For our earlier exhibits, click on each year: 2016 and 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021

2022 EXHIBITS

"Cash & Carry IX"

We gave away 333 8-inch squares and 133 9-inch rectangles, plus a few odd rectangles, and most of them came back with art on them -- more than 375 paintings, drawings, photos, sculptures, and mixed-media pieces.

To see many of them (but certainly not all), visit our Facebook page.

The show runs November 21st through December 29th.

In the Gallery October 10th through November 18th

-- and in gumball machines in 27 venues throughout our region:

SITEexchange, Exchange Gallery, Bloomsburg

Click here for more information.

"UFOs: UnFinished Objects"

A common idea among quiltmakers, the UnFinished Object may haunt many an artist. But we choose to celebrate it in this exhibition: We asked artists to bring their unfinished artwork in any medium, 2D or 3D, for display in the Exchange Gallery, and 21 of them answered the call. They live in five Pennsylvania counties and their work included paintings, drawings, various mixed media, and (of course) quilts.

In keeping with the theme, the show itself remained unfinished for weeks after it opened, as more and more work came in, deep into September; the last piece went up on the 20th of the month. The River Poets (riverpoets.com) used pieces in the show as inspiration for poetry, and they held a reading in the Gallery on September 15th; the slideshow below includes photos of the poems with their associated artwork.

The show runs August 29th through October 7th.

"Creatures & Critters"

The animal kingdom is extremely diverse and contains millions of different species. Some animals are our friends and companions. Others are elusive and mysterious. Some inspire fear. Many inspire wonder. We asked people which animals inspire them, and 31 artists from six Pennsylvania counties answered the call; their work includes paintings, drawings, prints, photographs, sculptures, fiber art, and various mixed media, and the artists range from elementary-, middle-, and high-school students to those with many decades of experience.

The show runs from July 18th through August 26th. Many of the photos here have gone up on our Facebook page, each with more information about the piece and the artist.

"In Tune: Key of D" and "In the Reign of COVID: Black or White"

For the first time, an Exchange Gallery show by one artist has TWO themes: The left side of the Gallery features work in color -- "In Tune: Key of D" -- and the right side has work in monochrome -- "In the Reign of COVID: Black or White".

An American mixed-media artist, Mary Lapos (MOTH) is best known for penetrating depictions of the human condition via paintings that seem to reach past the canvas into the soul of her subjects. Her studio is located on the family farm in Danville, Pennsylvania, where she has lived and worked for 50 years. For more information, visit marylapos.com.

The show runs from June 13th through July 15th.

"Far Out"

Psychedelic art made a splash in 1960s counterculture with its vibrant color schemes, distorted imagery, and kaleidoscopic patterns. Borrowing elements of surrealism and Art Nouveau, psychedelia soon became embraced by mainstream pop culture where it continues to reside. Similar genres such as ethereal art, fractal art, and celestial art can be found today on the Internet and in galleries across the globe.

The Exchange Gallery asked artists for their interpretations of psychedelic or “trippy” art, and 38 of them answered the call, bringing 95 pieces. The artists live in seven central-Pennsylvania counties -- Columbia, Luzerne, Lycoming, Montour, Northumberland, Schuylkill, and Union -- and also Vienna, Austria; twelve of them have work here for the first time. Six students from Mifflinburg High School submitted work for the show, as did a current Bloomsburg University student, and one of our regular exhibitors displays her pieces alongside those by her 5-year-old and 3-1/2-year old grandchildren. The overall quality -- and eye-appeal -- of the show makes it one of the best that we have ever hosted; our thanks go to all of the artists for their creativity and enthusiastic participation.

The show runs May 2nd through June 10th; we will host a reception on Friday, June 3rd, from 5:00 to 7:30 p.m., including live psychedelic music by one of the artists!

"Now in 3D"

We all know more is better! The Exchange Gallery asked artists to leave the second dimension and join us in the third and take part in “Now In 3D” -- an exhibition of any and all three-dimensional works open to any medium and to artists of all ages and levels of experience. More than thirty artists answered the call, from ten Pennsylvania counties -- Adams, Columbia, Luzerne, Lycoming, Montour, Northumberland, Philadelphia, Snyder, Union, and Warren; the artists include five Mifflinburg High School students, two Bloomsburg University students, two high-school art teachers, and three college art professors, and twelve of them have work here for the first time. Media include paint, clay, paper (both folded and quilled), fabric, artificial flowers, plaster, wire, wood, faux fur, recycled materials (including an old fork), and more; you will find "Now In 3D" beautiful and thought-provoking and inspiring and just plain fun.

The show runs March 21st through April 29th, 2022

With more than seventy pieces in the show, it will take us a few days to get all of them photographed and uploaded into the carousel here; thank you for your patience.

"Smite/Smitten"

Show runs Febuary 14th through March 18th, 2022

A thing that we are initially smitten with may go astray, maybe to the point where we want to smite that thing. In honor of Valentine’s Day, the Exchange Gallery asked artists to make work based on the things that they love or things that they can’t stand, and perhaps something that they once loved that they now wish to smite.

The show has 32 pieces by nineteen artists from six central-Pennsylvania counties; three of the artists have work here for the first time. Media include painting, drawing, photography, fabric, mixed-media in 2-D and 3-D, and even one teeny tiny piece in iron, made in a blacksmith's forge.

Thank you to Gallery volunteer Bela Ball for hanging the show -- the second in a row that he has done so attractively.

"[Don't] Quit Copying Me!"

Show runs January 10th through February 11th, 2022

Irish playwright, critic, and political activist George Bernard Shaw said “Imitation is not just the sincerest form of flattery – it’s the sincerest form of learning.” Artists copy each other’s work all of the time -- sometimes literal copies, sometimes interpretations. We asked to see artists' literal copies or interpretations -- their choices -- of other pieces of art, 2D or 3D, in any medium. For example, one could paint an accurate reproduction of "The Starry Night", or one could re-create it in bottlecaps glued to a piece of cardboard. "Nighthawks" in Lego? Already done once (dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1140942/Brick-Art-The-Mona-Lisa-masterpieces-Lego.html), but anyone can try a hand at it! Any piece, famous or obscure, can serve as your starting point.

For an excellent essay about “Inspiration vs. Imitation”, visit might-could.com/essays/inspiration-vs-imitation-how-to- copy-as-an-artist.

Exchange Gallery, Bloomsburg, "Don't Quit Copying Me"

The show attracted 56 pieces by 28 artists from seven Pennsylvania counties -- Columbia, Montour, Luzerne, Schuylkill, Northumberland, Union, and Lycoming.

The photo above includes work by two artists who have had work here before: Chris Stametz, whose paintings fill the righthand half of the image, beginning with "Van Gogh Paints Van Gogh" in the center, has shown here for years and counts as one of our most frequent exhibitors, working in many media; her five-year-old granddaughter Rosie made her own version of a Van Gogh painting, the mixed-media collage in the foreground.

In the photo below, Gallery volunteer Bela Ball poses in the Gallery after his afternoon of hanging the show, on the 8th of January.