UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Lori Hepner, 2023-24 Penn State Laureate and professor of arts at Penn State Greater Allegheny, will present a talk as part of the Penn State Forum Speaker Series, on Feb. 21 in the Dean’s Hall of the Penn Stater Conference Center on the University Park campus. Hepner's lecture is titled, “Making the Invisible Visible."
Doors open at 11:30 a.m. for a buffet luncheon, with the lecture beginning at noon and ending at 1 p.m.
Hepner, a visual artist who has been teaching at Penn State since 2007, uses movement to abstract and reconstruct images in works that "make the invisible visible," mirroring her own experience with sensory differences, she said. Her ongoing practice, "Drawing with Light," spans the genres of photography, performance, and augmented reality and uses custom, wearable LED devices that use the movement of the body to create digital light drawings.
Hepner has exhibited her artwork in gallery and museum exhibitions in Finland, China, the U.K., Spain, the Netherlands, Iceland, Norway, Canada, Colombia and across the United States. Her abstracted landscapes are engraved on a ruby disk inside of the Moon Arc, a mini museum that will be sent to live on the moon on Astrobotic’s Peregrine Moon Lander in 2023. Its twin is in the Smithsonian’s collection at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.
The position of Penn State Laureate is an annual faculty honor bestowed on a full-time faculty member in the arts or humanities who is assigned half-time for one academic year to bring greater visibility to the arts, humanities and the University, as well as to their own work. In this role, the laureate is a highly visible representative of the University, appearing at events and speaking engagements throughout the commonwealth.
All Penn State Forum events are open to faculty, staff, students and the general public. Tickets are $25 each, or $250 for a table of 10, and include a buffet lunch. Tickets can be purchased for Hepner's talk at this event link.
The Penn State Forum Speaker Series is modeled after the National Press Club Speaker Series, which includes a presentation by an invited speaker, followed by audience questions. Learn more on the Forum Speakers website.