“Field Language” exhibition to open at the Palmer Museum of Art

The Palmer Museum of Art will reopen on Wednesday, February 10th, 2021, with Field Language: The Painting and Poetry of Warren and Jane Rohrer. This major loan exhibition celebrates the work of painter Warren Rohrer and poet Jane Rohrer, partners in life who drew from their shared background in Mennonite farm families to create modern art. Warren’s abstract paintings engage the colors and textures of cultivated fields of southcentral Pennsylvania, while Jane’s poems bring a modern perspective to her own experience bridging traditional agricultural life and the art world.

Curated by Joyce Robinson, Assistant Director of the Palmer Museum, in collaboration with guest curators poet Julia Spicher Kasdorf, Professor of English, and Christopher Reed, Distinguished Professor of English and Visual Culture, the exhibition is accompanied by a multi-author illustrated catalogue available now through Penn State Press or at the Museum Store.  The digital companion to the exhibition was developed by Hannah A. Matangos, dual-title PhD candidate in German Literature & Culture and Visual Studies, and features pairings of poetry and paintings plus a mini documentary series about the exhibition.

Generous funding for the exhibition was provided by Penn State’s Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost as part of the University’s Strategic Arts and Humanities Initiative in 2017.  Additional support was provided by the Art Bridges and Terra Foundation Initiative, the Art History department in the College of Arts and Architecture, and the departments of English and of Germanic and Slavic Languages and Literatures in the College of the Liberal Arts at Penn State. The George Dewey and Mary J. Krumrine Endowment and the Max Kade German-American Research Institute at Penn State also assisted our efforts.

Field Language is on view from February 10th through June 6th, 2021.  Timed ticketed entry is free and bookable online.