Arts and Entertainment

'Greg Weaver: Urban American Folk Artist' exhibit to close with auction of works

Proceeds to benefit arts programming at Lehigh Valley campus

"Haystacks," acrylic and applied plastic cow on canvas, 8-inches by 6-inches, is a featured work up for auction on Dec. 12 at the Ronald K. De Long Gallery at Penn State Lehigh Valley. Credit: Penn StateCreative Commons

CENTER VALLEY, Pa. – The current exhibition at The Ronald K. De Long Gallery at Penn State Lehigh Valley, "Greg Weaver: Urban American Folk Artist," will close Dec. 12 with a public auction of works by the late Allentown native. Doors open at 6 p.m. and the auction will begin at 7 p.m. The event is free and open to the public, and will feature light refreshments and live music by Milton Carrero. Proceeds from the auction will benefit arts programming at Penn State Lehigh Valley.

The exhibition includes a diverse body of Weaver’s work spanning 20 years of his career that was cut short by his death in 1994. It explores various media and themes, from geometric studies to his popular cow portraits – always with a full-frontal face and uncanny eyes that stare right back at the viewer. All available works are included in the full-color catalog that accompanies the exhibition.

Greg Weaver was born in Allentown in 1945. After graduating from Penn State with a bachelor's degree in political science, he decided to follow his artistic passion and enrolled at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, where he earned his bachelor of fine arts degree in painting in 1974.

For over a decade, Weaver energetically maintained an Allentown warehouse studio that celebrated a variety of art forms, welcomed artists young and old, and served as an incubator for an exciting experimental art scene. His work was sought after and collected by art patrons and museums. 

In the late 1980s, he was diagnosed with diabetes and started to plan for eventual vision loss by training himself to paint blindfolded, stating he was "seeing with his fingers." He continued to make art using a variety of materials even after he lost his sight. 

Weaver died in November 1994 from complications due to diabetes and left behind an enormous body of work. Some of his paintings were destroyed due to poor storage conditions. Eventually his boyhood friend Rook Jones was able to save, preserve and catalog the hundreds of works Weaver left behind.

For more information, call 610-285-5000 or visit www.lv.psu.edu.

Last Updated December 3, 2014

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