HOME: A STATE OF MIND

PANEL DISCUSSION FEATURING:

Art of the Word:  Sharon Samuel, Celia Reissig-Vasile

Visual Artists: Orly Cogan, Erika Harrsch, Susan Obrant, Jayoung Yoon

Sunday June 10, 2018  4:00-5:30 PM

Exhibition Opening and Reception 2:00-4:00 PM

Peekskill, NY ­– To celebrate the opening of Orly Cogan’s solo exhibition, Summer Lovin’, the Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art (HVCCA)  presents  a panel discussion on the way our earliest experiences continue to influence our  creative practice. “HOME: A STATE OF MIND” will open with readings by Sharon Samuels and Celia Reissig-Vasile, exploring their cultural roots. Celia Reissig-Vasile will be reading her creative nonfiction piece, included in “Home: An Imagined Landscape”. HVCCA co-founder, Dr. Livia Straus, will moderate the discussion on the complicated connections between family, heritage, and the arts. Panelists include Orly Cogan, Jayoung Yoon, Erika Harrsch, and Susan Obrant, all represented with work currently on view at HVCCA. Each uses the familiar and intimate to create wholly new modes of self-expression. From Orly Cogan’s repurposed vintage textiles, to Jayoung Yoon’s human hair sculptures, to how Erika Harrsch’s meticulous scientific study of butterflies informs her surrealistic paintings, and how Susan Obrant’s crocheted dresses harken back to her grandmother’s lessons—These panelists encapsulate the multitude of ways in which the deeply personal can generate creativity.