The Art Gallery–Paleoart Exploration & Posters from the Collection
Pictured above: Triassic Hunters, 48"x60", Oil on Canvas. By Jason Ward
“Paleoart Exploration & Posters from the Collection”
June 9—September 19, 2025
The Art Gallery promotes regional artwork that is inspired by science and nature. Currently on display, Paleoart Exploration & Posters from the Collection. When art and science work together to create an image of prehistoric life, it’s called paleoart. It involves using fossil evidence, geological data, and scientific understanding to recreate scenes of the past, bridging the gap between scientific findings and public understanding.
A message from Sheri Hansen, Art Gallery and Visual Arts Program Coordinator:
Paleoart is a volley back and forth between art and science. An artist must visualize their subject based on facts discovered by scientists in the fossil record. A scientist must interpret the fossils and evidence to deduce practical information to give to the artist about what has been discovered. At best they work side by side to blend together the facts, contemporary accepted interpretations, and some informed speculation about the details that might not be directly backed by fossil evidence.
This process continues forward, constantly being upended by the latest discoveries. When new fossils are found and prepared it can be like finding a new piece of a puzzle. The new piece is useful in reassessing what has come before. Fossil evidence is a solid piece of information that can serve as a structure holding together multiple pieces of speculation. When new information is discovered some questions are answered, but new questions might then arise. This is the process of discovery.
Dinosaurs are a scientific discovery that have captured the hearts of fans through the creation of Paleoart. We are fascinated by these prehistoric creatures. Many people have an imaginative longing to understand and to experience dinosaurs somehow. For an artist it can be as simple as making a drawing or painting.
Sometimes dinosaurs feature in our artwork as fantasy scenes. These scenes depict something quite different than Paleoart- fantasy is just that: like a daydream. While Paleoart is an attempt to visualize known facts together with scientifically reasonable speculation, fantasy art is more open-ended, more just like wondering “what if?”
This exhibition shows the process from fossils, to models, to movie posters. Dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures have captured our imagination and driven us to want to understand more about their lives a long time ago, right here on Earth.
Paleoart Exploration & Posters from the Collection will feature original artworks from local and regional artists including Ephrata painter and professor at PCA&D Jason Ward. Ward will show a variety of works including Triassic Hunters, a large oil painting featured in Flesk’s Spectrum 25 Illustration Showcase. Also on display will be rarely seen fossils, models, and dioramas representing paleoart’s historical beginnings and a substantial collection of printed paleoart works from the end of the twentieth century.
BUY TICKETS
The Art Gallery, located on the third floor, is always open to the public when the museum is operating, Wednesday-Sunday at 400 College Ave. Lancaster, PA.
Interested in participating in our gallery events, or purchasing art? Contact Sheri Hansen, Art Gallery and Visual Arts Program Coordinator at SHansen@NorthMuseum.org.
Part of North Museum’s A.L.E. (Adult Learning and Engagement) programs
Two Exhibits Open in The Art Gallery
The Art Gallery Hosts Two Simultaneous Exhibitions in March
Millport Conservancy and North Museum ask how sustainability practices shape visual communications.
(LANCASTER)—March 13, 2025
Art and science come together in simultaneous exhibits “Further and Again: Sustainability in Visual Culture” and “The Millport Artists Project,” both on display in The Art Gallery at North Museum from March 13—May, 2025. All members of the public are invited to the exhibit opening March 13 at 6:30pm, followed by a conversation with the artists at 7pm. Enjoy fellowship and light fare as we discuss how sustainability practices shape visual communications.
“Further and Again” asks artists, when we create with repurposed materials or ideas, how do those materials or ideas carry forward their prior purpose into these new works? Does literal and figurative reuse have the potential to reveal a rich depth of meaning and connection that would otherwise remain undiscovered? Seven artists explore their relationship to the lifecycle of materials, process, and meaning in their works.
Participating artists include: Bonnie Mae Carrow, Paula Cahill, Kirstin Fisher, Sheri Hansen, Katherine Hess, Mimi Shapiro, and Dganit Zauberman.
Art Gallery and Visual Arts Program Coordinator Sheri Hansen says,
“Artists are resourceful thinkers, constantly recontextualizing what they know with something new to evolve their ideas forward. Reuse and sustainability have been present in conversation in the arts for decades now, making artists natural leaders on experimenting around this topic. Imagining something discarded with fresh eyes is an endlessly fun and hopeful lens through which to view our everyday world. To transform something with only your action and intention is a very primal way to express oneself to others.”
“The Millport Artists Project” began with a visit by participating artists to the Millport Conservancy in Lititz, PA, in Autumn, 2024. They were asked to make artwork about what they discovered there. This experience produced a combination of works made in response to their time spent at Millport working indirectly through sketches, or en plein air. Shown alongside each artist’s existing studio works to provide context, some pieces are still in production. Come back often to uncover what the Conservancy has unleashed in these artists’ everyday practice—from the studio to the open air!
Participating artists include: Doug Anderson, Stacy Caldwell, Sheri Hansen, Marisa Smith Alberts, and Jason Ward.
Hansen continues,
“This [Millport] show allows the viewer to discover the differences in ways of thinking from one artist to the next. All started with the same intention to make work inspired by this beautiful and wild place, but the variety of the works collected here foreground the creativity and individuality of each maker’s studio conversation.”
The Art Gallery is always open to the public when the museum is operating, Wednesday-Sunday at 400 College Ave. Part of North Museum’s A.L.E. (Adult Learning and Engagement) program, works of art from 11 Lancaster county and regional artists will be on display and available for purchase through the end of May, 2025.
The Art Gallery–Duel Exhibits Opening
Above: Dganit Zauberman, Yellow Light, 12 x 12", Oil on Board
“Further and Again: Sustainability in Visual Culture” and “The Millport Artists Project”
Millport Conservancy and North Museum ask, how do sustainability practices shape visual communications?
PRE-REGISTER HERE
The Art Gallery Opening: March 13 at 6:30pm. Works of art from 11 Lancaster county and regional artists will be on display and available for purchase through the end of May.
Art and science come together in simultaneous exhibits “Further and Again: Sustainability in Visual Culture” and “The Millport Artists Project,” both on display in The Art Gallery at North Museum from March 13—May, 2025. All members of the public are invited to the exhibit opening March 13 at 6:30pm, followed by a conversation with the artists at 7pm. Enjoy fellowship and light fare as we discuss how sustainability practices shape visual communications.
“Further and Again” asks artists, when we create with repurposed materials or ideas, how do those materials or ideas carry forward their prior purpose into these new works? Does literal and figurative reuse have the potential to reveal a rich depth of meaning and connection that would otherwise remain undiscovered? Seven artists explore their relationship to the lifecycle of materials, process, and meaning in their works. Participating artists include: Bonnie Mae Carrow, Paula Cahill, Kirstin Fisher, Sheri Hansen, Katherine Hess, Mimi Shapiro, and Dganit Zauberman.
“The Millport Artists Project” began with a visit by participating artists to the Millport Conservancy in Lititz, PA, in Autumn, 2024. They were asked to make artwork about what they discovered there. This experience produced a combination of works made in response to their time spent at Millport working indirectly through sketches, or en plein air. Shown alongside each artist’s existing studio works to provide context, some pieces are still in production. Come back often to uncover what the Conservancy has unleashed in these artists’ everyday practice—from the studio to the open air! Participating artists include: Doug Anderson, Stacy Caldwell, Sheri Hansen, Marisa Smith Alberts, and Jason Ward.
PRE-REGISTER HERE
The Art Gallery is always open to the public when the museum is operating, Wednesday-Sunday at 400 College Ave. Part of North Museum’s A.L.E. (Adult Learning and Engagement) program, works of art from 11 Lancaster county and regional artists will be on display and available for purchase through the end of May.
Interested in participating in our gallery events, or purchasing art? Contact Sheri Hansen, Art Gallery and Visual Arts Program Coordinator at SHansen@NorthMuseum.org.
