Berks Now: Marilyn Fox

In response to visitor and Member requests to see more local art, Berks Now is an exhibition program that was launched to feature the work of local artists, many from Berks County. The next artist to be featured is Marilyn Fox, a local artist and Arts Coordinator for the Freyberger Gallery at Penn State Berks. Fox’s current work includes paintings and prints utilizing form, texture, color and line. The exhibit will run from November 20, 2004 to February 6, 2005. Fox commented on her exhibit, “The black and white works are monoprints – prints created using very simple techniques, that produce one (mono) print; a second print can sometimes be pulled. Each print, however, is unique, as this method does not allow identical prints. The method of creating monoprints cannot be systematically controlled; therefore, surprises in imagery are found. I find this to be very intriguing as they remind me of scientific explorations that have a certain amount of control but with an added unknown. Often the resulting images remind me of electron-microscope photographs, x-rays or cosmic forces. The paintings on canvas and paper are developed in a similar way. I begin with a gesture of black or dark paint on a white surface, and continue to develop an image by an additive and subtractive method, until the image evolves. Recently, these paintings have incorporated images, which became figures that brought me to a series of colorful fauvist-style nudes on canvas. I never know which way the process will lead, but when I find I am on one of these journeys, I will follow through. It’s like taking a detour, which may meander around a bit before getting back to the main road. I have found lots of interesting back roads that way.”

Berks Now, is supported by the Friends of the Reading Museum, the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, and the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. Regular Museum admission is $7 adults (18-60), $5 seniors/children/students (w/ID), Museum Members and Children under 4 are free. Museum hours are Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday 11am to 5pm, Wednesday 11am to 8pm and Sunday Noon to 5pm.

Fox, a Kutztown University graduate, has had numerous solo exhibitions and invitational shows including the Maria Feliz Gallery, Jim Thorpe, PA; Woodmere Museum of Art, Philadelphia “Art is Everywhere;” The Louise Gonzer Community Library, Kutztown, PA; and The Jack Savitt Gallery, Macungie, PA. Her work is in numerous private and corporate collections including Bank of Pennsylvania, Reading, PA; AT&T, Philadelphia, PA; and The Lehigh Valley Hospital, Allentown, PA. Fox also opened the Main Street Art Gallery, Kutztown, PA and is a teacher, lecturer and writer of the arts. She also has experience as an art juror.