The Gallery at Penn College to Display Prints and Paintings

The Gallery at Penn College, on the third floor of Pennsylvania College of Technology's Madigan Library, will host "Prints and Drawings," featuring work by Lauren Schiller and Tom Baker, from April 6 to May 2.

Baker's prints are composed of numerous layers generated from drawings, photographs, fabric patterns and the like, and they make use of recurring personal imagery.



"I choose these images on an intuitive basis, sometimes for their suggested meaning, and always for their general visual appeal," Baker said.

The final prints are less a narrative and more an impression of his thoughts. Drawn elements are printed over transparent layers of color and pattern, creating a relationship between representation and abstraction.

"Although my prints are simple, ordered and direct, their meaning remains open to interpretation," he said.

The imagery in Schiller's small, oil-on-wood panel paintings is drawn from food-related memories, associations and rituals. Working with dioramas, still-life objects and landscapes, Schiller creates environments that touch on personal and cultural idiosyncrasies, especially as they are revealed by food customs.

"These images neither endorse nor criticize individual traditions but rather convey my sense of enjoyment in the diversity of human expression as it is revealed through food customs and practices," Schiller said.

Themes include food and morality, food and identity, and food and religious practice.

"My work is infused with what I hope is subtle humor and social commentary," she said.

Schiller and Baker hold Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees from East Carolina University and Master of Fine Arts degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. After graduate school, both taught printmaking at Utah State University for four years. Baker is an assistant professor of printmaking at Monmouth University. Schiller is an associate professor at Seton Hall University, where she teaches painting and printmaking.

An opening reception for the exhibit will take place in the gallery from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. on April 13. The artists will offer a lecture at 4 p.m. in the first-floor Presentation Room of the Student and Administrative Services Center, followed by a 5:30 p.m. talk in the gallery.

Gallery hours are Saturday and Sunday, 1 to 4 p.m.; Tuesday and Thursday, 2 to 8 p.m.; and Wednesday and Friday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. All exhibits are free and open to the public.

For more about this exhibit and The Gallery at Penn College, visit online , e-mail or call 570-320-2445.

For general information about the college, visit on the Web , e-mail or call toll-free 800-367-9222.