Earlier this summer, Penn Stateâs Palmer Museum of Art acquired a new exhibition of artwork accentuated with fine brush strokes, an emphasis on natural light and depictions of summertime â a display of American Impressionism.
âSummer Light: American Impressionist Paintings from the Thomas Clark Collectionâ opened at the end of May and is on display through Aug. 29.
Erin Coe, director of the museum and associate clinical professor of art history, said via email she is âexcitedâ to showcase the exhibition throughout the summer.
It features 24 paintings on loan from the art collector, Clark, who promised his collection of pre-1940 American Impressionist paintings to the Palmer Museum as a bequest, according to Coe.
After a donation of more than $500,000 to Penn State’s Palmer Museum of Art, 1966 history alumnus Jason Kogan will receive a special exhibition gallery in his name.
The second-floor galleries, which feature the special exhibition and permanent collection, will be closed through August 26 and will reopen on August 27.
As the nation continues to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, we take a moment to check in with a few of our many area arts organizations. With restrictions and shutdowns, our once-lively and diverse cultural scene has been dealt a heavy blow, but innovation from the creative types who lead these institutions has helped them survive.
The Rowland Theatre
“Life changed drastically for us when the COVID mandates first went into effect on March 17, 2020,” says Rebecca Inlow, secretary/treasurer of the non-profit board that manages Philipsburg’s historic Rowland Theatre. “The theater was closed for five weeks for the Spanish Influenza in 1918, and I had been doing my own countdown and remember when we hit the 35-day mark of our closure and thinking how crazy it was that we were surpassing that.”
The painting titled âHot Springs at Yellowstoneâ dates back to 1889.
Tyler Grafton Brown is an African American artist who painted during the late 1800s and is considered one of the first and best Black professional artists on the West Coast, according to the University of Victoria.
Erin M. Coe, director of the Palmer Museum of Art, said the museumâs acquisition of the painting is important for the museum.
ââHot Springs at Yellowstoneâ is the first painting by a nineteenth-century African American artist to enter the museumâs collection,â Coe said. âThe acquisition is a vital component of our goal for advancing diversity, equity, access and inclusion at the museum, which is a high strategic priority for both the Palmer Museum and the College of Arts and Architecture.â