PCA&D schedules events coinciding with Art Walk, First Weekend in October

Pennsylvania College of Art and Design will be hosting several free events on October 2 and 3, coinciding with Lancaster’s Art Walk, the first weekend of October.

Artist talk: Mosaic Project artist Robert Pruitt, Friday October 2, 10:00 a.m.

As part of PCA&D’s annual Mosaic Project, Robert Pruitt will present an artist talk in the PCA&D Atrium followed by a drawing workshop for students participating in the Mosaic Project. Robert Pruitt is an artist living and working in Houston, TX. He makes drawings and sculptures about the complexity of black identity by combining contrasting signs and imagery of disparate Black influences and aesthetics. He layers Science Fiction, Hip Hop, comic books, and black political and social struggles into layered portraits of his friends and community.

First Friday: The Mosaic Project: Meet the Artists and Book Signing from 5:30 – 7:30.  

Reception with Robert Pruitt and Shadra Strickland First Friday October 2, The Gallery is open 5 – 9 p.m. The Mosaic Project is a multicultural exhibition and educational program for students and families in Lancaster County. Both artists will be singing the books they have illustrated.

 Robert Pruitt (see above) has exhibited at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, The Studio Museum Harlem, the 2006 Whitney Biennial and various other museums and artists spaces. He is also a founding member of the artist collective Otabenga Jones & Associates.

 Shadra Strickland’s work includes painted illustrations that invite children and adults alike to ponder questions of contemporary and historical significance. studied design, writing, and illustration at Syracuse University and later went on to complete her M.F.A. at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. She won the Ezra Jack Keats Award and the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award for New Talent in 2009 for her work in her first picturebook, Bird, written by Zetta Elliott. Strickland co-illustrated Our Children Can Soar, winner of a 2010 NAACP Image Award. Shadra travels the country conducting workshops and sharing her work with children, teachers, and librarians. She currently works and teaches illustration at Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, Maryland. She will be the guest at the Artist Talk at PCA&D on October 17, 10:00 a.m.

 Pop-Up Print Shop, Saturday, October 3, from 12 noon – 3 pm.

The public is invited to bring a light-colored shirt to PCA&D, and get a signature design printed on it for free. The design was created by PCA&D faculty member Becky Blosser. T-shirts will be available for purchase. Note The event was originally scheduled to be outdoots in the Art Garden. Due to the forecast rain, the Pop Up Printing will be held indoors in Room 103B

 24-Hour Comics Day Panel Discussion, Saturday October 3, 12 – 1:00 p.m.

PCA&D will have a panel discussion on the Changing Role of and Attitude Towards Comics in our Society.  This event is open to the public during Art Walk weekend in Lancaster. The panel will consist of guest artists Christine Larsen, Brad Guigar and Robert Pruitt, and PCA&D faculty members and industry artists Bob McLeod and Mike Hawthorne. The panel moderator will be Illustration and Digital Media Department Chairman, Bob Hochgertel.

 What started as a dare among some of the comic industry’s best-known artists is now a global phenomenon. In 2015, the global event will occur on October 3, with PCA&D students from all departments, faculty, alumni and visiting artists will accept the challenge to create full-length comic book in 24 hours, from front cover to “The End,” finishing at 1 p.m. on Sunday. PCA&D is the only regional venue for this year’s Comics Day, and its participation is sponsored by PCA&D’s Illustration Department and PCA&D’s  Society of Illustrators Student Group Chapter. Learn more