ALTOONA – An exhibition of works by Kara Dunne and Kelly Kozma will be on display in the Misciagna Family Center for Performing Arts from Oct. 17 – Dec. 15. A reception will be held from 3 p.m. – 5 p.m., Oct. 17 in the Titelman Study of the Misciagna Center.
Dunne is a printmaker, video, performance and installation artist living in Providence, RI. An Albert K. Murray Fine Art Award winner, Dunne has also been awarded residencies at Elsewhere Collaborative, The Prairie Center of the Arts, Vermont Studio Center, Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts in Nebraska City and The Burren College of Art in Ballyvaughan, Ireland.
Dunne’s recent printmaking and video work has been shown in New York, Providence, Mississippi, San Diego and Washington D.C. Her creative drive stems from her background in both the visual arts as well as theater; the combination of the two enabled her to explore the opportunities of the live, the staged and the recorded.
Printmaking often becomes a way of creating prop or costume, and it is fully incorporated into her performances and videos. Ultimately, Dunne believes looking at art shouldn’t be easy, and she strives to involve the viewer directly in her work through some means of interaction. She states, “I always keep in mind the following things: Public space is yours to take. Reveal the things that are hidden. What you see is filtered for you. Let private notions become public. You can make icons.”
Kozma, a mixed media artist, grew up in Bucks County, and received her BFA from Moore College of Art & Design. She lives and practices art in Philadelphia. Kozma gave an artist lecture at the Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts, where she discussed her process and influences in conjunction with her solo show. She was also a visiting artist at her alma mater, where she made studio visits and spoke to the students about seizing opportunities in the art world.
She has run community based art workshops and is scheduled to teach a drawing seminar in 2014. Her current work combines drawing, painting and hand embroidery with elements of chance and probability to create vivid, pattern-driven pieces. She states, “This body of work is about finding a balance between my artist’s hand and that, which is left up to chance. It embodies the notion of knowing when to give up control and when to exude it completely.”
The Galleries are open Monday – Friday, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. and before and during all performances. For further information, call the Misciagna Family Center for Performing Arts at 814-949-5452 or visit the Penn State Altoona Web site at www.altoona.psu.edu.