An invitation to experience art
The artists also hope “LIGHT” will encourage people who may not consider themselves regular gallery visitors to experience the exhibition.
“You do not need to know anything about art to walk into this exhibition, because you already know the sky,” Hepner said. “You have looked up at it while waiting for someone, you have watched weather come in, you have used it to mark that a day was ending.”
Gil takes an equally expansive view of who can connect with the exhibition.
“We only think we don’t engage with the visual arts,” Gil said. “Art is always everywhere.”
Corinne Lalik, an Allentown-based artist, designer and co-founder of Holly Jean Studios, said the universality of the exhibition’s central idea provides another way for visitors to connect with the work.
“Light is crucial to our existence,” Lalik said, encouraging visitors “to take a moment to think about light in all of its capacities” and experience it in a more tangible and expressive way.
Her works in the exhibition include cyanotypes that began as an opportunity to experiment with a new artistic process.
For Morelock, whose work engages photography, video and writing, the invitation is similarly simple: look closely.
“You don’t need a degree or special training to stand in front of an artwork; to really slow down and look at it — to notice what it brings to mind,” Morelock said.
Her photographs grew from reading to her daughter at night and hearing her repeatedly ask, “What’s this?” The resulting project turns attention toward ordinary objects and the visual clutter of everyday life.