Seton Hill University’s Harlan Gallery will host “Sister Wendy Beckett: Envisioning Art” - an exhibit curated by Graham Shearing.

The show will be held from March 21 through April 16 at Harlan Gallery, located in the Seton Hill Arts Center, 205 West Otterman St., Greensburg. An opening reception will be held on March 21 from 4 to 6 p.m.  The reception and show are free and open to the public.

The show features works by artists Norwood Hodge MacGilvary, Frank Trapp, George Grosz, Sue Abramson, Zachary Brown, Christopher Ruane, Seth Le Donne, Paul Peng and more.

Noted Pittsburgh art dealer and art critic Graham Shearing, who curated the show, describes it as follows:

“How did a nun capture the imagination of the public simply through an enthusiastic contemplation of art? And through the unlikely medium of television? This exhibition suggests that she found the spiritual not only in religious art, but in other, unlikely sources.

Here, a collection of art from public and private collections, and the work of living artists, reveals diverse visions of the spiritual. This may require hard looking, which was the practice of this nun, following the precept of the Victorian critic, John Ruskin: ‘To see clearly,’ he observed, ‘is poetry, prophecy, and religion, – all in one.’

Sister Wendy died late last year in a convent in England, but the shock in a full black habit standing purposefully in front of a canvas by Mark Rothko, in a video here, hopefully will give visitors pause for thought, and keep her memory alive. Looking at art is an exercise in divination: an exercise open to all. Take the rough with the smooth.”

Harlan Gallery’s hours of operation are Monday through Thursday 1 to 8 p.m.; Friday 1 to 3 p.m., and Sunday 1 to 4 p.m. The gallery is also open by appointment. For more information, contact Pati Beachley, beachley@setonhill.edu, or the School of Visual and Performing Arts office at 724-552-2900.