Painter to Display New Works in The Gallery at Penn College

The Gallery at Penn College, on the third floor of Pennsylvania College of Technology's Madigan Library, will host "New Paintings," a collection of works by Judith Kalina, from Sept. 19 to Oct. 16.

Kalina lives and works in New York City. Since 1999, she has traveled with various American and European circuses, using these experiences as a source for her art, and she plans to continue these travels in the future.

She considers her semi-abstract work to be autobiographical. In addition to the circus imagery, she portrays intimate family moments and her own memories. Each painting has its own narrative, many times an exploration of a forgotten experience that is reinvented in an altogether new way.

"When I was a child, I saw life in everything," Kalina says. "All things were animate and changeable, as in dreams when a tree becomes a person and a person becomes an animal. It is this inner life that I want to capture in my work."

Kalina begins a painting from observation.

"With line, color and brush movement, I explore the canvas by layering, by drawing, by rubbing out and painting in, until I discover the moment when the object tells its own tale," she says. "In the process, emotions are conjured up. It doesn't matter if the emotion is delight or rage or fear; what I want is energy, movement and the experience of that time when all life bordered on dream and waking."

Kalina received her master of fine arts degree from Brooklyn College. Her work is in various collections, including The John and Mabel Ringling Museum of Art, Ringling College of Art and Design, and the Omega Institute.

An opening reception for the exhibit will take place in the gallery on Tuesday, Sept. 23, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Kalina will offer an artist's lecture at 4 p.m. in the first-floor Presentation Room of the Student and Administrative Services Center. A gallery talk begins at 5:30 p.m. in the gallery.

Gallery hours are Saturday and Sunday, 1 to 4 p.m.; Tuesday and Thursday, 2 to 8 p.m.; and Wednesday and Friday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. All exhibits are free and open to the public.

"New Paintings" is part of the college's Current View Artist Series, which showcases contemporary artists working in a variety of media. Sponsored by the college's media arts department, it provides an opportunity to broaden and enrich the educational experience at Penn College.

For more about this exhibit and The Gallery at Penn College, visit online , e-mail or call (570) 320-2445. For general information about the college, visit on the Web , e-mail or call toll-free (800) 367-9222.