York College’s Marketview Arts to hold retrospective exhibition of local artist's 40-year career

Vietnam Elegy (Going Home), Stephen March, 38x60, Acrylic on canvas, 2000

York College will hold a retrospective exhibition of Spring Grove artist Stephen March’s work at Marketview Arts in Downtown York (37 W. Philadelphia St.) through Jan. 20, 2024. The exhibition, “As I See It: A Retrospective,” will open on Nov. 24 on March’s 80th birthday. A reception will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. on Nov. 24, and an Artist Q&A is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Dec. 2. Both will be held in Gallery Hall and are open to the public free of charge. The exhibition is curated by Interim Gallery Director Ivy Rodgers.

“As I See It” will be March’s 30th solo exhibition over the course of his career, which began in 1966 when he graduated from Pennsylvania State University with a B.A. in Fine Art. March went on to receive his M.F.A. from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1968. In a career spanning more than four decades, he has created an immense body of work that touches on topics ranging from news media and surveillance to the fragility of human existence.

The “Elegies” series has had the longest lifespan. It is a body of work of mixed media paintings covering conflicts March has witnessed throughout his life: the racial and civil rights upheaval of the 1960s, the Vietnam War, and most recently, the conflict in Ukraine. In talking about the intent of his work, March states, “I have been, and continue to be, interested in creating visual art that can transcend the physicality of the material surface and be a vehicle for emotional, spiritual, and intellectual contemplation, as well as a metaphor for human existence, especially within my own time.”

March has worked professionally as an artist, residential designer/carpenter, and teacher. His most recent position was at York Country Day School as a Middle and Upper School Art Instructor until his retirement in 2016. He has also taught at a collegiate level at York College of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania State University York Campus, and Elmira College in Elmira, NY. His art is in the collections of The State Museum of Pennsylvania, Chattahoochee Valley Art Museum, Masur Museum of Art, Elmira College, York Hospital/Apple Hill Center, and numerous private collections in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Texas.

Questions about the exhibition, including scheduling guided tours for small groups and students, may be directed to Rodgers at irodgers@ycp.edu.

Marketview Arts Gallery Hours: Tuesday/Thursday: 10 a.m.–2 p.m., Wednesday: 3–7 p.m., Friday: 2–9 p.m., Saturday: 10 a.m.–9 p.m., and closed Sunday and Monday.