“Faces of the Lehigh Valley,” the inaugural exhibition for the new Community Gallery at Penn State University Lehigh Valley, features the work of students from five area high schools. The exhibit is scheduled to run to April 29.

At the reception and dedication ceremony March 21, Gallery Director Ann Lalik introduced Dr. Kenneth Thigpen, PSU’s director of academic affairs. Thigpen then announced that due to the success of the adjacent Ronald K. DeLong Gallery, which has attracted an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 visitors, “… it was time to expand the gallery offerings and put together a yet-to-be-named community gallery.

“Naming opportunities for the community gallery exist,” he said with a smile.

Thigpen also mentioned that PSU-Lehigh Valley offers classes in art administration that help students become both artists and business people.

This “unnamed” third floor gallery, located in the nearby hallway, was established to showcase the artwork of students enrolled in Lehigh Valley high schools and colleges. Student artwork would be rotated about six times a year. Artists from community art clubs will be invited to display their works here as well.

The current exhibit includes work by students from the Lehigh Valley Charter HS for the Arts, Moravian Academy, Parkland HS, Southern Lehigh HS and William Allen HS. Since this opening was held in conjunction with the “Sacred Sisters a Collaborative: Holly Trostle Brigham and Marilyn Nelson” exhibition, which featured portraits of eight nuns drawn from history, the theme for the student exhibit was portraiture.

An artist talk given by visual artist Brigham and poet Nelson in the Ronald K. DeLong Gallery preceded the “Community Gallery” dedication.

Among the matted but not framed faces on the wall are three well-executed watercolor and pastel portraits of Moranda, Faith and Meghan, friends of Bria Pickel, a junior visual art major at the Lehigh Valley Charter HS for the Arts. Mikayla Shunk of Moravian Academy exhibited “Brother I” and “Brother II” which are black and white digital photographs, printed with archival pigment, each of a playful boy with a painted face. Fellow classmate Sam Onesto has a couple of untitled color digital photographs printed with archival pigment on display. One is of an old lady cheerfully holding a birthday cake. The other is of an older man looking boldly out from behind the mat.

Gallery hours: 9 a.m. - 9 p.m. Monday - Friday and 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. Saturday. Information: lehighvalley.psu.edu/gallery.