Event
September 1: "This Land" Opening Party & An Evening with Martin Guitar
September 1, 2026 5:00PM
LUAG Main & Lower Galleries
You’re invited to a special free Opening Party and Performance
Join us on Tuesday, September 1 for a special double-header evening celebrating the opening of LUAG's fall exhibition, This Land: Reimagining the United States of America on its 250th Anniversary, followed by a performance and storytelling event with the iconic C. F. Martin & Co.
5:00pm "This Land" Exhibition Launch and First Look
LUAG Main and Lower Galleries, Zoellner Arts Center
Be among the first to explore the exhibition! Enjoy music, refreshments, and community at this first-look launch party. The reception is FREE and all are welcome; no ticket required, but let us know you're coming here.
7:00pm An Evening with Martin Guitar
Baker Hall, Zoellner Arts Center
All are invited to continue the evening in Baker Hall as sixth-generation executive chairman of C. F. Martin & Co. Chris Martin shares stories from over 35 years of leading the iconic Nazareth-based company, along with musical accompaniment by accomplished Lehigh Valley-based guitarist, Craig Thatcher. The performance is presented by Zoellner Arts Center.
No ticket is needed for the LUAG reception, but please RSVP here to let us know you're coming.
Performance tickets are Choose-What-You-Pay and available at zoellnerartscenter.org.
ABOUT THE "THIS LAND" EXHIBITION
In his 1944 folk anthem "This Land Is Your Land," Woody Guthrie imagined a place of true belonging – a landscape where people could move freely, unimpeded by rigid boundaries. With dozens of artworks from LUAG’s collection alongside historic images and artifacts from the C.F. Martin & Co. Archives, "This Land" challenges traditional notions of "America" and "Americans", inviting us to explore multiple possibilities of being, living, and understanding, and challenging traditional geography, received histories, and myths of ownership.
On September 1, be among the first to experience the exhibition, which includes a listening room, interactive library space, and thought-provoking works that explore themes of identity, belonging, and our shared histories. Divided into six sections – America: Reimagining the Dream, Sounds of Freedom: Reimagining Protest, Sense of Place: Reimagining the Land, Where Am I? Reimagining Maps, Flexible or Fixed? Reimagining Symbols, and The University: Reimagining Learning – the exhibition further acknowledges that such a place is a site and a dream in becoming, in progress, unfinished, just as Guthrie perceived his songs.
A portion of the exhibiton will feature an interactive environment extending from the theme, Sounds of Freedom: Reimagining Protest. An immersive space that is part living room and part listening room, the space will invite visitors of all ages to interact directly with art and activism through multi-sensory experiences including a listening station with vintage vinyl and record player, a digital playlist that invites community input, interactive research screens, a creative lyric-writing and art-making station, and a tactile instrument corner featuring real loaner guitars from C. F. Martin Guitar & Co.
Image: Eduardo Paolozzi (British 1924-2005). An Empire of Silly Statisticsà A Fake War for Public Relations (709), 1965-1970 (Published 1970). Photolitho on transparent acetate, 312/350. Gift of Ben Wunsch through the Martin S. Ackerman Foundation.
