We have just installed our 2-person exhibition at Goshen College's Hershberger Gallery in the Music Center on the GC Campus. The exhibit will be up until September 11, 2011, with a closing reception that day from 2-4 pm. We will also be giving an artist talk during the closing reception, beginning at 3:30 pm.  

  Artist Statement

This exhibition is, in a sense, a homecoming for us. We both grew up in Goshen and are Goshen College graduates. We started dating during our senior year while preparing for our senior art exhibitions. We both moved away from Goshen upon graduation to pursue apprenticeships in new media, Brooke as a glass blower, Justin as a cabinet maker. Ultimately we landed in Pittsburgh and began working toward our individual and mutual goals as working artists.

We spent nine years living and working in Pittsburgh as artists. It is in Pittsburgh that we determined that careers as working artists were both important and viable. We each found mentors, friends, and colleagues in our chosen fields. And we continued to develop our skills as artists and craftsmen. After the birth of our son Layton, in 2009, we decided that a move back to our hometown was important for us as a family, as well as professionals seeking a change.

Since returning to Goshen we've set up our home and studios five miles east of town. We've accepted artist-in-residence and teaching opportunities in other communities. These have included extended stays in Baltimore, Maryland; Castine, Maine, and most recently, a return to Pittsburgh where we created nearly a third of the artwork in this exhibition.

We have created this body of work keeping in mind some of our own core values. We believe that artwork and creativity are catalysts for social change and economic improvement ,and enhance everyday lives with beauty. Art gives a voice to the voiceless, enables self understanding, and provides a window into other cultures. These are among the reasons we have chosen to pursue lives as working artists.

Brooke and Justin Rothshank