Art for Social Good’s ‘Escape to the Movies’ prompt leads to Penn Cinema show

Lots of us head to the movie theater as an escape — for excitement, inspiration, or simply to enter another world for a couple of hours. 

 

Students in Bill Dussinger’s Art for Social Good class celebrated our relationship with the silver screen this semester, following an assignment prompt of  “Escape to the Movies.”

 

Now, their work is on display at Penn Cinema, in northern Lancaster County, through Memorial Day Weekend at the end of May. 

 

“I had reached out to (managing partner) Penn Ketchum to see if he would be open for a showing and he loved the idea,” Dussinger says. “So I gave the class the prompt for ‘escape to the movies’ and the rest is history.”

 

The exhibition includes work by Hailey Bortz ’23, Illustration; Shannon Bray ’23 Illustration; Rachael Clough ’24, Graphic Design; Sami Halfpenny ’23, Illustration; Gregory Johnson ’25, Illustration;  Jacob Kinney ’25, Illustration;  Alaina Masi ’24, Illustration; Alex Maxwell ’25, Photography & Video; Lucas Smith ’25, Illustration; Sherrie Snyder ’24, Fine Art; Jasmyn Stokes ’23, Illustration; Kaya Vosburgh ’25, Illustration; and River Wintermantel ’25, Fine Art. 

 

Ketchum says he was fully on board with the idea when Dussinger reached out about the possibility of a show. 

 

“We always love working with the college so we were happy to make it work!” Ketchum said in an email. “We’ve done a ton of partnerships with various colleges and graphic design students but this is the first real show we’ve hung. We’re very excited and I hope it leads to many more.”

 

The prompt of the show’s theme also speaks to Ketchum, he says, with the “best” movies ones that leave you with “something to think about afterward.

 

 “I specifically love movies where you can’t quite predict what’s gonna happen next. I often judge a movie by the audience walking out … meaning, if they are walking out and talking about ‘Where do you wanna eat’ or ‘What time did you tell the babysitter we’d be home,’ then it’s just an OK movie,” he says.

 

“What you want is for people to be laughing and/or talking about the movie they just saw. You want them to be still processing this great story they just heard. That’s when you know the movie worked. That’s the good stuff.”