Following a summer of maintenance and a quick change to the season opener, the Sordoni Art Gallery at Wilkes University will host a new exhibit and a heightened commitment to community engagement.
After going dark this summer for planned maintenance, the Sordoni Art Gallery at Wilkes University planned to open the upcoming season with sculptures from artist Wayne Brungard. When circumstances beyond anyone’s control forced a change in plans just weeks before the opening, the gallery staff was forced to pivot quickly to replace the first show.
With the clock ticking, Heather Sincavage, gallery director, turned to her creative contacts in the performance art community to curate The Whispering: Screen Performance Exhibition.
“It’s fun to share a slice of my world with everybody else,” says Sincavage. “These are artists I’ve encountered in my travels and who are creatively feeding and inspiring me. I admire them and their art hits me profoundly.”
The Whispering, featuring filmed performances by 11 artists from seven countries, will run from Sept. 16 – Oct. 11. The exhibit welcomes viewers to dwell within the spaces between sound and silence, light and shadow, presence and absence. In this space, time feels elastic, and meaning is not fixed, but flows gently.
In connection with The Whispering, Sordoni Art Gallery will host a reception in collaboration with Scranton Fringe from 5 – 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 23, offering light fare and beverages. SAG will also host an Art in Context screening of the documentary The Artist Is Present by Marina Abramovic on Wednesday, Oct. 1, and a Last Look Brunch with a curator’s tour and food from a local establishment on Sunday, Oct. 5.
The Whispering will also feature the launch of a rebrand of the gallery’s popular Second Saturday Family Hour. The new initiative, Sordoni Gallery Artventurers, invites young explorers and their families to discover the world of art. Each session will offer a hands-on activity and storytime with the Osterhout Free Library. New Artventurers will receive a free sketch book to collect badges throughout the year. Activities are designed for children ages 5-12, but all ages are welcome.
Scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 27, the Artventurers session for The Whispering will allow participants to create their own screen performance video based on prompts or fully improvised. All equipment will be provided and no prior experience is necessary.
With cuts to libraries and arts education, the gallery feels both a duty and a privilege to offer accessible arts programming for families. “It’s a chance to learn while playing and building community,” says Melissa Carestia, assistant director. “It’s silly, fun, relatable and gives families a chance to interact with the exhibition in a different way.”
After The Whispering, Sordoni Art Gallery will host a season full of painting and photography with additional programming to encourage existing fans and new faces to pay a visit.
“It’s a very human year,” says Sincavage. “We’re working with almost all contemporary artists who are facing issues and topics we’re all dealing with.”
All events are free and open to the public, though some may require advance registration. For more information, visit wilkes.edu/sordoniartgallery.
Upcoming exhibits:
Helen Zughaib: Migrations
Nov. 18, 2025 – Feb. 27, 2026
Zughaib’s Syrian Migration Series seeks to refocus attention on the modern Syrian crisis and give voice to those affected, particularly women and children migrants and refugees. Inspired by Jacob Lawrence’s 1941 Migration Series, Zughaib’s paintings explore the struggles and perseverance of those displaced by conflict.
Double Bill – two photo exhibitions
March 24 – May 17, 2026
Dana Stirling: Why Am I Sad
In Why Am I Sad, photographer Dana Stirling explores mental health and depression through her camera lens. As a child of immigrants who often felt like an outsider, photography offered a way for her to communicate unspoken turmoil. Through still life photos, Why Am I Sad celebrates and challenges the notions of beauty and sadness.
Formal/Informal: Innovations in Portraiture
During the 19th century, formal portraits flourished as a way for a photographer to capture a vision of a person. The artists then used their craft to tell the story of the sitter. In the 20th and 21st centuries, images captured both formal and informal views of people, with their surroundings playing a role in the pictures. This collection of portraits features the serious and the playful, celebrating people and telling the story of our society as a whole.
Pulse Nightclub: 49 Elegies
June 15 – Aug 2, 2026
PULSE Nightclub: 49 Elegies by artist John Gutoskey honors and commemorates the individuals massacred at the LGBTQ Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, on June 12, 2016. Gutoskey uses symbols that are personal to him and his experience as a gay man and combines them with more universal cultural and spiritual iconography to create the 49 visual elegies or poems.
The Sordoni Art Gallery is located in the Karambelas Media and Communication Center, 141 South Main Street, Wilkes-Barre.
Hours:
Tuesday-Friday | 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Saturday-Sunday | Noon – 5 p.m.
Closed on Monday and University holidays.