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The Art Museum of WVU
Admission is always free.

Screams and Whispers

Karin Broker and Patricia Bellan-Gillen

January 24 – May 11, 2025

This two-person exhibition of recent drawings and sculptures created by Pittsburgh artist Patricia Bellan-Gillen and Texas artist Karin Broker, is inspired by the creative dialog the artists have engaged in for years. Both artists are known for carefully crafted, elaborate artworks that suggest narratives influenced equally by traditional myths and contemporary society. The surrealist tendency in their artmaking is also heavily imbued with feminist themes.

Broker builds her sculpture with a variety of found objects sourced from thrift stores and antique markets. Each work is painstakingly wired together to build up layers of materials, with each addition enhancing the tension. By contrast, Bellen-Gillen works primarily in two-dimensional shaped structures. She layers her graphite drawing in a similar additive process, arriving at strong values and lush surfaces. The art in this exhibition whispers its intentions but screams for you to pay attention.

IMAGE CREDIT:

Top left:
Patricia Bellan-Gillen,
Entangled Faith/Till Human Voices Wake Us and We Drown (detail), 2024,
Colored pencil, acrylic on birch,
On loan from the artist

Bottom right:
Karin Broker,
fight girl (detail), 2021,
Steel, cast metal, porcelain, buttons, wire, scissors, pearl, objects,
On loan from the artist