Abington Art Center is a community center focused on music, drawing, painting, oil, ceramics, metals, sewing, embroidery, pottery, and jewelry classes. It is an outdoor free concert venue, with theater, dance, jazz, and live music on stage. You can buy gifts, crafts, bracelets, necklaces, and rings at the unique holiday fair.

On View March 8 – April 15, 2024

Dual-Opening Reception | Friday, March 8 | 6:00p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

2024 Annual Juried Show – Feeling Blue: Navigating Challenges Through Art

Feeling Blue: Navigating Challenges Through Art asked artists to consider art as a tool for healing.

Artists often explore art as a tool for articulating emotions and navigating difficult circumstances. Art plays a vital role in society; it acts as a means for people to process the world around them and channel their response into tangible work for others to look at, interpret, and resonate with. We have all found ourselves in difficult situations, whether it be overcoming obstacles or dealing with something unprecedented, and artists are no strangers to this. Like Picasso with his Blue Period, artists use artwork as a way to navigate the complex emotions that arise from challenges, whether deeply personal or universally shared.

The selected works highlight art’s healing power in the face of adversity. Our Annual Juried Show is on display in our Kellner, Book Room, and Tile galleries from March 8 – April 15, 2024.

Our 2024 Annual Juried Show Jurors:

Lauren E. Peters
Visual Artist

Peters is a Philadelphia-based visual artist working with the concepts of identity and gender through self-portraiture. Her self portrait series serves as a tool in navigating the complex relationship between her gender identity and gender expression.

Visit Lauren’s Website

Heather Ziegenmeyer, MA LPC ATR-BC
Board Certified Art Therapist & Licensed Professional Counselor

Heather Ziegenmeyer is a certified art therapist and licensed professional counselor who founded Kindred Art Therapy, a local art therapy center that works with children ages 5+, teenagers, and adults through individual and family therapy sessions. Ziegenmeyer uses art as a form of therapy, allowing creativity and expression to act as another natural language: “[my] goal is to create a warm and safe outlet to create, express, and process the challenges we face in life.”

Visit Heather’s Website

Lisa Kelley
Teaching Artist at Kensington Storefront and Prevention Point

Kelley is a teaching artist at Kensington Storefront and Prevention Point, organizations that serve people struggling with addiction and homelessness in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia. Kelley’s work is often narrative-driven, inspired by the experiences that impact her emotionally: “sometimes the stories are apparent in the work, and other times the stories are what fuel the art.”

Visit Lisa’s Website

Exhibiting Artists

Annual Juried Show Select Works

Affirmation of Life: Art in Today’s Ukraine

Affirmation of Life: Art from Today’s Ukraine is organized by the Ukrainian Cultural Initiative in partnership with Abington Art Center, UGS, UCFP, AJC, and UKRFCU.

This remarkable exhibition showcases a fusion of both traditional and modern artwork, providing a window into the diverse and compelling world of Ukrainian artists. Conceived and spearheaded by Nataliya Proskura and Vladislav Shapiro, both Bedford, MA – based mathematician with Ukrainian ancestry, the exhibition will feature an array of mediums and themes, highlighting the incredible talent present in today’s Ukraine. All the artists presented at the exhibition, currently live and work in Ukraine.

Affirmation of Life: Art From Today’s Ukraine is on display in our Community Art Gallery from March 8 – April 15, 2024. Please also join us for a conversation with journalist Vladislav Davidzon and book presentation of Jewish-Ukrainian Relations and the Birth of a Political Nation Sunday, March 17 at 3pm.

All the proceeds collected during the exhibition will go directly to Ukraine for supporting
the artists and their collaborative efforts with students and veterans.

Exhibiting Artists

Affirmation of Life: Art From Today’s Ukraine Featured Works