CENTER VALLEY, Pa. – A panel discussion examining the sociological context of art production will be held at 9:30 a.m. Oct. 9 in Room 135 at Penn State Lehigh Valley in Center Valley. “Artists, Art Worlds and Society: Exploring the Complex Web of Art Production,” will bring together four local artists to take a sociological look into creative production and the ways in which artists are embedded in world around them. The event is free and open to the public.
Panelists include artists and campus art educators Ron De Long, Elizabeth Flaherty and Ann Lalik. They will be joined by special guest Rook Jones, director of the Greg Weaver Collection, who has coordinated the current exhibition of Weaver’s work at the campus gallery.
Jennifer Parker, associate professor of sociology at Penn State Lehigh Valley, who collaborated with Lalik to present the panel, will use the discussion as the basis for an assignment for students in one of her courses.
“Students enrolled in SOC 001 will select one of the works of art presented during the panel and, in a one-page narrative, apply the sociological imagination to study what art tells us about the social context from which they emerge,” said Parker.
Her students will take the experience one step further when they travel to New York City on Oct. 16 for a meeting with Julia Rothenberg, a sociology professor and artist, who will discuss her new book and give students a tour of Chelsea neighborhood galleries and “The Highline” – New York’s “Park in the Sky.” Students will have the option of designing their final project for the course around an object or concept of art viewed during this out-of-classroom experience.