ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Move too quickly and the work may slip past you.
Two contemporary exhibitions by women artists at Allentown Art Museum speak softly to one another through color, material and an invitation to slow down.
On view are solo exhibitions "The Clouds are Luminous" by Ellen Berkenblit and "Aftertouch" by Amanda Valdez, curated by Elaine Mehalakes and Claire McRee, respectively.
Together, the exhibitions offer visitors a study in contrast — figuration and abstraction — while underscoring the use of intuition.
The exhibitions will be on display through May 17.
First solo show
Berkenblit’s "Clouds" inside the Scheller and Fowler galleries marks the artist’s first solo museum show, a long-awaited milestone for a painter whose work has been widely discussed by critics for decades, Mehalakes said.
Her paintings and drawings feature recurring female figures rendered through an intuitive, physical process that begins not with sketches but with a single line.
"These figures aren’t meant to be narrative or symbolic."Elaine Mehalakes, on artist Ellen Berkenblit
“These figures aren’t meant to be narrative or symbolic,” Mehalakes said. “She thinks of them more as elements of a visual language.”
Last summer, Mehalakes visited Berkenblit’s studio in New York's Hudson Valley, where, she said, she gained a deeper understanding of the artist’s intuitive process and technical mastery.
Seeing the work in its place of origin underscored Berkenblit’s skill as a painter and her deep knowledge of materials, from paint behavior to color nuance, Mehalakes said.
“It was really fascinating to talk with her about color and material,” she said. She said the studio visit helped shape how the exhibition ultimately came together.
Displayed across two gallery spaces, the exhibition pairs several thought-provoking large-scale paintings of pointy-nosed and melancholy feminine subjects with drawings and Kozo collages.
A portion of those black-and-white drawings was created for "Banana Meringue," a zine commissioned in 2024 by Dan Nadel, curator of the Whitney Museum in New York City.
According to Mehalakes, they reveal Berkenblit’s interest in comics and sequential imagery, and let viewers see subtle notes in expression and form, from piece to piece.
Also notable: an immersive peacock-feather wallpaper — designed by Berkenblit specifically for the solo show, and based on a modified Victorian image.
"It creates an environment that pushes the works forward visually while pulling viewers into Berkenblit’s world," Mehalakes said.
Animals such as peacocks and tigers appear throughout Berkenblit's work — not as symbols, but as companions or “familiars,” Mehalakes said, emerging from the artist’s subconscious and lived observation.
Color, hand stitching and textiles
Just steps away in the Rodale Gallery, Amanda Valdez’s exhibition offers a very different — yet complementary — experience.
Valdez, who lives and works in Brooklyn, New York, brings together painting and textiles in works that blur boundaries between media.
According to curator Claire McRee, Valdez's practice centers on hand stitching, dyeing and layered fabric surfaces that reference quilt-making traditions and the global history of textile production.
“She’s really interested in the labor of handwork and what that brings to a piece,” McRee said.
“That intangible presence of time, care and touch.”
"You have one experience from afar, and then another as you approach and notice the details."Curator Claire McRee on artist Amanda Valdez
Instead, she draws most directly from quilt patterns, which she sees as part of her own cultural lineage and artistic identity.
Valdez also researches textile histories across cultures and completed a weaving residency with the New Roots Foundation in Antigua, Guatemala, in 2018, where she created her large-scale tapestry "Full Tanit."
The residency marked a key period in the development of Valdez's textile practice, which remains attentive to cultural context and mindful of avoiding appropriation.
As museum-goers will notice, color plays a central role in Valdez’s work, with soft pastels, warm tones and hand-dyed blues creating a sense of calm that deepens upon closer inspection.
From a distance, the works feel meditative; up close, stitching, texture and subtle tonal shifts reveal themselves, McRee said.
“There’s a kind of mindfulness to her work,” McRee said. “You have one experience from afar, and then another as you approach and notice the details.”
Valdez’s shapes are abstract and organic, drawn intuitively and described by the artist as “unearthed” from within the body.
Meet the artists
Both Mehalakes and McRee said gallery placement was carefully considered for both exhibitions, with sight lines guiding visitors through the space and toward monumental works featured in the rooms.
“We think a lot about how your eye moves,” McRee said. “You’re engaging with what’s in front of you, but you’re also being pulled toward something ahead.”
While Berkenblit’s figurative paintings and Valdez’s abstract textiles differ visually, the curators intentionally positioned the exhibitions to resonate with one another.
“Both artists think very deeply about color,” McRee said.
“There’s also a nice contrast between Ellen’s representational figures and Amanda’s abstraction, but the scale and color create a dialogue.”
Together, the exhibitions reflect the museum’s commitment to offering visitors something new with each visit.
“People often want clear answers,” Mehalakes said. “But both of these shows ask viewers to sit with ambiguity, to slow down, and to let meaning unfold over time.”
Berkenblit will lead a lecture on her process and bold use of color at 1 p.m. Saturday, March 7.
She will be joined by artisans from Vasari Paint, a company based in Easton, and Berkenblit's preferred art supplier, to discuss the craft of creating oil paints and their use in contemporary art.
Amanda Valdez's artist talk will take place at 1 p.m. Saturday, April 25.
She will discuss her artistic influences and how textile history influences her work.
Admission to Allentown Art Museum is free. For information on the exhibit, visit the venue's website.
