Allentown’s “Great Art Night” ushered in gallery receptions for “Hues of Red and Blue: The 2016 Presidential Election.”

The juried show at the Priscilla Payne Hurd Gallery in the Allentown Art Museum of the Lehigh Valley was held in conjunction with additional politically-themed works at the RE:find Gallery along the Allentown ArtsWalk.

The pop-up exhibition is the brainchild of David Mickenberg, Priscilla Payne Hurd president and CEO of the Allentown Art Museum, and arts consultant Deborah Rabinsky. The Oct. 20 event was jointly sponsored by the Museum and RE:find Gallery on the Walk.

Lehigh Valley artists, including Raymond S. Barnes, Paul Nicholson, Yevette Hendler, Ed Eckstein, Maryann J. Riker, Amanda Quevedo, Matt Smith, Robert Stewart, Cheryl Edwards, Femi Johnson, Egidio Galgano, Emma Horning, Ghen Dennis, Jase Clark and Aria Mickenberg, weighed in on the volatile 2016 presidential election with oil, acrylic, mixed media, sculpture, photographs and video.

There were a few uncomplimentary portraits of Donald Trump, like Paul Nickolson’s untitled oil on canvas portrait which depicts the President-Elect with a haughty look while posing with a fork and cheese pizza.

A smiling Hillary Rodham Clinton is at the podium in photographer Matt Smith’s “Campaigner” (archival pigment print; 2016). Clinton’s face peers out from behind a composition of letters and shapes in “Letters to Hillary” (collage on paper, 2016) by Maryann J. Riker.

“This World Needs a Group Hug” (archival pigment print on fiber rag paper; 2016) by Yevette Hendler is of a group of young protesters walking down a city street carrying homemade cardboard placards.

A tattooed female Bernie fan appears in “Bernie Sanders Rally, Reading, Pa.” (archival pigment print; 2016) in a digital photo by Amanda Quevedo.

Cheryl Edwards’ “The American VI” (college, pearls, acrylic on board; 2015) is a mixed media piece of a United States flag with pearls for stars in the background with head and neck profiles of three African-American women, composed of Travon Martin photos and news clippings, in the foreground.

The RE:find Gallery on the ArtsWalk showcase of non-juried artwork for “Hues of Red and Blue” features artists Ghen Dennis, Paul Deery, Michelle Neifert, Ken Jones Jr., Karle Schwartz, Yodi Vaden, Ian Summers, Ed Courrier, Francis Beaty, Danny Moyer, Angel Suarez Rosado, Moen Haider, Julius Sissor, Chris P. Jones, Anthony Smith, Femi Johnson, Cheryl Edwards, Rosemay Geseck and Egidio Galgano.

Dominating the exhibition at the Gallery on the Walk is Karle Schwartz’s “Bigot’s Show on Earth” (acrylic on canvas; 2016) of a fire-eating Donald Trump as ringmaster to the “Incredible Circus Party.” Nearby, a larger-than-life “President Obama” folk art puppet created by Yodi Vaden sports a wide grin and a “With Hillary” lapel pin.

Julius Sissor lampoons Clinton in “Hillary - Picasso,” where a cubist rendering of her declares “Hillary’s not crooked, she is a Picasso.”

While Francis Beaty’s “House of Shards” (sculpture; mixed media) laments the apparent destruction of the White House, Rosemary Geseck’s “Cracking the Glass Ceiling” (acrylic on canvas; 2016) celebrates Hillary Clinton’s history-making female presidential candidacy.

Ed Courrier’s cartoons, “Signs of Distress” (2016), reflect American voters’ apparent dissatisfaction with the choice between two polarizing candidates and “Role Models” (2016) shows how the behavior of the presidential contenders may impact the next generation.

“Protests & Politics,” dramatic black-and-white photographs by Ed Eckstein from the turbulent 1960s and ’70s paired with his photos of the 2016 turbulent presidential election, are on display in RE:find’s Gallery 724 along Hamilton Street. Most are 11 in. x 14 in. silver gelatin prints.

“Not unlike the firehouse dog that jumps on the truck when the alarm sounds, I was driven to document an era of discontent and divisiveness,” Eckstein states in “Coming of Rage,” a publication of his vintage photographs for sale at the venue. In the book and on the wall is a disturbing image of a KKK cross-burning, “Ku Klux Klan Rally, Wilmington, Delaware, July, 1965.” Photographs of grimly-determined young civil rights and peace activists can also be viewed. These were taken with a 35 mm camera while on “… self-assignments though some were commissions from a denominational magazine, Youth, based in Philadelphia,” according to the photographer.

His “non-fiction photographs” of the 2016 campaign trail were posted on BuzzFeed. Eckstein took his 4x5 camera to Philadelphia to cover the DNC Convention and also photographed Trump and Clinton rallies. The Easton-based photographer prefers black-and-white film to digital.

One photo features a middle-aged white couple proudly displaying their pro-Trump T-shirts and swag. Farther along the wall is a shot of Trump’s “Make America Great Again” tractor-trailer rig. In another photo, a life-size cutout of Clinton is labeled with “Liar” and other insults.

In contrast to that is a photo of a woman shows her support for Hillary Clinton by wearing a “Love Trumps Hate” T-shirt. Another photo is of a young black man wearing a “No Trump” T-shirt.

A few images of buoyant Bernie Sanders supporters round out the exhibition.

Eckstein’s powerful images from past and present not only brings together the political works in the “Hues of Red and Blue” venues, but serves to put the exhibits in perspective.

RE:find’s Gallery on the Walk and Gallery 724 exhibits continue through Nov. 20. Hours: 11 a.m. - 6 p.m. Tuesday - Saturday, noon - 5 p.m. Sunday. Information: refindallentown@gmail.com, 610-841-4866

The Allentown Art Museum “Hues of Red and Blue” exhibition concluded Nov. 13.