For the sixth year, Bloomsburg’s Exchange Gallery hosts an end-of-year show with artwork by more than 150 artists from throughout central and eastern Pennsylvania. As with all of the Gallery’s open-call shows, the “Cash & Carry” welcomes participation by artists of all ages and levels of experience, and this year’s show again has work by Bloomsburg University art professors and preschool children and everyone in between – almost 400 pieces now on the walls.
“The overall quality of the work in the show amazes us every year,” says Exchange executive director Oren B. Helbok. “With so many pieces here, I walk into the Gallery every day and see something remarkable that I have never noticed before – often by a schoolchild who has never shown anywhere before.” Student work this year came from Berwick High School, Bloomsburg High School and Bloomsburg Middle School, Central Columbia Middle School, Greenwood Friends School, Mifflinburg High School, and New Story in Berwick.
As with all of the past “Cash & Carry” shows, The Exchange gave away hundreds of wooden panels for artists to use, this year in two different sizes, roughly 7 inches by 9 inches and 9 inches by 12 inches; they sell for $30 and $50, and 80% of every sale goes to the artist. The artists worked in many media: painting, drawing, photography, collage, sculpture, fiber, and more. Most panels hang on the wall; some sit or stand.
Sales start at the show’s reception, which takes place on Friday, the 29th of November: When the door opens at 5 p.m. that afternoon, attendees take numbers, and at 6 p.m. the person with number 1 may choose ONE piece to buy; if that person wants another piece, s/he must take another number and go to the back of the line. Then the person with number 2 gets to choose a piece. “Our buyers have a lot of fun with this,” says Helbok, “and they all talk to each other as they strategize about which pieces to go for.”
The show’s name comes from the informal nature of the show, in which buyers can take their pieces home with them as soon as purchased. (In most Gallery exhibitions, purchased work stays on the wall until the end of the show.) Contrary to the name, the Gallery accepts checks and charge cards too.
The Exchange Gallery, at 24 East Main Street in Bloomsburg, has regular hours from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Mondays and Fridays; hours vary on Tuesdays through Thursdays. The exhibition runs through January 3rd, 2020.
For more information about The Exchange, visit ExchangeArts.org or Facebook.com/ExchangeArtsDotOrg or call 570-317-2596.