Current Exhibitions
Exhibition In the George A. and Herbert T. Wolf Gallery
The Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art in Altoona is pleased to announce its latest exhibition, William H. Rau: Connecting to Community. This exhibition will open December 13, 2019 and will be on display until October 3, 2020 in the Museum's George A. and Herbert T. Wolf Gallery.
William Herman Rau was a master of albumen landscape photography. Although he traveled widely in his early career, he is today best known for his Pennsylvania Railroad photographs, made to encourage rail travel in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Rau’s interest in photography began early. At age nineteen, he secured a position on an expedition to the South Pacific through the U.S. government. The experience from his expedition paved the way for his participation in other photographic surveys. Among these surveys are a summer spent with William Henry Jackson in Colorado and a voyage to Egypt with noted photographer, Edward L. Wilson.
Hired by the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1890, he spent the next five years documenting the rail line from New York to Pittsburgh. Rau also served as official photographer for the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis and the 1905 Lewis and Clark Exposition in Portland.
Read about SAMA's William H. Rau exhibition volunteer-curator,
Exhibition In the Shirley and Fred A. Pechter Gallery and
Paul I. Detwiler Education Center
SAMA Altoona is excited to announce its newest exhibition 50 Years of Woodstock: Posters from the Mark Del Costello Collection on display from Wednesday, December 20, 2019 until Saturday, August 29, 2020.
50 Years of Woodstock: Posters from the Mark Del Costello Collection features selections from SAMA’s Mark Del Costello Collection. Woodstock began as “An Aquarian Experience: 3 Days of Peace and Music” in 1969 at a dairy farm in New York. Since then, Woodstock has become associated with counterculture and is a staple in pop culture history.
The Mark Del Costello Collection focuses on American graphic design of the modern era. This collection includes posters and ephemera related to a wide variety of topics such as music, theater, film, visual arts, product advertising, and political issues.
Exhibition In the Titelman Galleries
Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art located in downtown Bedford at 137 E Pitt St, has added their new summer art exhibit. The Mark Del Costello Collection focuses on the American graphic design of the modern era. The Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art is very grateful to have acquired and to be able to share part of such an incredible collection.
These silver screen selections, in the downstairs Titelman Galleries, are an eclectic selection of American and Foreign Film posters.
From Drama to Comedy, you do not want to miss out on this amazing movie poster collection as the perfect way to spend a Summer Day! The experience from this exhibition is vaguely reminiscent of a movie rental process from a bygone era and will bring you back to a decade before digital reigned king. Walking these galleries is like harkening to the glory days of Blockbuster Video when one could peruse the aisles of VHS tapes searching for that special video or two that sparked a deep enough curiosity to rent. The art of the movie poster on SAMA Bedford’s walls shouts out, from all genres competitively, for your viewing attention. SAMA Bedford invites you to come and thoroughly enjoy the wide variety of cinematic advertisements. What better way to celebrate the reopening of the Museum to the public than with the Art of the Movie Poster! This exhibition opens Friday, June 19, 2020, and will run through Sunday, October 18, 2020.
Exhibition in the Paula and Dean Lemley Gallery
The museum continues the Mark Del Costello Collection theme with a more specific subject matter in the Paula and Dean Lemley Gallery were film posters by world-renown director and artist, Tim Burton is the focus. These selections span decades of the legendary directors’ work.
Exhibition In the Donald Robinson Gallery
TBA
Exhibition In the Ashe and Regional Galleries
All Color/No Color
February 14, 2020 - July 9, 2020
View the delicate art of paper cutting by Linda Harrill Peck and Harriet M. Rosenberg. It is also where you can take in the reflective properties of cast aluminum formed into shapely sculptures or a 2-dimensional work. Both aluminum expressions are from the same artist, Maggie Milono.
Color explodes through the variety of art pieces representing the All Color of SAMA's Education Collection. There is a wide variety of mediums in this colorful section such as pastels, watercolor and even leather. View works in oil by local and nationally-known artist, Kevin Kutz, that are rich with color.
EXPLORE NATURE THROUGH THE EYES OF THE ARTISTS AT
SOUTHERN ALLEGHENIES MUSEUM OF ART AT LIGONIER VALLEY
Ligonier- If you are looking to delve into the beauty that nature depicts, then this exhibition is for you. Open from August 21, 2020, through October 31, 2020, this multiple artist exhibition will take you through, “Journeys in Nature” capturing the majesty and splendor that nature has to offer.
Kelly Coursey Gray photographs from a unique perspective. She is continuously evolving her artistic vision and adapts to meet the needs of her surroundings. Kelly is a life-long learner and traveler who enjoys sharing her knowledge and passion with others. Her photographs tell fascinating stories and you will be captivated by the imagery and emotions they evoke.
Richard McWherter is a beloved visual art teacher and photographer. He shares his passion for nature which is clearly demonstrated through his images. His unique expressionistic views offer distinctive perspectives into nature. Richard blurs the lines between photography, drawing, and painting to create beautiful dreamlike imagery that transcends time and place.
Vincenzo Spinelli takes everyday ordinary objects and creates undeniable extraordinary creations. He takes whatever twisted, rusted, archaic metal scraps he comes upon and with executed precision, creates sculptures of natural beauty. From delicate rose petals made of copper to towering spirals made of steel, Vincenzo takes the cold, lifelessness of metal and transforms it into the beauty and effervescence of nature at its perfection.
Travel with our artists as they share their talents, experiences, and passion through, “Journeys in Nature”. The Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art is pleased to offer our patrons this exciting exhibition from three of our region’s outstanding artist
Exhibition In the Sullivan Gallery
Southwest Splendor
June 16, 2020 - October 30, 2020
The art collection called “Southwest Splendor” features approximately 70 works spanning
from 1930 to 1990 from a private collection of a former area resident who requested anonymity. On view June 16 through October 3, 2020, this collection offers a mix of Anglo, Indian and Mexican cultures.
The anonymous collector provided the loan in memory of Father Sean M. Sullivan, T.O.R., who
co-founded SAMA in 1976 and served as president of Saint Francis (College) University. Sullivan, 85, died in 2014 and is credited with providing the “vision, creativity and drive” to make SAMA at Loretto, a reality on the Saint Francis University Campus.
Exhibition in the Margery Wolf-Kuhn Balcony Gallery
Deep Cuts from the Permanent Collection
January 31 - October 30, 2020
"A song by an artist that only true fans of said artist will enjoy/know. ... Typically refers to a more obscure or less accessible song in an artist's portfolio, one that only dedicated fans are aware of. Also increasingly used to refer to any obscure or less accessible artwork, opinion, trivia, etc."