I took a trip down to the city of Scranton on Thursday, January 29 to visit a local gallery called the AFA Gallery, which stands for Artists for Art. The gallery has two floors with exhibits on both levels. For more information you can visit their website at  http://www.artistsforart.org

The exhibition that was currently available to view was a show called “STEPPIN’ OUT” which had works by recent graduates of Marywood University. The other show on display upstairs had works of art by Daina Krumins and Lori Remmel.

The art work that was done by the Marywood University graduates had a wide variety of media. Types of art that were shown were photography, painting, ceramics, jewelry, sculpture, print making, and mixed media. The art work that I found the most interesting, and something that I had never seen before, was a technique called linocut. Linocut is when a design is carved from a block of linoleum. Linoleum is a type of art material which consists of a canvas that is covered in a thick coat of linseed oil and powdered cork. What also caught my attention was the Latex material that was used to create abstract colorful art. There was a piece of artwork that was made from latex on wood with a depiction of a blossoming flower. The other latex pieces were on a canvas, which had a different appearance and texture than the one placed on the wood.

In the upstairs gallery, where the artwork of Daina Krumins and Lori Remmel were displayed, Krumins mentions that she is very focused on and into creating pieces of artwork based on texture. She states that all of her images, including her prints, are very much texture driven. All her photo collages were representations of something unrealistic. For example, she made a photo collage of Grand Central Station in NYC where she placed huge insects in the Station. All her work was represented in a surreal yet creative way.

Lori Remmel’s pieces consist of collage and darkroom photography. Her main goal is to show the disconnection between behaviors of animals and humans. Her pieces on the walls of the gallery were photographs, but most of what she created was done by hand and very little was done digitally. She focused on the human form, nature and animals.

Next up, I will be writing about the February 2015 First Friday Show that will take place in the city of Scranton, PA. Stay tuned for more great artists and beautiful pieces of artwork. To learn more about First Friday and how you can exhibit your work there, visit http://www.firstfridayscranton.com