Trade Ya!

Each work in this exhibition was traded for another; the exchanged pieces hang in pairs. Trades were made between faculty and students, studio neighbors and friends.

In the case of Lucia Thomé and Emily Ott (Diehl), the artists worked on collaborative projects, particularly around printmaking, and traded individual works as well. Nancy Bea Miller and Eliza Auth are part of an artist group that travels to Maine each year, the painting of Auth was made by Miller on one of these trips.  Martha Knox and Donovan Entrekin traded woodcuts through the PAFA print exchange, in which each printmaker creates an edition, and receives in return a portfolio of prints. The works an artist chooses to collect throughout their life is often a record of their friends and colleagues, and is one of the joys of artistic community.

This exhibition of traded artwork was first hung in March of this year, an exhibition that was closed down just days later as the world shut down due to COVID-19. Following that, the murders of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd sparked nation-wide protests over police brutality. This show now reopens to a different moment in time.

PAFA students, faculty, and alumni—including those exhibiting in this show—have been engaging in conversation about the history of systemic racism (in the United States and at PAFA). The artists represented here would like to make clear their support of Black Lives Matter and the continued imperative towards restorative justice. All institutions, schools, and museums, can and must do more to become just and equitable places that serve every member of our society.

Art has the power to connect, transform, share, grow, communicate, and foster healing. It teaches us to search, explore, fail and succeed. Through creating and sharing our art, we have entered into a conversation- a conversation forged in friendship, solidified in community, and enriched through different perspectives. The study of art should be accessible and welcoming to everyone who chooses this path. 

Featured Artists

Sarah Thompson Moore and Stuart Shils

Mari Elaine Lamp and Kathy Loev Putnam 

Lucia Thomé and Emily Ott (Diehl)

Marybeth Chew and Sterling Shaw 

Eliza Auth and Nancy Bea Miller

Donovan Entrekin and Martha Knox

Fred Danziger and Jeanine Leclaire

Jay McClellan and Mia Rosenthal