ESU Professor Plays Role in Community Art Exhibit

Posted by: admin on September 24, 2015, No Comments

Wild Bee BalmDarlene Farris-LaBar creates awareness on environmental issues every day – and she does it by utilizing a 3D printer.

“I have always had a fascination for the vulnerable, beautiful little species that are throughout our land,” she said. “3D printing has allowed me to capture and document plants and flowers that one day may not be around.”

Currently, Farris-LaBar, associate professor of art + design at East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania, is working on an exhibition that begins September 25 and celebrates the 100th anniversary of the Delaware Water Gap National Park, located in Delaware Water Gap National Park Headquarters Bushkill off River Road. Titled Botanification, the exhibition showcases the 3D printing design and technology of Farris-LaBar and the photography of Mitzi Campbell to provide an up-close, magnified and personal look at some of the plant life of the Delaware Water Gap Region. Actual samples of the plant life preserved within the Historic Eve’s Herbarium will be on display by Pocono Environmental Education Center.

“The exhibit allows people to be inspired by models and photos of a sampling of the beautiful and essential plants that propagate our natural world so they may consider the importance of plants they might have otherwise overlooked,” says the artists.

After it debuts at the Delaware Water Gap National Park, the show will travel to Sally D. Francisco Exhibition Gallery at Peters Valley from October 23- November 15. An artist’s reception will be at Peters Valley on Oct 30. The show will then move to the Philadelphia Flower Show, March 4-13, 2016.

How does 3D printing work?

3D printing is the additive manufacturing process where a material, such as plastic, is fed through the machine and comes out through a nozzle that heats the plastic turning it into liquid, and then it is deposited onto a platform, building up layer by layer to create a wall into a form, according to Farris-LaBar. Other additive manufacturing methods such as Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) uses a laser to melt a powdered material (sometimes metal) by directing the laser at the points of the 3D model and fusing the material together to create a solid form. This is the process of Farris-LaBar’s newer 3D printed work.

Partners for this project include National Park Service, Peters Valley School of Craft, Pocono Environmental Educational Center, Don Miller, renowned Pocono naturalist, and Mitzi Campbell, photographer and adjunct professor of English at Sussex County Community College.

A special presentation by Darlene Farris-LaBar, Mitzi Campbell and Don Miller about the art and significance of the plant species will be provided on October 10at 3 p.m. at the National Park Bushkill Meeting Center off of Rt 209.

For more information on the Exhibit contact Farris-LaBar at 570-807-9661, or dfarris@esu.edu.