East Stroudsburg University’s Madelon Powers Gallery will present Gassho, an exhibit featuring works in clay by Joni Maya Oye, and paintings and drawings by Miharu Lane. The exhibition will run Wednesday, August 28 – Friday, September 27. Both artists are Professor Emerita and former ESU art + media + design department faculty.
Hours for the gallery, located in the university’s Fine and Performing Arts Building, Normal and Marguerite streets, are Monday – Friday, 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. A reception for the artists will be held Wednesday, September 11 from 4-6 p.m. in the gallery. Both the exhibit and reception are open to the public at no cost.
Gassho means “gratitude” in the Japanese language, a feeling the artists share for their Japanese roots. Over the course of their artistic careers, both artists have invoked their ancestry in their work; Lane immigrated and became a citizen at the age of 15 and Oye’s grandparents immigrated in the early 20th century.
Both artists have travelled to Japan several times over the course of their lives, most recently in the last two years. Through their respective media, they have combined their love of the natural world with aesthetic, cultural, or spiritual references to their backgrounds.
Lane will present a group of paintings and drawings done both in the U.S. and on her most recent trip to Japan. They include landscapes and figurative work in oil and pastel. Oye will show her most recent series of clay sculptures inspired by ancient Japanese tomb objects and folklore.
For more information on the exhibit or reception, contact email kdevine5@esu.edu or call (570) 422-3694.