There will be a reception to celebrate the artists whose works are displayed in the Patrick & Margaret DeNaples Center at the University of Scranton. The reception will be on March 5 at 6:30 PM in Room 405 of the DeNaples Center on Mulberry Street between Monroe and Clay Avenues. Featured artists include Brian Keeler, Nancy Ruch-Kim, Karl Neuroth, Susan Scranton Dawson and Karen Reid.

Jay and Mary Ann Paulukonis will participate in the juried Philadelphia Invitational Furniture Show on March 27 and 28, 2010. Their work on exhibit will be stained glass panels representative of their custom work as well as fused and slumped glass pieces. This is the tenth year that Jay and Mary Ann have been accepted into the nationally-regarded Furniture Show, which showcases select artisan-made furniture and furnishings. Highlighting both modern and traditional styles, the exhibit is held at the Cruise Ship Terminal in the Philadelphia Navy Yard, an area at the foot of Broad Street marked by creative redevelopment. A benefit preview party will be held Friday evening, March 26. For more information visit http://www.pffshow.com or use the link from www.paulukonisstudio.com; or contact Jay and Mary Ann (570.585.2096, glass@paulukonisstudio.com).

Frank Goryl was featured in an article in the Wilkes-Barre Times Leader concerning his recent show at the Paper Kite Press Studio & Gallery in Kingston. Frank and his family had a 18-week sabbatical in Italy earlier this year. As for Goryl himself, he was in a kind of artistic heaven. “I didn’t have to teach. I didn’t have to work. I was able to concentrate on my art all the time.”
The pottery Frank Goryl had on display at the Paper Kite Gallery in Kingston was crafted using a raku technique, in which smoke from smoldering straw helped create the design. Goryl, who teaches art at Keystone College in LaPlume, has never exhibited raw clay before, and he doesn’t know how long it will hold up. He anticipates the tile will eventually disintegrate, and that’s fine with him.

The premiere exhibit of ‘Pennsylvania Hands’, Sally Wiener Grotta’s newest photographic portrait project, will be unveiled at Muhlenberg College’s Galleria Lobby of the Baker Center for the Arts. The opening reception will be during Muhlenberg’s annual Alumni Weekend, on Friday, June 5th, at 4pm.
Pennsylvania Hands is Sally Wiener Grotta’s visual celebration of those individuals who keep alive the traditional crafts that built our country’s dynamically diverse culture and established the underpinnings of our present-day society. In this ongoing project, she is creating narrative portraits of people who use their hands in traditional ways, making functional objects that are, today, typically done by machines.
The eight panels of this exhibit will display sizable canvas portraits. In addition, each canvas will be surrounded by storyboards (made of hardwood floor planking) with a total of about 50 sepia-toned digitally hand-colored smaller photographs. The storyboards depict the creative processes behind each artisan’s craft.
This Muhlenberg College showing of Pennsylvania Hands is the launch exhibit of Sally’s project, which will next move to the Trolley Museum in Scranton, PA, then onto various venues throughout the east coast and, eventually, around the country. Sally will also be giving lectures associated with the exhibits, visiting schools, senior citizen centers, community organizations and so forth. Pennsylvania Hands will ultimately evolve into American Hands,as she focuses her camera on artisans beyond the borders of her home state. She will also be developing a book on American Hands in the near future.

AFA members Fran Douaihy and Mark Ciocca were invited to exhibit their artwork at the Sanolfi Pasteur “Meet the Artists” juried show and reception at their Swiftwater facility in April.
Also Member Fran Douaihy was awarded second place in the photography division of Wilkes-Barre’s
Fine Arts Fiesta l for her photo “NEPA Parking LOT”. Also her photo “Ivy”, along with Bernie Andreoli and his photo “Iguana”, each won the Commission on Economic Opportunity Purchase Award/ Ending Childhood Hunger. Bernie also won an honorable mention for his photo “Iguana”, and Mark Ciocca won Honorable Mention in Graphics for his linocut entitled “Kids for Cash”.

AFA member Bill Tersteeg will be exhibiting at Allentown Art Museum as a part of the 30th Annual
Juried Show. The exhibit will be showing in conjunction with the Museum’s exhibition, “Monet to Matisse” Feb. 1 through April 26, 2009. The Allentown Art Museum is located at 31 Fifth St.,
Allentown, PA 18101. For additional information, call (610)432-7409.

Longtime AFA member George Strasburger from South Scranton was the recipient of the American Artists Professional League’s Salmagundi Club Award for his oil painting, “Tamara”. His work was selected from 96 oil paintings submitted for the organization’s 80th annual Grand National Exhibition. George received the award from AAPL President Konrad Hansalik at the group’s annual meeting and awards reception in New York City. This year’s show highlighted the works of 185 artists. George has his studio on Cedar Avenue ion Scranton. For more informnation on the exhibition, visit americanartistsprofessionalleague.org.