Lycoming College will host “The Confluence of a Relocated Past,” an art exhibition by photographer and digital artist Stephen Marc, in the Art Gallery in Snowden Library Jan. 16-Feb. 16. An opening reception and gallery talk for the show will be held on Jan. 30 from 4 to 5:30 p.m. Marc also will be an artist-in-residence at the college Jan. 28-31.
Marc will use the residency as an opportunity to continue his work with the Lycoming community to discover more about the area’s black history. Marc first began working with Lynn Estomin, art professor, and Lycoming art majors in 2003, when he collaborated with them for the “Freedom Bound” public art project. This initial collaboration resulted in five large-scale banners comprised of images from local Underground Railroad sites being unveiled on the front of Wegman’s supermarket.
During his upcoming stay, Marc plans to document the history of the area’s African-American families with the help of Estomin; Lycoming students; Michael Darough, Lycoming visiting professor of art; Rachel Hungerford, retired professor; and students from Williamsport Area High School and the Community Alliance for Progressive Positive Actions (CAPPA). Participants will learn to record family histories, perform oral histories, preserve stories of older family members and preserve family photographs and other memorabilia. Each participant will create a digital collage with family photographs and stories. Community members interested in participating in the project may contact Estomin at Estomin@lycoming.edu.
The efforts will fall under the umbrella of Marc’s larger artistic investigations of black culture, which include explorations of the Civil Rights and Black Power movements, black pioneers in the West and 19th and early 20th century Black Americana stereotypical representations from postcards, illustrated newspapers, magazines and trade card advertisements.
Marc’s art bridges documentary photography and digital imaging with an emphasis on the black experience within American history and culture. His project, “Passage on the Underground Railroad,” is registered by the National Park Service as a Network to Freedom Program and was published as a book in 2009. The traveling exhibition, organized by the University at Buffalo Art Galleries, was shown at the Gibbes Museum in Charleston, the University of Maryland-Baltimore County, The Phoenix Art Museum and the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati.
In 2007, Marc completed two large-scale public art commissions in Chicago at the Avalon Public Library and the 79th Street Dan Ryan Train Station. He also has published two other photographic books: “Urban Notions” and “The Black Trans-Atlantic Experience: Street Life and Culture in Ghana, Jamaica, England and the United States.”
Marc earned a bachelor’s degree from Pomona College and a master of fine arts degree from Tyler School of Art at Temple University. He is a professor of art in the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts at Arizona State University.
Lycoming College is a four-year, residential liberal arts and sciences school dedicated to the undergraduate education of 1,400 students. Its rigorous academic program, vibrant residential community and supportive faculty foster successful student outcomes. Lycoming offers 36 academic majors and is recognized as a Tier 1 institution by U.S. News & World Report. Founded in 1812 and located near the banks of the Susquehanna River in Williamsport, Pa., Lycoming is one of the 50 oldest colleges in the nation. For more information, visit www.lycoming.edu.