By Sara Karnish

Nature’s quiet embrace, captured by a local photographer is the focus of Penn State Lehigh Valley gallery exhibit 

CENTER VALLEY, Pa. —A photographer who finds inspiration and solace in the nature surrounding her home on South Mountain will be featured in a solo exhibition this fall at the Ronald K. DeLong Gallery at Penn State Lehigh Valley (PSU-LV). The artist reception for “Solace” will be held on September 10 from 5 to 7 p.m. in the DeLong Gallery on the first floor. The event is free and open to the public.

The exhibit, “Solace: Photographs by Jane Noel” will run from September 10-December 5 and includes over a dozen large-scale archival pigment prints that invite the viewer into a unique world of mystery, light, and shadow. Trees are a recurring subject in Noel’s photographs. “There’s a subtle message of meditation and contemplation,” said Ann Lalik, PSU-LV arts coordinator and De Long gallery director. “I am intrigued by these prints, because the trees have a spiritual quality to them. Many are taken at dusk or at night, with mysterious illumination that gives them a palpable sense of atmosphere.” Due to the large size of the images, Lalik likens the exhibit to walking into a forest. Noel remarks on the creativity her property has provided her. “I moved to my home on South Mountain seven years ago and after years of caretaking and witnessing, I began a conversation with the trees,” she said.  “They are my teachers and my solace.”

Noel, a former lecturer in information science and technology at PSU-LV, has exhibited extensively throughout the region over her decades-long career. She received her master of fine arts degree from the Vermont College of Fine Arts, her master of arts degree from George Washington University, and her bachelor of arts from Moravian College (now Moravian University).

Information provided to TVL by:
Mary Kate Maguire