Madelon Powers Gallery To Present From Dublin To Durango

Inspired by visits to Ireland and to the American Southwest, artist Herb Weigand created a series of 15 landscape paintings, From Dublin to Durango – Herb Weigand: Recent Paintings, which will be exhibited from October 3 to November 22 at the Madelon Powers Gallery of East Stroudsburg University.

Weigand’s concept of loss as it is reflected in ancient, spiritual spaces draws a parallel between the grassy hills of the Glendalough paintings and the dusty, barren cliffs of the Mesa Verde depictions. The theme of abandonment runs through both locations and strikes the same psychological chord in the viewer despite the outward dissimilarity of the two regions’ physical appearances.

Hours for the gallery, located in the university’s Fine & Performing Arts Center, Normaland Marguerite streets, are 11 a.m. – 4 p.m., Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and 11 a.m. – 7 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday.

A reception for the artist will be held Wednesday, October 5 from 5-7 p.m. in the gallery. Both the exhibit and reception are open to the public at no cost.

Weigand, a professor of art at ESU, has long been interested in the Pueblo Indian culture and in the cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde, Colo., which were built between 900 and 1300 C.E. by the ancestors of today’s Hopi, Zuni and Pueblotribes.

For Weigand, the long deserted cliff dwellings “stand as a metaphor for the psychological phenomenon of abandonment.” He finds the desolation and emptiness of the area “haunting,” and has sought to capture the essence of the dwellings’ evocative negative space in the paintings.

While visiting the Four Corners region of Colorado and New Mexico, Weigand became increasingly aware of the plight of present day Native Americans. His hope is that the plight may be partially ameliorated by the ratification of the United Nations’ Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. He has included this declaration and a plea for its support in the exhibition.

Weigand’s Irish landscapes depict an area south of Dublinknown as the Wicklow Mountains, particularly the site known as Glendalough, which means “valley of the two lakes.”

Glendalough was the site of a sixth century monastery founded by St. Kevin, which now, like Mesa Verde, is abandoned and in ruins.

During the past 20 years, Weigand has exhibited his works extensively, including solo exhibitions in New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Rome, Italy. He earned a bachelor of arts degree from Southampton College of Long Island University an M.F.A in painting from Syracuse University, and a Ph.D. in art education from the Pennsylvania State University. Before coming to ESU, he taught at the secondary school level and at the University of South Carolina.

For more information on the exhibit or reception, contact the Fine and Performing Arts Events Line at 570-422-3483.

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