The Maslow Gallery will host an art exhibition called “Tracing the Sky,” curated by Ryan Ward and Evan D. Williams. The exhibit will highlight Steve Poleskie’s “Aerial Theater,” a unique blend of aerobatics and art from 1968 to 1998. Marywood University’s aviation and graphic design students will also be collaborating on an illustrated catalog to accompany the show.

Steve Poleskie was a self-taught artist born in Pringle, Pennsylvania. He first rose to fame in New York in the 1960s as he was the founder of Chiron Pres, the first screenprinting studio in the city. In 1968, he moved to Ithaca, New York, where he learned to fly and began “Aerial Theater.” His work drew international attention in Europe during the 1970s and 80s as Poleskie flew in aerobatic competitions and won the Canadian Open Aerobatics. At the age of 60, he retired flying planes and sold all of his planes.

After that Poleskie turned to writing and photography. Poleskie published novels and short stories. His prints and drawings are honored around the world in major collections, such as the Victoria & Albert Museum, the Tate Museum in Italy and other places such as Poland and Germany. Poleskie passed in 2019 and is survived by his wife, Jeanne Mackin.

This exhibition highlights the visual language of flights, abstraction and performance. The ideas came from Poleskie turning his unique movements in the sky into vibrant artworks and his legacy of making his work stand out with the energy and motion of the flights.

The curation of this exhibition was led by Ward and Williams, who were lent 74 pieces of Polskie’s work for this exhibit; 43 total works are included in the catalogue. Ward’s idea is to have an introduction to Polskie’s life and to reach a broader audience. Curating this exhibit has been “great to collaborate with everyone,’’ explained Ward, curator of the Maslow Collection. The most difficult part for everyone was the 40 flight maps which consist of wing designs and documentation of his performances, 19 were included in the catalogue.

Two graphic design students at Marywood, Emma Kim and Kelsey Green, are working on producing a fully illustrated catalogue to highlight Poleskie’s work. Both students knew each other from classes and agreed to collaborate on the illustrated catalogue after receiving an email invitation to help with the project. Their strong connection and shared passion for design made the partnership a natural fit.

“Emma has such a unique design perspective,” said Green.

“I couldn’t have picked a better partner,” said Kim.

Their skills complement each other so well, helping them create such a strong and balanced piece as a team. Kim and Green explained that the design process is a lot of work. They started creating their ideas in July and have been working on it every day since then.

“It has been a difficult roller coaster with lots of experience,” said Kim. She also mentioned that she has never worked on anything like this before and that it was good practice to juggle multiple projects.

“There has been a lot of asking for help and bouncing ideas,” said Green. “Having this opportunity shows what she can do as an artist.”

Both students are extremely honored that they get to showcase Poleskie’s work at Marywood.

“My grandma is from Wilkes-Barre and is around his age,” stated Green, “It was an awesome opportunity to show his work around here in the gallery, and his work is incredible.”

Kim believes that it was a “really perspective-changing experience.”

Aviation student Kate Pallas also helped with the catalogue by doing research and interviews. Pallas received an email as well from the director of Marywood’s aviation program, Captain Joseph McDonald, who asked for volunteers.

Even though Pallas is an aviation student, she does have a background in art.

“In high school, I was into the art department, but joining aviation I kind of lost [interest], so being back in the environment is really nice,” said Pallas.

Aviation started as a very small department, and this year they gained more than 60 new aviation students. Pallas hopes “by bringing attention through the exhibit will keep pushing aviation’s name out there.”

Ward would like people to know the “Maslow Collection is here and is an ongoing program that [happens] every semester, and people …shouldn’t be shy to visit and look around and see the work.”

“Art is not just for the art majors and you can also appreciate some of the work from a different perspective,”says Kim.

Poleskie is an example of this, having “started out as an economics major before becoming an artist himself,” said Ward.

The “Tracing the Sky” exhibit will run from Oct. 9 to Jan. 16, and the opening reception will take place on Oct. 9 from 5 to 7 p.m. For more information on the Maslow Gallery for Contemporary Art, visit Marywood’s website.

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