The Penn State Berks Freyberger Gallery will present the exhibition "In Black and White" by Gretchen Kreitler from Oct. 30 to Dec. 11. There will be an opening reception at 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 30. This event is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served and blues guitarist Bob Hassler will provide live music.
Kreitler grew up in Pleasant Valley, now the Blue Marsh Lake and Recreation Area. When she was an art student at Lock Haven University, she received a rapidograph technical pen. For years rapidographs became nearly the sole medium for her drawings. Kreitler’s innate talent and family influences became intertwined with her interest in the “delicate balance of the environment and how it is connected to all creatures and life.” With simple drawing tools-paper, rapidograph or pen and ink, she creates drawings that document her concerns with the natural world.While living in Berks County, the Outerbanks of North Carolina and an old firehouse in Brooklyn, New York, Kreitler became a keen observer of animals and their relationship to the environment and humankind. In Berks, she drew what was around her: dogs, bovines and hens; in North Carolina, she observed marine creatures, including turtles, frogs and sharks; while in New York, her companions in the firehouse -- her dogs and cats --were her subjects.
The Freyberger Gallery is open Monday through Friday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; and Saturday and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. For more information, contact Marilyn Fox, gallery director, at 610-396-6140 or via email at MJF14@psu.edu.