Allentown, Pa., March 10, 2022—The Lehigh Valley Community Foundation is proudly supporting Artist Bart Cooper’s exhibit and related programs titled, “Heroes: My heroes actually have real superpowers,” an installment of Cooper’s powerful artwork depicting ten Black women and their impact on American and world history.
“When we saw the Heroes collection and learned more about Bart Cooper’s efforts to engage and educate the community about the impactful roles powerful Black women have played throughout history—we were eager to help make it a success,” said Erika Riddle Petrozelli, President and CEO of the Community Foundation. “We are so pleased that Faces International, in partnership with ArtsQuest and the United Way of the Lehigh Valley were able to bring an exhibit that is so creative and powerful to our area. Bart Cooper’s ability to generate conversations on social justice and equity by applying the lens of popular culture to illustrate the strength and resilience of these women is a ‘superpower’ onto itself—we couldn’t be more impressed by this work.”
Through his work, Cooper strategically intertwines the real with the fictitious characters of modern-day heroism through the contemporary use of mixed media to create portraits of powerful black women, matching them to suitable Marvel characters to highlight the connection between America’s favorite comic characters, and the country’s history of brave and impactful Black women leaders. “Their intelligence, their trials and tribulations, their willingness to lead shows strength and resilience. These people had powers and practiced them rigorously, and not only for themselves, but for others,” says the artist, Bart Cooper.
The Heroes Exhibition presenting partners are Lehigh Valley Community Foundation and PPL Corporation. Community partner sponsors are Crayola, Moravian University, United Way Women United, Penn State Lehigh Valley, Capital Blue Cross and People First Federal Credit Union.
The exhibition opens on March 18 and will be free to the public seven days a week at ArtsQuest’s Banana Factory Arts Center. The exhibition will be accompanied by virtual seminars exploring topics such as: What is Fine Art, The Business of Art and the Impact of Art, spread across March, April and May. To learn more about the “Heroes” project, programming and artwork, visit heroeslv.com.
