We host a series of brief lectures by York, PA's makers and doers, who talk about their craft. Our speakers come from varied backgrounds, but they all work systematically and intentionally to create visceral experiences.
PechaKucha Night York utilizes the 20x20 PechaKucha presentation format: 20 slides that automatically advance every 20 seconds. Learn more at PechaKucha.org.
Featured Speakers AT May 10, 2023 PK NIght Event
Our nineteenth event featured five presenters talking about their respective crafts. The event was hosted in partnership with Marketview Arts in their Gallery Hall space.
Jeannine Dabb
Riding Out the High Tides
Jeannine completed her first fellowship this year and began working as Artist in Residence at Marketview Arts, working with the public and students and making art in a world that is struggling with civility and beliefs in modern science. Her work is impacted by stories told between the colors and found objects, personal and complex responses, and interactions with the people that occupy them. In spite of the heavy weight of the world, she wants to create works with a sense of brightness, revitalization, and excitement. Learning to stay afloat and ride the continual waves, in response to rising waters and situations is important. Ultimately, it is about keeping our heads above water, even when the tides are higher than expected. Tides are relatively predictable, but like life, they are, however, only predictions.
Jeannine Dabb is an artist residing in York, PA. After 22 years of owning a small business in the medical aesthetics industry, she recently returned to college to study painting. She graduated from York College of Pennsylvania in December 2020 with honors and received her bachelor of fine arts with a minor in art history. After graduation, Jeannine became the tenth Appell Fellow and is now the Artist in Residence at Marketview Arts. She has her studio space located with the Artists Underground at Marketview Arts. Jeannine’s art has been purchased and commissioned by three hospitals: Penn State Hampden Hospital, Penn State Lancaster Hospital, and Women’s and Babies University Health Systems of San Antonio, Texas. She has consistently gotten into local and international juried shows and has won numerous awards, most recently receiving a grant from the Cultural Alliance of York County to help get her fifth solo show, “High Tides,” to Hood College in Frederick, Maryland. This spring she is attending Mt. Gretna School of Arts, followed by Wilson College to complete her MFA graduate studies.
Amy Mummert
From Bedbound to Rebound: A Creative Journey
Having always been a “helper” in both her career and volunteer opportunities, Amy found herself in the position of needing help in her early 30s, when she was diagnosed with a chronic illness. It was largely through art that she was eventually able to find purpose and meaning in her life again.
Amy Mummert is the founder of both World Art Drop: York and York Artbook Collective. She also facilitates a monthly community paint night in the WeCo District of York. From 1985 to 2005, Amy resided in Philadelphia. She earned a B.A. in English Literature from Temple University, a Post-Baccalaureate Certification in Secondary English Education from St. Joseph’s University, and an M.S. in Organizational Development/Education, also from St. Joseph’s University. During her career as an Educator/Organizational Developer in Philadelphia, she also authored a 14-volume curriculum for the PA Department of Education. After developing an adult-onset disability, she moved from Philadelphia to York, PA, where she began to paint and create artwork to cope with trauma. She founded York Artbook Collective, which was inspired by the Brooklyn Sketchbook Project. York Artbook Collective was formally launched in January 2022.
Gretchen Nevin
Point Yourself Toward the Light
A story of light and lines.
Gretchen Nevin is a mother and wife living in York, PA. She began her photography journey while documenting her children’s day-to-day life and as a means of preserving their childhood. As she grew in her craft, she fell in love with the details of people and uses light to add dramatic perspective to her images. Currently, she works with families, newborns, and maternity, but her heart remains drawn to creative shoots where she can work alongside other artists. In addition to photography, she also focuses on drawing, painting, and print-making. Through the use of dramatic brush strokes and textured application, she aims to convey depth and contrast in her paintings. While drawing, she uses heavy lines and direction to dramatize lights and shadows.
Cassi Ney
Public Listening and Other Gleanings from a Life in the Classroom
From chalk dust to pixels, the tools of teaching have changed with the times. Classrooms look different. Students look different. Learning looks different. And yet, one unchanging element necessary to engage students remains: a teacher’s passion.
If Cassi Ney had to choose between learning and breathing, she would hold her breath. Not yet faced with that choice, Cassi has discovered that the very best way for her to learn something is to teach it to another. She learned and taught for 35 years in the English Department at Dover Area High School, and now she revisits some of those lessons to teach herself the courage to write. Currently she instructs yoga classes which are often inspired by the perennial wisdom of her pollinator garden. Out of everything that Cassi has learned, she is most proud of the kitchen dance moves she passed on to her two children.
Andrew Smith
Art of the Unplanned
Andrew Smith expressed his creative side for over five decades via music, much of which was spent teaching 10-14-year-old middle school students how to make music. Now he spends his time with adults through various creative avenues. Andy noticed that we adults are much more like our middle school selves than we care to admit, and the unplanned has been a welcome part of our journeys (and that of our art) all along.
After a 32-year career as a music teacher, Andy Smith operates Visual Realia, a clay monoprint studio. This unusual medium combines techniques from both pottery and printmaking, using colored clay slips to design a work on a slab of clay before transferring it to its final surface. In addition to serving as an arts grant “navigator,” his new Culture On The Line website is an online home for documenting the area’s cultural highlights.
FEATURED PRESENTERS AT OUR EVENT ON May 10, 2023. LEFT TO RIGHT: Cassi Ney, Andy Smith, Gretchen Nevin, Amy Mummert, Jeannine Dabb.
Photo by Allison Witherow
