A reception for Charles "Bud" Gibbons, artist and professor of visual arts at Penn State New Kensington, is slated from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, July 26, in the campus Art Gallery.
Gibbons' exhibit, "Four Seasons," on loan from the Westmoreland Museum of American Art, features four 8-feet by 10-feet acrylic-on-canvas landscapes of the annual weather patterns of Westmoreland County in western Pennsylvania. The New Kensington show features all four seasons together, which is a break from the museum’s traditional showing of each painting during its corresponding season.
Augmenting the oversized featured works are 19 smaller portraits and landscapes. According to Gibbons, most of the oil on canvas pieces have not been a part of any of his previous displays at the campus and “fit the theme of 'Seasons.'”
The reception and exhibit, which runs through July 28, are free to the public. The New Kensington gallery is open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. weekdays and noon to 5 p.m. weekends. After the three-month showing at the campus, the exhibit moves to the Inn at Mountain View in Greensburg.
For more information, call 724-334-6032.
About "Four Seasons"The paintings were commissioned by the Westmoreland Museum in the early 1990s. Gibbons, started with “Summer” in 1992 and finished with “Spring” in 1993. The paintings hang from the ceiling of the museum’s McKenna Gallery. A two-year renovation project necessitated the removal of the revolving exhibit and provided an opportunity for the artist to show his work at his home gallery. The Westmoreland also shared Gibbons’ art with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Last year, a print of the “Winter” painting graced the cover the newspaper’s Christmas Day issue. A winter scene painting highlights the cover of the annual Dec. 25 edition. Gibbons’ was the first living artist accorded the coveted spot.