June 27-September 12, 2010
Art of the State®: Pennsylvania 2010

First Floor Gallery - Art of the State is highly competitive, juried art exhibition open to Pennsylvania residents in five categories: painting, works on paper, photography, sculpture and craft. This year’s exhibition features 152 works by 152 artists from 34 counties. The art selected was chosen from 2,073. Art of the State is co-sponsored by The Greater Harrisburg Arts Council and The State Museum of Pennsylvania/Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.

View artwork from Art of the State 2010 online at www.facebook.com/StateMuseumofPA.

Voices of the Revolution
Memorial Hall

Artists are record keepers and interpreters of the times in which they live. More than half a century ago, the nation watched the events surrounding the Civil Rights Movement in the South with horror and hope. Voices of the Revolution is one artist’s effort to commemorate not only the suffering, fear and violence, but also the hope, brotherhood and courage of the Civil Rights Movement during the 1950s and 1960s. In 1967, Edith Jaffy Kaplan (1919-1995), using her considerable artistic talents, created powerful images of sharp color and jagged lines, indicative of violence, and pure color and tranquil lines referencing the innocent victims and hope of the Civil Rights Movement. 

These limited edition woodcuts are accompanied by poetry written by and about young people, along with important historical quotes and notes. Bayard Rustin, a key organizer of the 1963 Civil Rights March on Washington, D.C. wrote the preface.

Dark Star Adventure
Thursdays, Fridays & Saturdays
11:00 am & 1:00 pm

This animated adventure lets us join Subrah, a mischievous teenage girl who is bored by science, and her friend Sweeps as they take an unforgettable voyage of discovery to unravel a cosmic riddle. Along the way you will witness the power of a supernova, explore the heart of a gaseous nebula, visit exotic pulsars, and learn about black holes.

IBEX:
Search for the
Edge of Solar System

May 8 to August 29, 2010

Join scientists who are investigating the boundary between our Solar System and the rest of our galaxy. IBEX: Search for the Edge of the Solar System follows the creation of NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX). Audiences will get an in-depth look at the mission and how IBEX is collecting high-speed atoms to create a map of our Solar System's boundary. Narrated by two inquisitive teenagers, audiences will hear from the scientists and engineers that developed the IBEX mission and created the spacecraft, and get the latest updates on the mission's discoveries.

THE FINE ART OF GIVING:
GIFTS OF ART TO THE STATE MUSEUM OF PENNSYLVANIA 1998-2008

A selection of 85 paintings, sculptures, photographs, prints, and crafts, selected from the more than 400 gifts of art received between 1998 and 2008, will be exhibited at The State Museum through June 2010. Donations of are reviewed and approved by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission’s Collections Committee and the Executive Director before acceptance into the permanent collection. Considerations include, but are not limited to: aesthetic and historic importance, relationship to Pennsylvania history, storage availability, physical condition, conservation cost, and/or anticipated future exhibition or educational use.

A tradition of giving by ordinary citizens, begun more than 150 years ago, has formed a collection of important Pennsylvania art. By 1850, donated paintings, prints and sculptures were being displayed in the then new State Capitol in Harrisburg. In 1905, when The State Museum was created, those early gifts of art became the core of the Museum’s art collection. Although The State Museum does not receive a state allocation for the purchase of fine art, today the collection includes 7000 works, dating from 1650 to the present.

The mission of the Art Collection at The State Museum of Pennsylvania is: to collect, interpret and preserve art, created by Pennsylvania artists, or artists who greatly influence the arts in Pennsylvania, or of which the subject has a direct connection to the State’s history and culture.

Through this exhibition, The State Museum gratefully recognizes the donors of the past decade, whose gifts will benefit generations to come.

A listing of the 400 gifts will be available on the web site, www.statemuseumpa.org, as well as images of art donated during the past decade, but not currently exhibited.

Located in the 1st Floor Gallery space