ALTOONA, Pa. — “Altered Ecology,” a body of work by Ivyside Juried Exhibition winner Kari Varner, will be on display Oct. 23 through Nov. 21 in the Sheetz Gallery of the Misciagna Family Center for Performing Arts. The exhibition is free and open to the public.
“Altered Ecology” examines the traces of industry and human impact on the landscape, as well as the ecological and economic value of altered environments. By using the environment as both subject and material, images emerge from changes in land and water. Varner stated, “By using these materials, I become implicated in these processes of environmental alteration. Often the material experiments I undertake seem a reflection of our experiments on the environment itself. How much can the material or land tolerate before it ceases to be recognized, before its identity is irrevocably altered or lost.”
Using a variety of image making techniques, Varner said, she creates photographs that explore the traces of industry and agriculture upon the landscape. She received her master of fine arts degree from Washington University in St. Louis and her bachelor of fine arts from the University of Denver. She is currently an artist-in-residence for the Erie Canal and serves as a lecturer in photography at Binghamton University. She has been awarded grants from the Light Work Organization, the Puffin Foundation, and an Arts and the Community Grant administered by the New York State Council for the Arts.
Her work has been exhibited in solo and groups exhibitions internationally in Italy, Switzerland, South Korea and Japan. Nationally, her work has been exhibited in New York, Missouri, Virginia and Tennessee.
The galleries are open Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. For further information, call the Misciagna Family Center for Performing Arts at 814-949-5452.