Award-winning Metal Artist Bringing “Gratitude Map USA” to University of Scranton

Mar 20, 2017
“Gratitude Map USA” by international, award-winning metal artist and sculptor Lisa Fedon will be among the pieces on display Monday, March 20, through Friday, April 21, as part of The University of Scranton’s Hope Horn Gallery exhibit “Where Do Ideas Come From? Sculpture by Lisa Fedon.”
“Gratitude Map USA” by international, award-winning metal artist and sculptor Lisa Fedon will be among the pieces on display Monday, March 20, through Friday, April 21, as part of The University of Scranton’s Hope Horn Gallery exhibit “Where Do Ideas Come From? Sculpture by Lisa Fedon.”

An expression of gratitude for what we have is on display at The University of Scranton’s Hope Horn Gallery. “Gratitude Map USA,” the intricate piece of collaborative found art, is part of “Where Do Ideas Come From? Sculpture by Lisa Fedon,” a steel-and-bronze exhibition by the international, award-winning metal artist and sculptor, will be on display Monday, March 20, through Friday, April 21.

Among her sculptural works, which also include site-specific architectural installations and playful outdoor furniture, “Gratitude Map” represents collaboration, as it incorporates meaningful objects from each state within a wire structure representing a map of the United States.

“In an era where so much talk is negative, Lisa was trying to show something positive,” Hope Horn gallery director Darlene Miller-Lanning, Ph.D., said, explaining that the map “is an example of people working together to create something rather than always criticizing each other.”

“The Gratitude Map USA began in 2012 as a response to the lack of government cooperation in Washington, D.C., and my desire to work on a collaborative piece,” Fedon said. “I wanted to prove that people across the country could come together to help create a positive outcome.”

For the map, Fedon reached out to people across the country asking them to send her something from their state for which they are grateful. Gifts then began to arrive: barbed wire, antlers and fossils, shark teeth and shells, limestone, red rock and copper pennies, for example. Blue twist ties represent rivers, and $50 contributors to the effort could have their names or names of loved ones or pets incorporated in wire into the supporting structure.

Five pieces represent Pennsylvania regionally: flint rock for anthracite country; a deer hide for the northern tier; a Heinz pickle pin for the western part of the state; a Penn State charm for the central region; and an Alex’s Lemonade Stand pin for the southern end.

“The idea that these were found objects was just fun,” Dr. Miller-Lanning said.

Fedon has sculptures in private, public and corporate collections throughout the world, including at The University of Scranton.

 “Lisa produced the ‘Doorway to the Soul’ sculpture on the McDade Center at the University, so it is nice to feature her recent work in a gallery exhibition,” Dr. Miller-Lanning said. “We like to bring University artists back to campus to let people know what they are doing currently.”

The exhibit is open to the public, free of charge, during gallery hours: noon until 4 p.m. Sunday through Friday and 6 p.m. until 8 p.m. Wednesdays in the Hope Horn Gallery, on the fourth floor of the University’s Hyland Hall.

An exhibit lecture by Fedon will take place from at 5 p.m. Friday, March 24, in the Pearn Auditorium of Brennan Hall, followed by a reception in the Hope Horn Gallery.

For more information, contact Dr. Miller-Lanning at 570-941-4214 or darlene.miller-lanning@scranton.edu. Or visit the Hope Horn Gallery website at scranton.edu/gallery.

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