The historic Dery Mansion will open its doors for one night only to showcase the works of two local mosaic and sculpture artists on Sunday.
Notable pieces from the collections of Kim Hogan and Virginia Abbott will be displayed and available for purchase at reduced prices. Tickets are $25. The event will run from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Nov. 24 at the Dery Mansion, 520 Fifth St. in Catasauqua, Pa.
The money used to buy a ticket can be put towards an art purchase or one of three sponsored charities: Bloom for Women, PCFLV Pediatric Cancer Foundation of the Lehigh Valley or the Rotary Club.
Virginia Abbott is a long-standing artist in residence at The Banana Factory Cultural Center and resident of Bethlehem. Her most recognizable pieces occupy a section of her city’s greenway between Webster and Taylor streets where the sculpture “Blue Herons” as well as a garden of native plant species dwell. The sculpture was made possible by Southside Vision 2014, a program administered by Community Action Development Bethlehem, which funded the art piece with a $15,000 grant and the plantings with a $7,000 grant.
Kim Hogan is the Linney Awards 2019 Visual Artist of the Year and a two-time Adams Outdoor Advertising billboard contest winner in the Lehigh Valley. She won the grand-prize for Northampton County’s 250th anniversary art contest for a mosaic titled “Lehigh Valley, Our Place in the World”. She has worked as an instructor at the Banana Factory since 2006.
The artists are hosting this event in advance of the upcoming Banana Factory demolition in Southside Bethlehem, Hogan said. The one-night event called “In a New Light” will showcase her entire body of work.
The event will feature live-music by Frank DiBussolo, a magic show by Joe Keppel and a live reading of a children’s book where Hogan’s work is showcased.
The Banana Factory Cultural Center is scheduled to close on Dec. 31, 2024 while the new state-of-the-art visual, performing arts and educational hub is being constructed. Demolition will kick off in the first quarter of 2025. Construction is expected to last about 12 to 14 months.
The existing six-building complex is at capacity, lehighvalleylive.com reported last year.
The building’s oldest portion dates back to 1885 and is about $1.4 million behind on maintenance with an estimated $5 million in improvements needed just to meet modern building codes, the report from 2023 says.
Though not yet named, the new cultural center is planned as 73,000 square feet spread over five stories, in addition to a separate, one-story 5,500-square-foot glass-blowing studio. New green space is planned for the gateway property on Southside, with the parking moved to the rear and an improved flow planned for guest traffic and buses.
Once complete, the new center aims to better complement the performing arts and festival space that ArtsQuest offers on the SteelStacks campus opened in 2011 just to the east beside the still-standing blast furnaces of the former Bethlehem Steel Corp.
Glenn Epps can be reached at [email protected] or glenn_epps_on X (formerly known as Twitter.com), Facebook and Threads.
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