Becoming River
Lycoming College Art Gallery, PA | September 4 - November 28, 2026
Curated by: Marisa C. Sánchez, Ph.D., assistant professor of art history, in collaboration with the artist
“Becoming River” is contemporary artist Guadalupe Martinez’s solo exhibition at the Lycoming College Art Gallery and the artist’s first show in Pennsylvania. Curated by Marisa C. Sánchez, Ph.D., assistant professor of art history, in collaboration with the artist, “Becoming River” is Martinez’s meditation on the West Branch of the Susquehanna River and its tributaries, and her reflection on the river’s profound presence in the landscape and the surrounding region.
Through her research and in thinking about the river’s existence, the artist expressed “The Susquehanna is an ancestral presence, a humble yet powerful witness. It is over 300 million years old. I was amazed to learn that it predates the Atlantic Ocean and the breakup of Pangaea. This was a profound insight about time, and to the expansive dimensions by which we are constantly relating; being contained by without noticing. A cosmic omnipresence so much larger than ourselves and our culture.”
At the gallery, “Becoming River” is an immersive installation that includes five large-scale projected video works, including three from Martinez’s poetic project “Reflections on a Window Glass” (2020) and the debut of two new videos focused on the river and created by the artist specifically for this exhibition. Filmed in Williamsport, Pa., during the first part of her residency, these two videos explore Martinez’s experience of the river. Conceiving this waterway as a “powerful witness,” Martinez’s approach considers the river’s livingness, which recalls for Sánchez the writings of Robert Macfarlane, who claimed that “Rivers are our first singers, our first storytellers…[they are] a kind of storage medium, as well as a narrative force. We tell our stories with and through rivers.”
“Becoming River” is contemporary artist Guadalupe Martinez’s solo exhibition at the Lycoming College Art Gallery and the artist’s first show in Pennsylvania. Curated by Marisa C. Sánchez, Ph.D., assistant professor of art history, in collaboration with the artist, “Becoming River” is Martinez’s meditation on the West Branch of the Susquehanna River and its tributaries, and her reflection on the river’s profound presence in the landscape and the surrounding region.
Through her research and in thinking about the river’s existence, the artist expressed “The Susquehanna is an ancestral presence, a humble yet powerful witness. It is over 300 million years old. I was amazed to learn that it predates the Atlantic Ocean and the breakup of Pangaea. This was a profound insight about time, and to the expansive dimensions by which we are constantly relating; being contained by without noticing. A cosmic omnipresence so much larger than ourselves and our culture.”
At the gallery, “Becoming River” is an immersive installation that includes five large-scale projected video works, including three from Martinez’s poetic project “Reflections on a Window Glass” (2020) and the debut of two new videos focused on the river and created by the artist specifically for this exhibition. Filmed in Williamsport, Pa., during the first part of her residency, these two videos explore Martinez’s experience of the river. Conceiving this waterway as a “powerful witness,” Martinez’s approach considers the river’s livingness, which recalls for Sánchez the writings of Robert Macfarlane, who claimed that “Rivers are our first singers, our first storytellers…[they are] a kind of storage medium, as well as a narrative force. We tell our stories with and through rivers.”
“As we explored during my visit, I started to understand what I was already sensing with the river, not just a physical feature or a natural resource, but an ancient witness. A living presence that precedes and animates human history and its movement across the landscape.” -- Martinez
In “Becoming River,” Martinez invites viewers to reflect on what this river has held, what it has carried. Visitors to the gallery can contribute to “River Stories,” an interactive section within the exhibit where the artist encourages them to share their stories about their relation to the river.
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Important Dates
Artist-in-residence at the College:
Thursday, April 23-Wednesday, April 29, 2026
Monday, Oct. 12-Sunday, Oct. 18, 2026
Artist Talk: Wednesday, Oct. 14, 4:30 p.m., Trogner Presentation Room, Krapf Gateway Center, Lycoming College. This talk is co-sponsored by the art department and the Humanities Research Center, with generous funding provided by Barbara Lovenduski Sylk ’73. This talk coincides with Martinez’s artist-in-residency and exhibit which is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.
Workshop | Painting Workshop for High School Students: Saturday, Sept. 12, 10-1 p.m.
Lycoming College studio art and art education double major Sydnie Reynolds ’27 will lead a hands-on painting workshop for high school students. This en plein air (in the open air) workshop begins at the Lycoming College Art Gallery in Martinez’s “Becoming River” exhibit and participants will then walk together to the river for the painting workshop. If interested in signing up, please email [email protected] for further details.
Performance | Saturday, Oct. 17, 10 a.m. (end time to be determined)
Martinez in collaboration with students in Sánchez’s ARHI-340: Performance Art History course and Gunderson’s MUS-254: Keys To Humanity, will take part in a performative walk. This event is open to the public and begins at the Lycoming College Art Gallery. For more information, please visit the gallery online.
Workshop | Pennsylvania Art Educators Conference: Saturday, Oct. 17, 5 p.m.-7 p.m.
During her artist-in-residency at the College, Martinez will be a Featured Speaker at the 2026 Pennsylvania Art Educators Association (PAEA) Conference held this year in Williamsport, Pa. In her exhibition, “Becoming River” at the Lycoming College Art Gallery, Martinez will offer a workshop titled “Sensorial Visualities: Embodied Research as Expansive Pedagogy,” which invites educators to explore the artist’s evolving concepts of sensorial aesthetics and expansive pedagogies as radical tools for transforming art-making and collective relating. Through a multidisciplinary approach involving movement, touch, performance and expressive arts, as well as land-nature connection, participants will engage in embodied research to unearth ancestral wisdom and nurture the creative-body within the learning environment. By privileging the body as a primary site of knowledge, this session aims to animate new ways of being that foster healing and expand consciousness in and out of the classroom. This workshop is open to PAEA Members attending the Conference.
https://sites.google.com/paea.org/paeaconferenceprogram/schedule/saturday
Workshop | Painting Workshop for High School Students: Saturday, Nov. 7, 10-1 p.m.
Lycoming College studio art and art education double major Sydnie Reynolds ’27 will lead a second hands-on painting workshop for high school students. This en plein air (in the open air) workshop begins at the Lycoming College Art Gallery in Martinez’s “Becoming River” exhibit and participants will then walk together to the river for the painting workshop. If interested in signing up, please email [email protected] for further details.
Screening | Planetarium Film Screening: Friday, Nov. 20, 5:45 p.m.
Please join us for this special event at the Lynn Science Center's Detwiler Planetarium at Lycoming College. Researched and created by Aaron Deffenbaugh, ’27, an astronomy and film & video arts double-major in collaboration with the artist, this Planetarium Program will expand upon “Becoming River” to explore planetary time. Further information will be available in November. RSVP will be required.
Artist-in-residence at the College:
Thursday, April 23-Wednesday, April 29, 2026
Monday, Oct. 12-Sunday, Oct. 18, 2026
Artist Talk: Wednesday, Oct. 14, 4:30 p.m., Trogner Presentation Room, Krapf Gateway Center, Lycoming College. This talk is co-sponsored by the art department and the Humanities Research Center, with generous funding provided by Barbara Lovenduski Sylk ’73. This talk coincides with Martinez’s artist-in-residency and exhibit which is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.
Workshop | Painting Workshop for High School Students: Saturday, Sept. 12, 10-1 p.m.
Lycoming College studio art and art education double major Sydnie Reynolds ’27 will lead a hands-on painting workshop for high school students. This en plein air (in the open air) workshop begins at the Lycoming College Art Gallery in Martinez’s “Becoming River” exhibit and participants will then walk together to the river for the painting workshop. If interested in signing up, please email [email protected] for further details.
Performance | Saturday, Oct. 17, 10 a.m. (end time to be determined)
Martinez in collaboration with students in Sánchez’s ARHI-340: Performance Art History course and Gunderson’s MUS-254: Keys To Humanity, will take part in a performative walk. This event is open to the public and begins at the Lycoming College Art Gallery. For more information, please visit the gallery online.
Workshop | Pennsylvania Art Educators Conference: Saturday, Oct. 17, 5 p.m.-7 p.m.
During her artist-in-residency at the College, Martinez will be a Featured Speaker at the 2026 Pennsylvania Art Educators Association (PAEA) Conference held this year in Williamsport, Pa. In her exhibition, “Becoming River” at the Lycoming College Art Gallery, Martinez will offer a workshop titled “Sensorial Visualities: Embodied Research as Expansive Pedagogy,” which invites educators to explore the artist’s evolving concepts of sensorial aesthetics and expansive pedagogies as radical tools for transforming art-making and collective relating. Through a multidisciplinary approach involving movement, touch, performance and expressive arts, as well as land-nature connection, participants will engage in embodied research to unearth ancestral wisdom and nurture the creative-body within the learning environment. By privileging the body as a primary site of knowledge, this session aims to animate new ways of being that foster healing and expand consciousness in and out of the classroom. This workshop is open to PAEA Members attending the Conference.
https://sites.google.com/paea.org/paeaconferenceprogram/schedule/saturday
Workshop | Painting Workshop for High School Students: Saturday, Nov. 7, 10-1 p.m.
Lycoming College studio art and art education double major Sydnie Reynolds ’27 will lead a second hands-on painting workshop for high school students. This en plein air (in the open air) workshop begins at the Lycoming College Art Gallery in Martinez’s “Becoming River” exhibit and participants will then walk together to the river for the painting workshop. If interested in signing up, please email [email protected] for further details.
Screening | Planetarium Film Screening: Friday, Nov. 20, 5:45 p.m.
Please join us for this special event at the Lynn Science Center's Detwiler Planetarium at Lycoming College. Researched and created by Aaron Deffenbaugh, ’27, an astronomy and film & video arts double-major in collaboration with the artist, this Planetarium Program will expand upon “Becoming River” to explore planetary time. Further information will be available in November. RSVP will be required.
