A Tune, Subtle and Vast is a two-person exhibition of recent work by artists Heidi Leitzke and Jon Weary. The title, inspired by writer and environmentalist Wendell Berry, alludes to the artists’ shared reflections on nature, seasonality, and nineteenth-century landscapes and material processes. A nuanced understanding of temporality and a reverence for the vastness of the natural world can be seen in both Leitzke’s and Weary’s works. For instance, Leitzke uses hand-held embroidery techniques to “paint” with thread in her works. In contrast to the traditional subjects and style of this craft, Leitzke depicts landscapes that are at once hauntingly beautiful and threateningly bound by the built environment. Similarly, Weary appropriates unpretentious cross-stitch patterns in his prints and paintings to question various approaches to abstract and agrarian representation. In addition to reclaiming and revising traditional “women’s work,” Weary and Leitzke work with and against the conventions of landscape to rediscover Pennsylvania-specific motifs and locations: orchards, islands in the Susquehanna, and Pennsylvania German folk art. Their works can be seen as radically nostalgic, as each artist offers new ways for connecting with the past and making sense of a rapidly changing environment.
Public event:
Meet the artists at the opening reception, held on Friday, January 13, 6-8 pm at Ejecta Projects. Visitors are invited to also attend the opening reception of Beautifully Broken, a juried exhibition on display at the Carlisle Arts Learning Center (CALC), 38 W. Pomfret St., Carlisle, 5:30-7:00 pm on January 13. The two opening events are coordinated for visitors to enjoy art in downtown Carlisle, PA. CALC is only a five-minute walk from Ejecta Projects. All events are free and open to the public.
About the artists:
Heidi Leitzke grew up in Wisconsin and lives and works in Lancaster, PA. She received a BA from Anderson University and MFA from Western Carolina University. Some of her first paintings were made in Corciano, Italy while studying abroad for a semester through American University’s Art in Italy program. Her desire to work from nature grew over the two summers she spent painting in the landscape with Stanley Lewis at Chautauqua School of Art. Leitzke is an Associate Professor of Art and Director of the Eckert Art Gallery at Millersville University.
Born in Carlisle PA, Jon Weary graduated from the Tyler School of Art at Temple University with a BFA in 2010. He has participated in residency programs at Hudson House and Mt Lebanon Shaker Museum in New York, the Vermont Studio Center, and Arquetopia Foundation in Puebla, Mexico. Jon’s work has been shown at Pressure Club Press, High Tide Gallery, Crane Arts, and the Woodmere Art Museum in Philadelphia, Able Baker Gallery in Portland, Maine, and Mountain Gallery in Brooklyn, New York. Jon is currently based in Philadelphia.
