortalize rarely-noticed beauties in the world and the way they are affected by outside factors, such as lights and shadows, despite remaining relatively unchanged physically. The Zen photographs were taken by a Trappist monk from Kentucky during the last ten years of his life.
The black and white photographs attempt to encompass the audience with a nostalgic sensation, as do the plaques describing the purpose of the images. One photograph, “Bare Branch,” for instance, finds a description in one of Merton’s own writings: “Waste. Emptiness. Total poverty of the Creator: yet from this poverty springs everything…”
The Saint Vincent Gallery is open from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Tuesday through Thursday, and from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Friday through Sunday. The Zen Photography exhibit will close on March 8.