6th Annual Mosaic Project Opens Oct. 3

Toyin Odutola and Lydia Panas headline PCA&D’s signature multicultural exhibition and educational program.

Studio artist Toyin Odutola (shown above, left) and photographer Lydia Panas will be visiting artists during this year’s Mosaic Project, a multicultural educational and exhibition program for students and families.

Now in its sixth year, Mosaic Project’s free public events will include an exhibition from October 3 – November 14, First Friday gallery receptions on October 3 and November 7, and artist talks on October 3 and November 7. Like us on Facebook for updates.

Forbes magazine featured Toyin Odutola in its 2012 list of 30 notable individuals under 30 in the category “Art & Style” [Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyin_Odutola]. She is a contemporary artist who focuses on identity and the sociopolitical concept of skin color through her pen and ink drawings. Her work explores her personal journey of having been born in Nigeria then moving to the U.S. and assimilating into American culture. A recent graduate of the California College of Arts MFA program (2012), Odutula’s work is already in major museum collections including the Birmingham Museum of Art, AL and The National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. She is represented by the Jack Shainman Gallery in New York City.

Lydia Panas is an award-winning photographer whose work has been exhibited widely, including at The National Portrait Gallery, London, The Scottish National Portrait Gallery, and the Phillips Collection in Washington DC. Lydia’s work has been published in the New York Times Magazine, Photo District News, Popular Photography, and others. She received a Whitney Museum Independent Study Fellowship, and has taught photography at numerous institutions that include The Museum of Modern Art. Her first monograph entitled “The Mark of Abel” — which will be on display at PCA&D during the Mosaic Project — received a “Best Books” nomination from Photo Eye Magazine (2011), named in the Photo District News “PHOTO ANNUAL – Books of 2012,” and cited as “Best Coffee Table Book of 2012” by the Daily Beast.

About the Mosaic Project at PCA&D
The significance of art in the lives of our youth cannot be underestimated. Yet, budget cuts and curricular demands in public schools are threatening the foundation of creativity. In order to fill that gap as well as enrich the community, Pennsylvania College of Art & Design developed the Mosaic Project, a multicultural exhibition and education program for students and families in Lancaster County.

The Lancaster County Community Foundation provided seed money for the Project in its first two years (2009-2010). Since then, PCA&D continues its commitment to the Mosaic Project and continues to sustain and fund this important community-based project.

The Mosaic Project is composed of two distinct, yet interconnected components. The Mosaic Project exhibition and artist talks, and the educational Mosaic Project Middle School and High School programming, in which local students from two public school districts spend time at PCA&D with the artists of the Mosaic Project.