ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Celebrate the beauty and rich culture of the Isla del Encanto at a new exhibition.
"Nostalgia for My Island," a display at Allentown Art Museum, features 20 creative works by well-known Puerto Rican artists.
The works were created from 1786 to 1962 and divided into three themes — "My island," "My home" and "My people."
The artwork is on loan from the Museo de Arte de Ponce in Ponce, Puerto Rico.
It is the first time the traveling exhibition has toured in the Lehigh Valley and the East Coast.
Although the show is free, the Museo de Arte de Ponce will accept online donationsto help with its recovery from damage sustained in a 2020 earthquake.
Included in the show are paintings by early Puerto Rican maestros José Campeche y Manuel Jordán and Francisco Oller.
There also are paintings by Rafael Ríos Rey, Miguel Pou and Myrna Báez.
A tribute to "jibaro"
The selection of works by Campeche, Jordán and Oller pay homage to "el jíbaro," a term coined to represent the rural farm worker in Puerto Rico.
Through their works, the artists explored the economic landscape in the island, which changed with the annexation by the United States in 1896.
Many "jibaros" and their families were forced to close down the farms and the island experienced a mass migration to cities such as San Juan and Bayamón during that time.
The exhibition runs through April 28.
To learn more, visit the museum's website.
Other new works
Also at the museum is Angela Fraleigh's "Threaded with Moonlight," which explores the region's history of textiles associated with the female workforce.
Fraleigh's display looks at spinning, stitching and weaving as acts of power, centering women as makers with the means to create art used for magic as well as cloth.
The show runs until March 17.
Additionally, "The Making of Gustave Baumann's El Velorio," includes graphite and pastel sketches of Baumann’s carved wood blocks from which the completed woodcut of "El Velorio" was printed, and individual color proofs.
The Baumann show runs through April 28.
Allentown Art Museum is at 31 N. 5th St.
