Saints and Poets: Curated by Jon Pylypchuk

The title of the show derives from a quote in Thornton Wilder's play Our Town. In the play, Emily, given the opportunity to relive a mundane day, realizes she can't fully absorb every aspect of it. She asks the stage manager, "Does anyone ever realize life while they live it... every, every minute?" The stage manager responds, "No. Saints and poets maybe… they do some."

Experience is powerful and fleeting. Some of the best examples of our humanity manifest in these moments. What is the best way to absorb life when we never truly realize “every, every minute”?

Saints represent ideas, while poets symbolize tangible objects. Saints must be conceptual to exist; one must suspend disbelief to manifest a saint. Poets, on the other hand, are composed of physical words that occupy space and can be touched and felt.

Much of our experience is mediated through words, allowing the saints to take on a life of their own. Poets emerge as tangible moments, evoking gut feelings, pain, and joy.

Art can embody both concepts, but how it is experienced by the viewer raises the question: Is it a saint or a poet?

-Jon Pylypchuk

Participating artists: Courtney Cho, Brian Dario, Keith Edmier, Erica Eyres, Elizabeth Ferry, Christina Forrer, Maddy Inez, Marina Kappos, Shradha Kochhar, Adam Miller, JP Munro, Cindy Phenix, Jon Pylypchuk, Jagdeep Raina, Kevin Reinhardt, Reinhart Selvik, Mindy Shapero, Falon Stutzman, Christian Tedeschi, Paul Pascal Thériault, and Eric Wesley.