Apprentice
About the Exhibition
"Apprentice" is based on Visiting Artist Abbey Muza's archival research on the history of the textile industry in Northeastern Pennsylvania and Penn State Berks’ history as the Wyomissing Polytechnic Institute. The Wyomissing Polytechnic Institute (WPI) was a work study program for apprentices in local industry from 1929 to 1958, run by the Textile Machine Works (TMW), which made machinery for the manufacture of stockings and hosiery. Machine parts, photographs, tools, and promotional materials are pulled from the archives of the WPI and TMW, held in the special collections of the Thun Library at Penn State Berks, and assembled into drawings and handwoven textiles. Artworks in the exhibition include drawings, textiles, and sculpture (fabricated with the assistance of Roy Thompson, mechanical engineering lab supervisor).
Exhibition Information
This exhibition will be on view in the Freyberger Gallery on Thursdays and Fridays beginning April 10 through May 9, 2025, from 1:00 to 6:00 p.m., and also by appointment. For more information or to make an appointment, contact Abbey Muza, visiting artist, at azm7325@psu.edu.
An opening reception will be held on Thursday, April 10, from noon to 3:00 p.m. in 009B Perkins Student Center. This event is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served.
About the Visiting Artist
Muza uses weaving, drawing, printmaking, and sculpture to explore narration, identity, and image-making. They frequently use archival and historical materials to make work that mediates narrative through material translation and abstraction. Muza has shown their work in solo and two-person exhibitions at spaces including Tusk, Slow Dance, and the Fondation des États Unis. They have been an artist in residence at ACRE and Alternative Worksite, and have been a Fulbright France Harriet-Hale Wooley Awardee, a Leroy Neiman Fellow at the Oxbow School of Art, and a Visiting Artist at the École nationale supérieure des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. They have shown their work in solo exhibitions at spaces including Tusk, Slow Dance, and the Fondation des États Unis. They have a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and an MFA in Fiber and Material Studies from the Tyler School of Art and Architecture.