UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Noted contemporary artist Ifeoma U. Anyaeji will discuss her unique environmental art in a lecture called “Plasto-Art: An Eco-Aesthetic Process of Remaking” at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 10, at the Palmer Museum of Art.
Anyaeji’s work, which uses repurposed objects like plastic bags and bottles, draws on her Nigerian heritage of hair plaiting, traditional basketry, and fabric-weaving techniques to imbue mundane materials with surprising significance through intricate designs. Her nonconventional “plasto-yarning” technique — a neo-traditional, transitional methodology for discarded nonbiodegradable matter — is exhibited in "Plastic Entanglements: Ecology, Aesthetics, Materials," currently on view at the Palmer.
Anyaeji was born in Benin City, and, though originally trained in painting, she forged a path toward three-dimensional work and installations. Her creations are organic, inventive sculptures that revive ancestral crafts and decorative arts while also questioning the consumptive systems of present-day humanity.
The artist holds a bachelor of arts degree in painting from the University of Benin, Nigeria, and a master of fine arts in sculpture from Washington University in St. Louis. Anyaeji is currently a doctoral candidate in interdisciplinary humanities at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada.
Anyaeji’s work is represented by Skoto Gallery, New York.
The lecture is co-sponsored by the African Studies Program; African Feminist Initiative; Department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; Rock Ethics Institute; Department of Art History; and the Friends of the Palmer Museum of Art.
About the Palmer Museum of Art
The Palmer Museum of Art on the Penn State University Park campus is a free-admission arts resource for the University and surrounding communities in central Pennsylvania. With a collection of 8,850 objects representing a variety of cultures and spanning centuries of art, the Palmer is the largest art museum between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. Areas of strength include the museum’s collection of American art from the late 18th century to the present, Old Master paintings, prints and photography, ceramics and studio glass, and a growing collection of modern and contemporary art. The museum presents 10 exhibitions each year and, with 11 galleries, a print-study room, 150-seat auditorium, and outdoor sculpture garden, the Palmer Museum of Art is the leading cultural resource for the region.
Museum hours are 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and noon to 4 p.m. on Sundays. The museum is closed Mondays and some holidays.
The Palmer Museum of Art receives state arts funding support through a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Also on view at the Palmer Museum of Art this spring are “Pop at the Palmer,” Jan. 9 through May 13, and “Dox Thrash, Black Life, and the Carborundum Mezzotint,” Jan. 16 through May 20.
For more information on the Palmer Museum and a calendar of upcoming events, visit palmermuseum.psu.edu.